The Dark Knight in 2008 was maybe the Best film that year, and one of the Best of the decade. It actually shook up the Oscars, as they realized they were being too snobbish towards genre films, that they could be the equal of any indie drama. So the Best Picture nominees got expanded from five to ten the next year.
Scorsese is one of the greatest filmmakers, but it's disappointing hearing this from him as he's long been a lover of all film history. Now he's just another sourpuss complaining about Marvel & other Comic Book films sucking up almost all the attention from audiences; he and Steven Spielberg should start a club for grumpy old directors.
Complaining about these genre films is the same as the decades long complaint about Science Fiction & Fantasy films being the dominant genre in Hollywood, ever since Star Wars in 1977. You'd think these guys would be used to it by now.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
Steven Spielberg didn't exactly slam comic book movies, but he did affirm that they have a shelf life. He said something to the effect of comic book movies fading out of popularity over time like Westerns did.
Scorsese's criticism of films from Marvel - I mean, this is the guy who made a movie celebrating the life & career of Georges Melies (Hugo, 2011) who basically pioneered special effects at the beginning of the movie industry.
He's wrong in the sense that the statement that they aren't cinema is whiny girlish hyperbole, but on the whole he is right that the MCU is a largely spectacle-driven experience. I don't know how he feels about comic book films in general, but note he mostly is talking about the MCU here, of which there is not a single film in the entire franchise on par with The Dark Knight or Logan.
If the MCU was half as dominant, he wouldn't be saying anything at all. Comic Book related movies were just a weird genre that used to 'over there'; now they're sucking all the oxygen out of the room, and Scorsese just made a movie that will mostly be seen online via Netflix. He's clearly frustrated.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
90 years ago, talkie movies replaced silent movies, and silent screen stars like Lillian Gish complained that the movies were ruined, that talkies were an inferior art form. The older generation often complains about what replaces them.
Of these older directors, the one I don't hear making complaints about Comic Book movies is George Lucas. Maybe because he's retired and rich AF, but maybe because he's the only other one who knows about building a massive movie universe that can't be contained by one film.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
KMC Community Forums
at Disneyshill freaking out, seriously get a grip.
Oct 5th, 2019 05:47 PM
