Written by 
The 2000s were a worrying time of leather-bound corny flicks that never quite hit the mark but they had their charm. The 2010s whilst, in my opinion, better, are not without their own tired trends. Here are a few that I think need to go in the next decade.
5. Big Budgets
Maybe this problem stems from the dominance that superhero films have over the market or maybe it is due to a rise in usage of CGI, but movies tend to have far too expensive budgets now, leading to lazier filmmaking and overuse of digital effects.
It means that films flop more easily, new trends spawn from the abundance of cash that director’s don’t know what to do with and the best-selling movies become giant blockbusters with next-to-no grounded elements. Joker was a fluke in a tsunami of copycats.
4. Too Much CGI
CGI isn’t bad, it has paved the way to do unimaginable things that were previously impossible which is a fantastic milestone and leap in filmmaking. However, most of the big and beloved films overuse digital effects more than George Lucas ever did, yet they’re rarely slated.
Take Marvel, the Quantum suits in Avengers: Endgame (2019) weren’t practical, the gun Nick Fury held in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) wasn’t practical, even Tom Holland’s stunts were replaced with CGI. Gone are the days of The Thing (1982) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) and it is a tragedy, as they have stood the test of time and will forever be more tangible.
3. Humour
Comedy is one of my favourite genres and it is a tough one to do right, very few tend to. However, my problem doesn’t lie with the genre itself but instead with the more recent trend of the late 2010s where blockbusters appear to be frightened to do anything more than comedy.
Emotional scenes? Slap a gag in. Bad-ass moment? Slap a gag in. Great cinematic shot? Slap a gag in. This over-reliance on humour is patronising and often feels incredibly forced and jarringly out of place; you can have wit, humour and charm without quipping every time. This is probably something else that spawned from Marvel’s influence (I do like them, but they set most of these trends with their formulaic and stagnant filmmaking techniques).
2. Posters
For whatever reason, posters have become incredibly same-y and boring, with no creativity, just the actors slapped onto an A4 sheet of paper in a generic brooding pose. Much like video-game box art, movie posters have completely fallen from grace, and it’s rare that seeing one will be what entices me to go see the film in cinemas anymore.
1. Teasers
For whatever reason, trailers now have their own trailers, and marketing has become an endless cycle of teasing teasers that tease teasers. You can put together an entire film through the trailers alone and a lot of surprises, twists and reveals are slapped into them, completely ruining the director’s vision. I’ve no doubt that if Empire Strikes Back (1980) released in the modern-day, the Vader reveal would be in a trailer – hell, they did show us Palpatine’s coming back in Rise of Skywalker.
A countdown of the top ten best examples of ‘Death by Trailer’.
WARNING: THE ABOVE VIDEO CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING FILMS: Avatar (2009), The Negotiator (1998), Funny People (2009), The Island (2005), LOTR: The Two Towers (2002), Free Willy (1993), Terminator: Salvation (2009), Cast Away (2000), & Carrie (1976).
Also included are minor spoilers for Date Night (2010), Contagion (2011), What Lies Beneath (2000) & The Double (2011).
Ant-Man blockbuster CGI Empire Strikes Back pirates of the caribbean Quantum suits Rise of Skywalker Slap stick Teaser trailers Worst of
Last modified: 1st December 2019
