What makes the allegation interesting to me is that you get the same 15 beats, in the same order, occurring at roughly the same point in time. It's this specificity that makes it an interesting charge. The article's author points out that Jurassic Park hits almost all of these points, but doesn't have them in this specific order or on this same timeline. This kind of thing contributes greatly to that vague sense of sameness we get.
If the author made that allegation with actual data to back it up, I'd have found the article much more interesting.
If he showed, for example, 5 recent movies all hitting exactly the same beats at the same time (or at least at the same relative times adjusted for their total run times), that would give some meat to his argument that this is more than just the usual 3 act structure broken down a bit more.
Can't it be an interesting article without being a peer reviewed research paper? Jeez. It certainly made an interesting point to my satisfaction, whether or not that constitutes "actual data." We're talking about plot and story here. It would be hard to come up with a more subjective domain. Can't you turn off the pedant for a few minutes and just enjoy a new thought?
From paragraph one: "the hero dressed down by his mentor in the first 15 minutes (Star Trek Into Darkness, Battleship); ... the moment of hopelessness and disarray a half-hour before the movie ends (Olympus Has Fallen, Oblivion, 21 Jump Street, Fast & Furious 6)."
Paragraph 10: "Look at January’s Gangster Squad. After an opening image that sets up the conflict between Josh Brolin’s hard-charging cop, Sgt. John O’Mara, and the criminal forces of mob boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), O’Mara is called in to see his gruff police superior. “We got rules around here, smartass,” the chief growls. “Do yourself a favor. Learn ’em.” That’s Snyder’s second beat, theme stated. And it’s right at the seven-minute mark, almost exactly when it’s supposed to happen in a 110-minute movie....an all-is-lost moment—including a death—between the 75- and 80-minute mark..."
Did you guys read the article, or just skim it looking for a table of data? The examples are there, with the minutes. You actually have to read numbers written as words (gasp!).
