Lets all go to the movies!

I try very hard not to be a movie snob. You know the type. They are that person who looks down on anything they do not find to be 'quality' and belittle the film and the fanbase. They are intolerant and quite frankly obnoxious. They are a person I do not want to be.

I admit that there are movies I really don't like. Most of the time they fall into the 'not my flavor' category and not into the 'just poor quality'. I try and be accepting of the ones that fall into the former category. Not everyone can like everything, that does not mean that it is necessarily bad. It is simply not something I enjoy.

Pretty much you can throw most anything that is popular modern comedy into that category for me. Does it star Will Ferrel? Yea I can almost guarantee I will hate it. Not always mind you. I adored Stranger Than Fiction. He has played minor parts in other movies I loved and enjoyed, but for the most part I don't like his type of humor. I mean I am still trying to figure out what is supposed to be funny about Anchorman and why it deserved a sequel.

Still that is just my taste. I personally don't think it is funny, but that in no way means that it is not actually funny. I mean these sorts of movies keep getting made, someone has to like them. Sure I can say that it just shows that the audiences are getting dumber, but that isn't really true. Stupid humor has always been popular as is making money, so it is sort of a no brainer to make those kinds of movies.

If you enjoy it then more power to you. That is the point of movies after all. They are there to engage the audience and give them some pleasure and escape. They are a break from reality that most of us are in desperate need for.

Now there are some movies that are just bad. Take the Conan remake for example. That movie was just bad. I mean it wasn't even bad in the good cheesetastic campy way. It wasn't bad like Starship Troopers is bad. It is just bad. The fact that they went through multiple writers was painfully obvious. The plot was so incredibly transparent that it made it seem pointless to watch it. I couldn't even enjoy staring at Jason Momoa. I found myself making grocery lists instead of watching the movie. That is a bad movie.

If you liked that movie, I honestly don't understand. I mean if you liked it even though it was terrible I guess I can get that, but if you thought it was good? Well as long as you enjoyed it I suppose it is alright. I will just sit over here and not understand.

There is also a third category of movies I do not enjoy. They are movies that were not what I expected them to be. I can enjoy action movies, horror movies, rom coms, period dramas, and all the other types of movies out there as long as that is what I am expecting to see. If I go in expecting a light hearted witty comedy and end up with a serious depressing drama, I am not going to be happy. It is like taking a big drink of Dr Pepper when you are expecting a Sprite. You like both drinks but when you are prepared for one and get the other it is a major shock and then turn off.

I think the best example I have of this was the movie Drive. If you watched the trailers for this movie you would go in expecting an action thriller. It played off in the trailers as a Jason Statham style movie about get away drivers and crime syndicates. It looked to be all car chases and violence. I was prepared. I was ready. I was so disappointed.

I knew there was something horribly wrong when the opening credits involved neon pink retro 80's Jem and the Hologram style lettering and a bad indy chick rock soundtrack. This was stylistically screaming that I was about to be assaulted by an indy art house flick and not my gritty action movie.

I don't have anything against indy art house flicks. I have watched and loved a huge number of movies in this category. I just wasn't expecting that here. I wasn't expecting two hours of Ryan Gosling (whom I do not find to be attractive, his eyes are too close set for my taste) staring silently at his co-stars while bad music played in the background, and then four scenes of abrupt gratuitous violence. I don't even know what it was I just watched.

It might be a fantastic movie full of subtle intricacies that make it quietly brilliant. It might be cold and honest and thought provoking. It might be some sort of epiphany driving allegory to life. It may be one of the most underrated phenomenal movies ever. It may be all of those things, but it will never be any of those things to me.

I will never look at that movie without having that bad taste in my mouth. I feel betrayed by it. They used the bate and switch method on me, and I can't get over that. Be honest in your trailers. Don't dupe me into seeing your movie by promising me one thing and then not delivering on it. If you had been honest I probably would have still seen it, but I would have come with a different group of people and much different expectations.

Obviously I have opinions here. I obviously don't like things and am not afraid to tell you exactly why. I just try not to be obnoxious about it. I try very hard not to make you feel bad for enjoying something I dislike. Heaven knows that I love the hell out of movies that other people hate. I mean I love The Postman and have been taking flack for that for years.

I think what is important is that people like movies and understand that not everyone will agree on whether it is good or bad. Same thing with TV and books. They are there for entertainment and enjoyment, but nothing will be something everyone loves or even likes. Eventually you will run into someone that just hates what you love and that is alright.

The general fact of the matter is that these are just movies (or TV or books). Unless you wrote/produced/directed/acted in/or worked on said venture, it really isn't that important. I get being a fan is serious business to a lot of people, but this really isn't the battlefield you probably want to die on.

Enjoy these things for what they are and don't be the guy who ruins it for someone else. Good words to live by.