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2010: Worst Year Yet for Movies

Really? 'Hot Tub Time Machine' is the best we can do?

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 30, 2010 11:54 AM CDT

(Newser) – “2010 very possibly is the worst year in the history of motion pictures,” declares Joe Queenan in a hilarious Wall Street Journal piece bemoaning the downfall of American cinema. You know things are bad in Hollywood when:

  • “Shia LaBeouf—who looks a bit like the young George W. Bush” is being passed off “as the second coming of Tom Cruise.”
  • The top contenders for Next Big Action Star are Jake Gyllenhaal and Adrien Brody. “None of these are logical heirs to the throne abandoned by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone. They may not even be legitimate heirs to the throne vacated by Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.”

  • “The third installation of Toy Story is better than the first installation of anything else,” and “people are actually looking forward to a sequel to the 1982 flop Tron.”
  • The industry “actually makes sequels to bombs—The Incredible Hulk is a case in point—simply because the subject matter of the film is at least familiar to audiences.”
  • Everything sounds familiar. For example, “Dinner for Schmucks, which promises to be the worst film of the year, is a remake of the brilliant 1998 French comedy Le Dîner de Cons. Judging from the previews, it is a clump of spittle aimed directly at Lafayette's face.”
For the complete article, click here.

In this film publicity image released by Paramount Pictures, Steve Carell, left, and Paul Rudd are shown in a scene from Dinner for Schmucks.
In this film publicity image released by Paramount Pictures, Steve Carell, left, and Paul Rudd are shown in a scene from "Dinner for Schmucks."   (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Merie Weismiller Wallace)
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Stop making movies like Grown Ups, Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia, and anything that positions Jennifer Aniston or John C. Reilly at the top of the marquee. Stop casting Gerard Butler in roles where he is called upon to emote.
- Joe Queenan

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 20 comments
ysbaddaden
Nov 4, 2010 11:22 AM CDT
I've only seen one movie so far this year, and that was Iron Man II. I almost didn't see it until I saw commercials of that one girl in black lycra.
Spraynard
Jul 30, 2010 11:45 PM CDT
*Believe it or not, Macgruber was fucking hilarious. Too bad the trailer made it look so awful. I also want to count Black Dynamite, even though I think it technically came out last year.
crusty
Jul 30, 2010 5:01 PM CDT
on a postscript, i have seen amazing work on vimeo.... short films and much more that are really engrossing, and well done.............. the upside is that film making can be done on a laptop and inexpensive cameras.... now all you need to do is add talent......... something very short supply in hollywoodland.
 

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