Why Can't Tootie and Natalie Be As Important As Captain Kirk and Spock?
I have tried to become more mainstream in my movie tastes, but at the end of the day... it's just not me. I can't help what I'm not interested in. I can't force myself to enjoy things a lot of people do. I don't know what it is about these movies, but I see the previews for them and I'm either indifferent or hate what I see. If the movie stars Nicholas Cage or Matthew McConaughey, I can guarantee you I'll think the movie is a big pile of steaming poo. I don't even dislike either of them as people (the way I do Mel Gibson). I'm sure they are both nice guys. Their movies just always look crummy to me ("Valley Girl" is the exception).
I'm not saying that I hate ALL movies that have giant success at the box office. That wouldn't be a true statement at all. It just seems like most guys my age who are in the same kind of "social situation" (or whatever you want to call it) all embrace science fiction. I've always shrugged my shoulders at it. My favorite kinds of movies are non-period piece ones that don't contain special effects and preferably don't take place in a court room, or have anything to do with crime, the Mob, or the Mafia. I don't get excited about things blowing up in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. What looks extremely cool to most of you looks like a butt numbing tedious experience to me. (Okay, I can't get enough of Jason Statham and his "Transporter" movies, but it's for very different reasons.)
I blame it all on my inability to see Star Wars in a timely manner. When it first came out, it was the absolute must-see movie for kids my age. Each time my mom took my sister and I to the theater to see it, it was sold out. This was before multiplexes existed, and if a theater had more than one screen- they never devoted more than one screen to a single movie, no matter how popular it was. I think we tried to see it five or six times. I was DESPERATE to see it since all of my friends and all of the kids at school had seen it. I don't know why we were so unlucky in procuring seats for a showing, we just were. My mom was frustrated because she wanted to make my sister and I happy, but she finally just bought me the paperback novelization and called it a day. I began reading it, but it was a boring book. It was such a visual story that it really needed to be seen and not read, so I never finished it.
I finally saw it over a year after it had finally been released when it played the at the cheapo dollar theater. I had heard all of the kids talking about it so much that there wasn't one thing about the movie that was surprising. I had witnessed all of the kids and their beloved Star Wars action figures (why would I want an action figure for a movie I had never seen?), and seen kids recreating scenes from the movie out on the playground at school. It sucked all of the wonderment of seeing something for the first time out of it for me. When the movie was over, all I could think was that's what I've been waiting to see for over a year?
Which brings me to the new Star Trek movie. I've never seen the TV show or any of the movies. I've seen bits and pieces here and there, and I'm enough of a pop culture aficionado to know who Captain Kirk and Spock are. I'm not completely retarded. It just never looked interesting enough for me to sit down and devote any sort of time to. I keep hearing and reading that everyone says the new movie is fantastic. I'm sure it is. It doesn't change the fact that I have zero interest in it.
I've had three guys ask me if I wanted to go see it with them now. THREE! I'm pretty sure one of the guys lost all interest in me when I was honest with him and politely said "I've never seen anything Star Trek before." He had never heard such nonsense. I don't want to have some big first date with a guy and go see some movie that I fall asleep in. I can't force enthusiasm, and snoring in a movie isn't sexy.
I know this sounds kind of idiotic, but it all feels rather lousy. I'd be thrilled if I could be so agreeable, and able to enjoy what everyone else is loving. It doesn't feel that great to be left out. All of my friends have seen it and loved it. I even opened my mind to actually SEEING the movie, just because I wanted to hang out with Scott and Vikki, and then due to some miscommunication, they saw it without me. (Scott e-mailed me about going to it after I had gone to bed. By the time I checked my e-mail and voice mail the next morning, it was too late for me to be able to go.) It just wasn't in the cards.
It would be so much easier if they would have turned The Facts Of Life into a successful movie franchise.
I'm not saying that I hate ALL movies that have giant success at the box office. That wouldn't be a true statement at all. It just seems like most guys my age who are in the same kind of "social situation" (or whatever you want to call it) all embrace science fiction. I've always shrugged my shoulders at it. My favorite kinds of movies are non-period piece ones that don't contain special effects and preferably don't take place in a court room, or have anything to do with crime, the Mob, or the Mafia. I don't get excited about things blowing up in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. What looks extremely cool to most of you looks like a butt numbing tedious experience to me. (Okay, I can't get enough of Jason Statham and his "Transporter" movies, but it's for very different reasons.)
I blame it all on my inability to see Star Wars in a timely manner. When it first came out, it was the absolute must-see movie for kids my age. Each time my mom took my sister and I to the theater to see it, it was sold out. This was before multiplexes existed, and if a theater had more than one screen- they never devoted more than one screen to a single movie, no matter how popular it was. I think we tried to see it five or six times. I was DESPERATE to see it since all of my friends and all of the kids at school had seen it. I don't know why we were so unlucky in procuring seats for a showing, we just were. My mom was frustrated because she wanted to make my sister and I happy, but she finally just bought me the paperback novelization and called it a day. I began reading it, but it was a boring book. It was such a visual story that it really needed to be seen and not read, so I never finished it.
I finally saw it over a year after it had finally been released when it played the at the cheapo dollar theater. I had heard all of the kids talking about it so much that there wasn't one thing about the movie that was surprising. I had witnessed all of the kids and their beloved Star Wars action figures (why would I want an action figure for a movie I had never seen?), and seen kids recreating scenes from the movie out on the playground at school. It sucked all of the wonderment of seeing something for the first time out of it for me. When the movie was over, all I could think was that's what I've been waiting to see for over a year?
Which brings me to the new Star Trek movie. I've never seen the TV show or any of the movies. I've seen bits and pieces here and there, and I'm enough of a pop culture aficionado to know who Captain Kirk and Spock are. I'm not completely retarded. It just never looked interesting enough for me to sit down and devote any sort of time to. I keep hearing and reading that everyone says the new movie is fantastic. I'm sure it is. It doesn't change the fact that I have zero interest in it.
I've had three guys ask me if I wanted to go see it with them now. THREE! I'm pretty sure one of the guys lost all interest in me when I was honest with him and politely said "I've never seen anything Star Trek before." He had never heard such nonsense. I don't want to have some big first date with a guy and go see some movie that I fall asleep in. I can't force enthusiasm, and snoring in a movie isn't sexy.
I know this sounds kind of idiotic, but it all feels rather lousy. I'd be thrilled if I could be so agreeable, and able to enjoy what everyone else is loving. It doesn't feel that great to be left out. All of my friends have seen it and loved it. I even opened my mind to actually SEEING the movie, just because I wanted to hang out with Scott and Vikki, and then due to some miscommunication, they saw it without me. (Scott e-mailed me about going to it after I had gone to bed. By the time I checked my e-mail and voice mail the next morning, it was too late for me to be able to go.) It just wasn't in the cards.
It would be so much easier if they would have turned The Facts Of Life into a successful movie franchise.