Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

August 9, 2011

No, I would never bet on baseball.

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Edwin Davies: I'm with Brett on this one. This year doesn't seem to have been any better or worse than previous years, and in at least one regard it might have been slightly better if we consider the run of R-rated comedies we've been discussing this summer. With the exception of Hangover Part Two, all of them were original films that, despite their varying quality, succeeded through the strength of their central concepts, rather than through name recognition. In terms of what we would consider actual blockbusters, I've come to the realization that originality is a much prized commodity in summer because it's so hard to find, so what is ultimately more important is quality. I don't mind if the majority of films are based on comic books or sequels or remakes so long as they are actually good, and I can turn to independent cinema if I want to see original ideas that I haven't seen before. It'd be great if every film was Inception, or if we got just one Inception a year, but I'm happy with a Thor or Rise of the Planets of The Apes.

Shalimar Sahota: I remember last summer commenting how nice it was to see a trio of original films occupying the top of the US box office (Inception, Salt, Despicable Me). This summer, there has been no such occurrence. I was concerned about the lack of originality a long time ago (like ten years ago). Now I'm just used to the fact that it's on a life support machine and gets resuscitated every so often. It just as much a surprise to me when a film that isn't based on anything happens to open big. It's worth noting that three blockbusters this summer, all sequels (and initially based on existing material), all in 3D, passed the billion-dollar mark in worldwide ticket sales - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. If that's what's making money, then studios will invest far less in original films in the coming years, and when they do, they'll be looking for a possible franchise.




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Still, it was nice to see Super 8.

David Mumpower: 2011 does have that feel of unoriginality to me, and I believe that Shalimar hits on the why of it. Inception was such a majestic production all the way around, that rare feature film that becomes a box office blockbuster while maintaining its focus on quality. The result is that my perspective is skewed somewhat about the overall content of the summer of 2010 simply because that one movie was so flippin’ fantastic. Ignoring the Harry Potter conclusion, most of the popular films over the past few months fall in the category of “tolerable” for me. Nothing has wowed me enough to deserve a more glowing adjective. Even the Pixar title this season has a decidedly commercial stamp to it since they have to extend the Cars merchandising brand to the pay the bills for the next Up. The summer of 2011 has been a series of sequels, rebranded franchises, comic book adaptations and the like. We knew that would probably be the case earlier this year and nothing has happened to change that opinion. For reasons I enumerated yesterday, I have no problem with this, but following on the heels of Up in 2009 and Inception in 2010, I am vaguely disappointed overall with the lack of high points in the summer of 2011.


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