Dating column or movie review?
Howard Leff’s “Action, Drama or Jerk?” (Feb. 24) left me confused and a bit perturbed. What does Howard’s story about his ex-girlfriend (first paragraph) have to do with the films featured in the article?
That is not quite as appalling as reading under the “Vera Drake” review that he “never saw it.” If he never saw it, how can there be a review? And what does he mean then by the word “Yawn” that begins the “review”? Is he making the assumption that the film is boring? Reading on that he “sneaked over to ‘The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie’ instead” left me wondering why anyone would admit that.
Howard’s column is a good example of a current trend in print journalism in which relevant information -- whether facts or opinions -- is sacrificed for the sake of self-promotion of the writer. Moreover, just because most moviegoing audiences have dumbed down their standards doesn’t mean that you have to dumb down yours too.
Jonathan Rothell
Los Angeles
Only good movies
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