Big Screen Christmas Mailbag

When you consider all the questionable "bile" this column pumps, I am amazed to report that one Joseph Genoese has decided to take offense to a goof column written under the guise of "Earl Stiff."

Here's what Joe had to say:

• Bile in Every Word
• 
  "Reading Mr. Marks’ reviews has become painful. This guy thinks he is funny and witty. What he is is a bore.
• 
  "Gone are the days, at least at your paper, when a movie review provided insight, perspective, and clear direction into what a movie was trying to say. See Siskel, Ebert, A. O. Scott, Roper, Kael, and hundreds more.
• 
  "Your guy is a buffoon. He does nothing but hate everything and everyone, save 'Marty.' Scott Marks is shaming your paper! His review of the Golden Globes was not informative or funny. For those of us who love movies his words were insulting and juvenile.
• 
  "Do yourselves a favor and run over to some junior college journalism class and get somebody who can write without bile in every word. Your readers will be all the better for it.
• 
  Joseph Genoese
• Downtown

I decided to face my accuser from the comfort and safety of a barber chair at The Park Blvd. Salon. The moment the camera was turned on, Yen, the Sidney Guilaroff of Hillcrest whose good fortune it's been to mow my fleece for going on 14 years, froze colder than Otto Preminger in an igloo. Makes for grate video!

There is one question concerning Joe's missive that I failed to raise while getting clipped. Joe mentions Siskel, Ebert, A.O. Scott, and Kael, but I never knew Norman Fell wrote criticism?