Forum declares no good films released this year

No good films all year: Cinema fades out

The diagnosis is stark: not a single good movie has been released in theaters so far this year. Not one. This claim, launched on a current affairs forum and sustained by dozens of replies over months, is not an outburst of indignation but a summary of a season many describe as a parade of disposable products. Joker 2, Alien Romulus, Furiosa, or Gladiator II appear on the list of disappointments. The complaint is not just about quality; it is about exhaustion.

The starting point comes from the thread peine, who recalls Chernobyl (2019) as the last great audiovisual memory and asserts that nothing this year has matched it. It is not an isolated voice. Throughout the conversation, an idea repeats: cinema has become fast food. You enter, consume, leave, and nothing remains.

Why do people say there are no good movies this year?

The most repeated answer does not point to a lack of talent, but to the production model. Making films is expensive, one participant reminds us, and those who pay only finance what serves as propaganda for them. The result, they argue, is family cinema that prevents thinking and political cinema rewarded at festivals. The conclusion is that middle-ground cinema, which told stories without slogans, has disappeared.

Some go further and speak of viewer apathy. Content is consumed without knowing what will be seen, without reading about the filming, director, or cast. People enter the mall, buy tickets, and forget. Fast food, fast fashion, fast delivery, fast sens, and fast cinema, summarizes one reply that condenses the general malaise.

Against this trend, specific defenses emerge. Dune 2 is mentioned as the best of the year. The Substance divides opinion: some consider it a very good film with subtext beyond gore; others reduce it to an exhibition exercise. Anatomy of a Fall and Poor Things are cited as good films, although they are from the previous year. And Nosferatu, by Robert Eggers, is pointed to as the imminent great hope.

Exceptions that break the narrative

Not everything is ash. Several voices rescue titles that worked. La Infiltrada and Escape, two Spanish productions, are cited as examples of recent cinema that does not disappoint. The first, about a police officer infiltrated into ETA, and the second, about a man wanting to escape life by going to prison, demonstrate that Spanish cinema continues to produce stories with craft.

Juror #2, by Clint Eastwood, Segundo premio, about Los Planetas' third album, and Trap, by Shyamalan, are also mentioned. None are presented as masterpieces, but all defend themselves as solid entertainment. The discussion then shifts to a more uncomfortable question: Is the problem cinema or expectation?

Some maintain that going to the cinema demanding a masterpiece every time is a condemnation. Others respond that the problem is not nostalgia, but the lack of blockbusters with scripts. Megalodon 2 is preferred, in one reply, to almost any average release. The irony is bitter but defines the mood.

Ticket prices and the politicization of cinema

The cost of the experience appears as a key factor. Nearly 10 euros to watch a flop, calculates a participant, adding that a good film in cinemas ends up costing 100 euros and dozens of hours of time. The calculation is not literal, but explains why many have stopped going. I haven't gone to the cinema in ten years and never will again, states another, describing it as a plan for bored retirees.

Politicization is the other major reproach. It is argued that current cinema is increasingly ideological, predictable, and decadent. Some voices claim that if a film does not include certain representation elements, it finds no funding. Criticism is directed at large investment funds and producers who, according to this reading, impose creative conditions. This is a widespread opinion in the conversation, not a proven fact.

In response, a more pragmatic current proposes looking outside major releases. Lists of alternative cinema platform films are shared, and The Last Wave, by Peter Weir (1976), is recommended as an example of cinema that stays in your head days later. Nostalgia for the 80s and 90s appears as a refuge: what a difference, it is said, between the cinema of then and now.

Is cinema dead or has it just changed?

The most repeated conclusion is that cinema as we knew it is dead. Some propose that people create their own films with artificial intelligence. Others, more moderate, admit that auteur cinema lives on in festivals and platforms, but that the general public has been left orphaned of stories that matter to them.

The disorienting data is that, despite everything, the conversation remains alive. Films are recommended, lists are shared, scripts are discussed. The complaint about lack of quality is not indifference: it is unsatisfied demand. If cinema has died, someone forgot to tell the audience, who continue searching for something to watch.

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Key debate data

• Nearly 10 euros average per cinema ticket, according to a calculation circulating in the conversation.
• One participant hasn't set foot in a theater for ten years.
• Chernobyl (2019) is cited as the last great remembered production.
• Nosferatu, by Robert Eggers, is highlighted as the most anticipated release.