See what I did there with that title? Yes you did. A trick alliteration. Pew pew.

But in seriousness, the two sequels hitting theaters this week, “High School Musical 3″ and “Saw V,” so vastly outperformed their competition this weekend that it deserved linguistic accent. In first place (with a commanding lead) is HSM 3 with 42 million dollars. Loads of cash, although if you average that out amongst all three films (the first two which were essentially distributed for free) that figure seems about right. Somewhat ironically, some consensus floating around is that this film, despite its larger scale, is actually a bit less creative and charming than the first two, as the plot gimmick overlaid on top of the musical foundation is one of the most hackneyed. The “high school sweethearts going separate ways” idea is so universal that it is fully inadequate to support a movie that is already wearing out the grass with its repetitive, pacing arcs.

Catchy tunes though and syrupy sweet, regardless. In his book “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,” Chuck Klosterman argues (using “Saved By the Bell”) that the most universal and human truths are inevitably cliche. It is our common, subconscious understanding of the rules of love that make them universal (obviously), and that familiarity makes any realization, or manifestation of these rules in any sort of storytelling form seem unoriginal. This, Klosterman says, is not a bad thing. It reassures us, being able to predict where the story goes. It shows us we’re still loosely connected as people. (Click here to read more…)