The turning point was the academy realizing they had just nominated the star of "Norbit" for an Oscar... for a performance in a musical...

Just think if "Norbit" had come out 2 months later and Murphy had won? That would have been almost as good as the win for "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp"! Almost..

but I'm still gonna see it.

I mean, "Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a bit ....(say it!) ... oppressive as well, but people still come.

your review of Batman and all the letters that followed, I know a lot of readers would like you to get out of the movie reviewing business, but I would not like that at all. I just find your reviews amazing. You might be right about this one. I liked the trailer and I like the cast, but I believe I'll have to go elsewhere to find an objective review. Whenever you say the cast or a character in a movie "seems to be" portraying something in a certain way, I can never really believe you. And like a lot of posters on the Batman review, you really do seem to hate movies. I read a review in the New Yorker that didn't like Batman and one in Slate that did, and I think both of them were more enlightening than any of your reviews. To say that C. Nolan effed up because he's not like Hitchcock or hasn't seen a Hitchcock movie and he's made this huge extravaganza--?? The headline on that should have been: Zacharek to Nolan: You're no Hitchcock!

That would have left us scratching our heads.

Now your problem is that Meryl Streep seems to be having TOO MUCH FUN just to prove old women can have fun. OUTRAGEOUS. Truly, you amaze me in a car wreck, can't stop reading this stuff kinda way. And you just keepa goin.

Hasn't there already been enough bat guano about Batman?

And they will love every moment, as they dance in the ailes.

If their husbands are wise they will take them.

In other words, this review will not make a difference. I was expecting a couched review like in the Times for a film that will be a blockbuster.

Well, I'm glad to see that Stephanie appreciated Pierce Brosnan's performance to some degree...if not his singing. He is one of the major reasons I've been wanting to see this movie for some time. (Streep, the chance to see them together, and the music of ABBA, which I find infectious, are the others.) I've seen a number of clips from the movie as it's been promoted on various programs, and though I'm well aware that short clips can give a very misleading impression of the overall tone and effect of a movie, I have to say that I found my foot tapping and I was left with quite a positive feeling. I plan to see the movie this weekend, and I rather suspect I will enjoy it a good deal...no matter what Stephanie says.

I didn't mean to write so much about BM, but I read the review and the letters and wasn't going to post, but then I read this and it was so alike. I mean so off the mark. Her problem with this movie seemed to be that people were romping and singing on a Greek Island and enjoying each other's company and being too skinny in bathing suits. From her review I also gather that the music is by Abba. Just amazing. Yes she said it wasn't fun enough and some performances were leaden. Guess I'll just take her word for it. Oh yes, some people were singing badly but those were the good performers and the good singers were the bad performers which I suppose could be true. Oh who knows.

Thanks to whoever for the caption under the double photo. Left: Meryl Streep in "Mamma Mia." Right: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight." Thanks for clearing that up for me. Ever so helpful.

I saw the ads, and I kept expecting the energizer bunny, or someone to start hawking fried chicken or anti-freeze. I even thought, Wow, whoever came up with this spoof movie commercial really scored, getting Meryl Streep to play along.

I mean, no way this is a REAL movie, right?

But, no. It's real.

All I can say is OMGWTFBBQ!

I felt I was being thoroughly, and unenjoyably, punished.

And how is this different from how you respond to ANY OTHER MOVIE?

I swear to god, I don't understand why Salon employs a film critic who DOESN'T LIKE FILM. You hate EVERYTHING, Stephanie! It's not even that you have high standards, it's just that you're a misanthrope, and it's getting irritating to watch you turn your nose up at things just because you can.

I've seen the ads for this so-called movie; even without seeing it, I endorse this review. The movie looks canned, stupid and asinine-and those are the kindest words I can say about it.

That the ABBA music is in it makes it even worse. I can't imagine what they must have paid the ABBA songwriters, Benny and Bjorn, but it must have been enough for them to stop wincing every time they hear the songs mangled beyond belief.

I've heard that the stage musical is better. I can only hope so, because it has people who can sing in it. Pierce Brosnan singing? Meryl Streep dances and sings? There is a plot to it?

What a pathetic waste of money and energy. I'll keep listening to the original music and ignore what some producers think is entertainment.

They can do that today. They can over dub in another singer (a la Natalie Wood in West Side Story), they can add sound or play with the shape of the sound wave to make it sound "thicker", etc. Or they could have had a really good vocal coach teach him to sing from his chest and not his throat (his voice is thin because he is tensing his throat and singing from his throat.) His speaking voice is resonant, so a good teacher could have fixed this. I had a music teacher back in high school take a girl with a baby, nasally, whiny voice and in five literal minutes open up that voice to become full, rich, and without nasal whine. It's a technique, not a mystery.

I heard him on the bumper during his appearance on the daily SHow and I was shocked. Was the thinnes supposed to denote his suffering or something?

I don't get it.

I don't expect Oscar worthy performances from this. But I will say that my husband liked Hancock, (another movie panned here) as did a lot of people I know. Salon's reviewer seem a bit pretentiously critical of decent movies (The Bucket List comes to mind as an example of that pretentiousness).