Where's the Plot?

These days, I rarely find myself going out to the movies. With such high prices for tickets, and the ever-evolving convenience of Netflix and other online sites to watch films, I just don't find it worth the time and money. If there is really a movie I am itching to see when it first comes out, than I will make time for a trip to the theater, but for the most part I am finding there are less and less movies and really make me want to go see it when it first comes out.

Another reason for this is, from my perspective, films these days just aren't high enough quality for me. I can be a picky movie watcher, so when I do go to the theater, I want it to be something with a well thought out plot, highly developed characters, and messages and themes that can really make me think. The problem is, current movies just don't fulfill this criteria for me. It seems to me that Hollywood is content putting out films that are of high quality aesthetics and image quality, and largely ignoring what truly makes a film--the plot line. One example that stands out is Horrible Bosses. A movie I actually did see in the theater. It was good for a few laughs, and wasn't really a bad movie per say, but it wasn't anything special. Sure it looked great aesthetically (as with all modern films these days) but I didn't leave the theater thinking I just saw a fantastic piece of film making. What I saw was rather an average comedic plot with nothing to make it really stand out in my mind as a film watcher.

This is just one example, but I feel that this is the direction Hollywood films are going in. Sacrificing the quality of the film itself and settling for a run-of-the-mill piece of work that looks great on screen but fails to deliver in getting a message across in the mind of the viewer.