Napoleon dynamite or Bonaparte bomb? Balanced views of Ridley Scott’s biopic

Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from Napoleon. Reader Gareth Calway agreed with a blistering critique of the film – but also a five-star review. Photograph: AP

Having now watched Napoleon, I agree with every word of Agnès Poirier’s blistering critique (Like the rest of France, I couldn’t wait for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Then I actually saw it, 24 November), but also with your five-star review. Congratulations to the Guardian and Ridley Scott for achieving the kind of balance that the BBC can only dream of.
Gareth Calway
Sedgeford, Norfolk

• One consequence of the fall of Edward Colston is that English teachers at my old school, now known as Montpelier High, can no longer use “Colston’s girls’ school’s sixth form’s stairs” as a test of their pupils’ apostrophe appreciation (Letters, 29 November).
Catherine Bracey
Bristol