Issue Movies

I don't know about you but I have this thing about movies that everyone wants me to see.

"You have to see ----!"

Really?

"You'll love -----!"

Trust me, I won't.

"------ is such an important movie to watch!"

Doubt it.

Ugh, no thanks. That's like telling me to eat my vegetables (especially since I'm a vegetarian). I don't want to see any movie (or watch a TV show or read a book) that's supposed to be good for me. Who wants that? When I watch movies I want to be entertained. If there's any learning to be done, I want it to be purely accidental, like when I find out that the veggie burrito I just ate and loved was made with a whole wheat tortilla and no lard. You mean I loved it AND it was healthy for me? Awesome!

But don't do that to me with my entertainment.

Okay, got that straight? Perf. Now, what I hate next is when I finally do see that movie that everyone has wanted me to see or watch that critically acclaimed TV show or read that Pulitzer Prize winning book and it's good! Oh boy, do I hate that.

Example: "Brokeback Mountain" - I was told by about a million people to see this movie, plus it won a ton of awards and was breaking all sorts of boundaries and such and I kept putting it off and putting it off and finally, I saw it this weekend. And it was amazing. The actors were fantastic and the love story was so haunting that I woke up the next morning sad, just thinking about it.

It tears me up that this was as good as it was.

Another example: "The Kite Runner" - a good-for-you book that deals with modern day issues of class and politics and there was NO way I was gonna read this. I did. Eventually. And couldn't put it down. It was a total page-turner and I learned a lot about history and culture that I didn't know but I did it without realizing it! I was eating spinach thinking it was a veggie burrito, you know?

Maybe it's the rebel in me that hates to do what everyone else is doing. Maybe it's the child in me that hates to be told what to do. Maybe it's the laziness in me that can't get my butt in gear to do things in a timely fashion.

Every once in a while the mass media gets it right and they promote the good stuff instead of the usual junk. Separating the wheat from the chaff, though, is ultimately up to us.

Your Hollywood connection,

Leigh