Once upon a time mindless summer blockbusters could be fun. No more, writes Brian Miller. “After the opening weekend to each successive studio tent pole, nobody’s lining up around the block to catch the must-see movie two, three, or a dozen times more. That’s because there’s another new tent pole arriving each weekend that we grimly drag ourselves to see, like hamsters on a wheel. Why is that? Where has the fun gone? Into the machine, that’s where, the same self-perpetuating machine of which we all—moviegoers, critics, studio executives, directors, and stars—are a part.”