To think there are no good films anymore?

[raynedeer]

I don't want to sound like a misery guts, but I love the cinema and it's been years since anything I wanted to see was on. Does anyone else think this is the case? It all seems like pointless guff...?

I agree on that too!

I disagree.

I go to the cinema plenty with a cinema pass so see a lot that i wouldn't see if i didn't have it otherwise, especially East Asian films.

I saw Past Lives last week - one of the better films i've seen this year.

Where have the comedies gone?

We looked up Paul Rudd's IMDB profile the other day - between about 2007-2015 it was absolutely PACKED with comedies, but I honestly think the last comedy I saw at the cinema was Booksmart, which was about 4 years ago!

I absolutely loved Barbie, and part of it was I literally came out of the cinema saying "wow, I haven't seen that before!" whereas everything else feels like its been done a hundred times before.

I have no interest in Marvel/Star Wars/Mission Impossible - and even if I wanted to get into them, the fact that you've got to see the other films and know the backstory/characters to understand what is going on is completely off-putting.

I enjoyed Mrs Harris goes to Paris - but to me, thats the sort of film you watch on a Sunday afternoon while doing the ironing - mindlessly enjoyable.

It's like the Oscars, the organisers are shitting themselves that they are becoming irrelevant, but thats because they only ever reward depressing or "high brow" dramas, rather than the films that have been beloved and enjoyed by the masses. What was the last Best Picture winner that almost everyone has seen at least once - like Titanic, Forest Gump, even LOTR.

So many films are just too long. I find it very difficult to sit still for 2 hours plus.
@foreverbasil

My default review for literally every single movie in the last ten years has been "was good - could have knocked 30 mins off"

Is it shit storytelling or shit editing? I can never quite tell.

Some films are too long - part of that shift between TV and film is that some TV series are like padded-out films and some films are like a whole boxset! There's no beating a cracking 90-min movie, but when a film is really good, it earns the running time. I thought Dune and The Batman warranted the hours, whereas most recent Marvels could have been a lot shorter for me.

Past Lives is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Also Barbie 😀

Edit: I forgot Theatre Camp, which I almost didn't bother with but which made me laugh out loud in the cinema more than I have in years - I'd recommend it to anybody if you can find it.

So few really great actors as well. I would watch Paul Dano opening an envelope but trying hard to think of others who really draw me in

Napoleon is the first thing that's really piqued my interest in ages.

I used to go to the cinema all the time when I lived in a city. I'd go and see pretty much anything, so saw some real shit but also some real gems. Harder now I live in a smaller place, don't drive so it's always a bit of a faff to get to the pictures. That means I'll only go if it's an event, kind if thing.

There's a good Matt Damon interview out there somewhere, where he covers why this may be. Essentially it boils down to the loss of the DVD/video release market...

Paraphrasing here but he said that it used to be that they could get a more niche, interesting, small budget movies approved via a studio because they only had to raise a certain % of profit via cinema releases, as they could rely on the DVD releases that came later to make up the rest of the studio advance.

Nowadays, they need to make up a much higher percentage of the studio advance via cinema releases as streaming platforms generate such little revenue for them. That's why it's all so samey nowadays (Marvels, Bonds, Disney live versions, re-makes of classics etc) as they know they are popular and make money.

The low budget, cult movies that are released these days are harder to source funding for so are sadly much rarer.

It's interesting that's why they are doing so many Disney remakes - none of which are actually wanted. Who wanted to see a live action Pinocchio?

Admittedly, The Little Mermaid was excellent, but some of the other adaptions have been shite.

I would love to see Disney lean into the villain prequels. They saw how successful Maleficent was, and how much money Cruella made - both were really interesting origin stories, but leant into the characters that you already know and love. I want to see the Ursula/Triton backstory!!!!! haha!

But they don't seem to want to invest in original stories anymore.

Was going to say the same thing. I cannot abide superhero or action movies. Likewise I don't really get the arty movie type. That leaves a big fat nothing in the middle. Rom coms are so brainless they are embarrassing to watch, I guess that was probably always the case. I do like a good thriller but they tend to be gory and I find violence very difficult to watch so I rule out any thriller types that have an 18 cert.

I agree though that the missing genre is probably now a mini series, which i admit I do love. I just miss the cinema experience.

I loved Knives Out and Glass Onion. Also really enjoyed Bullet Train. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Generally I know I will love a film if it's Christopher Nolan or Wes Anderson and have yet to be disappointed.

I think there are some excellent films around, just the way we consume them has changed. I'm less likely to visit the cinema now and watch far more newly released films at home. Unless you subscribe to most of the streaming services, there will be lots that pass you by unfortunately.

Haha my husband would agree with you, and does that too.

Whereas I think there are lots of excellent films being made now including Sound of Freedom which I just saw and wish everyone would see. Powerful, moving and sadly, based on true events. Loved Jesus Revolution too also recent and there's any number of new films I want to see. I like certain classic films but there has always been dross amongst the gems, regardless of the era

A fabulous romcom is Rye Lane also recent

It’s your age. They don’t make music like they used to either 😉

Past Lives sounds sad. Is it? I can't manage a sad movie at the moment. The world is sad enough.

I have to agree. Music was the first thing that made me feel old - I long felt there was no great new music, but I suddenly realised it wasn't just average, ALL new music was abysmal.

It's natural to have similar feelings about films too. I can't even remember what the last (as in most recently released) "great" film I saw was. There have been some good or adequate films in the last decade or so (12 Years a Slave, Interstellar, The Martian, The Hateful Eight, Fury), I'm not quite at the "all modern films are shit" stage.

Part of it is me discovering how many superb older films are freely available but I'd never heard of, let alone seen. That's the benefit of Prime and free streaming services like Pluto or (in the US) Tubi. Just this week I watched the entertaining "3 Clear Sundays" which is an old BBC TV movie from the 60s featuring that guy who was the drill office in "Get Some In!" in prison and SPOILER ALERT sentenced to hang for killing a prison guard. There's a load of old rubbish out there too of course, you just have to take a chance.

I think it depends what you go for (though I can't abide anything that involves anyone shooting anyone, or anyone in a superhero costume, which rules out a surprising amount...)

In the last year or so, in terms of (comparatively) mainstream release stuff (as in, I've seen them in a small screen in a mainstream cinema, not at a festival, I've loved Tár, Corsage, Memoria, You Hurt My Feelings.

We absolutely loved both Oppenheimer and Dune.

DH loved Triangle of Sadness, Parasite, and a sad one called After Love about a widow discovering stuff about her husband after his death.

The kids loved the most recent Indiana Jones, the Lost City, Free Guy, and Detective Pikachu. And want to see Wonka and Hunger Games.

The last romcom I really enjoyed was Crazy Rich Asians which was a few years ago now. I've heard that Rye Lane was good.

Other than that I'm struggling to remember others. I agree that there are far too many superhero films and when you do happen to see one, they are incomprehensible because there is so much back story and so many references that you don't get unless you've watched the billion and one films that came before. I tried to watch the new Captain America film on the plane and it was so hard to follow - I then discovered Captain America had appeared in ELEVEN previous films so no wonder I had no idea what was going on or who anyone was. If you have to watch eleven films to get up to speed, that's a bit mad, frankly.

I go to the cinema a lot for my job and see loads of good stuff.
But not many absolute masterpieces. Maybe they only come along every few years?

I really liked Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, also probably more horror than thriller but The Exorcist remake that's out in a few weeks looks pretty good.
If you're into books then The Push by Ashley Audrain was brilliant.. a bit like We need to talk about Kevin (if you haven't read that I'd highly recommend and the movie is also really good.)
I've also watched some good thriller type series recently., The Cry on bbc iPlayer and The Icecream girls on itvx.

I loved The Menu - it's become one of my all time favourites. The constant remakes and sequels get a bit depressing, but there still are some good, original films out there. There's just so much stuff released, that it's easy for the good ones to get missed.

I agree. I see a lot of films too, and a lot of fairly recent ones have been terrific (I loved Elvis, Rye Lane and Barbie, which a fair few PP have mentioned) but I think the last one I would call a genuine, bona fide masterpiece was Parasite.

If they were an everyday thing, then they wouldn't be special or standout though, so that's fine by me

There are plenty of excellent films being made. You just sometimes have to look further than your local Odeon.

I watch old movies as I think they were much better. I usually rent them on prime as they literally have everything. I enjoyed the towering inferno the other day - 3 hours long but still good.