Almost two hours in the eternal‘The 2 hour 37 minute run time is a bit excessive, I’m in awe: This movie sucks. It was strange and unsettling, a perception no different from the feeling of knowing you were about to be dumped. The spell is broken; it cannot be recast. Over the previous 100 minutes, Chloe ZhaoMy thoughtful exploration of a race of immortal superheroes captured my full attention. It has fights, jokes, emotional moments. Watching it feels like making new friends. But soon it became clear: That was all it felt like. My joy comes from experiencing the movie in a cinema, surrounded by people — not the movie itself.
Culturally, there’s been a lot going on this year. As an era, Covid-19 The era has been shot through with missed opportunities. Many of these are personal milestones — postponed weddings, a freshman year away from classmates. Other games are broader — NBA games played without fans, Magnolia Flower premiere in the US on Disney+. But when 2020 turned to 2021, everything changed. Vaccines are released and music venues open; People started going to the cinema and flooded the sports arenas. Pop culture, and the way people enjoy it, began to re-emerge, bringing with it many expectations. There’s no time to die needs to be excellent because, for some fans, the new James Bond movie is the first time they’ve seen a big movie on the big screen in months. This is also true for Sand dunes. the eternal too, which is why anything that’s surprisingly lacking feels like a disappointment — and rightfully so.
Such disappointments abound this year. But frankly, there’s no way to avoid this. The lockdown in 2020 has resulted in a lot of pent-up demand for cultural outlets. A spring without Coachella, a summer without blockbusters, a fall and winter without the usual holiday fanfare — these things a lot of people want. Sure enough, we filled the void with marathon streaming, podcasts, and TikToks, but it was hard to see that one thing, many things, was missing.
By 2021, many of them are back. Delayed movies like Sand dunes and the new 007 movie has found its way to the Imax screen. And while both of those movies are great, none of this year’s movies have been Ohmygod, do you see? that air Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Black Panther did. (Of anything Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to the nearest. Probably Spider-Man: There’s no way home, but it’s in theaters like the fear of Omicron is at its peak.) And not necessarily because they failed in the feat of making the film. We just need them too much. Like first hugs after lockdown, people hope their first trip to the complex will feel epic. Perhaps, in my head I expected my first encounter with the Eternals to be like returning home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When the eternal like any other trip to the theater — a beautiful, but rarely life-changing time — the effect is melancholy. And those are probably reasons that aren’t the movie’s fault.
A slight change has occurred with TV consumption. In 2020, the media diet has maximized comfort food: But you friend, Office, Circle. Much of that is carried over to 2021, when streaming becomes the most trusted – if not the best – source of new cultural production. Of course, a lot of challenge programs have been carried out in the past two years—I can destroy you and Mare of Easttown think about — but, if so, the quarantine has re-acquainted many viewers with easy-to-listen shows like New girl and Schitt’s Creek or any one of half a dozen escapist shows on Disney+. Sure, some people have discovered or rediscovered, fare as complicated as Sopranos, but when it comes to new shows, silly shows like Tiger King and Sunset sale seems to be getting the most attention — providing a form of tweaking while adjusting that other new series don’t. Breakthroughs, like Squid fishing game, obscured and/or absurd. Those that are expected to create a big buzz, such as Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop and Apple TV+’s establish, fell back. Even as TV becomes the more dominant media, it still has many problems.
