Spent last weekend at my local Hell Octaplex catching up on the latest crop of Fall blockbusters and I found myself (not completely to my surprise) once again channelling Yogi Berra and the whole "It's deja vu all over again" thing.

But first -- STEVE'S MOVIE REVIEWS!!!™

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist -- You know, I'm getting pretty damned sick of Michael Cera always getting the girl. On the other hand, it's nice to see the Ladies Room at the Port Authority Bus Terminal invested with such a golden romantic glow.

Choke -- the "Citizen Kane" of Sex Addicts Who Fake Needing the Heimlich Maneuver to Scam Wealthy Tourists movies. Sam Rockwell should get an Oscar just for reading the script.

Body of Lies -- Leonardo DiCaprio's best accent since "Blood Diamonds"!!!

But I digress. Anyway, what I learned this weekend is that Hollywood is very fond of, shall we say, recycling. Consider Blindness, the prestige Julianne Moore vehicle currently in theaters.

The plot:

Almost everybody in the world suddenly goes blind for reasons that are never adequately explained. Society quickly crumbles and people start behaving very badly, with lots of raping and pillaging and backed up plumbing, although some folks retain their humanity, a screenwriters device allowing us characters to root for. Then all the blind people get their eyesight back and things revert to normal .

Sounds like fun? Well, sure. But compare and contrast it to the 1962 sci-fi hit The Day of the Triffids.

The plot:

Almost everybody in the world suddenly goes blind from staring at a meteor shower that's just lousy with harmful UV rays. Society quickly crumbles and people start behaving very badly, with lots of raping and pillaging and backed up plumbing, although some folks retain their humanity, a screenwriters device allowing us characters to root for. Meanwhile, large ambulatory plants from outer space start eating everybody. Eventually, scientists learn that all you need to destroy them is to spray them with sea water and things revert to normal.

Yup, it's basically the same movie, except that Blindness doesn't have the late Howard Keel, which I suppose is progress of a sort.

Coming tomorrow: Eagle Eye -- a really dumb action movie remake of Colossus: The Forbin Project or just another sleazy uncredited rip-off?