How to avoid watching a bad movie this summer.

Readers may know that I have reasons why I do not go to the movie theaters. In fact, I prefer to wait for the DVD to come out and watch the movie at home. However, in the interest of a public service, and because I am such a nice guy, here is a list of things to look out for in avoiding a bad movie. Mr. Robert J. Elisberg, writing for the Huffington Post, has compiled a list of thirty hints. These include:

• It's billed as "From the makers of..." and you didn't like that movie.
• After the title are the words, ": The Movie."
• Only one week after the movie opens, it changes its advertising campaign from being an action thriller to "the comedy ride of a lifetime." (I have actually seen ads like that)
• Its newspaper ad states, "Featuring the hit single..."
• It calls itself "The Feel-Good Movie of the Year!"

I don't agree a whole lot with Mr. Elisberg's notion that rather than the movies coming out lately being bad, we are just getting a year older. I may be older, but the stuff is still bad for the most part. Let's not go into all the examples of bad remakes of classical movies, for instance. Anyhow, go read the rest of the list.