Film The worst year of cinema?

simonhch

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There are usually a few films a year that I really look forward to. Films are so subjective that you know you aren’t going to like most of what gets put out, and you may not even like some of the much heralded releases of the year; but there are usually a few out there that turn out to be fantastic for any and every taste.

But I have to say that this last year is the first year I can remember, where nothing has come out that I really liked. And most of what has garnered huge critical acclaim, is either of no interest to me, or I just thought downright terrible.

My big hope for a critical darling that I was going to love was Banshees of Inisherin. I love MM films. And while I thought it was good, I didn’t think it was a patch on his previous work. That got me thinking, and I looked at this year’s Oscar list for best picture and couldn’t believe how flat that felt.

- Triangle of Sadness; a quirky, interesting film with some good scenes, but miles from being great.
- Top Gun Maverick; good popcorn fare.
- Everything, Everywhere All At Once; so bad I couldn’t finish it.
- Tar: Zero interest.
- The Fabelmans; Boring and terrible.
- Elvis; Meh

I appreciate some will have liked or loved those films, especially EEAAO, but for me, my tastes, this has been a shocking year of cinema. And it feels like there’s nothing good coming out on the horizon that I might be remotely interested in. Not until Dune; Part 2 in October.

Even the light hearted, popcorn films from Marvel have been shitter than ever. And Avatar 2, which I was fully prepared to really enjoy as a “guilty pleasure”, was so long and boring that I actually left the theatre angry. It just feels like every genre, every category, has been shit this year. And I’ve pretty much resorted to miniseries, and the horror of it…..reading.

What about the rest of you? How have you felt about the last year of cinema? What grabbed you this year that I may have missed? I’ve seen lots of average, hailed as brilliant, tell me how I’m wrong!

And no, I’m not telling you you are wrong for loving any of those films I derided. They just didnt
 

caid

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Lockdown didn't help and its probably going to be another lean year.
I liked the Northman a lot. There was a lot of other movies that seemed pretty hit and miss some enjoying them others hating them - barbarian and nope. I dont know, there was enough stuff to keep me happy. Most of it came out in january and the calendar ahead looks weak so i might catch up with your mood soon enough.
 

Wibble

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simonhch said:
There are usually a few films a year that I really look forward to. Films are so subjective that you know you aren’t going to like most of what gets put out, and you may not even like some of the much heralded releases of the year; but there are usually a few out there that turn out to be fantastic for any and every taste.

But I have to say that this last year is the first year I can remember, where nothing has come out that I really liked. And most of what has garnered huge critical acclaim, is either of no interest to me, or I just thought downright terrible.

My big hope for a critical darling that I was going to love was Banshees of Inisherin. I love MM films. And while I thought it was good, I didn’t think it was a patch on his previous work. That got me thinking, and I looked at this year’s Oscar list for best picture and couldn’t believe how flat that felt.

- Triangle of Sadness; a quirky, interesting film with some good scenes, but miles from being great.
- Top Gun Maverick; good popcorn fare.
- Everything, Everywhere All At Once; so bad I couldn’t finish it.
- Tar: Zero interest.
- The Fabelmans; Boring and terrible.
- Elvis; Meh

I appreciate some will have liked or loved those films, especially EEAAO, but for me, my tastes, this has been a shocking year of cinema. And it feels like there’s nothing good coming out on the horizon that I might be remotely interested in. Not until Dune; Part 2 in October.

Even the light hearted, popcorn films from Marvel have been shitter than ever. And Avatar 2, which I was fully prepared to really enjoy as a “guilty pleasure”, was so long and boring that I actually left the theatre angry. It just feels like every genre, every category, has been shit this year. And I’ve pretty much resorted to miniseries, and the horror of it…..reading.

What about the rest of you? How have you felt about the last year of cinema? What grabbed you this year that I may have missed? I’ve seen lots of average, hailed as brilliant, tell me how I’m wrong!

And no, I’m not telling you you are wrong for loving any of those films I derided. They just didnt
Click to expand...
Banshees of Inisherin was a huge disappointment despite some great performances, Colin Farrell especially. The finger chopping thing just didn't work at all. That said, I loved In Bruge, quite enjoyed 3 Billboards and didn't like 7 Phycopaths, so his films aren't universally great.

As for good/great films I struggle to remember any. I hated the Northman, Top Gun was pointless and boring (just go and watch the original), Elvis was just ok, EEAAO wasn't bad but didn't quite plant the landing and I despise all things superhero related. I haven't watched Avatar 2 and I won't until they finally open the Sydney iMax, assuming they do before I leave, but fully expect to find the middle third pointless and slow.
 
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Drawfull

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The same for me, and with your ratings too.

TLDR

There's been very few must own releases on disc although I did pick up maybe 30 or so out of boredom/must have (e.g., Tog Gun Mav, or the 'one-off' collections). It would normally be double that a year though minimum. I liked TGM a lot for the nostalgia, didn't finish EEAAO (double dipped, idiot), Banshees was good but not what I was expecting, Tar and Fabelmans no interest, Elvis was passable if that, Triangle of Sadness I didn't care for at all - didn't finish.

I did like To Leslie, which I watched last year before all the Oscars hoo-ha. Some of these might be 2021 (my timeline is off since the pandemic) but looking through a selection of the stuff I did pick up I thought Freaky was OK, X was meh to OK, JW Dominion was alright (heh), Ambulance was shit, Bullet Train not much better, Secrets of Dumbledore was alright and the list is long and mostly shit.

I know Marvel is the one people love to hate, but the fact that Phase 4 has been utter shite compared to what came before hasn't helped at all, and add to that, that the lockdowns mean we're getting what feels like a new Marvel movie a month is an issue; I'm only still buying them because I already have the rest.

As for the more arty stuff, that tends to be digitally only as they're not really my cup of tea but my iTunes library has never grown so slowly either, being propped up by older less-heralded titles.

I've a few things on pre-order but none of them are 'new', I don't think (the Rockys are out over the next few weeks and if Wakanda Forever is up for pre-order I will have done so). I'll pick up the Avatars if they ever come to 4K, but not in a rush.

It's been so bad I double-dipped on Black Adam. Haven't watched.

I've got Aftersun and The Woman King to watch, maybe they're good.
 

Amar__

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I enjoyed some films this year, which can't be said for couple of last years. It's actually first time in years I am regularly back to watching movies instead of TV shows.

Babylon was good, I really liked Top Gun, and The Menu was excellent. Some decent ones like Pale Blue Eyes, Violent Night, Bullet Train, Gray Man. And I haven't watched Banshees and Everything Everywhere and Tar yet.
 

Dirty Schwein

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Plenty good films.
 

SilentWitness

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Saw Aftersun and The Swimmers last year and both were excellent.
 

FrankDrebin

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If you're a film fan, its been a good year for film.
The Menu, Enys Men, The Banshees of Inisherin, Broker, White Noise, Tar, Everything Everywhere All at Once, All Quiet on the Western Front, Aftersun, Men, Top Gun : Maverick, and that's off the top of my head.
Its not been a terrible year for film, probably a terrible year for Cinema in England because half these films aren't showing in most theatres around the country.
 
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FrankDrebin

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Personally I didnt mind Avatar.

Yes I certainly felt the length of the movie about a hour in and its certainly patient in its inevitable OTT all-out action orientated third act. But, outside of Sam Worthington who's as wooden as ever (might aswell have a blue painted wooden stall as the lead because you wouldn't notice much difference in the performance) , I found the kids to be endearing and charismatic. I found the backstory of Spider vaguely interesting (basically a homage to Tarzan ), the films narrative was continuing in its rather basic and familiar black and white/good vs bad structure, the performances were largely very good and the special effects were truly outstanding, more so when the film diverts out of the lush Pandora forests and into the deep blue depths of the sea.

There's alot to love about Cameron's idealised/ romanticized Avatar films, I think. And even though there's numerous familiar narrative acts in these two films, I've still appreciated them.

And I admire the fact that Cameron's is playing this world straight. No constant quips that take you out of the severity of a moment. They're executed well in the moment.

I just wish the exposition (outside of the 1st film, Cameron is usually a master in effectively executing exposition in his films) and length of the movies was dealt with a little more restraint.
 

Reditus

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I loved Banshees and hope it wins everythign nominated in

Everything Everwhere didnt hit home at all for me though. It was just to silly for me. Id go as far to say I disliked it a lot. But feel like im missing out as its universally liked by most
 

FrankDrebin

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I liked and admire Everything Everywhere.. but I don't love it.
 

BluesJr

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Covid after effect still I think. Garbage so far and doesn’t look like getting much better this year.
 

Bilbo

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I can only think of The Menu that I really enjoyed recently. Avatar was good fun but I watched it with kids so I was half watching it through their eyes.

Aftersun I saw last week. Bored the tits off of me. I'm not sure what the fuss was about there
 

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I liked EEAAO a lot. I thought it subverted expectations greatly when it appeared to go the Superhero/Matrix way and then flipped to the love story that it was at heart. Plus, in doing so it managed to be more effective in using the storytelling devices from action films/MCU/etc. than most of them.

I liked Triangle of Sadness too, tough I had just finished The White Lotus 2 seasons which are similar in plot and tone (maybe not in cinematography, which in my opinion was stellar in ToS) so it felt a little like a twisted spin off or epilogue to the series.

Banshees of Inisherin didn't do it for me. It isn't bad, it's just that the story forces the main 2 actors to do most of the heavy lifting and their performances weren't strong enough. In fact, I liked the supporting characters better (especially Kerry Condon -Mike's daughter in law in Better Call Saul- who was fantastic).

Maybe I'm harsh in biopics in general, but I thought Elvis was terrible. It felt like a parody most of the time and it managed to avoid both telling Elvis' story and explaining its relationship with his manager, which was supposedly the whole point. Butler was OK, Hanks was abismal.

I don't know if it's a general trend, but I think the quality and depth of mainstream movies have been falling for at least 10-12 years, with the odd good year from time to time (2014, 2019?).

I haven't seen the rest, altough I have some hopes in Women Talking, All quiet on the western front and Tar. Any suggestions?
 

FrankDrebin

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I would recommend Tar, All Quiet on the Western Front and , if you can , try to catch Mark Jenkin's (Director of 2019's brilliant little Cornish drama Bait, which I also recommend) Eny's Men , which is a enjoyable little folk horror indie film.
 

Van Piorsing

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Each new year building somekind a new trend of being terrible for bloated franchises and surprisngly neat here and there for smaller prods.

Top Gun however was a nice surprise from big industry and Men is another proof where good ideas come from.
 

Idxomer

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Maybe if your definition of cinema is what's produced in Hollywood.
 

Suv666

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I loved Banshees and Tar as well.
Triangle of Sadness was a bit meh yeah.

I think this year was better than the last.
 

Strootman's Finger

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All years since Hollywood made the decision to forgo making good movies and started pumping out all the comic book movies for the adult children. We should have never let the nerds become in charge of everything.
 

FrankDrebin

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Last year was great too, tbf.
Memoria, Benedetta, Happening, Days, The Summit of the Gods, Mad God, Belfast, Green Knight, heck I even liked The Last Duel.
 
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