Letters

2. I agree that the sappy, formulaic queer film should be executed on sight. However, the same fate should befall many a straight film. Such crap is not limited to just one film genre. Should we see more drag queens in films? Only if they are drawn as real people, not just comic relief.

3. Give me those "Oh, Lawd Have Mercy" films over those "Boyz" films any day. The reason being that they are much closer to my reality. Soul Food was my family, almost to a man. The Best Man so reflected my friends at that age that I wondered which of my buddies wrote it. If Mr. Hardy's complaint is overall film quality, see my No. 2.

4. Hip-hop straight-to-video movies: I overwhelmingly agree. They suck.

5. Robin, Whoopi and Billy movies: What happened to those guys, anyway?

6. Wasted Hong Kong talent? How about wasted talent, period (i.e., my No. 5)?

7. Oprah's "Big Mama" movie roles: I thought I was the only one who noticed.

8. Much-hyped movie soundtracks: Why even bother to make the film?

9. Brad Pitt's recent roles: so true, so true.

10. Equal-opportunity nudity: Personally, this particular double standard has never really bothered me, but to each his own.

I think Mr. Hardy's list says a lot more about him than it does about recent films in general. But hey, even media critics need the spotlight every now and then.

--K. Crawford

Burbank

CORRECTIONS

Contrary to the assertion in last week's Powerlines, state Senator Richard Polanco did not endorse City Councilman Nick Pacheco in his 1999 council race; in fact, he endorsed his opponent.

An article on Rocketdyne last week misidentified Gregg Dempsey as a Department of Energy employee; he works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Also, activists were invited to inspect cleanup efforts, not radioactivity levels, at the defense contractor's former nuclear facilities. And a nuclear "hot zone" in excess of background radiation levels was identified in a Rocketdyne document, not in government reports, as the article suggested. The Weekly regrets the errors.

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