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Letters to the Editor (September)

Well, my goodness. I'm incredibly impressed.

I've looked at your reviews intermittently over the last few months and have meant to send you a note giving you my opinions, however, I had never been given a good enough reason until just now. I have been consistently impressed with the movies you have chosen to review because it is extremely exciting to see someone going through a similar process of learning about movies as I did in high school. By this I mean beginning the process of intelligently watching movies such as "The Shining," and "A Clockwork Orange," just to name a couple. In fact, a common bond between my close friends and myself is the movies that made us fall in love with movies at a young age. So since I first saw your page, I've wanted to recommend a few movies that it seemed you had missed. Well, you beat me to the punch.

I was floored a few moments ago when I scanned the list of movies you've reviewed in the last few weeks and saw a whole week dedicated to one of my all time favorite directors -- Sam Raimi. I fell in love with the dynamic duo (Raimi and Bruce Campbell) several years ago when I first saw "Evil Dead II" (yes, I am a girl). I must admit, before that movie, I had no tolerance for horror movies, yet after that, there was no stopping me. I realized that to say "I don't like this kind of movie," is to be extremely closed minded and one cannot do that with movies or any other aspect of life. People I hold in high regard still tell me they "don't like Westerns," and I'm always disappointed. I like any kind of movie if it's done well. "Evil Dead II" is still one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and I rush to the theater when anyone in that group of people releases anything. I must admit, I don't know if you've reviewed it yet, but the movie I would say that you must now see is "Raising Arizona," probably my favorite movie of all time, if it is at all possible to narrow it down to one. I was shocked to find (or, really, not so shocked), when I first heard of Raimi, that he is a close friend of the Coen brothers, another couple who I follow devotedly.

Anyway, I wanted to commend you on your work and I'm not going to recommend any other movies, because you seem to be finding your own way extremely well. I'm not saying I agree with you all the time or even most of the time, but who the hell cares. Pauline Kael is my idol, in fact, I want that women's life, however, I definitely don't think her opinions are always correct....she just writes damn good articles. Also, I do understand that you keep your reviews short for the attention span of the general Internet population, however, I do hope that you will extend your comments for your own exigency, as that would only promote growth and intellect. That is not meant at all to be condescending; we all need to do the same.

Courtney E. Seebeck

September 26, 1995

Hey, how did you get into Showgirls? That is supposed to be NC-17. Not that I care really, but I was just wondering.

Colin Osterhout

[Roger replied:]
I simply bought my ticket and walked in. No problem.

My name is Estaban List, I live in Mexico City, and my personal hobbie as yours is to go watch movies and evaluete them. I'm a personal fan of Mr. Wim Wenders(director), for which I will like to recomend you this to start with:

1. Until the End of the World
2. Wings of Desire
3. Paris Texas

My personal analysis is in directors and their work, since I'm part of the amateur group at the National Cinema Display in Mexico. So maybe if you want to improve your page, you can consider putting the director's name along with the movie review.

I will also mention a few (since there are not too many) good Mexican movies which you might try to get and take a look:

1. Like Water for Chocolate (Arau)
2. Cronos (Del Toro)
3. A Walk in the Clouds (Arau) ** this is not actually Mexican but directed by .

I'm a 23 year old Maldivian student studying in the University of Stirling.

Today, I was navigating through the Netscape when I came across your site and I must say, that I was very impressed by your work, specially you being a young teenager. No doubt, your site will be quite handy for movie lovers. In fact, I have decided to see "Apollo 13" and "While you are Sleeping", based on your reviews.

I was particularly interested in your preview on "Natural Born Killers". Your deduction that it was a serious satire on media portrayal of violence cannot be questioned. But, I was wondering whether you have missed a possibly important feature of the movie - the last bit where some photos of O J Simpson and some convicts of violence were shown. Don't you think the producer was trying to give out a message, maybe that these photos showed people who are or may likely be natural born killers?

It has become a critical issue that violence in movies has a bad effect on children's mentality - that some children tends to become violent after watching violent movies. What do you think of this as a teenage movie critic?

Abdulla Sodiq (MR.)

[Roger wrote:]
...it was made by Italians. That does not make it a bad movie.

(about "Il Buono, il Brutto e il Cattivo" - "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Sergio Leone).

Oh, thank you, Mr Davidson!

Marco Bertoli, from Italy

[Roger replied:]
Was that sarcasm? If I offended you in any way, I apologize. That review was from my first article, so I wasn't very experianced at the time. I'm terribly sorry if you thought of it as an insult. I thought I was showing that a lot of people in the U.S. don't appreciate films from other countries and that they should get over their prejudices and try something new. Please write back soon.

[Finally]
Dear Roger, it was not sarcasm but a slight and friendly (I hope) irony!

If I wrote that short message it is only because I greatly appreciated any part of your Web pages and admired your insightfulness in movie critics, that is really something rare and precious in such a young mind (you know, I am a teacher and would like to have three or four pupils like you!). Yes, I went on reading your reviews and noticed other appreciations for Italian authors and actors (Benigni!). As I said, it was only a joke, not a "politically correct" retailment or a nationalist attitude (gosh!).

Marco

I work at New Line Cinema in publicity and interactive and came across your site.. I think it's impresive and obviously you've devoted a great deal of time and energy to it. Let me know if you ever need production info/press notes, etc. Be sure to check out Seven, opening Sept 22nd.

There be a site @ Filmzone.com by the end of next week.

Elissa Greer

This is a great page. I suggest you check out Strange Brew. It stars Rick Moranis (before he was famous) and Dave Thomas (not Wendy's). It is a Canadian comedy, and while very slapstick, it is incredibly funny, and gets more so every time you see it. I hated it the first time, so please watch it again and you will appreciate this hilarious film.

Andy Felton

People are always talkin' about there is no hope for our future. When I surf the net and find young men like yourself productively having fun and wisely using your time I lick my tongue out at the nay sayers.

Best Wishes and Keep up the good work.

J.J.

Just read some of your reviews. Quite interesting. As a staff writer for The Zombie Chronicles, I was most pleased to see that you gave favorable mention of George Romero's work.

One minute point where I beg to differ, which concerns your review of Kurosawa's Ran. It is nowhere close to being the most violent film he's ever produced. I highly recommend to you Throne of Blood (based on Shakespeare's Macbeth) and Red Beard. These are excellent films (as are all of his pieces), and far more violent than Ran.

Happy Viewing!!

Brooke Perry

I saw your page this afternoon and thought that it is exactly what we are looking for!

I am making a new tv show in England about all the interesting homepages on the internet and thought that that yours fitted the bill nicely. We are trying to show the English audience what is out there on the WWW and how it can be quite useful and interesting.

Have a think about if you want to take part and one more thing, what is wierdest home page you have come across?

Dan Clapton

I was unable to think of any really weird pages. Perhaps you, dear readers, can help Dan out. His email address is:

100554.3533@compuserve.com

I live in Salt Lake City, UT. and I ran across the August/September issue of Computer Credible and saw an article about you and your homepage. I decided to pay it a visit and I really enjoyed it. I think you have great insight and your reviews are very intelligent. I just had to feature you in my latest homepage. Visit it if you have a chance.

http://pages.prodigy.com/UT/johne/johne.html

John

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