Posted 2/29/2004 12:19:00 PM by Douglas

Speaking of movies, it's Oscar time again and I have but one question: Who are you wearing?

As much as I hate to admit it, I sort of look forward to this cultural train wreck every year. No, I don't have the most fabulous Oscar party on my block, and as far as I know, I'm not even gay. But there's just something interesting seeing people, especially these people, taking themselves so damn seriously. They're actors, and that's all. But for some reason, they've convinced us somehow they warrant more. More of everything. Also, somehow Adam Sandler convinced us to pay him $20 Million for Little Nicky, but I think that's just a symptom, not the cause.

I like watching movies, presumably for the same reason everyone else does. The story. The imagery. The 90 minute escape into a world that's not as rote and mundane as your own. So it saddens me to see the trend in movies. All F/X, no story. I watched several movies from the 40s this week, and it's incredible to see the story come to life back in the day when they actually paid writers, as opposed to hiring high school girls to write dialog in-between scenes of stuff blowing up.

Conversely, I don't like going to the movies. It may be the small-town in me and that it's not something we could have done, even if we'd wanted to. But ask any agoraphobic about movie theaters and they'd probably tell you, "Who the hell are you? Get the hell away from me before I call the cops!" Then they'd probably say they hate all the people in the theater. I like to think that I'm teetering closer to the misanthropic side of agoraphobia, so it's not so much the people, per se, but the people's cell phones, popcorn crunching, insistent talking, and general belief that they're in their own living room. I actually had a complete stranger lean over to me in a crowded theater and ask "hey, who's that lady?" while pointing at the screen.

But regardless of where we watch them, we watch the crap out of them. All of them, and it's a sad realization, but they are more of a reflection of our society than the pointy heads-care to admit.

So today we all can bask in Hollywood's success, and I think we should. After all, the Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo sequel is already in pre-production.