Posted 1:50 PM by Gene

The latest movee B. O. exaggerations denote an audience of extremes. On the one side is a completely mindless audience. There is nothing wrong with escapism; but your typical movee buff is so overwhelmed by promotion and advertising, and is so knotted up by peer pressure, that he will see the filmic equivalent of a refinery explosion and find it entertaining. On the other side are the pretentious thinkers for whom the movee house is a secular temple, and who go for purifying self-flagellation. They too are prone to promotion and advertising, from hacks who yelled "catharsis" to justify dreck and who have carried the notion to its logical conclusion. In between are the vast numbers merely seeking decent entertainment whom the movee biz abandoned long ago, and who gladly return the favor.

This story may not have a happy ending. We can see the no-brains' favorite descending double-digits on Saturday and the cathartics' favorite descending to the level of "disappointment", but no one should ever underestimate the movee buff's desire to burn his money.