Here are the five movies from 2010 to the present that are on the list of my 100 favorite movies of all time:
Before Midnight (2013, U.S., dir. Richard Linklater)
Boyhood (2014, U.S., dir. Richard Linklater)
Her (2013, U.S., dir. Spike Jonze)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, Australia/U.S., dir. George Miller)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012, U.S., dir. Wes Anderson)
So there are twenty or so films that Jonathan Chance, SpoilerVirgin, GreenWyvern, and I have recommended. Watch them. Tell us what you think about them.
IMO Mad Max: Fury Road comes close to leveling things out for every Marvel and F&F-style action movie of the past TWO decades. That fucking film is fantastic!
To round things out, I like many (most) of the movies you’re lambasting and don’t care for the art house films, generally. That said, I don’t think that cinema is in decline. If anything, it’s enjoying a renaissance, with alternative distribution channels and financing through more sources than ever.
As a (now) old guy who grow up on the films of the 60’s and 70’s, I endorse the OP.
I keep wondering if it’s just me or whether there are others less than impressed with the avalanche of comic book films, trope renewals, retreads, resurrections, and generally banal shit, that defines most recent American cinema.
The same complaint has been made previously, and it’s been pointed out that this is hardly new. The Maltese Falcon (1941), Ben-Hur (1959) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) are among the best-loved, most highly rated movies, but they’re also all adaptions of novels and weren’t even the first time the novels were filmed. Casablanca was adapted from a stage play and the James Bond films were of course also based on a series of novels. Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes movies have been made multiple times.
(another old guy) I hate to say it, but I think “selective memory” is affecting your opinion. There have ALWAYS BEEN “trope renewals, retreads, resurrections, and generally banal shit” movies out there - even back in the 60’s and 70’s.
It just seems that comic books are the latest “source” for churning out mediocre movies. Have you forgotten that there were slasher films galore, “Jaws” spinoffs, “Star Wars” spinoffs, “Saturday Night Live” spinoffs, kung fu movies galore… the list is ENDLESS.
The 60’s had countless crap Westerns and detective/PI movies (yes, there were also some good ones), as well as lame horror movies.
Hollywood is driven by only one thing: what sells. And since currently comic books movies still pack them in (“Avengers: End Game” being the most recent example), guess what you can expect to see more of ?
Part of the problem may be the number of screens available to a movie-goer and the length of time a film stays in an accessible theatre. It may be that a great movie made it the local theatre but was pushed out in a week by a blockbuster that stayed out for weeks. If you snooze, you lose, and are left with whatever the kids are thrilled by this month, and so the overall sense is “the movies I can reasonably expect to get to are crap”
Beg pardon? The number of screens available now is far greater than it was decades past. When I was a kid, it was a Big Deal when Ridge Park Square went in, with a record-setting eight screens. Nowadays, 20+ screen multiplexes are all over the place.
Now, there probably were more venues in times past, with the small neighborhood theaters (though some of them are still around, too). But each of those only had room for maybe three or four movies, and none of them wanted to miss out on the big ones, so it was usually the same three or four at most of them.
That actually sounds refreshing. With all the smart-alecky CGI, it seems like most new movies are basically variations on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. I would much prefer to be offered a bunch of no-frills low budget movies.
The OP is yet another person mistaking the movies that are heavily advertised for all the movies that are out there. Let’s look at what is actually in a typical theater, Chicago’s River East 21.
Of these, the ONLY “Superhero movies” are #3 and #11.
#12 is a Jim Jarmusch film about zombies. #17 is a documentary about the opera singer. #8 is a comedy about the writers for a talk show. #13 is one of my favorite films of the year about two academic over-achievers. #1 is an animated film, while #5 is a live action musical based on an animated film. #2 and #4 are action comedies, #7 is a monster movie, #10 is a revenge film, and #9 is a pure action film. #14 through #19 look really interesting as well.
As the saying goes, you’re entitled to your own opinion. You’re not entitled to your own facts.
the OP should Get one of the "Leonard Maltin’s movie and dvd guides " and give an opinion about the 30s and 40s “golden age” when you had 18 Tarzan movies 25 Boston blackie movies 16 blondie movies… some series had movies every 6-8 weeks … he had all of them listed …
Some series lasted 20 years and had 6 character changes and the like…
I never did either., and yet I love comic book movies. A film like Thor Ragnarok pushes all my Star Wars-loving, Pratchett-reading, D&D-playing geek buttons. Is it serious, adult entertainment? Not really, but I’ve tried being a serious adult and standing here, just a month away from my 45th birthday, I can tell you that it’s just not worth the effort.
Not only that, the superhero movie deluge has only been around 5 years or so. Before that it was non-stop Young Adult: Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, etc…
I (greatly) prefer dopey superhero movies to YA dramas, though in fairness both are naked and unabashed wish fulfillment for their target audience. They should all really just be named “Mary Sue for [target demo]” and be done with it. The last one I saw was The Darkest Minds – what can I say? I’m an Amandla Stenberg fan – and holy shit that was the most unwatchable garbage I’ve seen since Divergent. (Also a huge fan of Shailene Woodley, but not even the target demo watched those.)
I don’t particularly care about superhero movies; I still haven’t watched Avengers: Endgame, but I’ll catch it when it comes to streaming or cable for “free.” But as far as trends go, it’s much less annoying – albeit a bit more ubiquitous – than previous trends.