Bad movies: is Ridley Scott right to say that 60% of films stink?

Name: Bad films.

Age: Cinema is nearly 130 years old, so probably 129.

Appearance: Bad.

Film is a subjective medium, so it’s hard to authoritatively state that any are bad. Ridley Scott said most of them are bad.

Most of them? Well, if you want to be really accurate, he said during a talk at the BFI Southbank that most films are “shit”.

God, I love Ridley Scott. If you want to know his full methodology, it’s that 60% of films made today are “shit”, and of the remaining 40%, “25% … is not bad, and 10% is pretty good, and the top 5% is great”.

Even this year? We’ve had a new Paul Thomas Anderson film, and Sinners, and … Listen, those are the top top 5%. This is also the year that gave us a Smurfs film, and Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, and that Snow White remake where all the CGI dwarves looked like semi-melted CGI gonks. And, oh God, The Electric State.

What’s The Electric State? Chris Pratt is in it. Directed by the Russo brothers, who made Avengers: Endgame, the second most financially successful film of all time. The Electric State was the 14th most expensive film ever made. You remember it. It only came out in March.

Nope, no idea. Well, then – point proved.

So films are getting worse? No, not at all. Scott’s point is that 60% of all films have always been bad. Some people say that 1971 was the best year of film ever, thanks to films such as A Clockwork Orange, Harold and Maude, The French Connection and The Last Picture Show. But let’s not forget that it also gave us Zaat, a film about a mutant fish. Another film released in 1971 was Women in Cages, a female prison sexploitation film.

OK, I get the point. Honestly, stick a pin in any year and you’ll find a stinker.

2024. Are you kidding? Have you forgotten Madame Web so soon?

But surely Scott still enjoys some films? Oh, of course he does.

Phew. Which ones? His own, mainly.

Pardon? His full quote is: “I’ve started watching my own movies, and actually they’re pretty good.”

Did I mention that I love Ridley Scott? Everyone does. Remember when historians took issue with the accuracy of his historical epic, Napoleon, and his response was: “Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the fuck up then.”

What a guy. Plus, at the same event, he said that his favourite meal was yoghurt and blueberries, because he “got over food years ago”. We really need to protect him at all costs.

Do say: “Most films are bad.”

Don’t say: “I hope Madame Web is on Netflix.”