A decade in film

by Jeremy Julian

On November 27, 2019, Netflix saw the release of their $200 million Martin Scorsese directed mob film, “The Irishman”. This was one of the most talked-about films of the decade and it saw a wide release only on the Netflix platform, yet it had a production budget that could only be rivaled by some of the major summer blockbusters we see coming to theaters each year.

The decade is coming to a close and there have been many aspects of film that have changed in that span of time. For better or for worse depending on the individual who is consuming the medium. The decade also saw the rise of the superhero film in a few different ways. The 2010s have ushered in drastic new changes to the industry as a whole.

The rise of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and others has changed the way we watch films and how they are made. There seem to be more feature motion pictures now than ever due to the ways they are released. No longer are people required to go to a theater to watch a film at or near its release.

Since Netflix’s 2015 release of their first original film “Beasts of No Nation” starring Idris Elba, the concept of how we consume film has changed. The movie was nominated for and won a considerable amount of awards after it released and since then, Netflix has produced and distributed a large number of movies with varying degrees of budgets.

Beasts of No Nation also made it clear that big-name actors and filmmakers were not opposed to making films that were distributed digitally instead of in the theater, which is the way we’ve been accustomed to for decades.

Idris Elba, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Adam Driver, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Timothee Chalamet and Adam Sandler are just a few of the well-known actors who have starred in films either produced or distributed by Netflix.

It isn’t just the talent on screen that has been recruited by streaming services like Netflix, it has also been the individuals making the films and the awards won from them. Last December, Netflix produced and distributed a film titled “Roma” a black and white title that is almost entirely in spanish and is directed by Alfonso Cuaron, acclaimed director of films like Gravity and Children of Men.

Roma became an award heavyweight as it became Netflix’s most awarded film since they started their original movies. Roma was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three of them. One of those nominations including Best Picture.

Netflix has shown that they clearly aren’t done yet. Two of this year’s Netflix originals are almost guaranteed to be nominated for Best Picture at the 2020 Academy Awards. “Marriage Story” and “The Irishman” are two films leading the best picture race and also are front runners for awards like Best Lead and supporting for both actor and actress categories. Both of these films are sitting at a 94 metascore on metacritic, making them two of the year’s highest scoring movies.

Netflix isn’t the only streaming giant with award winning feature films. “Manchester by The Sea” was released by Amazon Studios in 2016, and snagged aBest Actor Academy Award for Casey Affleck. The film was originally limited release in studios and eventually came to the Prime video streaming service.

Some people have problems with these streaming services and other recent happenings in the film industry. There are some flaws in their issues with them and how they go about their criticisms. Steven Spielberg, a director who is arguably the most famous in history, voiced his concern over these streaming films.

In an interview with ITV news last year, Spielberg disagreed with how Netflix movies were treated like theatrical films and that they don’t differ from your average TV movie. This take in itself is untrue, the reality is that movies distributed across streaming platforms are just a new way to experience them.

The experience of seeing a film in theater is unrivaled but there are individuals who may not have the time to go out and catch a movie at specific times. A variety of factors play a part in individuals not being able to go out to a theater. Whether a film is watched on a forty inch television or a massive IMAX screen, it is still the same film, no matter the change of scenery.