I’ve been a big movie lover for most of my adult life. I go to movies regularly, sometimes several times a week. I hit the annual local film festivals. I see all of the Best Picture nominees before The Academy Awards. I update my Netflix account religiously and even flip through the three independent film channels on my digital cable. I repeat: I love movies.

Why? Two reasons:

1) The storytelling. The magic combination of a plausible plot and original characters. That’s art to me. I find very few creative forms as engrossing as a good movie.

2) Movies are a common contemporary reference point that keeps me connected to the world around me like few other art forms. I’ll forever identify the teen movies of the 80s with my early youth. I’ll forever identify hit independent films like Swingers, Pulp Fiction, and others with the storytelling of the 90s. Five years from now, I’ll remember 2010 as the year ofAvatar and the maturation of 3D technology. You’ll probably remember it too. We might talk about how that movie was overrated over a cup of coffee. Try doing that over the opera or the symphony some time.

Unfortunately, the movies and I are having problems in our relationship. We go out. She talks and dances on screen. The credits roll. I always pay the bill (which has steadily risen over the years) and trundle from the theater dissatisfied. My wife asks me how I liked the film. Sometimes, I shrug and answer “It was good” in that disingenuous high tone. More often, I offer an unwanted, blistering rant on topics vital to our national interests like “I f——g hate Paul Haggis! He can turn Van Wilder into an overwrought melodrama!”

Recently, I saw Greenberg, a film by Noam Baumbach, whose films include The Squid and The Whale and Margot at the Wedding, both of which I loved. Baumbach’s married to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who’s had a great career with tons of indie cred and anyone who grew up in the times of Fast Times at Ridgemont High will forever love her and Phoebe Cates in a way that’s not entirely related to her acting skill. Greenberg stars Ben Stiller playing a misanthrope, another promising trope for me. I love unlikable characters that find their way. The point is: I was really looking forward to Greenberg. But there’s something wrong with this film from the get-go. There’s no character arc, no gradual unveiling of a misanthrope’s soft side. The movie is just Stiller playing a neurotic asshole in one scene after another as he repeated mistreats the somewhat slow-talking young woman who, for reasons unexplained to the audience, loves him.

It’s been a good year since I really enjoyed a film. Admittedly, this may be a function of my curmudgeonly nature but we’re talking about a variety of films including Avatar, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, The Ghost Writer, Inglorious Basterds, the list goes on and on. Movies with solid actors, giving solid performances, but something significant is missing.

Why am I falling out of love with movies? Am I the only one? Has there been a decline in the storytelling? Is the movie declining in cultural relevance? Try going to a film festival sometime. You might notice that the crowd resembles that of an opera – a gathering of senior citizens.

On the surface, it seems like I might be the only person who’s falling out of love with the movies. Worldwide movie attendance is up according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Global box office receipts reached an all time high of $29.9 billion, an increase of 7.6% over 2008 and almost 30% from 2005. After a down period between 2005-2008, people seem to be going to the movies in large numbers again, even in a bad economy.

But dig underneath the numbers and you’ll find that the profit growth is being driven heavily by the 3D movie. In US and Canada, the take from 3D movies accounted for 11% of the growth. What was the big budget action film of yesteryear is now the heavily promoted 3D extravaganza like Avatar or Clash of the Titans. For all the artistic merits of the 3D movie, good storytelling is not high on the list. I like the big 3D experience. But you can be sure that at some point during a 3D film that one of the characters will spend five minutes of screen time flying through the air for reasons that have nothing to do with the story. And precisely at the 45-minute mark and the 90-minute mark, a Kraken (or whatever large monster applies) will be unleashed. Makes me pine for a good, old pointless car chase.

Maybe as a dude, moviemakers just don’t care about me anymore. Last year, the studios were taken completely by surprise by the big box office receipts of movies like The Hangover,Paranormal Activity, and Taken. Comedy, horror, action – all guy movies. According to a recent research report, males have diminished as a moviegoing target thanks to online gaming, the Internet, UFC and MMA. The female audience remains robust as evidenced by the never-ending spew of rom-coms and dressed-up Lifetime movies like The Backup Plan, Dear John, and Valentine’s Day.

Well, I’m not into UFC, MMA, or online gaming, but I must confess that I’ve finally started cheating on my relationship with the movies. I’m starting to care much more about the many quality television series that fulfill the storytelling-and-cultural-relevance jones that movies used to fulfill. I’m talking about “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” and all the HBO and Showtime shows I can only afford to watch in hotel rooms. And you know the great part about the scripted series? I don’t have to pay $15 a pop or wear ugly glasses or unleash the Kraken (whatever that is) or anything. I don’t have to wait until decent movies targeted for me come out on DVD because the studios are marketing the crap out of movies that offer everything except what matters: a compelling story and unique characters.

What’s even better is that now, during this golden age of the television series, a well-executed series keeps giving after two hours, prolonging its cultural relevance and deepening our relationship with a variety of characters.

Ultimately, something’s got to give in this damaged relationship between me and the movie. Perhaps I’ll have to stay home to spend time with the Walter Whites or Don Drapers of the screen. Perhaps American movies are evolving to become overwrought thrill-ride or melodrama machines for teens and seniors and I should just accept it. The days of Miramax and relative unknowns changing filmmaking are over. If I don’t like it, perhaps I should move to France or Spain and watch their movies. But who wants to read subtitles, right? In fact, if it’s not on a small, handheld screen, who wants to read, period?

Perhaps I’ll need to plan to break off my relationship with hardcovers as well. Perhaps a topic for another column.

Photo by Flickr user arbyreed