I like movies. I watch a lot of movies. Sometimes I wonder if I watch more movies than I do regular TV, although I don't think that scale has been tipped yet (a movie is usually around 2 hours, while basketball games go on all day, one after the other, with only the uniforms and scores changing).

Tonight is the Oscars, but I'm not going to predict anything. By the time most of you read this, you'll know how it went down. I've watched four out of the five best picture nominees and have my own favorite, but I don't think my favorite is going to win. So no bets from my pocket, I'll just have some wine and hope Jon Stewart is funny.

But movies, in general, I'm all for. Many movies, however, really suck. They lead many to think all movies suck. Luckily, most of us disagree about which ones suck, so we all get to have some scorn and some praise for the silver screen.

In the last month or so, I've gone to a couple of double features at my local cineplex. Five hours in the dark is not something for the faint of heart. Sometimes it means making sure you have eaten enough to get through the afternoon. Sometimes it means buying snacks that cost more than the ticket. But it definitely is a commitment. I tend to think the bargain of paying one matinee price for two movies is worth it. And I like the downtown theater: the seats are comfortable, people are generally not too annoying and they put some interesting movies up on the screen.

It seems the worst audiences are those who go to see the big new movie. And, generally, little kids are not really audiences at all. They don't understand what is going on, they don't really care and their parents seem to think it's fine to let them babble on and toddle around the theater. And, for some reason, the parents are the last people to realize their children are not going to watch the movie. I wonder, sometimes, if this is a general anesthesia to the noises their children make every day. As if they have heard these things so much they are immune to their effects.

But, since I don't go to the big big movie every week, these disturbances are few and far between.

Beyond seeing the movies on the big screen, I also have a healthy DVD collection (and quite a few VHS tapes as well). I could, I think, watch a movie a day for a year and not see any of them more than once. My viewing habits, however, preclude this experiment from happening. Like how the random feature on my iTunes plays music, some flicks are watched more often than others.

I also can't tell you my favorite top five movies. This is impossible. It constantly changes. I wouldn't call this ADD (and don't think I need medication), but choosing a favorite is like settling and I don't settle well. I have the same problem with music (although it is magnified because I have thousands of CDs).

I do know there are some people who are way more obsessive about movies (and certain actors/directors). I got an email a while back from a guy who claimed he had seen all (40 or so) movies Naomi Watts has appeared in. He wrote five academic papers on her film odyssey and objected to something I wrote a few years ago. I said she tended to be naked in a lot of her movies. Apparently this is untrue. I guess this means there are 30 plus Naomi Watts movies I don't have to check out just to see her naked. Just so you know, I really like Tank Girl.

Why, however, do I generally like movies better than TV shows? I have hundreds of movies on DVD, but precious few TV shows. Is it production value (maybe, but a lot of TV shows spend a ton of money per episode)? Is it the censored language (this might have something to do with it...I'm rather pro free speech and don't care if kids hear a bad word)? Or is it the nature of a movie? That, even when sequels are involved, these stories are all wrapped up in 2 hours or so? I know I've got the whole story and don't have to keep watching to find out who the big bad is and how they will be vanquished.

It could be many other things as well. Better acting, writing and cinematography. I watch a few films with bizarre abstract images and narratives...this does not work well for episodic TV. But there are also some well acted, written and shot TV shows.

So I don't know the answer. I just know that I've mostly stopped watching new TV shows (especially dramatic series, although I do watch cartoons quite a bit), but I still love watching new movies.

Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe this week's episode of "Matt's Life" is kind of light and frivolous. Kind of like one of those TV episodes they show in non-sweeps months. Or any Adam Sandler movie (but with fewer references to breasts).

Matt Worley saw a Munich/Syriana double feature the last time he went to the movie theater. And he has no idea what the title "Syriana" refers to, but suspects it might be a bad word in Farsi.