Movies.

I just watched a trailer for the new movie with Jon Heder and Billy Bob Thorton, and I must admit, I'm not impressed. While I love Jon Heder (mostly because he's such a nice guy in person) most of his movie choices so far haven't given him a chance to do any real acting. Now, granted, most of his movies are pretty funny, I'll give him that, but how hard is it really to play pretty much the same character over and over. Clark from Benchwarmers was only slightly more geeky than Napoleon Dynamite, and his role in Just Like Heaven, while providing much needed comic relief, wasn't much of a stretch either.

But I'm not ranting about Jon himself. Or any single actor, for that matter. I'm ranting about Hollywood in general. The crap that comes out of there is just mind-boggling. I mean, I love to laugh and I'll be the first to admit that I like a dumb-funny movie any day of the week (ahem, Zoolander, Dude Where's My Car?), but every now and then I find myself searching for something more. Something that has an interesting plot AND good acting. It seems as though those things just don't go together anymore. It's almost as if EVERY SINGLE ACTOR/ACTRESS is just doing things for the money and the ego-trip.

Case in point: Tom Cruise. (Okay, so I will pick on him just a little.)

We all pretty much know that he's lost his friggen mind. That fact was ever so apparent even before the whole couch jumping scene. I didn't even bother to watch MI:III, but I did see War of the Worlds and that was enough to convince me that it's no longer about acting for him, it's about the money. His performance (if it could be called that) in WotW seemed completely forced and arrogant, as if he was just promoting himself through the whole thing. And I've seen Tom Cruise act. Before he was a big star (as the case so often is) he was actually an actor. Risky Business, Top Gun (one of my all time favorite movies, despite how I feel about him now...), Eyes Wide Shut (as effed up and demented as it is) and even the first Mission Impossible--all classics in my opinion. But I'll be damned if I ever pay for another Tom Cruise film. I've lost all faith in him and his self-proclaiming ways.

Movies in general have all but lost their appeal for me, really. I used to look forward to going to opening night. I didn't mind shelling out between 7.50 and 9.00 to sit in a crowded theater for two and a half hours. Now-a-days I won't even go to the dollar theater. If something looks remotely interesting I'll wait till it either comes on TV or I get a free movie rental. Lazy and/or cheap, take your shot. I'm sticking with uninterested. Out of the 15 or so movies I've seen in a theater within the last year or so, only 3, maybe 4 of those have been worth the money. And while there are some still out there that may be able to convince me that my money is going toward something worthwhile (someone go see Hollywoodland and tell me if it's any good...), the opportunities are few and far between.

So that's my rant for the day. Seems rather silly of me to go off about something so trivial. I did promise a rant about the psycho Polygamist last time...I'm waiting for more news on him before I delve into that subject! But that movie trailer I watched (Something about a school and a teacher without limits...) really gave me a bleak outlook on the garbage that comes out of Hollywood these days. Whatever happened to the art of screenplay, dialogue, acting? Has it all been replaced with the love of money? Is there nothing genuine left? All of a sudden I'm melodramatic. Good night!