A Bad Year for Movies? Really? No, Really?

Posted by Michael Dance

2007, I miss you.

Critics and columnists' pronouncements that "It's been a bad year for movies" is almost as cliched as the people who tell you every single presidential election is the most important election of your lifetime. No, really! They say. We know it's a cliche but this time it's really true!

No it's not. You're just getting caught up in the moment. I promise.

And yet...I was trying to construct my own Top 10 movies list this year, and it struck me that it...yes...might have been a bad year for movies.

Ouch. It hurt to say that; it really did. I feel like such a cog in the machine now. But I've been writing for a movie website for three years now, and have seen a ridiculous amount of movies these past three years -- more than enough from which to construct a top ten list each year. And I've compared this year to last year, and to the one before it, and the truth is, I was really excited about a lot more movies those years than I am this year.

When I saw 3:10 to Yuma, I knew it was an awesome movie. Ditto with The Bourne Ultimatum. Juno was an enormous breath of fresh air. And Into the Wild, a movie that divides a lot of people, I loved. I was passionately in love with its own passion. Saw it twice, was brought to tears twice.

No movie this year has hit me like that. The vast majority of the Oscar heavy hitters I consider "pretty good", but far from "great." Is Slumdog Millionaire a good movie? Definitely. But it's also wildly contrived and occasionally treads on some familiar City of God territory.

What about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? Pretty good, definitely. But the movie takes the easy way out near the end, and goes absolutely nowhere.

Milk? Amazing performances. Truly amazing. Josh Brolin haunted me for days. But the film didn't sucker-punch me like it seemed to be trying to do. The subplot with Diego Luna felt entirely superfluous and only muddled the film's goals.

I don't know, maybe I'm just in a pessimistic mood, but I don't have a real passion for many movies this year. Sure, I loved some movies this year -- The Dark Knight, Doubt, Tropic Thunder. But except for Knight, it seems like every movie that really tried to reach for greatness fell short: Wall-E had a better first half than second; Miracle at St. Anna never really came together; believe me, I could keep going, but I won't.

I guess I just want to unconditionally love a movie this year, and I haven't yet. They all come with caveats.

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A Bad Year for Movies? Really? No, Really?

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