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★STA R LETTER

Going to the cinema back in the day used to be a rare treat. I’m old enough to remember the kaleidoscopic oil effect swirling around the screen instead of all the mind-numbing ads. Today, with a bag of sweets costing £7.95, cinemagoing doesn’t seem as much of a treat. Maybe at 54 I’m not hip enough to understand the modern film experience. Still, none of the whippersnappers today will have had the joy of experiencing the pure, unadulterated moment of terror in Jaws when the head of Ben Gardner suddenly flashed on the screen!

I nearly dropped my Orange Maid!

Sad to hear that your moviegoing isn’t as much fun as it used to be, Simon. Anyone else feel the same? Conversely, anyone happy to be rid of any old cinema traditions? We can’t say we miss the pre-online days of relying on the smudgy, microscopic, often wildly inaccurate listings in the local paper. (The Secret of NIMH is an X certificate, is it? That must be one Ben Gardner-sized shocker of a secret.) Simon and everyone with a letter printed here will receive a copy of the Daniel Brühl-starring Race for Glory: Audi vs Lancia, available on 11 March on DVD via Signature Entertainment. Didn’t send an address? Email it!

CROSS EXAMINATION

How do you say the title of the upcoming MonsterVerse film? Is it Godzilla times Kong? Godzilla ex Kong? Godzilla cross Kong, Godzilla multiplied by Kong, Godzilla no Kong, Godzilla uh-uh Kong…? And is The New Empire the answer if it is multiplication?

@SydNick13 [On news of an Evil Dead spin-off] ‘Regardless of how you feel, new Evil Dead is better than no new Evil Dead’

We invited the movie’s leading actors into the office for some clarification; one of them shotputted the photocopier out of the window and the other did an atomic burp that turned the back-issues cupboard into Total Kiln. (We thereafter abandoned our followup question, ‘Will we see you on Strictly this year?’)

BABYLON WOOHOO

Thanks for the great article on Babylon 5 [issue 346]. After reading I revisited the show, and had forgotten how good it was. Despite the show being nearly 30 years old, the FX are still of a high quality, but for me, what stands out are the storytelling, emotions and flawed characters. You even ended up rooting at times for the bad guy of the piece, Alfred Bester. I once asked Walter Koenig what his favourite role was, and with a smile on his face he said: ‘Bester… I loved playing the bad guy.’

Great story, Lee, and we’re pleased you liked the piece. And thank goodness the commissioning editor realised their mistake in time and didn’t ask for 500 words on Vin Diesel clunker Babylon A.D. instead. Readers, do holler if there’s a show you want to see featured in the Classic TV slot; now is the time to act, Chorlton and the Wheelies stans!

TWIN EEKS

Enjoyed your Twins in Movies feature [10 of the Best, issue 347]. I’m sure

there were many others you could have included, but I was surprised you omitted Tom Hardy’s stonkingly brilliant portrayal of Ronnie and Reggie Kray in Legend.

It was on the longlist, alongside the other Krays movie (the one with two fifths of Spandau Ballet). Not on the longlist: neither of the Jean-Claude Van Damme movies where he plays twins (nor the one where he fights his own clone, for that matter); anything starring Mary-Kate and Ashley; and especially not Adam Sandler starrer Jack and Jill, which had less chance of being included than Topsy and Tim.

DO ME A FAVOUR

I’ve noticed recently that in-depth making-of movies are making a comeback, with Pennywise: The Story of It and RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop following in the footsteps of Hearts of Darkness, Full Tilt Boogie and Lost in La Mancha. My question - and no doubt all your readers’ question - is when are we getting a comprehensive, three-hour documentary about the making of Mac and Me?

‘I actually like the Ninjago one. The humour is selfconsciously cheap and dumb, and I’m there for it’

James Allen [Favourite Lego movie?]

We hate to be pessimistic, Thomas, but we’ve a feeling you’re going to be as disappointed as Ronald McDonald must’ve been when he won a Worst New Star Razzie for the movie (fighting off such challengers as JCVD and a talking horse).

SEEING THINGS

I’ve just watched Poor Things. I was avoiding going to the cinema as I was afraid to watch it, because it looked like Frankenstein redone with a very odd ‘family’ and some strange, crazy places and outfits. Also, director Yorgos Lanthimos won my heart with The Lobster and The Favourite, but disappointed me with The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Dogtooth. But OMG! What I would have lost by not seeing this film! Amazing performances by Stone, Dafoe and Ruffalo. A beautiful and colourful world. A story about rebirth and discovering everything in a new way. Just breathtaking.

We’re very proud of you for pushing through your fear, Maja. Believe it or not, even us seasoned cinephiles at TF still approach some films with genuine unease. But, after a coffee and a couple of pastries, we were able to face the Sunday-morning screening of Migration.

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