Along with the 1980s and the 1950s, we are now experiencing Hollywood’s poorest output in over a century, argues Quentin Tarantino.
We’ve seen plenty of esteemed filmmakers pop up over the last few years to denounce superhero movies, sparking feverish debate in the wake of their comments. There aren’t too many filmmakers working in Hollywood with the clout of Quentin Tarantino, and now the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… director, who never tends to be short of an opinion or three, has offered more of his thoughts on the matter.
Tarantino’s comments will come as little surprise as the filmmaker has long been a vocal critic of the current trend of superhero films, but whilst out promoting his new book of film criticism, he spoke to Roger Avery on the Video Archives podcast about just how poor he thinks the current era of Hollywood is compared to other decades:
“Even though the 80s was the time that I probably saw more movies in my life than ever – at least as far as going out to the movies was concerned – I do feel that 80s cinema is, along with the 50s, the worst era in Hollywood history. Matched only by now, matched only by the current era”
If you’ve listened to Tarantino rattle on about films before, you’ll likely know that his disdain for Hollywood’s output in the 1980s is long-standing. So to hear him place the modern era of cinema alongside that decade clearly shows that his feelings towards modern Hollywood’s output are significantly cooling. Whilst he doesn’t specifically mention superhero films, he indirectly references the growing homogenisation of blockbuster cinema by stating that “the films that don’t conform are the ones that stand out from the pack.”
What are your thoughts? Are we living in the worst era for cinema? They say that clarity comes with distance, so it’s a bold claim to make whilst we’re still in the middle of this current era of Hollywood. There’s no doubt though that Tarantino is a visionary and if nothing else, if his comments continue to spark debate about where current trends are taking us then that can’t be a bad thing.
