Every Tuesday is cleaning day for me. I spend a couple of hours in the afternoon to work around the house with Windex, Pine-Sol, and the vacuum cleaner to get the place looking reasonably decent.  It’s not a comprehensive sort of thing, but it helps us to keep ahead of the kipple that would otherwise take the place over. As I clean, I usually pop the iPod earbuds in and listen to some music to help the time pass more quickly.  It occurred to me today that there are quite a number of remakes and cover versions of songs in my current playlists.  And then I started thinking about movies and about how frequently remakes and “re-imaginings” show up at the box office these days.

I looked in the newspaper listings this evening, and I checked out what’s playing at the local cinema.  Of the nine movies there, I saw two remakes and one translation of a television series to a full-length movie.  There were three movies that were sequels of some kind (in fact, two were the third in a series and one was the fourth).  I saw one movie that could best be described as a spinoff, as one of its main characters appeared in another recent movie in a more minor capacity.  That leaves two movies out of the nine that were offered that were stand-alone films, and not part of some kind of franchise.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing to me, but I do think that the entertainment industry seems at this point to be allowing themselves to be a little bit lazy about what they trot out for us to enjoy in the cinema.

It is entirely possible that there have always been vast numbers of sequels, prequels, follow-ups, and remakes being released on a regular basis and that I have simply been too preoccupied to notice.  That having been said, I do think it’s telling that the vast majority of recent top-grossing movies – not necessarily good movies, mind you – have been either (a) based on an old film or television series or (b) adapted from some other source – a book, a play, or even a video game or toy.  If you want to find an original movie nowadays, your best bet will be to wait for Pixar to release one.  Not only will it be original, but it will almost certainly be very good as well.

I am beginning to see that even if an original movie is good, the quality of its sequel will almost always tend to fall off dramatically.  (I am looking at YOU, Steven Spielberg.  You should really have allowed Indiana Jones to leave on a high note after defeating the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)  And don’t even talk to me about the quality of most remakes.  The Hitcher stands out as a particularly egregious example of how not to remake a film, as does The Pink Panther. I say this despite the fact that in almost all cases, I love Steve Martin’s work.

So instead of complaining about the questionable state of the movie industry, I will simply read books – they almost always turn out to be better than movie adaptations.  And instead of spending exorbitant amounts of money to go to the cinema, I’ll wait until the DVD release to rent the films I want to see. Then my wife and I will pop our own popcorn in her popcorn maker, because not only is it more comfortable at home, I’m also far less likely to have the back of my seat booted by the inconsiderate ass behind me when I’m lying in bed!

P.S. Call the irony police. As I write this, I am watching Aliens.  Despite my rant, I do have to admit that it’s definitely one of the best sequels available.