Darren Aronofsky just trying to stretch as artist

Tim Riley, Grass Valley

Dearest Tim: No. Movies as good as "The Wrestler" and "Black Swan" don't happen by accident. The worst that can be said for Aronofsky is that sometimes his reach exceeds his grasp, but that just means he's striving, which is what artists should do.

Dear Mick: What was Ricky Gervais thinking at the Golden Globes?

Celia Talbot, Santa Rosa

Dear Celia: I have mixed feelings about Gervais at the Golden Globes. On the one hand, he was so nasty that it made me uncomfortable. Yet most of the people he was mocking have such a sense of entitlement that it doesn't exactly pain me to watch them squirm. You see who they really are when they get a little drunk and start making fun of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is hosting them. These celebrities are like snotty, popular kids who show up at the nerds' party, eat all their food, drink like slobs, laugh at everybody and then stagger off leaving a mess - and expect to be thanked for having condescended to show up in the first place.

Hi Mick: I enjoy watching silent movies. Are the actors actually speaking when they move their lips?

David Sokolsky, Eureka

Hi David: Yes, they're speaking something like the intertitles, but they're elaborating and paraphrasing. This is the fun extra dimension of silent films - the more you watch a movie, the more you understand.

Dear Mick: What is your take on the importance of one scene in an actor's career?

Jerry Blair, Walnut Creek

Dear Jerry: Different scenes are important for different reasons. There are defining moments, such as when Bogart sits alone getting drunk in "Casablanca" or De Niro talks to himself in the mirror in "Taxi Driver." And there are Oscar-winning scenes, as when Jane Fonda listens to the tape recording in one unbroken take in "Klute." I particularly like scenes from first or early films that imprint a new talent in the public mind: the cafe scene followed by the walk in "Intermezzo," which showcased the young, lovely Ingrid Bergman; or the unforgettable conversation scene between a father and daughter in "A Nos Amours," which introduced the world to the 16-year-old Sandrine Bonnaire.

Dear Mick LaSalle: Thanks for the review of the documentary "The World at War." I've always tried to explain how perfect Laurence Olivier's narration is. He is detached, but compassionate. He conveys real sorrow.

Pete Hale, Petaluma

Dear Pete Hale: I agree. He stretches the convention of the detached narrator just enough so that you remember there's a person on the other side of that voice who remembers these events well and was affected by them. Forty years ago, most adults remembered World War II, so there was a kind of communion there. But now the narration is even more powerful because it feels like a generation's statement to the future.

Dear Mick: A reader asked if the "True Grit" remake was needed, and you replied, "Nope." Is any movie ever "needed"? If so, which ones?

Frank Rinker, Danville

Dear Frank: If you extend the question that far, they're all needed by somebody. Or nothing is ever needed, because one day a meteor will hit the planet and the human race will cease to exist. However, paleontologists now believe that dinosaurs had movies, too - in prehistoric times, there were only Imax theaters, nothing smaller - and while none of those films survive, they seemed to make the dinosaurs happy. Isn't that enough?

Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length. On SFGate To hear Ask Mick LaSalle with commentary, trivia and lots of extras, download his podcast at sfgate.com/podcasts.

This article appeared on page P - 24 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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