Last night I tuned into AMC and started watching Letters from Iwo Jima – so far, so good – then I remembered why I had not seen it before – it is in Japanese with English subtitles all the way through the movie. I read well and fast, but shoot, it’s a pain in the neck to have to flick your eyes off the actors to read what they are saying for around two hours. Look somewhere else, blink, realize the subtitle is obscured by the scenery in the film and it is all over. I didn’t make it for the two hours; I fell asleep and woke un during the encore presentation. I turned the TV off.

Would it be such a crime to have the dialogue dubbed in – or at least read as in narration? Mr. Eastwood, sayonara.