Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Tuesday Morning at the Movies

I just heard the Oscar nominations announced. I guess I must have died several months ago, but nobody has ever gotten around to telling me. I'd never even heard of most of these actors/movies. And, what I have heard does not, in any way, make me want to see those movies.
Is it just me? I mean, really, do most of you out there go to see Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, and the rest of that heap of garbage? If those Hollywood folks and/or those who enjoy these movies, think they're impressing us common folk by claiming to enjoy this year's nominees, forget it. You don't. At least I'm not impressed.
And, if these really are the movies that most Americans enjoy, wow! We're certainly have become a rather morbid group of people. No wonder there's so much drama and trauma and violence and depression in the world today.
Although, I don't truly believe that the movies nominated this year are a true reflection on what Americans enjoy. I would like to think we're much more shallow than that. The most thought provoking movie I've seen in recent months is The Terminal with Tom Hanks, and I slept through a good portion of that.
The absolutely best movie in the past year was Flightplan. You remember that part when the heart appeared when Jodie Foster breathed on the window? Now that's a movie. And yet, how many times did you hear Mia Sorvino or that other guy mention Flightplan this morning? Exactly. That's my point.
I'm thinking about making a movie about a gay cowboy who becomes a gay writer and investigates a mass murder, and then, when he gets bored he begins a Communist witch hunt, and then he and his daughter (don't ask me how he has a daughter) get on this plane and she disappears, and then the plane lands and he gets stuck at the terminal for a year, and then this giant ape breaks out its cage and terrorizes the terminal, and the gay cowboy saves the day, but then he falls off the Empire State Building, and makes a big splash on Broadway, and then from that point, it kind of becomes a musical. Can you imagine how successful that would be? It would appeal to virtually every movie-goer on earth. I'd pay good money to see that kind of show.
On second thought, I think I'll just stay home and watch reruns of Law and Order and King of Queens. Talk about Oscar contenders. So what if they're not movies, they're entertaining, and I would think that's what the movies should be about.
It probably is just me, isn't it?