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The Campanile

    The movie industry produces its fair share of blockbusters every year, the nine-figure moneymakers, the creme de la creme. Despite the roadblock of theaters being closed for most of 2020, studios released a number of signifiSenior Staff Writer Colleen Wang Staff Writer Pandemic cinema: a year in review Aidan Seto cant titles including “Black Widow,” “Jungle Cruise,” and “Godzilla vs. Kong.” While these movies may have had impressive box office numbers, audience satisfaction is a whole different matter. Many productions rake in money but are terrible and straight up painful to watch. Take “The Emoji Movie” for example, bearing an absolutely abysmal seven percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This year, even amongst the top-grossing movies, they vary in degrees of quality. Arguably the most anticipated film of 2021, “Black Widow,” burst onto the scene as the newest installment in the heralded Marvel franchise. And while it was not an utter disappointment, the signature zest Marvel movies possess was not there to justify the hype it received. While it had a decent storyline, well-choreographed fight scenes, and witty jokes to bring a lighthearted feel, it felt all too similar to the other superhero movies I’ve seen in the past few years. The typical dysfunctional family of assassins and the ominous sky-dwelling supervillain screams a lack of the X factor that makes the best movies, well –– the best. While “Black Widow” is an entertaining movie, it will likely be forgotten in a matter of years. But at least it wasn’t as bad as “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.” I came into the movie with high expectations, as I thoroughly enjoyed the first Conjuring movie and am a fan of horror movies. But boy, did this film suck. It was quite possibly my biggest cinema letdown in years, leaving me wondering why I wasted two hours watching another example of why some franchises are meant to be left alone. There was a significant lack of jumpscares that helped make “The Conjuring” great, and the storyline was so run-of the-mill that it was painful to watch. In this version of “The Conjuring” franchise, the same characters return to do more exorcisms, except this time, none are scary or unique, and the new elements the movie tried to introduce flopped terribly. The only purpose this movie serves is to broadcast to the world that The Conjuring series has been milked dry of the traits that made it popular in the first place. Opposite of the mess that is “The Conjuring 3”, “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” is an unorthodox movie that presents a new genre to western cinema. It is the highest-grossing and most recognizable Japanese animated movie to reach North America. The beautifully animated fight scenes coupled with the stellar storytelling make this movie one of the best to hit the theaters this year. The characters are unique and crafted well, and the art style is exclusive to “Demon Slayer,” portraying it perfectly. The anime saw its sequel movie debut in American theaters in April of this year, complementing the meteoric ascent in popularity the anime genre has experienced recently. Overall, while this year has been littered with mediocre and sometimes downright terrible movies, there have been a selection of high-quality movies such as “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” that have attributes that set them apart from the rest. The cinema industry is constantly held to high expectations and 2021 has yet to disappoint.

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