Are we in the weakest period for worldwide fictional film making?

The 21st century has been fantastic for documentary films. Way better than any part of the 20th century, it's not even close.

But in terms of fictional motion pictures, I think we seem to be going through a really weak spot.

I have 3 periods in film history where the USA has not dominated, namely:
-pre 1939
-mid 50s to 1966 (excluding 1959!)
-late 80s and early 90s

I have c2017-current down as at least as weak a period in American film making as those periods, but unlike those other periods, there's no significant output from the rest of the world.

Apart from documentaries, the only films to make my greatest films list since 2017 are:

The Killing of a Sacred Deer 2017 USA Yorgos Lanthimos
Roma 2018 Mexico Alfonso Cuarón

that's it. And neither of them make my top 100. EDIT: THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019) is in my top 100.

There's some other films I quite liked, such as Birds of Passage, Palm Springs, Aftersun, The Zone of Interest, but over a period of 7 years or so, I would say that this is nowhere near the quality of top level film making that we've seen pretty much continually in world cinema since the late 1920s.



The worry has to be that we never come out of it!!?

We just need a few dozen more superhero movies to get over this slump.
And with multiverses, the options are infinite!

I have no issue with this.

Well considering I'm an X-men fan.....I would say a lot!

Quick! To the Pop Culture Mobile!

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But which one?
The one from that splinter-universe we created when we time travelled?
The one from that movie dimension where half the cast's been replaced by an ethnic minority who are now all the same exact age we are (even though they used to span generations)?
The one driven by my counterpart who makes my adventures all moot because if I die he can just replace me?
The one from the future where we don't exist because one of our parents were killed in the past of the standard continuity?
The one from "Earth-S"?
The one from the mirror universe where everyone is evil and an example of why we must all now be woke?
Or the one that looks like some kind of weird tank... (and if so... does it come in black)?

The third one.

Are we talking profit or quality?

It's difficult to see the 50s to early 60s as a slump when Hitchcock was producing some of the best movies he ever made. Granted, things were a bit sparse if you exclude him from the conversation.

I don't things are necessarily in a slump overall, but we are indeed severely lacking in fresh ideas. Disney still rakes in the billions, but it's through sequels to popular movies.

Part of the issue might be that big movies in theaters aren't where new ideas get tested anymore. It's through streaming and independent films.

I hadn't even thought of it, but I guess you have hit on exactly the reason why.

Because of the focus on these comic book etc franchises.

Movie makers have realised that this is what there is the most demand for and what makes the most money. Multiverse trash. Sorry for using that term. I realise it serves its purpose and but I see it as a sideshow gimmick, and not - irrespective of I'm sure skilled work that goes into it - as quality film making.

It's probably the strongest in terms of total quality productions, but it's hard to dig through the clutter to find them because of the high proportion of garbage.

it isn't though.
certainly not highest quality. there's a global drought and it's edging towards a whole decade.

I would say the complete opposite. Year afer year, my top 20 is dominated by World Cinema, and American films hardly ever make my number 1 slot of the year.

I think the 70s were the best decade for American movies. 1960s for all other countries. I think the 80s stunk, with a few independent movies in the 90s, but other than a couple of foreign movies, movies of my lifetime are dead to me. And it seems like I'm basing movies on a curve. If it's not horrible, I think "Oh wow - I better give it an extra point - 6/10!"



There's always a lot of junk... I judge by the amount of masterpieces or at least great movies. I go into every movie thinking I'll love it. I spend a lot of time before deciding on a movie because I rather not watch a movie than see bullshit.. I use so many tools to increase my probability, but sometimes it's just the way it is.


People will say the same thing about music to me. "It's hard to find" - well, why is it hard to find? Why should I have to watch 50 bad movies before I see something good? But, how do I still find good/great movies from the 1930-70s still? Because people recommend them on here. I look at the "Rate The Last Movie" thread a ton, and sometimes a poster will get me to give it a chance. I also consider the poster, and if I don't know them, I might look at their Top 10.

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filmmaking is the most accessible its ever been therefor its the best time for film.

Movies keep improving, music keeps getting worse.

I tuned out long ago, so new films (sorry Skizzer) don't matter much to me these days. Though I'll say, crap movies have been popular for over 100 years. Last night I watched Batman (1989), looked good but lifeless movie.

That's because you didn't watch it with the opening night audience

Again I don't agree.

It's massively subjective but the amount of technically gifted musicians out there now that make my jaw drop is outrageous. The advent of the internet and spotify mean that small time people have been given a platform, and it's hugely satisfying to discover them.

That said, I know people that are stuck in the 1970s and refuse to accept that anything past the rolling stones is any good. If you have that mindset, then nothing is going to be good enough for you, even if it is.

I'm sure I've said this before but all the stuff about whether things are better or worse fails to define some really basic terms. The key one being: is this in aggregate? You could make a good case that things are worse if you threw a metaphorical dart at a movie or show or album, because there's so much being produced now, but it's not clear how much that matters if the good stuff is as good or better. Though it might mean you have to sift through a little more bad stuff to find it.

Anyway, the question is completely different depending on how you're approaching it. It's easy to say it's worse just because you open Netflix and 90% of what you first see you're not interested in.