Well, the summer movie season is officially over, and while box office earnings are way up, it seems like the quality of the films have actually gone way down.  But for every few badly-written movies (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Transformers 2, and G.I. Joe–though some will say it’s not that bad), there was a diamond in the rough like District 9.  So why were so many movies so bad in the summer of ‘09, even if they did make a lot of money?  Hint: The Writers Strike!

Before the summer began, I wrote an article about how the 2007 Writers Strike might affect the summer 2009 movies.  I speculated that back in 2007, studios were nervous about how long the writers strike could last, leaving them with a possible lack of films for the fall/winter 2008 and all-important summer 2009 season (early May to late August 2009). To make sure they had big films lined up for Summer ‘09, the studios pushed to have their big-budget scripts quick-finished before the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) contracts were up in November 2007 and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in summer of 2008.

George Miller has been working on a new Mad Max film for almost a decade and old Max himself, Mel Gibson, was set to return in Mad Max 4: Fury Road in 2002 when the war in Iraq scuttled the project. Since then, Gibson has passed on the role stating that he is too old to play the character.

Miller has pondered many different possibilities for the future of the franchise, ranging from recasting the part, to making the next installment in the series an animated film.

Now it would appear that Miller has decided to return to the live action format with The Hurt Locker star, Jeremy Renner, as a possible candidate for the lead role of Mad Max.

Short Version: The Hurt Locker captures the drama, suspense and raw emotion of a job that very few people survive. It may possibly be the best movie of the summer.

Screen Rant's Paul Young reviews 'The Hurt Locker'

The Hurt Locker has been slowly building up steam since it was released in Italy last year. The movie came out of nowhere to earn much kudos and critical acclaim with both viewers and movie critics alike – it won the Signis Grand Prize at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and currently has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. To top it off, the film has made more money per theater than any other film in release right now, including Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

The first eight minutes of director Kathryn Bigelow’s (Point Break) new film The Hurt Locker are now viewable online. This film first blipped onto my radar back in February, when I saw an extended clip from it screened at the New York Comic-Con.

The Hurt Locker follows an Army Explosive Ordnance Device (EOD) Unit operating in Iraq – however this is no preachy political film. It’s all about a particular brand of warriors in their combat arena; soldiers living daily life walking into harm’s way. Just watch the clip for yourself, see if The Hurt Locker manages to drag you too out onto the edge of your seat.

Last week we reported on some new clips and images from the upcoming action-war film, The Hurt Locker. Having been showed in other countries around the world as far back as April last year, the film is just this month making it’s way to the US. Everything we’ve seen from it so far has looked great, and today we have a brand new poster for it that just adds to that list.

For the past few months, we’ve been talking up a movie most people haven’t even heard of: The Hurt Locker. Why haven’t people heard of it? Well, one: It’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow, whose biggest two previous attempts are Point Break and K-19: The Widowmaker.  Two: It stars relative unknowns Jeremy Renner (S.W.A.T), Anthony Mackie (We Are Marshall) and Brian Geraghty (Jarhead).

I first got a look at director Kathryn Bigelow’s (Point Break) newest film, The Hurt Locker, at this year’s New York Comic Con. I was blown away (no pun intended) by the segment that was screened for the audience, in which an Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Unit tries to dismantle a hug car bomb before it goes off in a residential neighborhood.

While at the Summit Entertainment panel at the NYCC this weekend, I watched an exclusive clip from Katherine Bigelow’s film The Hurt Locker.  It left me unimpressed and indifferent – which goes against everything I’ve heard about this film.

The film is about an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team stationed in Iraq.  They go around disarming bombs.  That’s it.  I know the premise is sort of dismal, but being the stationed bomb squad in a war torn city usually means things end up being intense.

Spoilers ahead based on the footage shown…

Probably the biggest surprise at this year’s New York Comic Con had to be the Summit Entertainment Panel, which featured footage from the studio’s upcoming films, Knowing, The Hurt Locker, and Astro Boy, all three of which are looking pretty good.