Has it been a good year for film ?

Rabidlamb

I was looking through the past years nominations list for best picture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture

1994 really stands out
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
The Shawshank Redemption

How would this years batch fair in comparison
The Social Network
The King’s Speech
The Fighter
Inception
Black Swan
True Grit
The Kids Are All Right
Toy Story 3
The Town
127 Hours

I believe favorably if you were to isolate the top 5 & 2 films that will garner repeat viewing & future debate, Inception & Toy Story 3.

What does the forum think of this years fare ?.

MisterAnarchy

It was a pretty poor year overall for films .
Certain genres had very few if any outstanding films.
Thriller,Sci-fi and Comedy ,a handful of decent films this year .

Its also getting harder and harder to find good films ,most of the films released in the cinema are junk .
I did see some good Australian films and some good independent stuff but the majority of the stuff being produced in Hollywood is becoming more cliched,dumbed down and sterile.
The way it works now is that December and January are stuffed full of Oscar oriented movies.
For the rest of the year the quality of films is alot poorer ,there are often huge barren patches.

I actually took a month break from watching films at one stage because I was fed up of watching bad movies .
I probably watch too many movies anyway so I may cut down further in 2011 .
I might enjoy them more then.

Nolanger

Rabidlamb wrote: »

What does the forum think of this years fare ?.

They will be forgotten a decade from now.

Phony Scott

From the five mentioned in 1994; Pulp Fiction is an all time favourite, I've lost count how many times I've watched it. Quiz Show is excellent, though I haven't seen it probably in the last five years, Four Weddings has grown on me over time and I saw it again as recently as last year. Shawshank is very good, saw it again last year, probably for the tenth time. I Watched Forrest Gump last year for the first time since 1994...still hate it, switched it off half-ways through.

The Social Network - Very good, but I have no interest in seeing it again.

The King’s Speech - the same as above.

The Fighter - again, same as above.

Inception - the first time I saw it, I didn't understand it, but still liked it, the second time I saw it, it floored me and it all connected together. I will be watching this one again and again in future.

Black Swan - it was good, but laughable and predictable in places. Won't watch it again unless it's on tv.

True Grit - Haven't seen it yet.

The Kids Are All Right - Don't know anything about it...

Toy Story 3 - Very disappointed with this, but I will give it another try considering the fact that I think the previous films are masterpieces.

The Town - haven't seen it yet.

127 Hours - ok, but pretty forgettable. The ending was over-egged and I didn't really like the character, so no, won't watch this one again.

2010 Overall: pretty forgettable year, though I could do with more and more films like Inception which surprise and reward with each viewing.

Syferus

I've seen more than a few fantastic 2010 films, many of which wouldn't rank in the main Oscar categories, which just skews the discussion Oscar bait anyways.

A film like Scott Pilgrim is a testament to an entire generation and culture in a more real sense than The Social Network -- which would be from the selection of films I've seen be my favourite film of 2010 -- and there's other films that I've yet to see that I have high hopes for enjoying, Catfish being the most immediate example.

And that touches on the biggest issue with judging a year as 'bad' or 'forgettable' - I don't think most people can really judge this year for many months to come because most people will not have seen alot of the choice films or some of the more independent-spirited productions that hold their mind share. Just as any other year we'll be discovering interesting 2010 production for some time to come.

I'd also add I've never subscribed to the idea that wanting to watch a film multiple time is much of a statement on a production's overall quality or enjoyment - it usually means a film is dense in concept (Inception being the most high profile example) and it weights the scales in favour of that as opposed to something more conceptually 'mundane' and based entirely in the world we live in. I don't knock Zodiac or American Beauty when compared to Inception or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for not being labyrinthine in their respective outlines. For me, any good film is worth a second viewing but I hardly ever have a chance to because there's always another film I want to watch and that almost always wins out - first and foremost, I want new experiences when I set down to watch something. It's safer to watch something you already like, but is it better?

I can say, however, I have very positive feelings towards the past year's films in general, with at least three or four films already ranking high in my favourite films - Scott Pilgrim, The Social Network, Inception and perhaps most affectionately, Toy Story 3 - a film that brought one of the most vivid pieces of my childhood full circle and elicited the same reaction in me that the original film did all those years ago.

Lirange

Where is that list from? Are you just predicting this year's nominees?

Rabidlamb

Lirange wrote: »

Where is that list from? Are you just predicting this year's nominees?

Some recent oscar preview site I found through Google.
It won't be far wrong.

Renn

As usual, it's not until the start of the next year that I realise some excellent films were released the previous year. Just takes time to catch up with all this stuff. And some effort in finding the ones that have a chance of making you happy. Enter the Void, The Art of the Steal, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, Jack Goes Boating, Leaves of Grass, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Ghost Writer, Restrepo, Four Lions, Please Give...could list an awful lot more. But to answer your question, yes.

BigBenRoeth

Not been a great year on the whole in my opinion,though there have been a few excellent films this year

don ramo

Films I Really Enjoyed in 2010
The Fighter
Inception
Black Swan
The Town
127 Hours
Jack Goes Boating
The Ghost Writer
The Social Network
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
The Way Back


Good to Ok films, that i enjoyed
The Kids Are All Right
The Book of Eli
Edge Of Darkness
From Paris With Love
Green Zone
Prince of Persia
Splice
Conviction
Due Date
Unstoppable
Love And Other Drugs
Salt
Centurion
The American
Easy A


Films I Disliked
Kick Ass
Get Him To The Greek


Films I Wanna Watch But Just Havent Got Around To Yet
The King’s Speech
Leaves of Grass
Dear John
My Name is Kahn
Exit Through The Gift Shop
The Killer Inside Me
Buried
The Next Three Days
Rabbit Hole
Blue Valentine


Thats 15 films in total that i watched and enjoyed, 2 that i disliked and another ten that i intend on watching, i didnt include sequeals, franchises or remakes, just first time films on the big screen (for some kind of originality), so that would make it on average a decent enough film coming out every second week in 2010, now the films i wanna watch might be tripe and bring down that average, but id have no doubth ill find another few decent films released last year over the next few years,

so all in all i would consider 2010 a good year for films, not spectacular but it was good,

why is it that every year is worse than the last, yet by december well be saying that 2011 wasnt anywhere near as good as 2010,

as long as you get an average of 25+ good films a year your doing good, youll have the 5 or 6 great films on average each year, maybe more every now and then,

but you cant really judge a year the followig year, you should really compare it 5 years later to get a good view of what was, maybe even 10 years, to judge if the standard has dropped, does anyone think 2010 was better or worse than 2005 or even 2000, were there better original films out them years than there was last year,

is crash (best film of 2005) or gladiator (best film of 2000) better than black swan or the kings speech (possibly the two front runners this year)

Liam O

Shutter Island>>>>Inception imo

losthorizon

I think its wrong to look at the Oscar nominations for Best Film as a way of judging the quality of a years film output. First of al it excludes foreign language films. I mean Three Colours Red came out in 1994 which was the best film of that year imo. Other great films that didnt get nominated were The Madness of King George and Heavenly Creatures. Some films as well simply dont stand the test of time and date very quickly while others are ignored on release and and are shunned by the public and its only later that their true worth is revealed. I really think its down to debate and argument and your own taste.

don ramo

losthorizon wrote: »

I think its wrong to look at the Oscar nominations for Best Film as a way of judging the quality of a years film output. First of al it excludes foreign language films. I mean Three Colours Red came out in 1994 which was the best film of that year imo. Other great films that didnt get nominated were The Madness of King George and Heavenly Creatures. Some films as well simply dont stand the test of time and date very quickly while others are ignored on release and and are shunned by the public and its only later that their true worth is revealed. I really think its down to debate and argument and your own taste.

absouluetly true, its the great thing i like about films, how one person can see it from a totally different perspective, and have there own opinion of a film,

i notice constantly when i watch any film that ill only recommend it to certain people, weather i like it or not, i know who will like it and who wont, its very odd,

personally as i said i found 2010 a good year for film, epscially originality, none of these part 3s or 4s or 5s or 7s, and 3d this and 3d that (they were there, but i avoided them, 3D especially,), ill watch almost anything, i have certain directors and actors i avoid for certain reasons, other than that ill give any film a chance,

awards dont mean much i mean theres gonna be 3 or 4 films that will derserve an award at every ceromony out there, yet i probably wont find that film for another 3 years, because the director wasnt licking the right asses to get his film noticed, polanskis ghost writer i think will be a film like that, very minimal notice for such a good film,