Worst Year in Film?

Introduce yourself to the community or chat with other users about whatever is on your mind
djross
Posts: 1212
5318 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:56 am

Worst Year in Film?

Post by djross »

x
Last edited by djross on Thu Jul 20, 2023 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Stewball
Posts: 3009
2188 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by Stewball »

2017 already:

XXX The Return of Xander Gage
The Fate of the Furious
The Shack
Get Out
A Cure for Wellness
Fist Fight
Kong: Skull Island
Going in Style


But even if there weren't another one like those this year, it would take a messiah of a movie (e.g. another The Accountant) to rescue 2017 from the undertow of the preview alone for An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. I retch at the thought of ever watching even that much again. You can watch it, if you dare, along with my "Cat Litter-0" review in the Filmmakers forum. Fair warning, all climate realists, and maybe even some of you who might actually remember what reality looks like, keep a barf bag handy.

CosmicMonkey
Posts: 594
1271 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:52 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by CosmicMonkey »

Well, realistically, I think most people's worst year in film's would be from some time in the early silent period. I doubt anyone is ever going to argue that 1898 was the greatest year ever for films.

As for me, going through my rankings and collections, it's hard for me to find a (post silent-era) year that's particularly bad, but if I had to pick one I'd say 1947, but even then it wasn't THAT bad, it still gave us Odd Man Out, Out of the Past and Black Narcissus, so it clearly wasn't THAT terrible.
Last edited by CosmicMonkey on Mon Apr 17, 2017 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

PetrosTser
Posts: 76
2237 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:29 am

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by PetrosTser »

CosmicMonkey wrote:Well, realistically, I think most people's worst year in film's would be from some time in the early sound period. I doubt anyone is ever going to argue that 1898 was the greatest year ever for films.
Yeah, I am going to second that although I haven't seen anything from 1898 :P

Still, 1901 gets a 46.67 from me with 3 films seen, followed by 1895 (48.33 - 6 films) and 1905 (50 - 1 film).

[Interestingly, all the other years from the 1890s and the 1900s that I've seen something from get a good overall rating from me - no mention of the 1910s and the 1920s as those decades yielded some pretty awesome movies that raised the bar considerably.]

As far as the talkies are concerned, 1943 takes the cake with an average of 46 from 5 films, closely followed by 2023 (46.8 - 101 films) and 1989 (46.9 - 26 films). Not far behind we find 1966 (49.3 - 14 films).
Last edited by PetrosTser on Mon Feb 19, 2024 6:55 pm, edited 7 times in total.

VinegarBob
Posts: 775
4158 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:54 am

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by VinegarBob »

1981 was pretty good imo:

My Dinner with Andre
An American Werewolf in London
Blow Out
Das Boot
Rat Trap
Escape from New York
Lola
Possession
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds

among others.

Stewball
Posts: 3009
2188 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by Stewball »

VinegarBob wrote:1981 was pretty good imo:

My Dinner with Andre
An American Werewolf in London
Blow Out
Das Boot
Rat Trap
Escape from New York
Lola
Possession
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds

among others.


But isn't' this supposed to be about worst years???

90sCoffee
Posts: 173
2242 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:15 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by 90sCoffee »

I doubt it'll be 2017. I thought 2016 was shaping up to be bad for mainstream film but it was just back-loaded, the end of the year had Manchester By The Sea, La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival, Hell or High Water, Paterson, etc. In fact I'm pretty sure Hunt For The Wilderpeople was the only 2016 film released before May that I liked excluding festival releases. It wasn't as top heavy as the years prior but it had a tonne of good to passable films. So just by that sort of shear quantity, I don't think that any year now will be that bad including 2017.

Anyways, 1982 at a quick glance looks worse than OP's 1981. I've only seen three '82 movies so far (Blade Runner, The Wrath of Khan, and Tootsie) and thought they were all decent but not anything special and those are supposed to be three of the best films of that year. Asides from that, I have 23 movies from 1982 on my wishlist in terms of films that aren't too obscure and have a decent # of ratings across different sites. Fanny & Alexander and Fitzcarraldo have high PSIs for me but the others don't look much more than decent. When you take foreign films out then Hollywood was better in 81 compared to 82.

Stewball
Posts: 3009
2188 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by Stewball »

90sCoffee wrote:I doubt it'll be 2017. I thought 2016 was shaping up to be bad for mainstream film but it was just back-loaded, the end of the year had Manchester By The Sea, La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival, Hell or High Water, Paterson, etc. In fact I'm pretty sure Hunt For The Wilderpeople was the only 2016 film released before May that I liked excluding festival releases. It wasn't as top heavy as the years prior but it had a tonne of good to passable films. So just by that sort of shear quantity, I don't think that any year now will be that bad including 2017.


Yes, 2017 was an excellent year, but unfortunately no thanks to any of those movies you mentioned, especially Arrival (sorry but cinematic opinion is what these forums are all about.) I have it up there due mostly to the following films, many of which were also backloaded:

The Jungle Book
Free State of Jones
Captain Fantastic
Nerve
The Accountant
(all time top 5 films)
The Dressmaker
Blood Father
Sully
Lion


Thank God Gore didn't release An Inconvenient Sequel in 2016. It would have taken all those down with it.

JooJoo
Posts: 523
6022 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:37 am

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by JooJoo »

I also thought of the 80s.

After some searching, I don’t see much beyond Angst, El Norte, and a couple fun Chinese martial arts flicks convincing me that 1983 is anything but barely active as a year in film.

Tier 9 for 1983:
Scarface

Sans Soleil (and whose to say how much of this Marker even constructed in the 80s, let alone ‘83)

my tier 8’s are around a dozen or so. With a strange Ôshima flick {Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence}, Bresson’s last film {L’Argent}, and Videodrome probably shining the brightest.

ehk2
Posts: 117
8467 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: Worst Year in Film?

Post by ehk2 »

I think, it has a simple answer. Second World War years are the worst years. You can name, of course, some a few great films made in the period (probably before the US entered into the drama); but overall that's true (both statistically & qualitatively). Europe was in fires & ruins, not in terms of producing movies. Even when movies were still being produced, their primary objective was propaganda.

Post Reply