No, you’re not in a time machine.
Yes, movies from the past two years included “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Scream,” “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” “Jurassic World Dominion,” “A Christmas Story Christmas,” “Halloween Kills,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife“ and more that I can’t bother to list.
Call it nostalgia, call it keeping the “good times” alive, but I’ll call it old.
I like to consider myself a movie fanatic. I can’t think of anything better than walking into a dark theater, meeting a mysterious protagonist and being pulled into a cinematic world that gives me goosebumps and teaches me lessons that no self-help book could ever scratch at.
However, what I am getting a bit tired of is what seems like an endless funnel of blockbuster revivals.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve actually seen several of the movies I listed and I did enjoy them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a nostalgic flick now and again. But it just seems as though current mainstream cinema is nothing but nostalgic revivals and superhero movies with universes that can keep their franchises making money for years to come.
But Kayla, you just said you saw some of the reboots yourself. Why are you ranting on and on then? Good question, subconscious.
Because I feel that it really takes away from movies that are born out of today’s creative minds and artists. Of course, there will be crowds of movie-goers piling in to see Maverick return to the skies in “Top Gun,” or the original cast of “Jurassic World” collaborate with today’s stars and shove so much forced nostalgia down your throat that you forget what the plot of the movie is.
There were some real diamonds in the rough that came out in the past year that I had almost missed because every time there was a commercial, article or any media, it was raving about how a movie with a well-set-up character arc, fanbase and redemption story did it again.
Think about this; Among the fantastic nominations for Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars was “Top Gun: Maverick.” It seems a little unfair to place a movie in the running that has a legacy spanning three decades over a newly created movie such as “The Menu” which delivered a twisting, psychological thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat for the entirety of the film and resolve its storyline, all in one hour and forty-six minutes.
I think we’re forgetting just how difficult and magical it is for a movie crew to captivate us and create a story from scratch in the matter of one installment, a one to two-hour block of our life.
And this is not to confuse this piece as a giant diss to reboots or revivals, and it’s not to discount the work that those crews and actors put into their craft over a span of years. It would just appear that it’s become a trend if you will, that movies have become a safety net of old faces, recurring theme songs and plots we can compare side by side with the original.
As 2023 brews to a start, I’m looking forward to the feel-good coming-of-age movies where young celebrities are making their marks on the screen. Or the indie films that make us feel alive as the soundtracks pulse through our veins.
Here’s to hoping that 2023 is filled with new films featuring unexplored territories, beautiful heartbreaking stories and a look at the excitement of the present and future, rather than the comfort of the past.
