With Labor Day weekend over, it's time to say farewell to summer sun and hello to autumn leaves — to reflect on what we've learned this summer.

Being a movie critic, and avoiding that sun by spending my time in air-conditioned theaters, all of my lessons come from this summer's movies. Here's what I learned:

• Regardless of what you've heard about his distribution-of-wealth principles (taking from the rich and giving to the poor, and all that), Robin Hood was a precursor of the tea party activists. ("Robin Hood")

• Smart career women from North America, who have presumably read the papers, are still surprised that wearing cleavage-revealing clothing in the Middle East will draw harassment from Arab men. ("Sex and the City 2," "Cairo Time")

• Video games have reset buttons, but movies based on video games shouldn't. ("Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time")

• Movies that borrow video-game sensibilities can, if done right, be really good — and still not make any money. ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World")

• Cameron Diaz can make any leading man look good, whether he's a big green ogre or kinda crazy. ("Shrek Forever After," "Knight and Day")

• Assassins are great company on a first date. ("Killers," "Knight and Day," "The American")

• China has mastered ESPN-style graphics for their kung-fu tournaments. ("The Karate Kid")

• Filmmakers who use computer animation to make household pets talk and dance should just stop now. ("Marmaduke," "Cats & Dogs: The Return of Kitty Galore")

• Same goes for computer-animated bull stampedes. ("Knight and Day")

• Try as they might, filmmakers who aren't James Cameron still can't make 3-D worth the extra expense. ("Shrek Forever After," "Toy Story 3," "The Last Airbender," "Despicable Me," "Cats & Dogs: The Return of Kitty Galore," "Piranha 3D")

• Dancing in 3-D, however, is worth shelling out for the glasses. ("Step Up 3D")

• Dreams have rules, and run on strict schedules. ("Inception")

• Taking that one last job before retirement never, ever pans out. ("Inception," "The American")

• Nerdy guys get the hot girls. ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice," "Cyrus," "Grown-Ups")

• Steve Carell doing a funny accent is funny. ("Despicable Me")

• Steve Carell wearing a funny hairpiece isn't so funny. ("Dinner for Schmucks")

• Some movies use their titles to review themselves. ("Vampires Suck," "The Expendables")

• Julia Roberts can be out-acted by gorgeous scenery. ("Eat Pray Love")

• Megan Fox can be out-acted by her corset. ("Jonah Hex")

• Mickey Rourke can be out-acted by his hair extensions. ("Iron Man 2," "The Expendables")

• Nicolas Cage will be out-acted by no one. ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice")

• No matter how much it would make them question their gender identity, every "Twilight" fan in their heart of hearts really wants to see Edward and Jacob kiss each other. ("The Twilight Saga: Eclipse")

• Angelina Jolie dressed like a dude is still smokin' hot, thus throwing into chaos all preconceptions about gender identity. ("Salt")

Sean P. Means writes the Culture Vulture in daily blog form, at blogs.sltrib.com/vulture