It's the Most Craptacular Time of the Year

We're now in the post-Oscar/pre-Summer daze, the time of the year when studio executives look at the films gathering dust on their shelves and say "Man, I gotta get this crap out of here!"
Yes, it is January/February/March - the months when the cineplexes are stuffed full of garbage that the studio should have never funded in the first place. The time of year when people are so starved to see something, anything that they made Kangaroo Jack number one at the box office a few years ago (and then complained because the kangaroo didn't talk enough!). Just look at this week's top three movies: Madea's Family Reunion (it's like the sequel to Big Momma's House 2), Eight Below (another Snow Dogs but without Cuba Gooding Jr. to make an ass out of himself), and the Pink Panther (which much to my shame, I saw and god was it embarrassing).
Not a single one of these movies deserves to have the phrase "Number 1 a the Box office!" attached to it's ads. And in the coming weeks, there's precious little to look forward to.
These doldrums of late winter are the dumping grounds for the studios and you'll find all the poorly made horror films, tactless comedies, unromantic romantic comedies, and over the top dramas that you could ever want.
Last weekend, the movie "Freedomland" with Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore came out and you'd think that with these two fine actors the movie would be worthwhile. However, one does need to question why the studio waited so long to release it. Most critics and most moviegoers have trashed this film, saying that Moore and Jackson have given some of the worst performances of their careers. I don't begrudge the actors the need for taking work. Neither of them is at the top of their earning bracket (though I'm sure they do just fine) and when a movie that seems good comes along, I understand why they'd take it. But the movie appears to have been just one gigantic crapfest of melodrama and obvious racial stereotypes and money or no money, this movie probably should not have been made.
If this coming summer is anything like the summer of 2005, we are in real trouble. I'm crossing my fingers that all the blockbusters will be entertaining and the few quality movies that get released before Fall will actually be quality.
The movie industry put out some fine films in 2005, but they have a lot to answer for (Fantastic Four, anyone?) and so far, 2006 ain't doing it for me.