Is it just me, or the late 2000s/early 2010s were the worst years for Hollywood movies ever?

[Edmilson 7,367]

This will be a little controversial, and maybe even nitpicky.

 

But, looking back to the past, I do believe that some of the worst years creatively in Hollywood's history were from about 2009 to 2013.

 

For example, 2009 was an awful year for blockbusters. We had abominations like Revenge of the Fallen, 2012, New Moon, Angels and Demons, the sequel to Night at the Museum, X-Men Origins, Terminator Salvation, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (who is the moron that names its own movie, marketed to kids, with a pretty obvious penis innuendo?!?)... At least by the end of that year we had Avatar and the first RDJ's Sherlock, which compared to what came before, are masterpieces.
 

2010 was a little better, with Toy Story 3, Inception, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind... But we also had Burton's Alice in Wonderland, the third Twilight, Iron Man 2, Tron Legacy, the third Chronicles of Narnia, Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, fucking The Last Airbender... And, of course, the beginning of the Illumination empire, with the release of the first Despicable Me.

 

2011 was pretty terrible, with Cars 2, Transformers - Dark of the Moon, Pirates 4, Breaking Down, Sherlock 2 (which I think is pretty bad, much worse than the first one), Thor... Fortunately, on 2012, things got a little better, with Avengers, Skyfall, the first Hunger Games, Wreck-It Ralph and An Unexpected Journey (the only Hobbit movie that I like, lol). But also lots and lots of utter shit, like The Amazing Spider-Man, Pixar's Brave, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman... At least the Twilight franchise ended.

 

By 2013 and 14, things were starting to get a little better, but we still had to suffer to a lot of crap, like Sam Raimi's Oz movie, Thor - The Dark World, Man of Steel, another G.I. Joe, Maleficent, the Hobbit sequels, the Ridley Scott Moses movie, Amazing Spider-Man 2...

 

I have two particular gripes with this era. Firstly, studios were giving directors money to do some pretty awful things. Think Zack Snyder on Sucker Punch, almost every Ridley Scott movie from that era, Shyamalan on the abortion called The Last Airbender... Sure, we had some great auteaur movies from people like Nolan (Inception, Interstellar), Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds, Django), Scorsese (Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street) and the Coens (True Grit), but still.

 

Secondly, the movies from that era had a particular blandness to it. Like, they not only were bad, but they were also bland, dull, boring. They didn't even have the decency of being bad enough to become cult classics, they're just... there. They exist. And you don't care about them. 

 

Because I don't think anyone have nostalgy for this

 

 

Or this

 

 

Or this

 

 

People don't remember that this movie (and its even more forgettable sequel) existed 

 

 

Or this one

 

 

Neither this one

 

 

People don't care about this

 

 

And this

 

 

And this

 

 

And this

 

 

This

 

 

And, of course, this

 

 

And that's not even counting for when Hollywood tried to force everyone to accept 3D as the next big thing, without offering good movies or even good experiences in 3D.

 

It's like no one cares about the movies from that era, because they're so fucking bland. It's this dullness that makes most of that time insufferable. Imagine what is like to go to the cinema in mid 2009 and have to decide between Wolverine, Angels and Demons, Night at the Museum 2, Terminator Salvation or Transformers - and Netflix weren't exactly a thing back then.

 

And yeah, I know these days things aren't much better, and actually crap is released every year. But I guess even the bad movies from today, or from the past, are re-watchable in a way that movies from the late 2000s/early 2010s simply are not. For instance, Venom is atrocious, but at least is funny in a dumb, daft way, while the Marc Webb Spidey movies are just... tedious. 

 

That era had movies that not only were bad, but you didn't care about them. You felt nothing, not even hate (well, maybe for the Transformers). And this is much worse than being just bad.

 

I've focused almost exclusively on the blockbusters, but on the Oscars things weren't much better. I mean, The Hurt Locker the best movie of the year? The King's Speech? Argo? Who cares about these things? In any case, I didn't do the research, but I'm pretty sure on the arthouse cinema there were great stuff being produced.

 

I know this is controversial, and that plenty of people will tell me that these days things are much, much worse - and maybe they aren't wrong. But this is a little personal for me. I was a teenager back then, and while lots of people remember about the awesome cinematic experiences of their youth, mine has mostly... crap.

 

That said, me and my friends from High School watched the 2010 Clash of the Titans on opening day, which happened to be my 17th birthday, and it was fun. Not because of the movie, but because hanging around with the people from school and then eating pizza while having a nice time was a great experience.

 

But what about you guys? What year do you think was the worse for Hollywood movies?

[Arpy 4,145]

What about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Deathly Hallows (2010&2011)?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 minutes ago, Arpy said:

What about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Deathly Hallows (2010&2011)?

 

Both crappy.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I feel like it was the point of no return for Hollywood. Things are worse than ever now and streaming TV shows are now preferable to films.

[Arpy 4,145]

Super 8, Tintin, War Horse?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Super 8, Tintin, War Horse?

 

Zzzzz, zzzzz, liked the horsie movie but never felt compelled to rewatch.

[Faleel 5,326]

42 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Super 8, Tintin, War Horse?

I enjoyed War Horse, but I am not allergic to sentiment.

[Corellian2019 383]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

I've focused almost exclusively on the blockbusters, but on the Oscars things weren't much better. I mean, The Hurt Locker the best movie of the year? The King's Speech? Argo? Who cares about these things?

 

This. My family had already sworn off the Oscars after Slumdog Millionaire took home the big prize the previous year, but the Academy's ridiculous decision to increase the Best Picture nominees from five to ten ensured that we would never take the results seriously.

 

In a sense, I blame the "Oscar bait" movies more than the blockbusters for the current predicament of quality in cinema, since they were supposed to provide a viable alternative, but instead were just as unmemorable as the big studio movies

 

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

...I'm pretty sure on the arthouse cinema there were great stuff being produced.

 

Black Swan, The Tree Of Life, and The Master were standouts for me during this era

[A24 4,323]

I survived because of TV.

[Chen G. 3,940]

I was entering this thread wanting to agree, but then I realized there *are* quite a few films from the 2010s I quite like. There are no real standouts or masterpieces that I can recall, which is a shame, but there are quite a few films I thoroughly enjoyed, and sometimes that’s enough.

[Lord Zimmer 211]

You could do this for pretty much every decade. 70s/80s/90s

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

No, just a damn minute! SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is one of my favourite films, ever. EVER!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Movies did start to become fun again at around this time though. After that nauseating dark and disturbing trend of the 2000s nearly ruined everything.

[crumbs 14,287]

5 hours ago, Corellian2019 said:

My family had already sworn off the Oscars after Slumdog Millionaire took home the big prize the previous year

 

What the? Slumdog Millionaire is a brilliant movie! Probably the only other BP winner in the last 15 years I've agreed with (along with Parasite).

[Chen G. 3,940]

2 hours ago, Lord Zimmer said:

You could do this for pretty much every decade. 70s/80s/90s

All those decades had truly great cinematic masterworks. Not so with the 2010s, I feel.

 

26 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

Movies did start to become fun again at around this time though. After that nauseating dark and disturbing trend of the 2000s nearly ruined everything.

That was the peak maturity of cinema. Now we’ve reversed back to infancy.

[A24 4,323]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

No, just a damn minute! SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is one of my favourite films, ever. EVER!

 

Richard, the eternal contrarian. 

[Edmilson 7,367]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

That was the peak maturity of cinema. Now we’ve reversed back to infancy.

 

But he is right, though. The dark and disturbing trend of the 2000s were either the cringeworthy movies that were trying to be edgy (Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Elektra, Catwoman, the Resident Evil and Underworld franchises), or when they were trying to be grim and realistic, imitating Grengrass' Bourne and Nolan's Batman. Sometimes it worked (Casino Royale, or, on the MCU, The Winter Soldier), but most of the times the results were woeful. 

 

At the very least, since 2012's Avengers, movies tried to be fun again, just a saturday matinee at the theater, much like the beloved 80s blockbusters. They weren't always successful, but it was always more entertaining than trying to watch someone desperately trying to be Nolan. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, Chen G. said:

That was the peak maturity of cinema. Now we’ve reversed back to infancy.

 

Srsly?

 

50 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

They weren't always successful, but it was always more entertaining than trying to watch someone desperately trying to be Nolan. 

 

Or trying to out-disturb each other.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

2 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Richard, the eternal contrarian. 

Too fookin' right!

[John 2,032]

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

That was the peak maturity of cinema. Now we’ve reversed back to infancy.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

5 hours ago, Lord Zimmer said:

You could do this for pretty much every decade. 70s/80s/90s

 

For every decade you scored movies, you mean.

[Chen G. 3,940]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

At the very least, since 2012's Avengers, movies tried to be fun again, just a saturday matinee at the theater, much like the beloved 80s blockbusters. They weren't always successful, but it was always more entertaining than trying to watch someone desperately trying to be Nolan. 

Can I please understand how Christopher Nolan got to claim ownership over a trend to which he came at the tail end? For instance, I would consider Cameron’s Titanic as serious as any Nolan film, and certainly Gladiator could teach Nolan a thing or two about being dark and grim.

 

34 minutes ago, John said:

Mind you, when I say infancy I mean the likes of the MCU. I see it’s lightheartedness and lack of earnestness as a regression.

[Edmilson 7,367]

20 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Can I please understand how Christopher Nolan got to claim ownership over a trend to which he came at the tail end? For instance, I would consider Cameron’s Titanic as serious as any Nolan film, and certainly Gladiator could teach Nolan a thing or two about being dark and grim.

 

 

Don't ask me, ask Hollywood, which have been trying to emulate Nolan's Bat trilogy since its release. But just on its "serious, dark and grim" tone, not on the quality of the writing, acting and direction.

 

https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a22070824/10-years-on-the-dark-knight-has-a-lot-to-answer-for/

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-knight-changed-movie-business-but-at-what-cost-1126942

 

Batman Begins is probably one of the most influential movies of the XXI century, for some reason. It inspired movies both good (RDJ's Sherlock, First Class, Skyfall) and bad (Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Phoenix, Terminator sequels).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Begins#Impact

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

7 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

 

Don't ask me, ask Hollywood, which have been trying to emulate Nolan's Bat trilogy since its release. But just on its "serious, dark and grim" tone, not on the quality of the writing, acting and direction.

 

https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a22070824/10-years-on-the-dark-knight-has-a-lot-to-answer-for/

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-knight-changed-movie-business-but-at-what-cost-1126942

 

Batman Begins is probably one of the most influential movies of the XXI century, for some reason. It inspired movies both good (RDJ's Sherlock, First Class, Skyfall) and bad (Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Phoenix, Terminator sequels).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Begins#Impact

 

Hell even the tagline to Godzilla 2014 was "As the world ends, Godzilla begins".

[A24 4,323]

Sam Mendes refers to TDK, not Batman Begins. Needless to say he also was influenced by Bourne.

[Edmilson 7,367]

11 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Needless to say he also was influenced by Bourne

 

Which, alongside the Nolan Bat trilogy, was another very influential franchise in Hollywood that made everything "dark, grim, depressing and realistic".

 

Also, what is the point of understanding the action scenes? Only movies made for babies allow the audience to see what is happening during fights. It's much more edgier, dark and realistic if you film everything with a shaky cam, so in that way the movie suddenly becomes a doc during the fights.

[A24 4,323]

I never get depressed because of shaky cam. I got depressed by Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton Bond movies. 

[KK 3,307]

I think there are fair points to make about the effects of streaming and MCU/franchise flicks on mainstream cinema. But otherwise, I'm not sure there's much of an argument here. There's always been shitty movies. The character of them might be different, according the era, but they've always been there.

 

We just tend to only remember the good ones. Because, you know...nostalgia is a thing.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Yeah, the shitty movies nowadays just tend to be superhero movies.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

I never get depressed because of shaky cam. I got depressed by Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton Bond movies. 

Oi!!! Dalton is a brilliant Bond!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

2013-2018 was far worse. 

[Edmilson 7,367]

1 hour ago, KK said:

I think there are fair points to make about the effects of streaming and MCU/franchise flicks on mainstream cinema. But otherwise, I'm not sure there's much of an argument here. There's always been shitty movies. The character of them might be different, according the era, but they've always been there.

 

We just tend to only remember the good ones. Because, you know...nostalgia is a thing.

 

That's not the point, I know we always had bad movies. The point that I'm trying to make is that the bad movies from that era (2009 - 2013) are not only bad, but also bland, dull, boring. It's a fucking chore to watch today almost anything produced during those years, because the movies were so tedious. They don't inspire neither reactions like "it's so bad is good" or "hey, this was actually good, an injustly criticized movie at its time!", like most cult flicks. They don't inspire anything but yawns.

 

No one this day cares about the pop culture from that time because it was pathetic, tedious, boring, bland, safe, dull.

 

Just take a look at the movies I posted on the first post of the thread. No one cared about them when they were released, and they certainly don't care now.

 

But I guess this is just a personal thing from myself. 

 

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Yeah, the shitty movies nowadays just tend to be superhero movies.

 

You're implying that non-superhero movies, which include the horrid Disney live action remakes and that abomination that was The Rise of Skywalker, are actually good.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

12 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

You're implying that non-superhero movies, are actually good.

 

Are there still non-superhero movies being made?

[Fabulin 3,506]

I find that as of late it is not a problem of bad films getting worse, but of the highest quality films getting less inspiring.

 

[KK 3,307]

15 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

That's not the point, I know we always had bad movies. The point that I'm trying to make is that the bad movies from that era (2009 - 2013) are not only bad, but also bland, dull, boring. It's a fucking chore to watch today almost anything produced during those years, because the movies were so tedious. They don't inspire neither reactions like "it's so bad is good" or "hey, this was actually good, an injustly criticized movie at its time!", like most cult flicks. They don't inspire anything but yawns.

 

Just take a look at the movies I posted on the first post of the thread. No one cared about them when they were released, and they certainly don't care now.

 

Yeah, but those kind of movies have existed all the time. The reason we don't remember them, is because as you say, no one cared about them. You could pick any era and pick out a similar, if not longer, list of trashy bland popcorn flicks from a Wikipedia page.

 

10 years from now, no one is going to look back at the time period you pointed out and reflect on the quality of Clash of Titans or Battle LA. People are going to talk about how Avatar introduced 3D as the industry standard for distribution, how Inception seeped into pop culture, the twists and turns and the Oscar bait-ish lesbian scene in Black Swan, the talky roller-coaster ride quality of that Facebook movie, etc etc...

 

These movies have and will always be around. They're just not worth talking about. Trashy B-movies are certainly not part of some "contemporary" trend.

[A24 4,323]

8 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Are there still non-superhero movies being made?

 

You would know if you had any interest in those. 

[Edmilson 7,367]

13 minutes ago, Fabulin said:

I find that as of late it is not a problem of bad films getting worse, but of the highest quality films getting less inspiring.

 

 

We need more Parasite and less Disney remakes! Or just less Disney overall.

 

11 minutes ago, KK said:

Yeah, but those kind of movies have existed all the time. The reason we don't remember them, is because as you say, no one cared about them. You could pick any era and pick out a similar, if not longer, list of trashy bland popcorn flicks from a Wikipedia page.

 

10 years from now, no one is going to look back at the time period you pointed out and reflect on the quality of Clash of Titans or Battle LA. People are going to talk about how Avatar introduced 3D as the industry standard for distribution, how Inception seeped into pop culture, the twists and turns and the Oscar bait-ish lesbian scene in Black Swan, the talky roller-coaster ride quality of that Facebook movie, etc etc...

 

These movies have and will always be around. They're just not worth talking about...

 

Yeah, I guess you're right. As I said, this is personal to me, because when I look back, the movies from a decade ago seemed to have more concentrated crap. 

 

I guess is that these days I'm just older enough to not care about all the garbage being released, not only in theaters, but on streaming as well. 

 

But I do think 2019 was a year superior for cinema than 2009. Even a minor Marvel movie such as Spider-Man: Far from Home wipes the floor with most (not all, mind you) of the big studio movies from that year. And, on the quality movies, Parasite is pretty much better than almost all of the BP nominees that year.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

17 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

You would know if you had any interest in those. 

 

I haven't seen a movie in ages. Films, on the other hand...

 

13 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

We need more Parasite and less Disney remakes! Or just less Disney overall.

 

So you're not looking forward to Disney's live-action Parasite remake?

[Brundlefly 2,385]

14 hours ago, Chen G. said:

All those decades had truly great cinematic masterworks. Not so with the 2010s, I feel. [That nauseating dark and disturbing trend of the 2000s] was the peak maturity of cinema. Now we’ve reversed back to infancy.

Seems like you have missed a ton of really worthwhile movies during the last decade. And many people seem to mix up tone and quality of a movie.

[Chen G. 3,940]

Like I said, there's been a ton of worthwhile movies, of course. But nothing from this decade sticks in my mind as a true masterwork.

[publicist 4,643]

The last trailer lineup i saw before Star Wars in December looked as audience-hating and stupid as anything on the list in the first post.

[A24 4,323]

Just now, Chen G. said:

Like I said, there's been a ton of worthwhile movies, of course. But nothing from this decade sticks in my mind as a true masterwork.

 

 

That's so sad. 

 

I'm pretty sure Thor saw plenty of masterworks though ... 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

29 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Like I said, there's been a ton of worthwhile movies, of course. But nothing from this decade sticks in my mind as a true masterwork.

 

 

[Chen G. 3,940]

Its fun alright, but I'd sooner choose Edwards' Godzilla as being much closer to a masterpiece.

 

Neither quite hits the mark.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

52 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

But nothing from this decade sticks in my mind as a true masterwork.

Regarding blockbusters or cinema in general?!

[Chen G. 3,940]

I mostly watch blockbusters, but also in general, yes.

 

Again, maybe I'm misplacing some film or another.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

33 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

 

That's so sad. 

 

I'm pretty sure Thor saw plenty of masterworks though ... 

 

Paging @Thor!

[publicist 4,643]

Blockbusters got worse.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

44 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Its fun alright, but I'd sooner choose Edwards' Godzilla as being much closer to a masterpiece.

 

Neither quite hits the mark.

 

See, Edwards' flick never seems sure of itself, almost as if it's embarrassed that it's a Godzilla movie. But Dougherty's film, as schlocky and imperfect as the script is, just confidently and exuberantly revels in its own distinct identity. One of the few films that delivered on what the trailers promised. So good in fact, I'm afraid Godzilla vs Kong will struggle and ultimately fail to meet its standard.

[Edmilson 7,367]

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Like I said, there's been a ton of worthwhile movies, of course. But nothing from this decade sticks in my mind as a true masterwork.

 

What about Mad Max: Fury Road? It's a blockbuster that received critical acclaim and Oscar nominations. I think it qualifies as a new cinema classic, and it came out this decade.