10 Best Trends of the Decade in Movies & TV (Part I)
December 21st, 2009 by Barak_MayIt’s not easy to sum up a decade. Ten years of record-breaking blockbusters, colossal failures, rising and falling stars, new technologies that affected cinema and TV - and a whole lot more. We’ve decided to focus on the best trends of the decade - here’s Part I. (You can read Part II here.)
And before you read our opinions, add yours: Click here to vote in the Jinni People’s Choice Awards! We’ll publish results on the best (and worst) movies, TV shows, directors and actors of the decade in the coming weeks.
The 00s were a great decade for…
1. Heroes:
Two types of heroes in particular:
Superheroes: Batman’s revival, the Spider-Man franchise, X-Men franchise, Iron Man, The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk, Hancock, Hellboy 1 and 2, and even Superman Returns. Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Hugh Jackman, Edward Norton, Will Smith – There is no chance in the world you’re going to get an Oscar for a superhero movie, but I guess the big salaries make up nicely for the lost honor.
Aging Heroes: Rocky Balboa, Rambo, Die Hard 4, Gran Torino, Harry Brown, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Terminator 3. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, Michael Caine, Harrison Ford, Arnie – Aren’t there younger guys out there that can take your place in the action movies? Actually, some of you made good movies this decade, so we wouldn’t mind one more… (not you Harrison, your movie sucked).
Looking at the success of these two groups, I think I have the formula for the top-grossing movie in history: a really aging superhero (Christopher Reeve dug from the grave to play Superman one last time?) fights vampires (riding on Twilight’s success). People will sleep near the ticket offices for this upcoming (?) movie.
2. Crime:
It was a great decade for Crime, in three main categories:
Humorous: The fastest and one of the funniest movies ever made – Shoot ’Em Up. The dark humored In Bruges, Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and the less superior RocknRolla, and Soderbergh’s all-star Ocean movies.
Twists and Turns: Inside Man – The clue in the title didn’t spoil the twist. Lucky Number Slevin – Suspect the person you would never suspect. Running Scared – great underrated movie. Training Day – The first movie Ethan Hawk was any good in. A History of Violence – Not the last we hear of Cronenberg under Crime.
Captivating (or: everybody want to be Coppola/Scorsese): American Gangster (Ridley Scott is the new Coppola/Scorsese?), Eastern Promises (Cronenberg is the new Coppola/Scorsese?), Road To Perdition, The Departed (Scorsese is the new Coppola/Scorsese?), Infernal Affairs and the TV series The Sopranos – You can’t take your eyes off the screen when you watch these. Your dog miraculously wants to talk to you, your wife wants a divorce and you hear someone shouting for help – all these will have to wait.
3. Animation:
The 00s were an astounding decade for animation. At the start of the decade, few animation features were produced each year. The genre developed into one of the most popular, with blockbuster franchises like Shrek, Madagascar and Ice Age. More than fifty features are released each year, and the number of animation studios has grown significantly. The techniques are constantly evolving and improving, and films in stop motion, motion capture and puppets are more common than ever. The major trends are -
The Pixar Conquest and CGI Domination: After modern classics like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Wall-E, even the Disney Studios realized, “If you can’t beat them – buy them.” The success encouraged other studios, and today a summer without a least one animated blockbuster seems impossible.
The Death and Rebirth of Traditional Animation: In 2004, Disney decided to surrender to the success of CGI animation and close their traditional animation department. Surprisingly, the 2006 Pixar deal reversed that decision – so far validated by the rather successful The Princess and the Frog.
Anime: This decade marked the western acknowledgement of anime. Creators like Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon became known to the general audience and won important awards, including an Oscar for Spirited Away.
Animation for Grown-ups: Considered a children’s genre for decades, animation is finally being seen in a new light. High profile animation movies depicted war and coming-of-age (Waltz With Bashir and Persepolis), tender friendship and love (Mary & Max, The Triplets of Belleville) and creepy post-apocalyptic allegory (9). On TV, The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park ruled.
4. Sci-Fi:
The 2000s were good for sci-fi: developments in special effects and CGI techniques enabled filmmakers to achieve their visual visions. Still, there wasn’t a single sci-fi film that matched the influence and popularity of the end-of-the-90s’ The Matrix. Sci-fi in the 2000s was characterized by three trends:
The fall of old series and rise of new ones: Anticipation of The Matrix sequels was great - and so was the disappointment. Neither was groundbreaking or even good. Same with the prequels of Star Wars: fans were enthusiastic and George Lucas disappointed, with three soulless, boring movies offering nothing more than not-so-impressive special effects. The Terminator Franchise also disappointed, with a less impressive third installment and an embarrassing fourth one. However, successful new franchises took their place: Spider-man, X-Men, Transformers, Iron Man (all expecting additional installments), and hopefully the reboot of Star Trek too.
Based on Comics: Comics continued to be a great source of inspiration for sci-fi films. Besides the well-known characters mentioned above, it was a good decade for smaller, lesser-known characters and stories like V for Vendetta, The Chronicles of Riddick and Watchmen.
Post Apocalyptic Themes: After nothing happened in the new millennium, we had to find new reasons and prophecies for destruction – and post-apocalypse was a common theme in sci-fi. We got: The Day After Tomorrow, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Children of Men, The Road, A. I: Artificial Intelligence, Knowing, 2012 and many more. Is there any type of mass destruction we haven’t thought of yet…?
5. TV:
We can divide the greatest TV shows of the decade into five groups:
Mindbenders: Lost (WTF is going on over there?) and Life on Mars - the British version (we already know WTF went over there).
Death-Related: Breaking Bad – he’s got cancer, Six Feet Under – they run a funeral home, House – he saves people from dying, Generation Kill and Band of Brothers – they are always in great danger, death is always lurking;
Showbiz/Workplace Comedies: 30 Rock (Alec Baldwin rocks!), Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry David is a genius), The Office and Extras (Ricky Gervais is second only to the Queen in England).
State Affairs and Leaders: Rome – although I knew what was going to happen to Julius Caesar, I was upset when he was murdered in the final episode of season one. Conclusion: The fact that you know that death is coming doesn’t necessarily prepare you for it. The West Wing – Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is the greatest American president who ever lived alongside 24’s David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert);
The protagonist you don’t want your kid to mimic: Dexter – check your kid’s bag for sharp tools, The Shield – don’t let your kid shave his head, The Sopranos – When your kid says he’s going to a friend’s to study, what he really means is that he’s going to the Bada Bing!
Watch out for Part II - coming next week!
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December 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
A nice article…Long live the new technologies…animations, visual effects are almost a part of every movie..
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December 21st, 2009 at 10:36 am
i agree… animation is getting more sophisticated.. and better equipped
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December 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
Great post. I totally agree about animation. It is getting better every year and no longer just for kids.
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December 21st, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Ricky Gervais is a fat, arrogant un-funny wanker. It’s just that his real life personality came across as satire in The Office. Everything else he has done has been shit and his stand up is awful.
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December 24th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
For the Sci-Fi post-apocalyptic category: Battlestar Galactica. It was way better than half the crappy remakes listed.
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December 25th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Wrong word usage: “In 2004, Disney decided to surrender to the success if CGI animation…” (”if” should be “of” in this sentence)
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December 27th, 2009 at 2:50 am
@the - Good eye, thanks. We corrected it.
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December 27th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
How the hell can you leave “Dead Like Me” off the list for death-related TV? I mean, c’mon, a show about an angsty grim reaper? How much more death-related can you get?
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December 29th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Ya the Hero movies are in abundance now. Seems like they are finding each and every super hero to drain the money out of now. A lot of the smaller super hero movies people didnt even know they were comics first. Kind of like the Punisher.
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January 25th, 2010 at 4:08 am
Iron Man was a marvelous film! I saw it in theater 2 times! The special effects and the Iron Man suit were good but there was more than to the motion picture than that. Every Last person was worked by the greatest actor you could choose. All the central roles were intricate enough to actually modify during the movie and Jon Favreau integrated these character growings absolutely.
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January 26th, 2010 at 12:17 am
Ack, I can’t even begin to try to keep up with all my TV shows. Luckily, the DVR does most of my work. Its a lifesaver.
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January 30th, 2010 at 7:18 am
“There is no chance in the world you’re going to get an Oscar for a superhero movie,…”
Heath Ledger did.
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February 6th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Hey. Great info. Just wanted to tell you that your sidebar appears broken in IE6. Please fix it.
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February 9th, 2010 at 11:47 am
It think it’s about time for another South park Movie. The first one was pretty awesome, and definately deserves a sequel.
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February 14th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Wow, another A+. Dead on! I always come back to this site when I need a good laugh.
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March 6th, 2010 at 4:35 am
Sci-Fi is better. so its really awsome.
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March 25th, 2010 at 4:05 am
What about District 9?
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May 9th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Southpark is quite funny but some of the scenes maybe a bit too morbid even for adults.:;:
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