Ask Mick LaSalle: The importance of reviewing “Transformers.”
Hi Mick: I read your review of the new “Transformers” movie. How did you get stuck with having to watch it?
Jim McGrath, Napa Hi Jim: I’m the film critic. It’s not my job to see movies that I know I’m going to like, but to see the biggest movies, and that was a big movie. So no one stuck me with watching it. I basically decided to watch it the day I decided not to go to law school. But if you’re guessing that it’s the worst type of movie I see, you’re right. This is as bad as it gets. “Transformers” is a work of consummate cynicism, too soulless to be called garbage, because garbage usually starts out as something good or is the end product of separating good from bad. With “Transformers,” there was nothing good to start with, just greed floating in a dead void. Hi Mick: What do you think of “La La Land?” I understand what it was meant to accomplish, but I found it so insipid and silly as to be unwatchable. I pulled the DVD out after enduring 15 minutes of torture.
Bunny Paine-Clemes, Vallejo Hi Bunny: Aha. You let that awful traffic jam opening scare you off. Too bad. You need to resist these rash impulses — and that other more irresistible impulse, to be proud of rash impulses. You missed a good movie. Dear Mick LaSalle: Is there any scene in film as great as that of the Odessa steps in “Battleship Potemkin?”
Jake Highton, Reno Dear Jake Highton: As great? Sure. It would be pretty depressing if nothing as great has happened in movies since 1925. Great keeps happening. It never stops happening. No one thing can ever be the best in art, because no one thing can capture the whole of life. Dear Mick: Has anyone these days heard of George Arliss?
Dave Sironen, San Francisco Dear Dave: Because he won an Oscar for best actor, George Arliss (18681946) can never be completely forgotten, but his name doesn’t come up often in conversation. When sound came to the movies, Broadway actors arrived in Hollywood in two waves. First came the British or Britishsounding actors. They arrived in the late 1920s, when studios assumed audiences wanted perfect elocution. Arliss was part of that. And then, around 1930, came the delightful vulgarians — people like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell — and their kind of actor ultimately won the day. Still, if you go back and watch Arliss’ movies, you can see what people liked about him. (When you go back and watch the work of anybody who was very popular, you usually find that the appeal is no mystery.) In still photos, Arliss looked like a stuffed shirt, but in fact, he was sly and engaging. And he was also a very good talent scout. He chose James Cagney for the small part of an insurance salesman in a 1931 film called “The Millionaire.” The scene is on YouTube and is fascinating as a tableau of two stars moving in opposite directions, and as an example of two actors with completely different styles working well together and appreciating their differences. Dear Mr. LaSalle: I was gobsmacked at your review of one of the most enjoyable movies this season, “Paris Can Wait.” You gave it an empty chair. As a part of a female foursome, 62 and over, we LOVED it!
Jane Corcoran, Walnut Creek Dear Ms. Corcoran: Well, that’s great — not the movie; the movie is horrible — but it’s great that you all went out and had fun. I’m not going to try to talk you out of your experience. You had it, and though I may be astounded that you didn’t run screaming from the theater — and that you even remain friends with each other, after all that — hey, fun is fun. But do you ever think it wasn’t the movie? Maybe you all just liked hanging out.