by Douglas DeBono, 2006

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT StandingOrders.BlogSpot.Com, August 05, 2005

The same story that has run all summer wil run agaiin this week. Hollywood is dismayed at the decline in ticket sales. There have been 2 movies this year that were worth the price of admission: BATMAN BEGINS and REVENGE OF THE SITH.

Beyond that, the summer has been a massive disappointment.

There was WAR OF THE WORLDS, starring Tom Cruise and based on an improbable premise. It made INDEPENDENCE DAY seem marvelous. But once again Hollywood knew better and strayed from the original material.

The FANTASTIC FOUR spent a great deal of time on character development and ran out of time to really make DR DOOM into a criminal master mind. He came off as bully with bad skin.

Then there was the horrendous THE ISLAND. This movie had a great idea, trememndous talent and a director who only knows how to make chase scenes that blur across the screen. They wasted one of the best plot ideas of the summer, because Michael Bay didn't understand that it wasn't a chase movie.

Hollywood pushed DUKES OF HAZARD, HERBIE FULLY LOADED and BAD NEWS BEARS. The problems here are self evident.

They spent $100,000,000 on STEALTH and managed a paltry $13,000,000 the first week.

If Hollywood wants to make money, then produce something that doesn't insult our intelligence.