God bless Justin for ruining my day by telling me about a wonderful family friendly film titled "The Kids Are All Right." The plot is fairly simple:

Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life.

Justin said it had been a huge hit at Sundance, which initially sounded good, because I really like independent films. In general, Hollywood sucks. But I say in general, because there are many exceptions.

In that respect, I'm always delighted to see movement in the direction of independent film productions, so Bill Whittle's new idea for encouraging conservative films sounded promising. Whether the donors would want to make an indie like "The Kids Are All Right," I do not know. But the point is that Hollywood has too much of a stranglehold. More like a monopoly -- because everything revolves around the blockbuster racket:

The drive to produce a spectacle on the movie screen has largely shaped American cinema ever since. Spectacular epics which took advantage of new widescreen processes had been increasingly popular from the 1950s onwards. Since then, American films have become increasingly divided into two categories: Blockbusters and independent films. Studios have focused on relying on a handful of extremely expensive releases every year in order to remain profitable. Such blockbusters emphasize spectacle, star power, and high production value, all of which entail an enormous budget. Blockbusters typically rely upon star power and massive advertising to attract a huge audience. A successful blockbuster will attract an audience large enough to offset production costs and reap considerable profits. Such productions carry a substantial risk of failure, and most studios release blockbusters that both over- and underperform in a year.

Now, I knew that, but when I talked to Justin I had barely finished my second cup of coffee, and as my brain's synapses weren't yet firing properly, I didn't put two and two together.

Around here (and most of the United States) the words "Indie" and "Sundance" refer, simply, to films that cannot be seen. Period. For these films, only sophisticated urban audiences in places like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago are allowed!

And I knew that, but it wasn't until I went to the IMDB page for "The Kids Are All Right" and clicked on "showtimes" that the truth hit home again. Here's the map:

It's nowhere near me, and nowhere near anyone who is not in driving distance from those big cities. I have seen this time and time again, and it just pisses me off to no end. (And as usual, none of the blockbuster films in the local megaplexes interest me.) Another reminder that the big money in Hollywood has nothing but contempt for those of us who live in what they call "flyover country."

So much for my imagining that I might go see an interesting movie as weekend entertainment.

But (sigh) I guess along with the rest of the spurned non-conformists from Flyoverland I can probably rent it eventually, and I do appreciate Justin's tip.