Not all good movies bust blocks
a SUIT column by Chris Jungle

Okay, let me get this straight. The dinosaurs come back and the people run away, John Travolta and Nicholas Cage switch faces, Wil Smith and Tommy Lee Jones fight the aliens among us, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera instead of Zeus and Alcmena, Harrison Ford is the President and can beat the crap out of everybody, Batman meets new friends and enemies for no apparent reason, Jodie Foster finds the aliens not among us, Julia Roberts tries to bust up a wedding so she can marry the guy, and Jackie Chan saves the world by jumping, kicking, and hitting. It must be summer time. Lots of explosions and fighting and running and singing and aliens.

It's not that there is something wrong with explosions and what not, but there is a danger of overexposure. Usually one or two good explosion movies will do me for an entire year. I suffer the curse of being entertained by good conversation. It could be an elitist (or maybe extinct) quality, but I think anyone who writes (or reads) a weekly column should feel at least slightly better after having a good talk with someone.

It doesn't even matter if the conversations change the world. I've talked for an hour straight on most major sports, most major ideologies, religions, relationships, how Texas is just too big of a state, why people walk around in a haze, and other such nonsense.

Is it so wrong for the movies I go to see have conversations I'd like to be a part of? When Hercules talks about wanting to get his god power back, I really don't feel a part of the program. When Jeff Goldblum tries to figure out how to run away from a dinosaur, it's not something I can connect with having experienced. It's not that films need to be more realistic because they are a form of escapism--much like reading and television. But with every good film of escapism, there needs to be a good story.

What's funny is that to find flicks with really good stories I can't go to the 24-plex (which plays just eight movies but on multiple screens) or peruse the movie ads on television for the best thirty second pitch. No, I have to go to the second run movie theaters that play small budget movies.

I dove into my favorite cheap seats theater at ten o' clock at night on a Thursday to check out a movie called Daytrippers. All I knew about it was that it was an entire family's trip to New York to see if a husband was unfaithful. That was the one line review. They didn't even have a movie poster of the it at the theater, but just a bunch of promo pictures pasted up. It was only two dollars, so I risked an hour and a half of my time to see if the movie could entertain me. Since it was a small budget flick, it had to entertain me with dialogue and situations instead of fight scenes and lasers. And darn it if it didn't work. I won't ruin all the stuff the movie has to offer, but if you think a guy talking about his novel in which the protagonist has the head of German short-haired pointer and becomes a major revolutionary figure in United States history is even remotely comical, it's probably worth two of your dollars as well. The movie made all of its characters understandable quickly and fun. Strange monologues and dialogue were smattered throughout, and it told jokes both blatantly and subtly. Subtlety is something usually left out of most big summer movie blockbusters (same goes for a two dollar admission).

I left the theater doing something I don't always do: I was thinking. I thought about how everyone in the movie might deal with their situation. I thought about how I'd deal with everyone's situation. Pretty soon it was an hour later, and I was still thinking about the movie. Imagine that, a lasting effect.

Movies can be really cool mediums, and there are fine examples in all genres. There's nothing wrong with enjoying Hellraiser, Rumble in the Bronx, Big Night, Ghandi, Welcome to the Dollhouse, and Apocalypse Now all in one life. The problem is that if people just go see the big production, big effects, highly advertised, known actor movies, then this is the majority of the kinds of movies that will get made. So if you think the summer movie season has taken you for too many rides for too much money, why not pop into that slightly rundown theater for something of a different flavor. The movie won't bust up the block with exploding buildings or crashing planes, but it'll probably tell an interesting story.

Chris Jungle has received a form letter signed by the major movie production companies telling him to "mind his own business." Since he has no business, he has vowed to keep bothering others.

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