One trope that you’ll often hear from people nowadays is that “movies are all the same now, it’s boring, there’s nothing creative or new”. This is usually in reference to the constant crop of superhero movies, like the Avengers or the new DC comics films, the sequels and continuations of beloved franchises like Star Wars, or the reboots of older films, whether they’re older ‘80s or ‘90s films or live-action versions of Disney classics.
While it’s true that there is some garbage being put out in recent years, the unnecessarily long series like Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers come to mind, I think there’s been a lot of fresh content that people have been discounting, and I also think that social media has given directors new tools to understand what people are looking for in film.
Ok sure, there’s some low-hanging fruit: it seems rather obvious that the Disney reboots are cash-grabs, but if they’re good films, why does that matter? And some of the reboots of older series have been decent at the least; though some like The Mummy are unnecessary (I remember my family renting that movie at Blockbuster, give it a little more than 20 years before you remake it!) But, in large part, there’s a lot of fresh, new content out there that’s really driving people to the cinema, and the films themselves are scoring top marks.
Just look at the summer of 2017 alone: Wonder Woman has a rating of 76% on Metacritic and a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, the reviews from critics have almost always praised the film, and Gal Gadot continues to be one of the most important names in Hollywood. And for a movie that’s constantly being rebooted and revised, producing some real ‘gems’ like Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming seems to have knocked it out of the park. All of the major review sites have it well over 80% at least.
War for the Planet of the Apes is already being called one of the greatest movies in sci-fi, and heralding the Apes series as one of the best in the genre. Like Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, it boasts high marks on all the reviewing sites, with Andy Serkis’ role of Caesar being note-worthy in particular.
So let’s move to a highly-regarded film well outside of the superhero or sci-fi genres: Dunkirk has only been out for a few days. It focuses on the Battle of Dunkirk where British and French troops, surrounded by the oncoming Nazi army, made a harrowing escape that saved countless thousands of soldiers’ lives. One might claim that movies surrounding World War II are overdone; but clearly Christopher Nolan didn’t think so. Again, despite some PC-esque reviews from USA Today, the film scored the highest of marks, being called a masterpiece and hailed as one of Nolan’s best achievements.
And this is just the summer, there’s plenty of movies still slated to come out in the near future, especially around the holidays (I’m looking at you, Star Wars VIII). While nostalgia or cynicism might blind some people to the great content that comes out every year, I would advise everyone to keep on open mind. Judging by what we’ve seen in recent months, I think the future of cinema is still bright. Go with your family, grab a date, or hell, even go by yourself, and check out some of these great new films!
