Picking a mess over substance

In reference to Kenneth Turan’s best movies of 2008 [“Top ‘Dog,’ and the best of Shows,” Dec. 21], I had to roll my eyes at his choice of the boring and disjointed mess of a movie “A Christmas Tale” as one of his top 10 picks and the conspicuous absence of “Milk” -- easily one of the best films of the year -- which he had previously dismissed as “a valentine to the gay movement.”

Turan obviously sees substance where there is none and misses it where it exists; not exactly stellar qualities in someone who makes his living as a film critic.

Marcia Goodman

Long Beach