2014 a Bad Year for Cinema So Far?
Trsvis_Bickle
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We are halfway through 2014 and I was reflecting on what a bad year this is so far for cinema. I'm not talking about noisy Hollywood CGI cartoons; there are always plenty of those around. I'm talking about intelligent, well-written films that make you think and feel.
Last year, I watched 24 films at the cinema, 22 of them new releases. This year, I have seen only eight and I left two of them early (The Double and The Grand Budapest Hotel). It is not that I have had fewer opportunities to visit the cinema this year; there just seems to be very little worth watching.
Yesterday I found myself actively considering going to see either 22 Jump Street or Edge of Tomorrow.
Things really are that bad.
My favourite cinema is The Watershed (Bristol) and the choices yesterday were Fruitvale Station (hagiography of a criminal who gets accidentally shot), Belle (socio-political drama telling us all that slavery was, like, really bad), The Golden Dream (Ken Loach-esque tale of four Guatemalans illegally migrating to the US) and Chinese Puzzle (described by Peter Bradshaw as a 'free-wheeling, absurd but likeable drama').
Expanding the choice of cinema to the local multiplex didn't help. Apart from the aforementioned US 'comedy' and Tom Cruise offering, there was The Fault in Our Stars (teen romance with added cancer) the obligatory CGI cartoon (X-men: Days of Future Past), a couple of children's films (Maleficent and How to Train Your Dragon), Chef (John Favreau makes toasties in a van), a truly ghastly-looking musical (Walking on Sunshine), a couple of uninteresting biogs about a golfer and a pop group and that was about it. There was also the Mrs Brown's Boys film but the less said about that, the better.
Don't get me wrong; of the eight films I've seen this year, there have been a couple of excellent ones. I went to see Calvary twice as it blew me away and Under the Skin was also superb. However, 2013 had so many gems like Before Midnight, Dans la Maison, Mud, Late Quartet, Wadjda, Philomena, Le Week-end, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Frances Ha and Filth.
How is your film year going? Seen anything great that I've missed? Will it get any better in the second half?
Last year, I watched 24 films at the cinema, 22 of them new releases. This year, I have seen only eight and I left two of them early (The Double and The Grand Budapest Hotel). It is not that I have had fewer opportunities to visit the cinema this year; there just seems to be very little worth watching.
Yesterday I found myself actively considering going to see either 22 Jump Street or Edge of Tomorrow.
Things really are that bad.
My favourite cinema is The Watershed (Bristol) and the choices yesterday were Fruitvale Station (hagiography of a criminal who gets accidentally shot), Belle (socio-political drama telling us all that slavery was, like, really bad), The Golden Dream (Ken Loach-esque tale of four Guatemalans illegally migrating to the US) and Chinese Puzzle (described by Peter Bradshaw as a 'free-wheeling, absurd but likeable drama').
Expanding the choice of cinema to the local multiplex didn't help. Apart from the aforementioned US 'comedy' and Tom Cruise offering, there was The Fault in Our Stars (teen romance with added cancer) the obligatory CGI cartoon (X-men: Days of Future Past), a couple of children's films (Maleficent and How to Train Your Dragon), Chef (John Favreau makes toasties in a van), a truly ghastly-looking musical (Walking on Sunshine), a couple of uninteresting biogs about a golfer and a pop group and that was about it. There was also the Mrs Brown's Boys film but the less said about that, the better.
Don't get me wrong; of the eight films I've seen this year, there have been a couple of excellent ones. I went to see Calvary twice as it blew me away and Under the Skin was also superb. However, 2013 had so many gems like Before Midnight, Dans la Maison, Mud, Late Quartet, Wadjda, Philomena, Le Week-end, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Frances Ha and Filth.
How is your film year going? Seen anything great that I've missed? Will it get any better in the second half?
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The film festival and awards season has only just kicked off and studios usually choose this half of the year to release more arty, independent fare.
Looking at your list of "gems" you saw last year, this was when they were released in the UK:
Dan La Maison - 29th March 2013
A Late Quartet - 5th April
Mud - 10th May 2013
Before Midnight - 23rd June 2013
Wadjda - 19th July 2013
Frances Ha - 26th July 2013
Ain't Them Bodies Saints - 6th September 2013
Filth - 4th October 2013
Le Week-end - 11th October 2013
Philomena - 1st November 2013
60% of them were released in the 2nd half of the year.
Don't lose hope for 2014 yet! There's still lots more films to come!
Edit: Oh and how did you walk out of The Grand Budapest Hotel? I loved that one!
Well, I've got to admire your optimism and you may have a point about the release dates. That hadn't occurred to me.
The problem I had with The Grand Budapest Hotel was that it was almost all about Wes Anderson showing off his meticulous planning and photography skills. I just found myself thinking 'Yeah, Wes, another perfectly symmetrical set. Don't tell me, you've got another single point of view shot from a fixed camera coming up, right?'. Ralph Fiennes acted his arse off but you felt that the script and actors were just incidental to the showcasing of Anderson's obsessive, micro-managed direction. It was a triumph of style over substance for me. To quote that cinema-goer in the queue in Annie Hall, he's a technical film-maker.
First of all Sky Movies is hardly free. and secondly I have never seen a film on Sky Movies that was in the cinema two months ago! It takes nine months to a year for a film to appear on Sky Movies. Even Box Office or Sky Store as it is now known shows films at least four months old.
Having said that Sky Movies are going to show a film on the same day as its cinema release for the first time ever. Believe is on July 25th same day as cinema release. No I have never heard of it either!
X men: Days of futures past was very enjoyable.
More recently, I've seen:
Godzilla - not bad, though it could have used more Bryan Cranston, and the final battle didn't quite 'wow' me. Though I find that's the case with a lot of the CGI-fest summer blockbusters I've seen recently. It still doesn't quite reach the heights of the original Japanese version.
A Million Ways to Die in the West - Terrible. I knew it would be, but my friend still managed to persuade me to come along on the basis that 'it might be alright'. Famous last words, eh? ;-) Juvenile, puerile, too few laughs, predictable and plodding plot, over-long, superfluous and unfunny cameos, a terrible lead in Seth MacFarlane... need I go on?
22 Jump Street - Fantastic. I don't think the OP should be too quick to write it off. I felt the same way about these type of 'comedies' myself. But then last Xmas I watched 21 Jump Street with my family and I thought it was hilarious. The second one is even funnier imo. I don't think it's as juvenile as a lot of other comedies around at the moment - there's a lot of witty and clever stuff, as well as the usual slapstick, crudeness and whatnot. What distinguishes it from A Million Ways to Die in the West is that 9 times out of 10, it works. It's got two likeable leads with great chemistry in Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Cracking gags and the end credit sequence is just amazing - very clever.
Oh, get over yourself.
I realise that, considering their genres, they have had favourable reviews. They're just not really my kind of films. Bit of a clue there in my examples of films that I have liked.
Most American film comedy is execrable. I did see We're the Millers last year and thought it was pretty funny, so it is not as though I automatically write off every US comedy film. 22 Jump Street just looked a bit daft and formulaic. As for the Tom Cruise film - well, it has a good premise but Cruise hasn't done a decent film in years.
My point, which has clearly sailed straight over your head, is that the independent / art house scene is pretty poor at the moment.
Not a big movie watcher but I usually get 2 or 3 films in by now. Nothing seems to be appealing to me. Heard about 'The Fault in our Stars' but it sounds pretty soppy. The only other film I'll probably watch is the last 'Hunger Games' which I think is being released end of the year.
OK, fair enough. I have seen the trailer for 22 Jump Street and looked a bog standard Hollywood 'comedy'. Thanks for giving some explanation as to why you found it entertaining.
Belle is meant to be pretty good, but you aren't interested in it unfortunately.
If anything I think 2014 seems to have good movies spread out fairly evenly, especially compared to 2013.
Do they? The most divided opinion I've seen on here at the moment is re the Mrs Brown's Boys film. Hardly indie / art house.
I'd have been happy to see Chinese Puzzle. Klapisch has made some great films over the years so even if this isn't his best it should be worth watching. Unfortunately it's already been dropped from the local Vue (yes, I should be grateful it got shown there at all) so I'll have to make the effort to see it in central London.
But this has been a disappointing year so far. I'm happy to see big box-office smashes if they're well-made and have an intelligent screenplay. It's the art-house releases that have been uninspiring this year. Only a few years ago it seemed like a golden age for imaginative, gripping world cinema. What's happened?
That's just a continuation of something that originated with the original tv series. I stick by my point in regards to indie/art house films. I love the film version of Never Let Me Go, but many an art house fan would decry it, let your average film-goer.
Something like the Transformers franchise may stink, yet many go to see the latest one out, even those who didn't like the previous movies! Indie flicks don't have that kind of luxury or luck with a pickier audience.
I doesn't help that the only place to park near the cinema is a shopping centre that would charge me £4.50 for 3 hours. Often I just think that rather than wasting the time driving there, watching adverts and trailers for 30 minutes, watching the film and then driving back I might as well stay at home and watch something on Netflix. Unless is a film worth watching in on the big screen i'm happy to wait for it to come out on bluray.
The secret life of Walter Mitty, hunger games: catching fire, Lego:the movie, muppets most wanted, captain America, x men, maleficent.
I suppose the worst ones were, x-men, malecficent, and muppets......
I was listening to Radio 4's The Film Programme last week and there does seem to be real evidence for the lean time we're going through in terms of quality films, at least in recent weeks.
Someone from a cinema chain said that their last three weeks' weekend takings were £29m this year compared to £53m the same time last year. Apparently the World Cup and other sporting events drastically decrease cinema visits and, accordingly, distributors don't bother putting anything out other than 'cheesy rom-coms, high quality stuff they have no faith in and real stinkers'.
Here's hoping for a better autumn.
My local (Glasgow Film Theatre) shows a great deal of older films, which I find myself going to see more regularly than newer stuff.