Throwing ‘Avatar’ to the ‘Wolves’

Throwing ‘Avatar’ to the ‘Wolves’

I feel compelled to say how much I enjoyed Stephen Farber’s thought-provoking article about 10 current movies and how sadly they stack up when compared to earlier films with much the same plots or themes. (“Some Hopefuls Aren’t Up to the Gold Standards,” Jan. 31.)

I’m sorry Mr. Farber couldn’t have made room for another telling comparison, namely, that between today’s blockbuster, “Avatar,” and an earlier one, “Dances With Wolves.”

The special effects in “Avatar” may be striking and the box-office is incredible, but its core story about a soldier who befriends a tribe and ultimately fights for their cause was much better portrayed on so many levels in “Dances With Wolves.”

.

William Royce

Beverly Hills

A comparison that doesn’t fly

While I enjoyed Farber’s article and found many of his comparisons interesting, I have to take exception to one. “Brokeback Mountain” and “A Single Man” could in no way be considered the same film. Other than the point that the lead characters were gay (or bisexual), the films had little in common.

That Farber would consider them to be the same says more about him than the movies.

Daniel McVey

Los Angeles

::

No knock on Farber, but this article could be written any year about any movies, if the yardstick is to compare a current offering against the absolute best of its genre.

The industry will survive.

Posted by: JD

From: 24 Frames Blog

::

A brilliant and all-too-brief piece by Stephen Farber. While it may be way overdue, it is an excellent chronicle of our cultural down-trending to the mediocre, the narcissistic and the ever-encroaching age of diminishing expectations.

There is a much bigger issue at the heart of this -- the Nietzschean examination of Romanticism v. Classicism in the Age of Narcissism. While it may be old hat to some of your detractors, it can hardly be stressed enough or more relevant.

Posted by: Michael Chase Walker

From: 24 Frames blog

::

The attitude of contemporary filmmakers seems to be “Why paint with a brush when a sledgehammer will do?”

Posted by:

Thomas Murray

From: 24 Frames blog

Rosie was off base on Leno

In the Sunday Conversation with Rosie O’Donnell (“It’s Rosie, the Riveting,” Jan. 31), referring to Jay Leno and that game of musical chairs at “The Tonight Show,” she said: “Jay’s a guy who is not willing to let go.”

But it was NBC that wasn’t willing to let him go seven years ago and now again. The network executives simply wanted to eat their peacock and have it too, and as a result they’re now eating crow.

Paul Krassner

Desert Hot Springs

::

Rosie is totally off base with her comments about Jay Leno. If Jay were a coward, he could have avoided all the unfair flak and just walked away with the money he made at NBC. That would have left the 175 people who work on the show without a job and Jay wouldn’t do that. Jay reluctantly agreed to give up “The Tonight Show” when it was No. 1 so Conan could take it over. If there is anyone to blame for the whole mess, it is the NBC executives who made the decisions in the first place.

Jim Fox

Hollywood