That's what Charlie Richards of BeyondtheNews.com writes about 2005, quoting from Steven Spielberg, who blames those movies on--who else--President Bush:

"These movies are asking sensitive questions about racial intolerance and Middle East politics," said Spielberg. "It's been an amazing year, very much like 1968, '69 and '70, when you suddenly see all of these political movies coming out at the same time, out of the watershed of politics. Some of it is due to our own insecurity about the voices representing us in government right now. We feel like our government has set us adrift, and we're trying to make our voices heard. We're telling them to be worried about these things."

Spielberg seems to be implying that films magically appear out of thin air as "the will of the epoch translated into celluloid", to paraphrase Mies van der Rohe's aphorism about architecture.

Which is pretty ironic, because who knows the reality of the process better than Spielberg does?

Novels can be crafted out of thin air and their manuscripts presented to editors and agents ready to be published. But with budgets running into a hundred million dollars--and occasionally double that--films need their concepts and budgets approved before shooting begins. Which means all of Hollywood's box office turkeys last year were probably debated in board meetings, or at a minimum, greenlighted by various studio executive mindful of both their companies' annual budgets, and what return, if any, these films would potentially bring, both in the US, and abroad. That so many studio chiefs would throw out all the rules about what sorts of films have the best chance of filling the coffers is pretty astonishing, however.

And note that with his line that "It's been an amazing year, very much like 1968, '69 and '70", Steve is yet another member of the left stuck in the late sixties/1970s mobius loop. All the more ironic and disappointing, since it was he and George Lucas, 30 years ago, who did the most to break Hollywood's cycle of dark, not-very-profitable political films during that period.

Update: John Scalzi ponders just how uncommercial this year's crop of Oscar nominees are:

Consider this: a nominee for Best Documentary -- March of the Penguins -- has made more money than any of the Best Picture nominees. I guarantee you that has never happened before, ever. When Hollywood's best films can't compete with chilled, aquatic birds, there's something going on.