Hear the drivel, see the drivel, say it is drivel and have some popcorn.

The Academy Award nominations were recently announced and, like virtually every other year, I haven't seen a single movie up for best picture. It might be that I have terrible taste in movies. I tend to enjoy films that require a minimal amount of thought regarding the plot and that contain a maximum amount of explosions or other gratuitous violence and nudity. My pedestrian tastes aside, the real reason I've probably not shelled out my hard earned cash to see this year's line up of nominees is that they are movies that I am just not interested in seeing. Looking at box office receipts, I am not alone in my apathy.

There seems to be an opinion in Hollywood that success negates any possibility of artistic content in a film. If too many people like it, it can't be creative. We commoners can't possibly understand the genius that is in a low budget, limited release, unseen bit of cinema any more than we can appreciate the talent required to mold elephant dung into the Virgin Mary or dunk a crucifix into urine. Movies with broad appeal are by the very nature of their popularity unworthy of critical acclaim.

Every year excellent movies are ignored, overlooked or plain blackballed by the Academy for award consideration. Last weekend Mrs. Bald Man and I saw Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. This has to be one of the best movies I have seen in a long time; even if it required a bit of mental effort in watching it. Eastwood deserves recognition for both his acting and directing efforts yet Gran Torino was shut out completely in the Academy Award nominations. If box office is any indication of public sentiment, I am not alone in thinking Mr. Eastwood has been slighted. With the exception of one movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with it's built in audience of swooning teenage girls and similarly swooning housewives there to see Brad Pitt, Gran Torino's take of $73 million in six weeks is more than all the other movies nominated for best picture combined! But what do we regular folks know about anything?

The affluent narcissists in Hollywood, with fortunes provided by those of us in "fly over country", live in a world removed from everyday problems, everyday struggle and everyday values. They feel compelled to lecture us on our bigotry over gay marriage, our Xenophobic attitudes toward illegal immigrants and our irrational need to cling to our guns and bibles. At the shooting range last week I was telling Juan and Pedro, two roommates who tend the Church's garden for an amazing low rate and excel at floral designs, that those Hollywood folk must thing we in regular America are simpletons who just don't get it and are blind to the ways of "modern living". The boys seemed to agree with me but their minds must have been on their dates for the night. It was so cute to see them practicing for what they were going to say calling each other "girlfriend" as they worked.

Thankfully, we don't need Hollywood to tell us what to think and we don't need critics or other reviewers to tell us what to watch. People flock to see movies they can relate to and given just a bit of exposure, the word of mouth marketing for these types of films takes on a life of its own. Instead of criticizing The Passion of the Christ Hollywood should have been capitalizing on it. Instead of a dozen movies condemning the war on Terror and making our troops look like evil incarnate, where were the uplifting movies that made us feel good about our country?

You probably have heard little, if anything, about the movie Fireproof. This no budget movie has grossed millions yet has received so little press coverage you'd think it involved a Democratic Congressman paying his mistress to keep quiet about their affair. Movies like this and those filmed by other family oriented production companies counter the culture that many larger budget movies try to engender in their counter-culture preaching.

Fireproof will be out on DVD this week. Not that they will notice or care but it would be nice to send Hollywood a bit of a message. If Fireproof has success half as good in DVD sales and rentals as it did in its limited theatrical release, we might just stand a chance at seeing more movies of this kind instead of the tripe currently being foist upon us.