I’m so delighted at this gentlemanly essay that I am emboldened to share that I loved the movie, too — decades after I saw one of the first bus and truck touring companies do the stage show. We don’t even remember where we were, but we remember the Heaviside Layer.

People who don’t understand actors dressed up as cats but have no problem with Ironman trouble me deeply. I can’t put my finger on it.

I was primed to like the movie because it isn’t a franchise, a formula, or a series of fatalities. Instead it’s poetry and ballet and slapstick. And I cried during the trailer, so there you are.

Thank you for your candor and confidence.