The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Larger Than Life

6.24.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 5)

The silver lining in Senator Dodd's attacking the FISA bill is that he cannot order bombings of Bosnia or Iraq to cover up his imbroglio.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

CRYSTAL SKULL & BONES
Re: James Bowman's review of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull":

When did the John Birch Society say that Ike was a communist? Many in the news media, the left, and the non-Birch right keep saying it, however always never with any proof of where the quote came from.
-- Michael Skaggs
Murray, Kentucky

I liked it! Compared to the other trash at the box office, this was good escapism, not laden with obscenities and sex. It made ya feel good!
-- Stephanie
Virginia

For God's sake, Mr. Bowman...Please, give it a rest!!

Have you ever gone to the movies simply for escapism? You know, to have fun and be entertained?

In all honesty, it's not hard to detect a whiff of elitist snobbery in your reviews. I often get the impression that I'm reading the opinions of a frustrated film-school grad who despises anything not made by a self-important director with a European surname.

You seem to take perverse pleasure in being contrarian simply for the sake of being contrarian. You hated "Iron Man," a high-octane super-hero adventure movie that audiences and many critics enjoyed, and now you've aimed your high-born negativity on the iconic "Indiana Jones."

Please, stop the needless search for left-wing agit-prop behind every comment and every image in a movie. And stop critiquing adventure films for their "realism." Complaining that an Indiana Jones film had space aliens is like complaining that "Saving Private Ryan" was too violent; you've obviously missed the point!

Most people, myself included, don't go to the movies for deep, social discourse or for soliloquies on the meaning of life -- we want to have fun! Why is that hard to understand?

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was everything that fans of the character would expect -- action-packed, fun, fast-paced, adventurous, exciting, humorous, scary, violent, satirical, and reasonably well-acted. In short, another good effort from Mr. Spielberg.

For my part, I was most impressed by the fact that the bad-guys were Communists. It has taken Hollywood 50 years, but they've finally admitted that Communists were, in fact, villains. In my book, that's a step in the right direction!

Progress is good.

Please do lighten up, Mr. Bowman.
-- Gavin Valle
Peapack, New Jersey

OBAMA'S WORD
Re: G. Tracy Mehan, III's Obama Living Large:

Letter to the Editor

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