I can't get no satisfaction: lament of the frustrated moviegoer

Lately, I can't get much satisfaction from Hollywood films. And I mean big, fat, Oscar contenders films.

I read the reviews, I enter the movie theatre with great expectations, I come out disappointed. There's more: I feel guilty for making my husband go through such pain. I assure him that friends and critics loved it and it looked like a safe bet. I come back home angry and incredulous, wondering how can I be the only one disliking so much films that seem to please everyone else. Didn't they notice the lack of character development, the misogynist clichés, uninspired direction, stiff acting, out of focus close shots, poor audio quality, plot holes...? I go to IMDB to find like-minded opinions, I express my disappointment leaving a 4 star rating on the film page, I snark at the 10 stars reviews and read only the ones that start with “Two hours of my life I will never get back”and “I opened an account just to write this negative review”. But that only makes me angrier. I change my rating to 3 stars. I realize, once again, that I take films, maybe life, too seriously.

Then I save the night with a good TV series. And the magic happens. 

My mood improves and I forget to open multiple accounts on IMDB to complain about every hour of my life that hasn't been a blast. Because the small screen is still deliveringon its promises. There I rejoice in the original plots, reinventions of genres, provoking ideas that I can't seem to find anymore in cinema.

Hollywood, what happened? Your movies used to make me so happy... But now the spell has broken. Maybe it's not you, it's me. No, wait, it's definitely you.

I haven't found in years a science fiction film as brilliant, relevant and full of mind-boggling ideas as Black Mirror (yes, I saw Interstellar, Prometheus, Arrival, Passengers...).

I don't remember a recent big screen drama that could match the psychological complexity of The Americans, where characters have different, opposing goals, but you can easily empathize with all of them (yes, I saw Manchester by the Sea).

I can't think of a film succeeding at satirizing the dot-com world and its idiosyncrasies as brilliantly as Silicon Valley.

Haven't watched one that could highlight Hollywood's contradictions and its stars' mid-life crisis as Bojack Horseman does (yes, I saw La La Land).

Or a romantic comedy as funny, true and unconventional as Catastrophe and You're the Worst.

A superhero movie that could beat Flash (yes, I watched Deadpool)

A comedy that could make me laugh as much as Community and Arrested Development (yes I watched... The Martian!).

I could go on and on.

But I won't. Gotta go.

It's peak TV, baby. And it's calling me. Hours of my life that I'll never have back but I'm happy to invest in amazing stories and memorable characters.