Los Angeles Times letter writers assess the paper's Oscar coverage

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March 20, 2023 12:49 PM PT

Readers weigh in on The Times’ Oscars coverage

Kudos to film critic Justin Chang for his valiant, full-page attempt at explaining the premise of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” this year’s best picture [“The Hot-Dog-Fingered Choice for Best Picture.” March 13].

My circle of ardent moviegoers is still clueless.

Hugh K. Malay

Oxnard

The only thing that came close to holding the film together as a narrative was the character played by Ke Huy Quan. It wasn’t a story, it was a lecture with occasional narrative elements. It provided a great deal to think about, and film isn’t well-suited to doing that. There were too many significant issues to contemplate in the movie, and not enough time for contemplating that significance.

Calling the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” only explained the rationale for the smorgasbord of deep, meaningful human dilemmas; it didn’t do justice to their depth and meaning. It should have been called “Deep Meaningful Human Dilemmas, Lite.”

Karen Robinson-Stark

Pasadena

Justin Chang need not be despondent in his less-than-popular assessment of the film that swept the Oscars. He wrote the definitive description: “... a frenzied mashup of immigrant fable, martial-arts spectacular, cosmological slapstick and multiverse-spanning group hug ...”

That describes why I could not keep watching the film to the end. Some of us still do love the movies that used to fill theaters.

Donna Perlmutter

Los Angeles
Editor’s note: The letter writer is a former contributor of dance and music stories to The Times’ Calendar section.

OK, someone has to say it. The film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is one of the worst films ever made. It is ridiculous, stupid and a complete waste of one’s time.

Ray Uhler

Laguna Niguel

As a sound editing professional who’s worked on films and television for over 40 years, I get frustrated when awards given for below the line achievements are still referred to as “... victories limited to technical categories ... .” [“The Oscars: When It All Falls Into Place,” March 13].

The academy has a separate awards event for actual technical achievements; they do not include visual effects or sound.

I’m sure the visual effects and sound teams for “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” made as many artistic choices as anyone else involved in the making of those films.

If Josh Rottenberg uses a word processor, does that mean he’s a technician and not a journalist?

Michael J. Benavente

Sherman Oaks

Regarding “Everywhere, Gorgeous Looks and Stunning Smiles All at Once”: [March 13]: Watching the Oscars, I was thrilled to see the better representation of diverse actors honored. It wasn’t the perfect event, but it was better.

But I was disappointed to see Michelle Yeoh choose a fashion that featured bird feathers.

Why we continue to tolerate killing sentient beings for fashion is beyond me. Society has gotten past using fur, and that’s good. But we continue to countenance killing birds for fashion. It’s a big blind spot.

The National Audubon Society got its big start when ladies nearly caused an extinction event when fashion put dead exotic birds on hats. We need to wake up again. Taking feathers from birds is a death sentence; they don’t survive, and it’s incredibly painful (the down feather industry is a disgrace). Please don’t choose feathers. There are so many sustainable materials out there, and we know better.

Marianne Davis

Encino

Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel was offensive [“An Uncontroversial, Slap-Free Ceremony,” March 13]. His Irish “jokes” were not funny.

It is 2023 and Kimmel was allowed to perpetuate ethnic stereotypes from 1855.

All in all, it was an embarrassment for our little town.

Robert Sheahen

Sherman Oaks

‘The Outsiders’ resonates with young readers

Thank you for theater critic Charles McNulty’s review and for reminding me of the power of S.E. Hinton’s novel [“‘The Outsiders’ Musical Stays Gold,”March 8].

Each and every time I worked with students as an educational therapist, no matter what the learning challenge was, they always resonated with the deep level of emotion that Hinton brought to her readers. Always, each student could identify with at least one of the characters.

Many of the students I work with have reading and language disabilities. However, readers were never deterred from finishing this character-driven novel with its courageous characters.

I am more inspired than ever to share this timeless novel.

Pattie Earlix

Santa Monica