Why We Can't Resist Big Action Movies

I wrote this for AOL News. Really wild research. No mention of Matthew McConaughey, though, which is disappointing. Anyway:

Any moviegoer could attest to the fact that today's big hits, such as "Avatar" or "Sherlock Holmes," are faster-paced than the films of 50 years ago. But Cornell University psychologist James Cutting and his group have quantified just how much faster and found something even more revealing. It's not just that individual camera shots are shorter. In a new paper in Psychological Science, Cutting and his team uncover an underlying pattern -- a sort of secret sauce -- to modern blockbusters.

What it shows is that even the snobbiest cineast shouldn't feel bad for getting wrapped up in a schlocky popcorn flick. The way those films are made practically guarantees we can't turn away.

And the rest of the article....