Mail from our readers
MOVIE MADNESS
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Summer Movie Preview (#379, May 16). It is one of my favorite issues to get and I always look forward to it. I especially loved having George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell on the cover. Forget Arnold; they’re the reason I’m going to see Batman & Robin!
SARAH WENDLING
St. Thomas, Ontario
Thanks for the terrific issue profiling all the upcoming summer flicks. But I was wondering if anyone else feels as smothered by the same actors over and over as I do? Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, and John Travolta all have more than one movie coming out this summer! I feel like I am dating them! I think perhaps we need to take a break and start seeing other people!
JESSICA WALLACE
Newnan, Ga.
STATE OF AFFAIRS
I am a faithful reader of your magazine. In fact, I find it to be the most reliable source when it comes to movie, music, and TV reviews. But come on! Your recent review of State by State With the State sounded like it was coming from Bob Dole or Billy Graham. Sure, every book has its not-so-funny moments, but what about the Road Games section (particularly the Advanced Beginner’s Bingo Road Game: you try finding a Catholic diocese in a cramped orange van!)? The State will always be absolute comical genius, with or without MTV to back them up.
EVE ELIZABETH LEE
St. Augustine, Fla.
STEEL CAGE
I find it laughable that even after the ultimately pointless casting controversies that dogged Michael Keaton in Batman and Tom Cruise in Interview With the Vampire that there’s an actual uproar over Nicolas Cage being selected to play Superman (”A Super Dilemma”). Most inane among the criticisms quoted was one from the unnamed ”source associated with DC Comics” that said, ”There’s nothing about him [Cage] that suggests he can play anyone as heroic as Superman.” Gee, I think that an Oscar-winning actor can, at the very least, act heroic. If anything, Cage’s quirkiness could be just the kind of idiosyncratic edge needed to add emotional dimension to the Man of Steel’s often stolid facade.
JEFF ALLARD
Springfield, Mass.
I just finished reading your article on Nicolas Cage as the next Superman in Superman Lives. I think that (a) another Superman movie is a very dumb idea and that (b) Cage playing the title role is a mistake. After all, the Batman series started to fall apart when Clooney stepped into the Batsuit. All of a sudden, dark, scary, classic comics are becoming bright, snappy, crappy movies. Cage in Superman Lives is going to be like Demi Moore in The Scarlet Letter.
PIERCE DALTON
Orlando, Fla.
CARROT JUICE
After reading the article ”Carrot Shtick,” it didn’t take long for me to see how little respect Carrot Top really gets in the show business industry. I just had to flip to page 93 to see that even Norm Macdonald doesn’t hold back. Why can’t people give this talented prop comedian the respect he deserves?
LOWELL NORTHROP
Los Angeles