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If you compare mainstream films of today to even films from the 90's, they seem like they came out in a completely different time and place, another planet even... even something like FIGHT CLUB seems downright experimental compared to some of the shit that they chug out. Still, there's always been plenty of hits and misses, since the 80's; there's probably just less actors that I personally enjoy watching. Also, when a world class director like BRian DePalma can't get funding to make movies, what's that tell you? On the bright side, SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD absolutely ruled, as did SUPERBAD and quite a few other Judd Apatow films. I'm really surprised by how good some of those were, I really loved KNOCKED UP for example. I think there's some stuff that's going in an interesting direction, and I was pleasantly surprised when INCEPTION was accepted, as that film was great. Still, look at a film like, oh, TAXI DRIVER -- which made millions of dollars in the day, and is my favorite film of all time. Could a film like that even get made today, let alone released on a wide level, and make money? Could EASY RIDER? Y'know, the list goes on and on. There's definitely a weird sense of, as someone else noted, "video gamey" ness to most movies coming out (yeah, especially SCOTT PILGRIM, but they used that to its advantage, since that movie was clever as hell). Everything seems so calculated and obvious. Nothing is left for the audience to figure out.
Luckily, mainstream Japan of the past 10 years has released an incredible number of big budget gems -- including the surprise hit, 4 hour LOVE EXPOSURE which is one of the best films I've ever seen. So, I think it's not the worst era for big budget mainstream filmmaking, in general, there'll always be a place for that. But in Hollywood? Yeah, it doesn't look like anything the least bit compelling will be coming out for a long long time. Sadly, it'll probably just get worse.
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