Studio gripe.

Ok, I have a little vent that I have to share with you. I realize that Oscar competition is fierce, and I understand that studios want their Oscar-quality movies fresh in the minds of Academy members when they vote for the annual awards. However, it irritates me to no end that movie studios hold back their best films, their Oscar-worthy work, all year. THEN, during the holiday season, when movie-goers are busy, when they are wrapping gifts and putting up decorations, when they are already overcommitted with parties and social activites, when they are broke from buying presents and hams and garland, when they are exhausted, THEN the studios decide to release their best films, all at once.

Where were these gems back in June, when Herbie: Fully Loaded was being foisted on the movie-going public? Where was Walk the Line or The Chronicles of Narnia the weekend that Beauty Shop opened?

So what happens is, I'm already running all over town preparing for Christmas and attending the various holiday parties being given. I'm tired, I'm counting my pennies, and I have very little free time to speak of. OF COURSE this is when every movie I want to see is released. And then the industry has the GALL to wonder aloud why people don't come to movies anymore. Humph. Well, if they'd plan their schedules more for the public than for Academy voters, they might be getting a bigger market share. There, I said it. It may not be accurate (I'm sure some industry insider could give us several paragraphs on why my above gripe is unfounded.), but that's how I feel.