This is the worst year for movies!

[MsAnthropy]

Didn't they use to save the biggest, best movies for the Christmas holidays? The best Hollywood has to offer us this year is "Meet the Fockers"?! A sequel! The movie industry is killing itself.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. i say this every year...yet the next year it gets worse

[MsAnthropy]

4. I know, I can remember when I'd go to the movies at least once a week

with all that money and talent, the movies just get worse and worse.

[tridim]

2. If the ads are any indication

Meet the Fockers is going to be horrible. Dinero's character couldn't be more annoying.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Gigli. 'Nuff said. n/t

[NewJeffCT]

5. 2004 in general was not good

Not just the Christmas season. Even most of the big blockbusters were so-so at best - Day After Tomorrow, Troy, that Tom Cruise movie, I Robot... usually some are at least fun & enjoyable (Spider-Man 2 was an exception)

[MsAnthropy]

8. It seems the more they spend, the bigger they bomb

What are they doing with all our money (besides putting it up their noses)?

[Jessica]

6. I agree - for the past three years,

I've had something to get excited about during this time of year -- Lord of the Rings. How am I supposed to get that excited over Spanglish? (Which, btw, doesn't look bad.) :shrug:

[MsAnthropy]

10. Yeah, but I can't spend money on Adam Sandler movies

there is no excuse for him.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

13. Punch Drunk Love was actually pretty good

I finally saw it the other night.

Not a big fan of his otherwise...

[bobbobbins]

7. i thought it was a great year for movies

lots of good indie films came out.

[MsAnthropy]

12. Titles?

[Jesus H. Christ]

14. How about Napoleon Dynamite?

nt

[MsAnthropy]

19. That one looked intriguing--that's another definite rental/purchase

(I buy them because I'm too lazy to take them back to the store.)

[MuseRider]

21. Now THAT was a good film.

I adored that one.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

17. Sideways, Maria Full of Grace, Kinsey, House of Flying Daggers

To name a few

[AlCzervik]

18. I really want to see Maria full of grace, it looks so good.

[MsAnthropy]

20. I'm in Minnesota--they'll get here eventually!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

28. That's one of my favorite perks of living in NYC

You can go see just about any movie that comes out. And there are plenty of revival theaters for checking out old classics on the big screen.

[NewJeffCT]

23. My wife loved House of Flying Daggers

Unfortunately, the version I saw in China had English subtitles from a modern war movie... she liked it better than Hero.

[On the Road]

31. And to Name a Few More...

I (Heart) Huckabees, Closer, Hero, Garden State, House of Sand and Fog.

I've noticed there's a lot more controversy these days over exactly which movies are good --Kill Bill 2 and Dogville being cases in point. Reviews are often all over the map.

More nonserious genres like action, animation and comic-inspired movies are getting top reviews. Which would put The Bourne Identity, The Incredibles, and Spiderman 2 into the mix.

Then there are always the foreign, indie, and documentary films which get higher ratings than any mainstream movies but are hard to find in theaters. These would include Moolade, Supersize Me, and 2046.

There's tons of good stuff being done, if you're open to different things. It's just easy to miss.

[MsAnthropy]

32. Especially since there are only two theaters left in my city

and movies either stay for months or are gone in a week.

Thanks for the suggestions, they all sound good!

[On the Road]

33. I Keep Meaning to Get Netflix

since their selection is so much greater. That's the way to do it. Even in suburban DC, which is one of the easiest areas to see small-release movies, it's still difficult a lot of the good ones.

Just a disclaimer: I did not see some of the movies I listed, although I have reason to believe they were good. Others are a matter of taste -- "I (Heart) Huckabees" is in my personal Top Five, but some people thought it stunk. More cultural balkanization.

[tridim]

9. The only good movies I saw this year

were "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "F-9/11".

[MsAnthropy]

16. Definitely F-9/11! Eternal Sunshine will be a future rental/purchase

[Jesus H. Christ]

11. When was the last good year?

Anyway, the big movie this Christmas is The Aviator. It's been getting great reviews, I haven't seen it myself. There's been a sort of vacuum since LOTR finished up.

[MsAnthropy]

15. I just cannot buy Leonardo as Hughes, he still looks 14!

It will be worth seeing just to get a look at all the other impersonations.

[NewJeffCT]

22. 2001 & 2003 were good movie years

2003 was a good year ¨C not just Lord of the Rings, but Seabiscuit and a few other quality movies, as well as good blockbusters like Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean & X-Men 2.

2001 had Shrek, the first LOTR movie & Harry Potter movies and Monsters Inc for blockbusters, and A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar.

[Jesus H. Christ]

24. Yikes.

Seabiscuit was boring as all hell. Pirates of the Caribbean was OK, but vastly overrated. It was also the year of terrible blockbusters, like both Matrix sequels. And except for LOTR, none of those were x-mas releases.

As for 2001, I'll agree with Shrek, but again most were summer blockbusters. A Beautiful Mind was horrible.

[MsAnthropy]

27. Whatever happened to movies for adults?

I know, my own favorites from the last few years were all kids' movies, either animation or fantasy. It's been a long time since I've been crazy about a movie strictly for grownups. It's what's making the money now so we'll be getting more of the same for a while. Which isn't all bad, I suppose--the country needs escapism.

[NewJeffCT]

29. Kill Bill 1 & 2? and...

Master & Commander, Mystic River...

[MsAnthropy]

30. I loved Master & Commander, I have a definite Russell jones!

Thanks, you've given me some great suggestions. I have a week of vacation coming up and now I have a way to fill it up!

[Left Is Write]

25. I couldn't wait for Ocean's Twelve, but I was disappointed by it.

Don't want to give spoilers, so I'll just say I was disappointed.

[demily]

26. Documentaries and Indie movies

These were the big stories in movies this year. Supersize Me, F 9/11, and The Corporation were all great breakout documentaries. Then there was Garden State, Eternal Sunshine, and Napoleon Dynamite (to name a few) on the indie side. There are plenty of good movies out there every year, you just may have to look a little harder to find them!

[jobycom]

34. Ya'll are just getting old

Movies aren't any worse, but our expectations are getting more sophisticated. Overhyped, cliched melodrama is more obvious the tenth time you've seen the same plot, the same directorial and cinemagraphic cliches, etc.

All the movies you remember as being much better than what's coming out now were being trashed back then for the same reasons we are disappointed now. Jaws was just rehashed Alfred Hitchcock without a plot, Raiders was just Errol Flynn without the heart, etc. The arguments are the same, the names just change.

IMO, anyway.