Mainstreamlined: County's film variety lacking

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What would you do if your only restaurant options in McHenry County were McDonald’s, Subway and Olive Garden?

You’d drive across county lines to sample something besides the same-old, same-old. Or you’d eat in a lot more.

No disrespect to those chains and their fans, but even the biggest Mickey D’s devotee would get sick of eating from the dollar menu day after day.

You might remember how Morgan Spurlock felt after he documented a monthlong McDonald’s binge in his documentary “Super Size Me.”

Well, maybe you don’t. Documentaries don’t often play in McHenry County movie theaters.

Check the theater listings in this section. I guarantee there’s not a doc playing out here, despite recent high-profile, non-fiction films such as “The September Issue” and “It Might Get Loud.”

I guess local theater managers figure these titles would be bound to fail. Because no one buys Vogue, right? And who cares about guitarists from loser bands like Led Zeppelin and U2? It’s not like people would fill, say ... Soldier Field, to see one of those bands.

Local theaters don’t do well with independent fiction flicks either, regardless of acclaim or A-list actors. Renee Zellweger is in “My One and Only,” but it won’t make it out here. “The Hurt Locker” might be the best-reviewed film of the year, but it never came to McHenry County. I guess when all five of the county’s movie houses were locked up with “G.I. Joe,” no one had room for an alternate, more adult look at warfare.

Sometimes a small movie like “(500) Days of Summer” has a nice little run here. But that is the exception, not the rule.

I get calls and e-mails from readers asking me when a certain, smaller movie will be playing nearby. I often have to direct them to theaters in Chicago and Highland Park, or Barrington if they’re lucky.

Some readers are mobile, and it’s no problem to take a drive. But I always feel bad when an out-of-the-ordinary movie like “Moon” piques the interest of an elderly reader, for whom a trip to the North Shore is quite a trek, if not entirely impossible. Of course, she could have seen the movie with the 3D gerbils anytime she liked.

So what do you do when your only movie options in McHenry County are talking animals, teen-aimed scarefests and pumped-up action heroes?

You drive across county lines to sample something besides the same-old, same-old. Or you stay at home and wait ... and wait, for the DVD.