I think it's just the times. There are bad movies in every era, most movies, plays, books, anything that is ever written is going to be bad or mediocre. That will always be true. But the movies that are made are the best of the stories that are written. So if you don't see anything good, it's not because there are a lot of bad stories out there. It's because there are very few good ones being written by anyone at this time.
Two things working against movies right now, imo, it's a perfect storm:
1. Bubble-era society of the last 25 years. This is not unique to our time, all civilizations begin their decline with an extravagant age. The comedy must be over the top to amuse most of the population, the drama must be very obvious. The people in our society are so used to getting whatever they want. Don't have the money for it? Put it on a credit card. Want to buy a house you can't afford? No problem, the government will subsidize it for you. They expect your storytelling to be obvious because they have been trained in their life to get everything put right in front of their nose.
And, since that's what the audience wants, that's what get's made most of the time. It's a business.
You and I might not want that, but most people do. Everyone I know, I tell them I can never watch a movie with them again. Everytime I watch a movie with people I know, they always pick the dumbest most juvenile films I have ever seen....and they love them.
2. CGI...this happens everytime a new age comes around in film.
The very first movies back in the 1800's were not any good. Who cares if they were good? It was amazing just to be able to make a film. Eventually, the silent films of the early 1900's became an art. The stories and films were good. As soon as sound was developed, movies sucked for awhile. People could tolerate it because it was amazing to hear people talk. Eventually, the stories in black and white films were great. Then color was developed, and you had a lot of very bad color movies. Again, people were just happy to see things the same way they see the rest of the world.
Now we have computer graphics and guess what....the movies mostly suck.
Once the novelty of CGI wears off, and I think it already is to an extent, movies will get better. The economy is not going to get better anytime soon either, sorry to tell you, and you know what, that's ok. You'll have a whole different kind of audience in a few years that is a lot less like Nero and Caligula's court and a lot more like Caesar's and Shakespeare's.
You have to remember...you always have to write for the audience. If you lived in first century Rome or 2000's U.S., chances are good you'd love watching Jersey Shore and Rock of Love and be bored by Shakespeare or Antonioni or Bergman. But if you lived in the 60's or 70's or in 5th century b.c. Greece, your audience would be the opposite. And hell, depending on which kind of era you live in, 99% of writers probably only have the ability to write that specific kind of story, because that is their life experience.
It's nice to see the main character (Wikus) of DISTRICT 9 taking the same journey that Leo DiCaprio's character does in BLOOD DIAMOND. Both start out as assholes, who end up identifying with and saving a father and son, at the end. Kind of predictable, though.
In fact, I rarely see a movie that I don't like.
