Editors,
I'm a huge fan of your magazine. I buy every copy. But is there a reason your website seems to take such malicious glee in bad reviews given to Will Smith and Tom Cruise? It's very unbecoming and lacking in class, in my opinion. Especially since you seem to cherry-pick the worst things said. A grudge perhaps, or just hatred for current stars?
Darin Scott
Retro responds: "Et tu, Darin?" You're judging us a bit harshly - our obligation is to report what the general views of the industry and critics are toward certain films. Hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide read our site every month to get this kind of candid reporting. For the record, Tom Cruise's
Valkyrie has been a much-troubled production, as has been widely reported over the last year. Will Smith's
Seven Pounds has received mediocre reviews and has opened softly at the box-office. Those are facts, not opinions. However, for the record, we're big fans of both Cruise and Smith. I've personally never seen Cruise give a bad performance and his fine work in his early films like
Rain Man and
The Color of Money was often overshadowed by more flamboyant work from his legendary co-stars. His self-imposed melt-down during the 2005
War of the Worlds publicity tour did not diminish what we felt was his terrific performance in the film. Furthermore, we're really looking forward to seeing
Valkyrie. In fact, back when everyone was bashing him for making a WWII film, Cinema Retro was about the only media outlet to defend his decision. (Read the archived article
here) We think it's terrific he's reminding people about one of the most dramatic periods in world history- and shining a spotlight on the heroic attempts by German officers to assassinate Hitler. As for Will Smith, we have long said he is perhaps the only true remaining movie star in the world - a person whose name alone generally brings crowds to theaters. Like Cruise, he's never given a bad performance even when some of his films don't live up to expectations.Finally, our love for old movies doesn't mean we're unappreciative of the great films being made today- and there are plenty. There are also many wonderful actors who we enjoy immensely. However, there is probably no dispute that the golden age of Hollywood probably ended in the 1970s - and it's unlikely we'll see the kinds of star power that existed up until then any time soon.
Finally, we can take criticism as well as anyone - but you've crossed a line by implying we are classless! How can you say such a thing when both Dave Worrall and I adorn our living rooms with those classy velvet paintings of dogs playing poker? In fact, I'm going down to my local corner gas station to pick up another right now!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for your support of Cinema Retro.
Lee Pfeiffer
Send your questions and comments on all topics (except asking for home repair tips) to: cinemaretro@hotmail.com