Do movies generally suck since the pandemic?

WHAT PLAYS IN THEATERS HAS CHANGED...FRANCHISES RULE THE BIG SCREENS.

They were pretty shit before the pandemic too. I think streaming has thrown the studios off, and they haven't quite figured it out yet. In my view, we are at the end of big blockbusters and the theatre-going experience. I could be wrong, of course.

EDIT: But to answer your question directly, no, I can’t think of any movies since 2020 that should be on your list. To be honest, I didn’t even like Oppenheimer that much.

No, absolutely not.

Great movies are still being made. However, the sheer volume of media at our fingertips makes it more challenging than ever to seek out films that spark that sense of cinematic wonder. (It could be argued, though, that events in the wake of 2020 have made it difficult for movies alone to raise our spirits, but that's a different topic altogether).

Here is a brief list in no particular order of great movies from 2020 onward:

Palm Springs
You Cannot Kill David Arquette
I Used to Go Here
The Vast of Night
Bad Trip
Kajillionaire
Another Round
Wolfwalkers
Ham on Rye
The Green Knight
Red Rocket
The Worst Person in the World
Licorice Pizza
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
North Hollywood
Old Henry
Dune
The Beta Test
New York Ninja
The Northman
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
John Wick 3 and 4
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
The Batman
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ambulance
X
Pearl
Top Gun Maverick
Funny Pages
Emily the Criminal
Prey
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Barbarian
LOLA
Beau Is Afraid
The Holdovers
Poor Things
Fallen Leaves
Last Summer
Smoking Causes Coughing
Flora and Son
Past Lives
Palm Trees and Power Lines
The Adults
The Teachers' Lounge
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Bottoms

There are still some great films being made. Maybe not as many as before, but they are out there. I would argue that these are great films:

American Fiction
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Cuties
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Holdovers
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Poor Things
Women Talking

What I'm finding - with film, is it's getting to be a needle in the haystack thing.

This would be for the entire decade of the 2020s. It seems I have to give ten movies a look before I find one that interests me. It may take 20 to find one I really like.

In this decade, one has appreciated mini-series more than film.

"Mare of Easttown" "Dopesick" "American Rust"

All 3 terrific.

"LIttle Fires Everywhere" was pretty good as well.

I would say so. Leaving aside political matters and the originality crisis, there seems to be a lack of basic competence in making films and TV shows. There are far too many over-praised, bloated, poorly written productions around. The personality seems to have disappeared and everything seems rushed. If someone were to tell me that AI is now writing the majority of films and shows, I would be inclined to believe them. I give up on more modern films/shows than I finish nowadays, and that isn't true of older ones. I wondered for a while whether it was just me ageing and becoming more cynical, but many people agree with me.

There's always been a pile of shit movies with a few good ones thrown in.

Why would this time be any different?