During the past couple of years, our movie theaters have fallen into somewhat of an avant-garde revolution. Movies were smaller, had lower budgets and some A-list celebrities did nothing short of art house (see: Nicole Kidman in “Birth”).

Recent big moneymakers were smaller, dialogue-driven films like “Wedding Crashers” and the only epic, CGI-riddled adventure to be found was the mediocre “War of the Worlds.”

Yet now the Golden Era of American Blockbusters is slowly seeping back into the mainstream, as more money than some small countries will see in a year is being used for our entertainment purposes. Ahhh, just like the old days.

Case in point: Lord of the Rings mastermind Peter Jackson is once again trying to up the stakes in what is undoubtedly this year’s largest project, “King Kong.” Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and a surprisingly un-comic performance by Jack Black are going to steam up the screens with this multi-million dollar remake of the jungle classic.

And while we’re at it, let’s release the biggest Harry Potter film to date. Multiple locations, inexplicably detailed computer imaging and big actors making small cameos for the hell of it is what we like to see.

It’s not simply the huge, Spielbergian remakes that make the blockbuster season great, however.

It is also the stream of gritty, revolutionary films starring famous names that really add spice to our holiday pie.

Fellow conspirators George Clooney and Matt Damon leave the Las Vegas strip to go after the gold – black gold that is – in the high-intensity thriller “Syriana.” And speaking of Spielberg and original ideas, the once-blockbuster superstar is extending his historical drama streak with the new film “Munich,” a fictitious tale surrounding the very real hostage crisis in the 1972 Olympics.

After the execution of members of the Israeli Olympic team, the Jewish community retaliates by sending in one of its own to off all the planners of the killings.

Of course, there are some out there who worry that Hollywood’s return to big budgets and famous faces will throw us back into the black pit of film-for-profit and movie studios for hire. And these concerns aren’t entirely unfounded. The last time Hollywood went unsupervised, movies like “Taxi” and “Soul Plane” had America sitting on its toilets, trying to force out everything they’d just been fed.

Even so, it seems that the leading waves of this Tinsel Town resurrection are bringing some quality projects out of the factories. Hopefully, the higher standards in an age of national deficit constraints will produce some movie magic that had America falling in love with those polyolefin theater seats to begin with.

The moving art of experimental cinema has been enjoyable, and, in some cases, enlightening. Without it, we would’ve never realized the “shaky camera” technique or would’ve seen what William H. Macy looks like naked. Yet audiences are starting to get anxious and fidgety as the withdrawal from elaborate chase scenes and large explosions in exotic locations starts to set in.

We want cars, guns, girls, Johnny Depp as a pirate – you know, the American way of life. We want sequels to films we actually liked (the fourth Indiana Jones is rumored to come out this summer – wahoo!). I want to see outer space rolled up between two hamburger buns and eaten by an intergalactic dinosaur with laser-beam eyeballs.

Simply put, we want to see the same fascinating, outlandish stuff that we could never dream to experience in our lives, because that’s what a movie is – an escape from this mundane, explosionless world.

– Alex Switzer is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Shelburne, Vt.