Guns, Porn Stars, Potholes and Movies

Forgive me my diatribe, but the films that have been released over the last several weeks have just not been very good. Annette Benning’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool was a complete waste of time. While Game Night had a few funny moments, it devolved into a shoddy display of childish humor that became quite tiresome. Death Wish with Bruce Willis clearly appears to be one of the worst movies of this or any other year. Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow also appears lackluster, but at least it has to be better than her awful turn in last year’s Mother!. And if A Wrinkle in Time is no better than the trailers, it is no wonder that it is fading fast at the box office.

But I still love the movies. When people ask why given the above, I have a handy, honest answer. Simply put, if I could get one half of the emotional satisfaction in a house of worship as I do a dark movie theater, I’d be one of the world’s great holy men as opposed to an aging criminal defense lawyer!

Additionally, I discovered long ago that films frequently take you into a magical realm that allows you to escape the tragic realities of the real world. That is especially true given the ramifications of what is going on in our country today.

To begin with, you can only shake your head when you see President Trump threatening to pull out of our nuclear agreement with Iran while at the same time wanting to meet personally with a North Korean dictator who continually boasts of his nuclear arsenal. Tell me that you wouldn’t rather be in a theater to re-watch Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri than watch Fox News’ Sean Hannity obsequiesly praise our president or MSNBC’s Chris Matthews repeatedly criticize him with incredibly long questions that drown out any answers.

And then you have our pathetic political response to the gun crisis in our country. Thousands of Americans are killed and severely wounded every year throughout our country and politicians on a State and National level bury their heads in the sand. As a former fifth grade teacher in the inner-city of Indianapolis, I find the suggestion that we arm our educators in the name of school safety appalling. Good grief, if an armed Boone County Deputy Sheriff can be killed in the line of duty what do you really think would happen to school teachers?

Yet I have discovered that going to movie theaters can be very dangerous given the pothole crisis taking place here in Indianapolis. Like thousands of other Indianapolis residents, my wife and I have experienced flat tires after hitting one of these highway land mines. How sad that our legislators want to waste billions of dollars to build Trump’s wall on the Mexican border when that money could be used to help cities like Indianapolis allow residents to drive safely.

One of our cherished American rights is the pursuit of happiness. And that, my dear friends, is exactly what I find in a movie theater. If you want to argue for lower taxes that have helped produce our pothole crisis, fine, but I’m going to see I, Tonya. If you want to argue that assault weapons, which exist solely to kill other human beings, should not be banned, then good for you. I’d much rather go see The Big Sick than get physically sick listening to those who seek to worship at the altar built by the NRA.

Finally, I can’t be alone when I would rather go watch Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water which focuses on a deaf female janitor and her romantic relationship with an aquatic beast than being forced to deal with Trump supporters who ignore his payoff and non-disclosure agreement with a porn star. As I reflect back on the wonderful film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I wonder if the sequel will simply concentrate on President Trump and his cohorts where you drop the word “fantastic” from the title?

So here’s to Black Panther and the inevitable release of good movies. With any kind of luck, I’ll see you at the movies if you can avoid all the potholes. Movie fan or not, it provides a powerful sedative when it comes to dealing with our nightmarish world.