SENTINEL WATCH September 7, 2009 Issue

MOVIE NIGHT? CHOOSE WHAT YOU WATCH

MEG WELCH DENDLER

SIFTING THROUGH THE MOST RECENT feature releases on my mail-it-to-your-home DVD service concerns me—after yet another week of mostly horribly violent options or mindless fodder appear to be all that is available. Where are the films that actually appear to have a plot, a message to share, and some redeeming social value? They seem few and far between.

As someone who adores movies and literally watches over a hundred a year, I'm grateful for the independent film industry, which seems to understand that there are those of us who need more than scary monsters, crude humor, and violent images from our entertainment. Sometimes you have to get past some of this in order to appreciate the larger message. But is it really useful for the majority of moviegoers, especially those with teenagers, who are just paying to see whatever is available to them without giving any thought to the images being presented or the message being offered up?

And it's not just films. On a recent vacation with my daughters, I found that we needed to rent an appropriate movie from the hotel every evening because there was nothing on TV that they could watch past 8:00 at night. Gone is the family sit-com that the whole family can watch together. Network TV in the evenings is just a feast of crime dramas, vampires, and ghosts—along with seemingly silly shows that are unable to refrain from fairly graphic sexual situations and commentary.

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