Agreed about Allen

It was so refreshing to read Jeff Meyers's review of To Rome with Love (July 11). I strongly agree that Woody Allen has become a critically unassailable filmmaker whose best works are, in many instances, behind him.

To me he's no longer particularly funny or a sharp social critic, and in his Midnight in Paris I felt manipulated, as a sometime traveler, by his many shots of the city that seem gratuitously calculated to get his audience to say, "I remember seeing that!"

Like a lot of others, I loved Woody's early stuff. But in the past several years it's a rare offering that I bother seeing. So I think I'll skip the Rome thing. —Suzanne Antisdel, Detroit

Dense matter

Re: Metro Times' coverage of The Dark Knight Rises (July 25), I must sum up my feelings about the film in one word: disappointment. While there was great cinematography, action and acting, the storyline was too dense, with way too many subplots that were not fleshed-out. It was as if, in Nolan's attempt to cram all these plots and characters together, the narrative was pushed along breathlessly to keep the movie at its 2-hour, 45-minute running time. The script surely needed to be streamlined to be more effective. —David Wak, Ann Arbor

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