It’s early in the year, which means two things 1) the industry is mostly dormant until Sundance hits during the last week of January and 2) another World of Reel critics poll is around the corner. This time, we’re hitting, quite possibly, the worst decade ever for movies: the ‘80s.
The goal is to amass around 300 critics lists. I haven’t set a deadline yet for when the lists have to be submitted by, but the plan is to, hopefully, have the results posted live by 02.01.21. It’s a doable task.
As mentioned, between the years 1980-1989, cinema became more and more commercialized, to the point where sequels became an irritant and replaced original stories. People tend to forget that before the ‘80s, original films were mostly being released, but that all changed with “Jaws” in 1975 and the “Star Wars” in 1980, this led to the industry completely changing, and the creative bottom line being compromised by greed.
Nevertheless, despite the bad movies that came out throughout these 10 years, there were important landmarks which shone through and those included Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull,” and David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet,” Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” Not to mention, legendary directors from outside the U.S. giving us masterful work; people like Bresson, Kurosawa, Bergman, Miyazaki, Kieslowski, and Tarkovsky.
It’ll be interesting to see what has aged well and what hasn’t. Take for example, Woody Allen. He had his best and most creative decade during these years, but don’t expect critics to recompense his masterful work such as “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors” because, well, haven’t you heard? Woody has been canceled. People have to now pretend his films never existed.
With all that being said, here’s a refresher on our past decade polls.
Critics' Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
Critics' Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.