MOULTRIE, Ga. – In the past few years, I’ve noticed that more and more movies are filmed in the dark … so much so that half the time you can’t tell which character is doing what to whom.

In the venue of “artsy tartsy” I think they call this mood. They even give awards for lighting… bad lighting! Or as the case may be, the lack thereof.

Now I realize that a night scene would obviously not be as bright as day. But likewise I don’t expect all movies to be set in the night.

So the other night I tuned in to a movie titled “Altitude.” It was a drama about a skyjacking. Except for the first few seconds where a female federal agent gets demoted because of insubordination, the entire movie takes place at night on an airplane.

Right off I should have picked up on the possibility that this was a movie that in my earlier days would have opened at the drive-in. I had never heard of any of the characters.

So as this drama unfolds, the lights inside the plane go out. Okay, it’s night and now the lights go out as well? What kind of mood are we going for here?

All of a sudden the action picks up. But all you can see is carry-on luggage flying all over the place and you can hear people yelling. The “F” word dominates the script at this point.

I can’t tell  the good guys from the bad.  In fact I can’t tell you how the good guys – the demoted federal agent and a sky marshall on his first assignment – subdued the terrorists.

Trying to watch such a movie hurts my eyes. And like I said, this kind of thing seems to be trendy.

I recall when CSI New York first came on television, it was mostly filmed in the dark. Someone wrote TV Guide and asked the producers to “put a little light on the set, I mean literally. Don’t you guys have at least a 40-watt bulb?” Those were my thoughts exactly. Anyways, CSI New York did put more lighting into their production.

Now back to the plane hijacking. I got to thinking that maybe filming in the dark was a way to cover up poor acting and a very feeble script. Well that part worked.

I realize that film producers like to try new approaches to films but  if I can’t see what’s going on, then I’m wasting my time, money and popcorn.

A good portion of the movie “Shane” from my childhood was filmed at night. But the ambient light in the old saloon was good enough that I could identify Alan Ladd and the bad guys. I could see the little boy peeking in under the saloon doors.

And portions of the movie “Jaws” was filmed at night, but there was enough light you could see people, boats and docks being devoured by an Evinrude-powered Great White.

Well maybe I’m just getting to be an old fuddy duddy. Maybe there are many people who like to watch a movie that should carry subtitles so the viewer can know who’s winning the fight or behind which chair the bad guy is hiding. Then those people who like this kind of filming later have wine and cheese and discuss the “brilliance” of the lighting. Or perhaps there are more people like me who might have a beer and pretzels and say, “What the heck was that all about?”

And let me clarify, I’m not a professional film critic. I just know what I like. And I don’t like having to use Visine while I’m watching a movie.

(Dwain Walden is editor/publisher of The Moultrie Observer, 985-4545. Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)