The Royal "We"

Hello,

I've been looking forward to seeing The Wrestler for months. Two of my favorite people making movies today, Darren Aronovsky and Mickey Rourke, teamed up to tell the story of a washed-up wrestler, with a heart of gold or something. I'm the type of movie geek that hears about this sort of project months, sometimes years in advance and can't wait to view the fnal product. One problem: I CAN'T!

I think I'd have to fly to Phoenix or LA to watch this eagerly anticipated film. Sure, maybe it's not quite as important and Godfather 4, but I was surely exicited. For whatever reason, the movie houses hear felt like Santa Feans would rather see, uhm like The Spirit or Marley and Me. The Spirit????? Yeah, The Spirit, I heard that was a real classic. The Spirit, and it use of Frank Miller's animation, reminds me of The Detroit Lions going to the west coast offense in 2000. I'm sure Marley and Me is cute and kid friendly, cudly even, but does it pack any relevant punch? Does it express any originality? The beauty part is I could see both of them probably 20 times in one day. ROCK!

What frustrates me is that films made by typically great directors like Aronovsky or people like The Coen Brothers and Francis Ford Coppola even struggle to find real distribution while Marley and Me is playing on 5,000 screens nation wide. My word. I can understand that these more "artsy" films don't appeal to everyone, yet the world seems mighty interested when it comes to Oscar time. It comes across like, "well, if we haddddddd to choose, we think No Country for Old Men was the best movie of last year, but we're just not sure you'd REALLY want to see it."

All I'm asking for is a little equality in distribution. Maybe the dollars don't add up, but some things are more impotant than profit on every film. And, it shouldn't be solely on the shoulders of the Weinsteins to distribute probably 2/3's of these types of films. Or, at least it seems that way.

Ok, so maybe if I lived in LA or NYC, I might not give as much of a care. Touche'. But the reality is, I do not live in either city. So, I'll just have to wait for a video release of The Wrestler. And, after it wins 10 oscars, I'm sure my local video store will have 40 copies of it to choose from. Maybe I just download it? What do you think?


Jay

p.s. go Lions in 2009