I don’t really know what to say about today’s strip. I wish I had a big rant ready for you, but my batteries are kind of low.

All I know is, when I heard Darkness Falls was the number one movie last weekend, I was very, very disappointed.

I mean, this is different than Kangaroo Jack taking the top spot. KJ had some serious advertising muscle behind it. Meanwhile the makers of Darkness Falls send three commercials to MTV, and it’s number one. I’ve come to the conclusion that Americans are not the pawns of agressive advertising, but rather, the victims of their own poor choices. You have no one to blame but yourself, people!

I don’t think I can count on one hand the number of people excited to see this movie, much less know what it’s even about. There are no name actors. No well-known director or screenwriters attached. It’s only pedigree is that Stan Winston (and Academy Award winner for Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and Aliens) did the special effects. What’s the fuss about?

I guess the stat that really floored me is that this movie only cost $11 million to make. That’s steal by Hollywood standards. How much did it rake in it’s first weekend? $12 million. By all intents and purposes, this movie should have been released DIRECTLY to the bargain bin at Blockbuster. Go figure.

Industry annalists said the strong turn-out may have been due to the film’s PG-13 rating which in turn admitted more teenagers. They say the disposable cash teens bring to the box office make tracking results unpredictable on weekends when there are no movies worth seeing. Basically the theory is they will watch anything.

It’s my strong feeling that parents are not doing enough to keep their kids away from poor film making. Drugs and gangs, sure. But where are the child safety locks on something like Just Married?

Why can’t people give some of the better films a second pass? Sure, the buzz has faded on films like Adaptation or About Schmidt since they got their big push for Oscar contention in December. But a lot of these films are just now releasing wide across the country! Go see one of those! God, ANYTHING but Darkness Falls. What does that say about our culture?!