I just recently returned home from seeing About Schmidt. Another great movie. That had to be the most full I've ever seen a matinee movie theatre, but, of course, I was about the only one there without my AARP card. The gentleman sitting next to me sat there snorting and hacking and sneezing the entire time. The guy had to be three times my age - has he never heard of a facial tissue?! Sitting in a theatre full of the elderly was an interesting experience. Apparently, they can only watch movies by committee. Some were there in couples, but most were there in groups of three or more. This came in handy when one needed the others to explain every damn thing that happened to them. "Is he? I... maybe...." "Oh, he's retiring! That's why all those boxes were stacked up!" "Is that a... what does he have in his hand?" "I think it's a... is that a six-pack of beer?" "Oh my goodness, look at that painting behind him!" You get the idea.

Examining the "pre-show entertainment" for a moment, there were a couple interesting things. For one, I think the ad for Warcraft III was somehow lost on an audience which had most likely never owned a video game system. For two, interesting that there was a commercial for Childreach right before a film where Childreach plays a big role. Third, this is at least the third time I've seen the commercial for the new "Dragnet" before a movie there, and I still can't get over the idea of Ethan Embry in "Dragnet." I can get by the idea of Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) playing Joe Friday, but the idea of Preston Meyers, the worst Rusty Griswold, and the guy from "Freaky Links" as Frank Smith us just too much. He looks so awkward with the suit and sunglasses and sideburns. Anyway, that's just me. At least there were no trailers for military movies like when I went to see Adaptation. They did show the trailer for The Pianist (and I was surprised not to hear a couple dozen gasps from the audience like what usually happens when the elderly see Roman Polanski's name) and Nicholas Nickleby. While I detest Dickens, and most movie versions of his books are worse than the books themselves, I might almost go see that. Hell, at least it's not Kangaroo Jack, right? That's a movie that looks like it was made with the express purpose of winning a few Razzies. Let's be honest here - it takes hundreds of people to make a Hollywood film - can't even one of them realize: Man, this movie sucks ass! Any one of the people involved should have realized the moment Jerry O'Connell was hired that the movie was going to rate among the worst. It seems that the studios have made a complete 180 - instead of putting out annual prestige pictures they're releasing annual wastes of celluloid.