I went to the theater last night to see “The Illusionist.” Great flick. Highly recommend it.

But I was (again) struck by how the industry has turned movie-going into an insulting barrage of marketing to people who’ve actually paid for the experience. Just when I think that bottled water tops the list of “we’ll pay for anything,” I’m struck by the absurdity of paying $10 to watch commercials. And we wonder why people are abandoning theaters for DVDs or downloads.

Last night’s extravaganza was brought to you by NBC. 20 minutes of backstage hype for the “can’t miss” hits of the new season. And that package, of course, contained various commercials too! When that ended, we were treated to another 10 minutes of commercials for upcoming movies. Why we call these things “trailers,” I’ll never know. They don’t “trail” a damned thing.

So a two-hour movie becomes a two and a half hour “experience,” and here’s the kicker. I could’ve entered the theater a half hour later, I suppose, but all the good seats would’ve been taken! Damned if you do; damned if you don’t.

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