Film is suffering an existential crisis. Screens, audiences, and the number of film studios are shrinking. Vultures herald the death of the medium, just as vultures have done during every other major shift in form.
Film has responded with an outburst of spectacle. The megaconglomerates keep churning out lazy movies 'too big to fail,' but they are countervailed by a resurgence of passionate films of substance. RRR, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Top Gun: Maverick, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Nope, even Moonfall are populist films whose artistry demands the biggest screen possible. To be sure, they can be enjoyed in miniature, but part of you may walk away pondering what you could have had...
A medium develops in conversation with itself, and we are blessed to be shepherded through these tumultuous times by the guiding hands of Steven Spielberg, Jordan Peele, Todd Field, David Cronenberg, and all the other great masters of the motion picture.
