Spring Break
Coming attractions are unattractive
K.C. Vetter
Issue date: 6/16/05 Section: Opinion
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It's summer. It's the season when the Daisy Dukes come out of their winter storage, textbooks are burned and the potential blockbusters hit the big screen. But after looking at a handful of the movies due out before school resumes in the fall, I can't help but wonder if movie writers are taking the summer off too.
Are they just not able to produce an original thought anymore? It just seems like every movie made now is either a remake ("War of the Worlds," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"), a sequel (Herbie: Fully Loaded), a prequel ("Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "Batman Begins"), or based on a book ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants").
I can see why all of these movies are made - it's fun to see a story continue, or learn about what happened before. And I really love seeing my favorite books acted out on the big screen.
But there comes a time when enough is enough: the "Halloween" movies, for instance. There were what, eight of them? And according to the "Halloween" movies' Web site, there's a ninth one in the making. The guy can only die and come back to life so many times before it gets old. Plus, if he's immortal, then what's the point of making nine of them? Obviously he's never going to die - he'll just kill more rappers who decided to give acting a try.
And then there's the Wayans brothers' "Scary Movie" trilogy. Those got old (and unbelievably stupid) after the first one. Don't get me wrong, I love movies that mock others ("Spaceballs" is definitely the best) but they took it too far.
There are some movies where sequels and prequels are OK and sometimes necessary - "Star Wars," for example. With all the hype following the original three and important parts of the story they didn't originally include, the prequels were almost required.
Then there are the movies where they should've stopped and saved the money. The "Rocky" series didn't need five movies. "Jaws" was overdone a bit. "Jurassic Park" (a personal favorite) could've stopped after two but now there's even a fourth one in the making.
Are they just not able to produce an original thought anymore? It just seems like every movie made now is either a remake ("War of the Worlds," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"), a sequel (Herbie: Fully Loaded), a prequel ("Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "Batman Begins"), or based on a book ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants").
I can see why all of these movies are made - it's fun to see a story continue, or learn about what happened before. And I really love seeing my favorite books acted out on the big screen.
But there comes a time when enough is enough: the "Halloween" movies, for instance. There were what, eight of them? And according to the "Halloween" movies' Web site, there's a ninth one in the making. The guy can only die and come back to life so many times before it gets old. Plus, if he's immortal, then what's the point of making nine of them? Obviously he's never going to die - he'll just kill more rappers who decided to give acting a try.
And then there's the Wayans brothers' "Scary Movie" trilogy. Those got old (and unbelievably stupid) after the first one. Don't get me wrong, I love movies that mock others ("Spaceballs" is definitely the best) but they took it too far.
There are some movies where sequels and prequels are OK and sometimes necessary - "Star Wars," for example. With all the hype following the original three and important parts of the story they didn't originally include, the prequels were almost required.
Then there are the movies where they should've stopped and saved the money. The "Rocky" series didn't need five movies. "Jaws" was overdone a bit. "Jurassic Park" (a personal favorite) could've stopped after two but now there's even a fourth one in the making.
