Summer Hits and Summer Misses

It always becomes some form of an argument about capitalism vs. socialism with me. This, in all likelihood, won't be the exception. Yesterday I managed to catch a summer movie double (more like 1.5x) feature. A friend of mine and I went to see District 9 at our local theater, and to spare you all the suspense, let me just say, it's a phenomenal movie. For me, it represented so much more than just being a movie that entertained me. It was a renaissance, of sorts. In the past, This summer, I've seen every major blockbuster hollywood has thrown at me (sans Transformers 2). I've had few regrets with this too, as Star Trek and Harry Potter were great movies. But, I've never really went out of my way to do the research to see movies I'd enjoy. I'd just sort of wait for the popular opinion and go. Having said that, I did my research and have been excited for D9 for some while now. And beyond the fact it was just a great movie, D9 may have been the first major studio movie in a loooooong time that wasn't some sort of recycled idea.

Let me explain. If you look back at the major hits this year, every single one was either a sequel, a book, a cartoon, a comic book, or tv show. We saw some repeat offenders like Transformers, X-Men, Star Trek, Angles and Demons, and Terminator, and I haven't even made it to June yet. So very rarely do we see movies that simply involve a creative guy being given the opportunity to flesh out a major movie from a story conjured up in his mind (think The Matrix). I could be dead wrong in saying this, but it just seems these days, the big studios are much more inclined to give us the familiar names in a shiner, louder, more expensive package.

After D9, we snuck into the final third or so of G.I. Joe, and while watching Marlon Waynes say 'bust a cap' and 'aww hell naw!', it made me realize something. G.I. Joe isn't supposed to be smart, it was designed to entertain me when I was 5 years old. Since then, I've endured 18 years of education, read several books, traveled the country, and ultimately just grown into a whole new educated, jaded, opinionated person. It seems like most (not quite all) of my peers have done the same. So why are these companies trying to sell us something we haven't really enjoyed since we were 5? Why do they just assume we're not up to the challenge of something totally fresh and new?

This is why it bothers me. I'm not entirely sure if a studio makes any more or less money reselling old brands, but it's probably a lot easier. These studios aren't challenging themselves, so they're sure as hell not gonna challenge me. Remember how fresh and exciting The Matrix was when it came out? What are the Wachowski brothers up to now? Putting out a Speed Racer movie.

I'll end it with this. Eventually (hopefully), hollywood will run out of graphic novels and Dan Brown books, and we'll get tired of seeing Batman and Spiderman sequels. So what then? Do the innovative, inciteful, and artistic scripts for action/adventure movies only come around once a decade? Or will the studios actually start letting guys like J.J. Abrams get a little elbow room to take a chance on something original? Only time will tell I guess.

District 9 - Smart, action packed, thought-provoking

G.I. Joe - If Marlon Waynes isn't a white girl or a baby, it must suck