The future of film

The first decade of the century has been a great one for film. Legendary filmmakers have created masterpieces, while newcomers have stormed onto the scene.

Visual effects have become so good that they are unnoticeable to the human eye. And two films broke the $1 billion profit mark, (“The Return of the King” and “The Dark Knight”) with 16 of the top 20 highest-grossing films being released in this decade.
Though remakes have become hackneyed, fourteen of those are sequels.
This decade has seen the continuance of brilliant directorial careers.

Clint Eastwood has produced, directed, starred and even written and recorded soundtracks for films at a thunderous pace, averaging almost a film per year in the decade. Eastwood has achieved both popular and Academy Award-winning success, but there’s just no way he will be able to continue such strenuous productivity at nearly 80 years old.

Martin Scorsese has had an amazing decade as well, finally winning an Oscar and delivering yet another stunning gangster film in “The Departed.” The director has maybe one more inspired gangster film left in him, if we’re so fortunate.

Quentin Tarantino started and finished the aughts fervently, and after a long break he will supposedly begin work on a slavery-themed “southern” film and possibly a third installment of “Kill Bill.”

The long-tenured and ever-productive master of cinema, Steven Spielberg, had a busy decade, especially as a producer. In the near future he will begin work on a biopic about the life of Abraham Lincoln and another on Martin Luther King, Jr.

A handful of actors have given multiple unforgettable performances this decade, including Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Adrien Brody and Ralph Fiennes. Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep continue to own the market of actresses.

Sadly, the decade may be remembered most for bland sequels (“Star Wars”), awful remakes (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), insipid book-based blockbusters (“Harry Potter,” “Twilight”), celebrity meltdowns (Christian Bale, Mel Gibson), sexual transformations (Lindsay Lohan) and relationship tribulations (Brangelina).

As filmmaking progresses, sequels and remakes will continue to flood the market in an attempt to make a buck, but the quality films will be there, hidden like Amelia Earhart’s plane and Tom Cruise’s chances of winning an Oscar.