# Unabashed rant: What I object to about specific movies **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 18, 2000, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770 "2000-11-18T19:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/61 "2000-11-25T05:52:47Z")
Dougie, I think you might be what Dave Barry calls “Humor Deprived”. Not only do you not laugh at jokes, you don’t even see what the joke’s supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Chupacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chupacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chupacabra)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/62 "2000-11-25T10:36:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > \*\*I object to cliches. They get so annoying. You know, someone jumping out of an exploding car/building/platypus. \*\* An exploding platypus is a cliche? I guess I have been going to the wrong movies. As for my specific movie annoyance, I’d have to point to Die Hard 2, where all the airplanes are forced to hold around Dulles airport because the weather is bad and there is no place else to go. Well, to begin with, you aren’t allowed to fly to a snowed in airport like Dulles was that day without having the fuel to fly to a legal alternate that has good weather. Even if you ignore that fact, however, all those planes held for almost the entire movie. That was way more than 2 hours in movie time. They could have flown to Dallas and landed there for Christ’s sake. If they couldn’t figure out an alternate plan then they all deserved to run out of fuel and crash. I really liked the orginal Die Hard, though. Maybe it’s because I know nothing about FBI procedures, German bearer bonds or giant magnetically locked safes. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/63 "2000-11-25T20:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chupacabra \* > **An exploding platypus is a cliche? I guess I have been going to the wrong movies.** Don’t worry- it will be one by the time I make my first twenty movies. 🙂 Does the one good guy gets to battle all the bad guys because they surround him and dance around in a circle, enabling GG to kill them all off one at a time, count as a cliche? Come on, already, bad guys- wise up! ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2000, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/64 "2000-11-26T00:27:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Dougie, I think you might be what Dave Barry calls “Humor Deprived”. Not only do you not laugh at jokes, you don’t even see what the joke’s supposed to be. That’s quite possible. In any case I don’t think I deserve the castigation that Saint Zero and others have unloaded on me. I used to get that from my drunken stepfather and the snotty punks I went to junior high school with. And I have commented that, the content of contemporary movies being what it is, they might as well have been made in Sanskrit or Zulu instead of English, for all that I can get out of them… ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/65 "2000-11-26T01:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > **Bill Murray’s movie _Stripes_ begins with Murray getting a shoeshine. When the guy finishes and asks for his money, Murray pulls a knife on him. This seems to be a throwaway bit and I wish that it _had_ been thrown away.** Maybe I saw a differently edited version than almost everyone else, since no one jumped on this, but Bill Murray’s character does not pull a knife on the shoeshine guy. When he’s done with his shine, Murray reaches into his pocket and extracts a wad of money, but holds it out of view of the shoeshine guy, attempting to be secretive with it. He hands the guy a bill (or two) and says something to the effect of “You know my motto - a 3 dollar pair of shoes and a 30 dollar shine.” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > **According to a snippet run on a local news program, the movie _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ included a dimwitted student getting a pizza delivered to him in class, to the outrage of his teacher. Another ostensibly meaningless throwaway bit.** Lesson to be learned: Avoid snippets. You’ve stated your aversion to movies at length. You won’t go to them, which may be the best choice in your case. But by the same token, basing your criticism of a movie on a ‘snippet run in a local news program’ is disingenous at best. You have no idea what the setting of the scene was, how it was resolved or whether or not it has anything to do with the plot in question. In this particular case, the student was a stoner, who had already had a run in with the teacher. In having the pizza delivered, the implication was that he was stoned once again. The teacher resolved the conflict by giving away the pizza to the other students, leaving the stoner with none. A very clever and adult way of handling it, wouldn’t you say? It wasn’t meaningless within the context of the movie. You may not have liked the movie, I know a few people who didn’t. But criticising a single seen without any first-hand knowledge is ridiculous. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > \*\*But to me, the worst offender before 1970 was the movie _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ (1965). At the end, Spencer Tracy, seriously injured and facing the loss of his job, home, wife, and family (and perhaps winding up on skid row, drinking nail polish and throwing up into the gutter), sees a nurse slip and fall and laughs himself sick. Over my head. Pearls before swine, at its absolute best. \*\* Well, dougie, some of us find that laughter is the only way to react after things have been piled on so high that you’re afraid the next time you open your mouth it will be a scream. Again, it’s a subjective way of looking at the world. You obviously disagree with it, but considering all the things that had gone wrong for the character, it was perfectly acceptable for many of us, because **we’ve been there**. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > \*\*I also find it necessary to point out that, since 1982, there are several instances in which I have _tried_ to endure a contemporary movie. Besides the elements (content) of the movie, the cost of a ticket and the _noise_ (people talking over the movie; or the extremely loud sound system) turn me off. It’s a combination of factors and, given current prices and conditions, it’s not likely I’ll go to the movies anytime soon. ☹ \*\* Try renting a video. Then you’ll only have to worry about the elements again. I realize this started out as a personal rant against things that you find depressing/annoying/wrong/whatever, but if you’re going to criticize specific movies, you’ll be much more credible if you’ve actually seen them, instead of relying on second or third hand accounts as your primary basis of information. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/66 "2000-11-27T21:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Lesson to be learned: Avoid snippets. You’ve stated your aversion to movies at length. You won’t go to them, which may be the best choice in your case. But by the same token, basing your criticism of a movie on a ‘snippet run in a local news program’ is disingenous at best. You have no idea what the setting of the scene was, how it was resolved or whether or not it has anything to do with the plot in question. In this particular case, the student was a stoner, who had already had a run in with the teacher. In having the pizza delivered, the implication was that he was stoned once again. The teacher resolved the conflict by giving away the pizza to the other students, leaving the stoner with none. A very clever and adult way of handling it, wouldn’t you say? It wasn’t meaningless within the context of the movie. You may not have liked the movie, I know a few people who didn’t. But criticising a single seen without any first-hand knowledge is ridiculous. Your point here is well taken, Ankh\_Too. To me the disadvantage is that I have to see the shtick about the kid ordering pizza in the classroom. But you have pointed out that the teacher gives it to the other kids in the class, “leaving the stoner with none.” Serves him right! 🙂 The TV ads for _Billy Jack,_ with Tom Laughlin, in 1971, showed Billy Jack using fierce Kung-Fu type fighting against other characters. When I told my older brother about this, some time later, he said that Billy Jack had done this after a rape-murder and other things. All well and good. The question this raises in my mind, however, is why the act that precipitated Laughlin’s character to _do_ the Kung-Fu fighting, was not _itself_ shown in the ads. I concluded that it was because, unlike the Kung Fu, the crime that provoked Laughlin wouldn’t attract prospective moviegoers. (I did not see _Billy Jack;_ I did read the satires in _Mad_ and _Cracked,_ which were really funny.) 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/67 "2000-11-27T21:48:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Lesson to be learned: Avoid snippets. You’ve stated your aversion to movies at length. You won’t go to them, which may be the best choice in your case. But by the same token, basing your criticism of a movie on a ‘snippet run in a local news program’ is disingenous at best. You have no idea what the setting of the scene was, how it was resolved or whether or not it has anything to do with the plot in question. In this particular case, the student was a stoner, who had already had a run in with the teacher. In having the pizza delivered, the implication was that he was stoned once again. The teacher resolved the conflict by giving away the pizza to the other students, leaving the stoner with none. A very clever and adult way of handling it, wouldn’t you say? It wasn’t meaningless within the context of the movie. You may not have liked the movie, I know a few people who didn’t. But criticising a single seen without any first-hand knowledge is ridiculous. Your point here is well taken, Ankh\_Too. To me the disadvantage is that I have to see the shtick about the kid ordering pizza in the classroom. But you have pointed out that the teacher gives it to the other kids in the class, “leaving the stoner with none.” Serves him right! 🙂 The TV ads for _Billy Jack,_ with Tom Laughlin, in 1971, showed Billy Jack using fierce Kung-Fu type fighting against other characters. When I told my older brother about this, some time later, he said that Billy Jack had done this after a rape-murder and other things. All well and good. The question this raises in my mind, however, is why the act that precipitated Laughlin’s character to _do_ the Kung-Fu fighting, was not _itself_ shown in the ads. I concluded that it was because, unlike the Kung Fu, the crime that provoked Laughlin wouldn’t attract prospective moviegoers. (I did not see _Billy Jack;_ I did read the satires in _Mad_ and _Cracked,_ which were really funny.) 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/68 "2000-11-28T00:12:21Z")
I apologize to _all_ Dopers who have logged onto this thread, for carelessly entering _this_ item _twice!_ :o :o :o :o ---
**Author:** ![tiggeril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggeril/32/7234_2.png) [@tiggeril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiggeril)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/69 "2000-11-28T00:29:45Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > \*\* The question this raises in my mind, however, is why the act that precipitated Laughlin’s character to do the Kung-Fu fighting, was not itself shown in the ads. I concluded that it was because, unlike the Kung Fu, the crime that provoked Laughlin wouldn’t attract prospective moviegoers._\* I’ve never seen this movie, but I would assume that the rape-murder was either a significant plot twist, or a major portion of the plot itself, or even something thrown in to shock the viewer. The point of a trailer is to pique the audience’s curiosity, and giving away a major plot point leads to some very disgruntled audience members. A more recent example would be the crapfest _Mission to Mars_ in which the trailers/posters/other advertising materials informed its potential audience that the movie centered around the idea that life on earth came from aliens on Mars. That turned out to be the END of the movie, rendering all the expository time (the first 24/25 of the movie) useless. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/70 "2000-11-28T01:01:37Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never seen this movie, but I would assume that the rape-murder was either a significant plot twist, or a major portion of the plot itself, or even something thrown in to shock the viewer. The point of a trailer is to pique the audience’s curiosity, and giving away a major plot point leads to some very disgruntled audience members. A more recent example would be the crapfest Mission to Mars in which the trailers/posters/other advertising materials informed its potential audience that the movie centered around the idea that life on earth came from aliens on Mars. That turned out to be the END of the movie, rendering all the expository time (the first 24/25 of the movie) useless. Your point _too_ is well taken. In fact I almost found that bit about _Mission to Mars_ worth a laugh; like a humorous bit _Games_ Magazine once printed about a store’s promotion, which included the line, "Call in and guess the weight of this 52-lb. chocolate bunny! :D:D:D I think the satires in _Mad_ and _Cracked_ let me in on the plot and nature of various movies from 1971 to 1994 (when I quit reading either magazine), and threw in some funny stuff for good measure. _Billy Jack_ was a case in point, specifically as spoofed in _Cracked:_ “Why do they call him Silly Jack?” “Because that’s how he looks in that black Navajo hat!” Later on “Silly” Jack is shown with the funniest angry look on his face, including when “Blue Jean” tells him that “Barnyard” “said you look silly in that black Navajo hat!” SILLY JACK (Furious eyes; smoke coming out of his ears): “WHAT???! He DID??!” Then he takes care of “Barnyard.” Later, however, as the posse flushes him out of the house he has holdle up in, he asks, “Who’ll give **me** a ‘fair trial’?” “We will! Your Indian Peers!” Then Silly Jack, Blue Jean, and the sheriff (played by Clark Howatt in the real movie) face the Indian Peers, who say: “Silly Jack, we find you guilty of being an Uncle Tom-Tom!” “Instead of fighting for the rights of your fellow Indians you spend all your time helping this paleface teacher and her weirdo suburban kids!” “That’s like the Black Panthers giving up their lives to defend the mansion of Governor [George] Wallace [of Alabama]!” “We were better off when Hollywood portrayed us as stupid savages; at least in those movies we knew who our enemies were!” And finally: “We also find you guilty of looking silly in that black Navajo hat!” 😃 Another point: When I was a kid our parents sent the three of us–my older brother, younger sister, and me–to the movies _every_ Saturday, even if the movie playing was not geared to kids. There was no appeal–I go to the movies or else. Maybe this force-feeding (and I sometimes sneaked out of the movie house if the movie didn’t hold my interest) was what turned me off initially, so that when we moved out of that neighborhood and no longer lived within walking distance (my older brother was not quite 12) and I was no longer forced to go, I quit going altogether. (Well, I quit going regularly). All the same, if my parents hadn’t forced the matter on me in childhood I might be less predisposed now (since 1960) to avoid movies to any degree. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/71 "2000-11-28T14:26:30Z")
> [@](#): > > after seeing The Love Bug eleven years later I didn’t go to the movies again until 1982 > [@](#): > > FYI, I quit going to movies in June 1987, after seeing a ghastly film called The Believers Um, isn’t this kind of like saying that you’re going to stop listening to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones because Yoko Ono’s voice sucks? There are tens of thousands of movies out there and you base your judgements on the dozen or so that you’ve seen in the last 50 years! Maybe you need to go check out that movie review site run by a religious whacko that exposes _every single scene_ of everything that could remotely be considered naughty. He even has an offensiveness rating scale. That way you could see if you’re going to be offended before you even rent a movie. (though I doubt even that kook would be offended by a student ordering pizza in class :rolleyes:) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/72 "2000-11-28T17:42:50Z")
Dougie, get off the cross, we need the wood… And I guess all questions about you have been resolved with the revelation that you not only glean much of your knowledge from _Mad_ and _Cracked_ magazines, but have felt the need to either memorize sections or have them close at hand to cite. Oh my God… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/73 "2000-11-28T22:04:40Z")
I’d just like to step in for a moment and recommend that Dougie go rent _South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut_. It won’t change your attitudes about the silver screen in general, but I bet it’ll give you about a trillion new peeves you’d never even thought of. And we could all use a few more things to hate, right? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/74 "2000-11-29T16:46:01Z")
Forget South Park- I want to tie him down and make him watch _Resevoir Dogs, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave,& Dog Day Afternoon_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/75 "2000-11-29T17:55:11Z")
Hey, I bet **dougie** won’t even watch The Three Stooges. **Dougie** , you started a thread on cartoons and then revived it months later. Obviously, you watch a lot of cartoons. (So do I, so that’s not a criticism.) Can’t you get it that the violence in, say, a _Die Hard_ movie is just as fake as the violence in a Road Runner/Coyote cartoon? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/76 "2000-11-29T19:16:08Z")
I hate how in many movies where there is a labor/birth scene, they show the couple panicking and racing to the hospital at the first TWINGE of a contraction. Father of the Bride II, which was on the other night, is the perfect maddening example. Um, hello? For most people, giving birth is not such an inherently treacherous event that you have to get to the nearest hospital at all costs the first second you think labor begins. As if it’s risky to have too many contractions away from the machinery and the trained medical staff. Furthermore, it’s more common for babies–especially first ones–to take their sweet time being born. Our hospital doesn’t even want to SEE your panting, sweaty face until you’re, well, panting and sweaty. Also, I can guarantee you that when I WAS in labor, there is no way I’d have let dear darling husband speed. Every pothole, every bump, was agony–he drove with extreme caution, or I’d have ripped his nuts off. I realize the dash to the hospital is all for the dramatic effect, plus the comedic opportunities to see daddy-to-be swerving through traffic and running red lights (haw! haw! Look at that wreck he caused! Whee! They just went airborne!). But it’s really misleading. It wasn’t until I went to birth classes that I realized that everything I knew about birthin’ babies came from TV and movies–and nearly all of it was complete hogwash. It’s become a major pet peevola. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/77 "2000-11-29T19:29:06Z")
OK, I have an objection to two specific movies: Independence Day and Terminator 2. Both movies were set in Los Angeles. In both, a hero/heroine steals a car, and in both instances the keys are stashed behind the viser. Do people really do that in LA?? _I_ live in a podunk Oregon backwater town and I _still_ wouldn’t do that! Or are there people who think, “This is LA, my car is probably going to get stolen anyway, I might as well give them the keys so that maybe, if the car is recovered, the steering column won’t be tore all to hell”? ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/78 "2000-11-29T20:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* > **3) This may show Spielberg’s contempt for the police, but it’s a foolhardy and dangerous stunt that could even have put the stuntman’s life in jeopardy.** The director of \* Back to the Future \* was Robert Zemeckis, not Steven Spielberg. Whatever issues one has with the movie, it would be appropriate to at least blame the man who actually directed it. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/79 "2000-11-29T22:09:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beakerxf \* > **-Hearing the snapping sound when someone’s neck is broken.** Why, what kind of noise does it make, if any? This just came up in a story I’m writing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770/80 "2000-11-29T22:28:15Z")
It’s not in the least surprising to me that I am opposed by so many people on this point. But it doesn’t matter. As for _Mad_ and _Cracked,_ I haven’t even read those magazines at all in the last six years. What I know about the movies made _since_ 1994 is what I see about them in the _Rave!,_ the entertainment section of the local newspaper, the _Daily Breeze,_ (website [http://www.dailybreeze.com](http://www.dailybreeze.com) ) which comes out every Friday; I’ve been reading this all the way back to 1971. As also noted here, I see the TV ads for the movies and watch Roger Ebert’s program on Sunday nights on ABC. This gives me a satisfactory amount of information on this movie or that. And for those who asked, I have been a Three Stooges fan for more than 40 years. Don’t try to make an analogy between the Stooges’ slapstick comedy and what is represented as comedy in contemporary movies, knuckleheads. It may sound like a lazy and easy way out, but for quite a while I have merely assumed that, in this movie or that TV drama, someone is going to suffer in some way, from mild humiliation to brutal, tortuous slaughter. This assumption, as far as I am concerned, makes actually going to see the movie (at home we have hundreds of movies on video, none of which I have cared to watch except for old ones like _Casablanca_ or _Music Man)_ totally superfluous. And I have sensed that the severe exhortation I am enduring to ‘go see a movie,’ has already impinged on my freedom of choice, or made me sense that I am being castigated for actually exercising such freedom. C’mon–lay your cards on the table! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabashed-rant-what-i-object-to-about-specific-movies/41770.md?page=5)