CALENDAR LETTERS : HIP TO OSCAR’S HYPE
Woody Allen not only makes wonderfully inspired movies, he also shows excellent judgment by choosing to ignore the hype of critics’ awards and the Oscars (“Woody and the Oscars: Snubbing the Race” by Jack Mathews, Jan. 26).
This whole idiocy of various bodies presuming to select “The Best” each year only serves to reduce movies to the level of a county fair bake-off.
The Oscars, never to be taken seriously, were once fun, but that was long ago when the Academy Awards was an event that also happened to be broadcast, not a slickly and stupidly produced TV “special” scheduled for East Coast prime time and outfitted with commercial breaks, pre-taped segments, phony applause and laugh tracks and all the other garbage by which commercial television has come to define itself.
By disassociating himself from this nonsense, Allen shows respect both for himself and for his chosen medium. Would that there were more like him.
BOB EPSTEIN
Los Angeles
Only good movies
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