Release: April 7, 2015
The Critic outlines why he considers 1996-2001 to be the worst period in the history of modern cinema, at least for summer blockbusters.
Tropes are:
- Action Survivor: The Critic points out an over-usage of this trope in the mid-late 1990s as to why films from that time period tend to be so forgettable, as cinema moved away from inspirational, larger-than-life lead characters like Luke Skywalker, John Rambo, and Indiana Jones, and more towards people who were just surviving large-scale disasters without undergoing any real character growth. The Critic also notes that the few well-remembered lead characters from this era — including Ethan Hunt and Agents J and K — were more traditional action heroes, rather than survivors.note
- Disaster Movie: Perhaps the biggest complaint the Critic has about the 1996-2001 period is that this type of film became far too omnipresent, leading to films trying to top each other in terms of spectacle at the expense of character and storyline.
- Franchise Original Sin: Discussed; while the Critic makes it clear that he still loves the original Jurassic Park (1993), he fingers it as being indirectly responsible for all the faults of later 1990s blockbusters, through other films trying to copy its formula without either the strong storyline or characters, or having the novelty factor that it was able to call on.
