Going to the Movies

Well recently we have gone to the movies a few times. Once to see the Da Vinci Code and once to see X-men. We haven't seen a lot of movies in the theater lately because frankly we haven't thought there were any being released that were worthy enough of our time and money. And that saddens me.

I'm kind of known as the "movie queen" to many of my friends and family. I LOVE movies. I love going to the theater and sitting there waiting for the lights to dim down with my big bowl of popcorn and having that feeling of anticipation at what new world I will soon be introduced to. I firmly believe that movies are magic.

I agree with the movie industry that there is just something really special about seeing a movie in a theater. However, it has to be worth your time and money. Unfortunately, I think the industry is going down hill. The scripts seem to be half-baked and just re-works of previous hits. Look at recent and upcoming movies. There's a ton of sequels (X-men, MI3, Pirates) and a ton of remakes (King Kong, Poseidon Adventure) and a ton of "re-imaging" (Batman, Superman, The Love Bug). Even the new stuff is based on books that have known popularity in the culture (Da Vinci, Chronicles of Narnia, LOTR). Where has the creativity gone?

Lately the movie industry has been attempting to convince people that they really need to come back to theaters in order to see movies the way they were meant to be seen. They are doing this as a way to try to get customer dollars back from rentals, video/dvd sales, pay-per-view, and to fight the growing idea of simulation releases. So they talk about the experience of going to a theater rather than watching stuff on the TV at awards shows and they get entertainment reporters to write columns about it. Fair enough. I go to movies as an escape from my life for a little while. So I understand their point of view even though I don't completely agree with it.

So I went to the theater recently to escape my life for a couple of hours. I wanted to escape the pressures of work, all the chores around the house, and all the freaking commercials on TV. I had my big bowl of popcorn and I was sitting there waiting with anticipation at what new world I will soon be introduced to, waiting for the magic to begin. The lights dimmed and the epitome of irony was revealed to me when instead of previews to up-coming movies there were previews for new shows coming to television. THAT'S RIGHT. I went to the movies and saw freaking TV commercials!

Now, why is it again that people think its ok to watch movies at home on the TV and not in theaters?