My Mid-Life Awakening: I wish my life was a non stop Hollywood movie show...

I used to love going to the movies. I rarely go anymore, but what is really odd is when I try to remember the last movie I saw, I can't. I think it was Get Smart, or it could have been Beverly Hills Chihuahua (I know, pretty sad). It seems to me , the more money Hollywood spends on these movies, the more forgettable they become. They are making remakes of remakes of television shows now. Movies become Broadway shows and then become movies again (The Producers and Hairspay fit that category). I am a huge Mel Brooks fan, but I refuse to see The Producers or Young Frankenstein on Broadway. Why? Because Gene Wilder

is not in it. I still am not over the audacity of Tim Burton to remake Willy Wonka. Horrible. Gene Wilder is one of the funniest men to ever grace the screen, in my opinion. I just love the guy.

What I really find interesting is when I watch an old movie I used to think was a classic, they seem very boring. I recently saw The Birds, a Hitchcock classic.

I remember, as a kid, this movie was frightening. I think I fell asleep watching it this time. The scary parts didn't really seem so scary anymore. The special effects were just silly. I found myself laughing.

Slasher movies like Saw, or Nightmare on Elm Street desensitize us and we get used to the shock and horror. I am a Hitchcock fan and I am not trying to devalue his work. I do think the horror movies of today miss something that Hitchcock was so good at. Suspense, character building, camera angles. The slow build up. If you really take the time to watch movies like Psycho, Spellbound or Rear Window you really get a feel for what he was doing. Brilliant stuff. rent one and stay with it.

Most people under the age of 30 have trouble watching anything that is filmed in black & white. Such a shame because that rules out classics like Casablanca and Gunga Din and the first half of The Wizard of Oz. I think most kids like The Wizard of Oz, so maybe not that one. Although, I bet if you ask them , they would say they like the second half better. What is wrong with black & white? Oreos are good, right?

I still get a kick out of the old monster movies like the old Frankenstein movies.

However, back to Mel Brooks, I can't watch those movies without thinking about Young Frankenstein and laughing. One of my all time favorie monster movies was Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Find that one and check it out...classic

One of those cable channels runs Chiller Theater. Those were some really bad movies, but I still get a chill up my spine when the six fingered hand comes out of the ground and says

CHILLLLERR !! AHHHHH..

Mike Myers has succeeded in ruining all the early Bond flicks for me. I find myself laughing and thinking about Austin Powers.

Parody is such an overused comedic form these days, but it still makes me laugh.

I cringe sometimes at some of the parodies. It seems like an easy laugh and sort of unoriginal. Some do it quite well, i.e "The Simpsons", and "South Park", but I think it's bordering on overkill.

Anyway, I am off to the movies this weekend.