I just finished listening to a podcast over at the AV Club stating that summer movies kicked ass and 2008 summer movies did not (quality, not box office). When it started I didn't agree with that statement, they compared the 2 years throughout the podcast and I still didn't agree. Then I went back and looked at it statistically and still mostly disagree. I took every wide release movie (500 or more screens on week 1 of release) from May to August of the last 2 years.

2007-
liked: 15
disliked: 6
didn't see: 34

2008-
liked: 9
disliked: 4
haven't seen: 29 (Wall E being the only thing I really want to see, I may catch up with some others like House Bunny or Space Chimps)

I think part of the problem this year was every release was ginormous so nobody wanted to go head to head (the writer's strike may also had a slight impact). It was only blockbuster a and blockbuster b or blockbuster and counter programming to blockbuster. The weekend of July 11th was the first weekend to have more than 2 releases. Less choices usually means less movies I will like or see. Of course, neither arguement holds water. The Dark Knight came out in a 3 movie weekend and the last 2 Augusts have had a couple of 4 and 5 release weeks where I have seen none of the crap being released. But back to my main point against the podcast; the quality of the films. The 5 best wide release films of the summers of 2007 and 2008 are alphabetically:

Hot Rod (2007)
Knocked Up (2007)
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Pineapple Express (2008)
Ratatoullie (2007)

runners up (also alphabetically):
Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
Simpsons Movie (2007)
Superbad (2007)
Transformers (2007)

8 of my top 11 would be from last summer. So far, I think films in general were better in 2007. My #1 for films released in 2008 so far: CJ7, wouldn't have been in my top 15 last year. Hell, I would take 2 guilty pleasures from last summer (the rest of the world hated) Hostel 2 and I Know Who Killed Me over Indiana Jones 4 or Tropic Thunder.

Let's face it blockbusters aren't made for me. I know this. Since the rest of the world liked this summer's movies better, probably means this was the better summer. Also, the summer is usually measured by the first film out of the gate and Iron Man was better than Spiderman 3.