For the past few years the Box Office has been down. It seems that every year the reports are released of a rash of summer box office flops, hundred-million dollar movies disappear (remember the Alamo, anyone?) and the MPAA is certain that "piracy" is the cause of their failure. But I''m gonna go out on a limb here and you''ll probably all disagree with me but I don''t think that piracy has anything to do with it. I''m gonna guess that it has something to do with an overall lame quality of product.

Let's look at a couple of recent titles. Did you see the previews for Adam Sandler''s film Click? Quick plot recap: guy (played by generally funny comedic actor) who lives "normal life" with "normal family" and "normal Office Space-type job" suddenly decides that he is bored so he meets some crazy scientist man (played by generally funny and talented actor) who gives him a cure-all to his boredom at work, at home, with his very hot wife (played by a hot and talented actress), etc. The plot turns when his cure-all becomes unsatisfying and he realizes that he is about to lose his formerly boring life which he has now realized is important to him and part of who he is. In the end, he gets his normal boring life back which, thanks to the joys of Hollywood and cinematography, is romanticized by some cheesy music and creative visual effects.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I didn''t see the movie? That I came to this plot summary by my own clever thought-process and the fact that this story has been told 100 times in 100 different ways. It seems like I was 2 years old when I first heard the story of the "magic ice skates." You know, the one where the kid who can''t skate goes to the crazy scientist-type old man, gets a magic piece of equipment, and suddenly can skate with the best of them. Eventually, he loses them, learning that its all about passion and dedication and not "magic" anything. I have even heard it told with basketball shoes.

I am ridiculously fed up with the fact that movie producers and movie studios believe that they can continue to spoon feed us this type of "entertainment." At what point will the general American public stop paying for this crap? But then I remember the stupid things that the American public cares about, like Brittney Spears'' personal life, and I realize that there really is no hope for us. But remember, the reason movies like Click are not relevant or generally popular is because everyone is downloading it and not watching it. Right. That is less believeable than Pam Anderson''s...intellect.