Letter: Thoughts on the Movies section

Posted on by Letters
Graphic by Lori Deaton

What exactly happened to the movie column? I was so proud to have helped vote the movie column to the No. 1 favorite column of the entire Mountain Xpress last year only to see it gutted beyond recognition earlier this year. Bummer.

Francis X. Friel made an excellent point on the website that highlights the murky motivation behind this restructuring. I even heard that Scott Douglas posted a comment to a previous letter to the editor and that comment was immediately removed from the newspaper’s website and never even mentioned. Why censor, when the only apparent reason would be to keep the public in the dark as to what actually happened to these much-loved movie reviewers?

I personally believe the community was best served by those “one or two authoritative reviewers,” as anyone can have an opinion about a movie, but very few know what they’re talking about. I used to learn something when I read the reviews, now I only learn what a treasure we had and lost.

More than ever I am thankful for Ken Hanke and what he provided us with the Asheville Film Society, where I can not only see fantastic, life-changing films, but hear the voices of the real movie guys.

— Mara Anderson
Woodfin

Editor’s response: We always appreciate hearing from our readers. Prior responses about the changes to the Movies section can be found on our website at mountainx.com, along with our policy for online comments.

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