Rolling Marvel Cinematic Universe thread (+ a poll: Classic or Dud?)

The prequels kind of get an unfair rap in some ways; at least Lucas was trying to do new things. (Though I think Revenge of the Sith is a truly awful movie)

Also, I definitely think there needs to be some kind of regulation, and I suspect there already are some anti-trust rules that could be used against the way Disney especially abuses its position in the market. I think saying 'This isn't cinema!' is a shit way to get at that, though.

heh I almost added a note acknowledging that while objectively unwatchable the prequels could be considered “experimental”

I've thought this exact same thing. (I also actually enjoy AOTC well enough; I think would even rather re-watch it at any given moment than ROTJ... though it is a few pointless action scenes too long)

Also FTR based on his seventies work alone Coppola gets a lifetime pass to play 'old man shaking fist at cloud'. As soon as Scorsese makes one or more films I genuinely love, I will happily grant him a similar pass.

xp And I guess to answer my own question ("why don't those guys pick on their bud Lucas") somewhat; a day before making his "despicable" remark, Coppola apparently said this at a Q&A:

“If you make art that’s not personal, it’s a sin….When I was hired to do ‘The Godfather,’ I tried to do something that was personal, even though I was hired” to work on a pre-existing project, he said. “It’s not that you’re getting hired that’s bad, but just to think of it in terms of some sort of industry success. I would like everyone to make really personal films.”

So while it's kinda an eye-rolling thing to say, I guess the point could be made that Lucas's SW movies are "personal," even when they're bad. Is the same true of the new batch of SW films, though? Why doesn't he pick on those? Do they have a slightly more "personal" touch than the MCU films? Why am I still typing this? (procrastination)

Also, I definitely think there needs to be some kind of regulation, and I suspect there already are some anti-trust rules that could be used against the way Disney especially abuses its position in the market. I think saying 'This isn't cinema!' is a shit way to get at that, though.

Meanwhile, very on-brand.

Your reminder that Werner Herzog - one of the greatest directors and EASILY the greatest human who also happens to direct - went to #SDCC without having heard of it (or "comic cons") and declared it: "Fantastic! I have never seen the collective dream all in one place!" pic.twitter.com/b28gs6ZgwN

— Bob Chipman (@the_moviebob) October 22, 2019

That image alone justifies the invention of photography.

siri show me 'not getting it'

Sir you're holding a banana

I don’t hate the Marvel films because they’re really shit, I hate them because they’re frequently blatant propaganda for US imperialism and they are produced in conjunction with the US military and the CIA, i.e. two of the most murderous organisations to ever exist.

— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) October 22, 2019

And also, the cgi is bad.

... Does the CIA think that it's too highly-regarded?

they get excellent restaurant placement but the tuition is outrageous

Just remembered that I actually invented the Venerable New Hollywood Auteur Ranks on Marvel IP-Based Films subgenre during a 2006 phoner with Robert Altman. pic.twitter.com/hRKRtuOGCC

— ℑ 𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲 (@NickPinkerton) October 20, 2019

Robert Altman: all fourteen-year-old boys are gay as fuck

Both "sides" of this debate are equally obnoxious.

Director of x-men certainly could weigh in on that xp

only five of the X-Men pictures over 16 years, it’s not like he really had any influence

x-men movies kinda a bad example bc they're almost entirely awful. little carveout there for bits of FIRST CLASS, Patrick Stewart's scenes in LOGAN, and Oscar Isaac's performance of "Apocalypse, but he's Jeffrey Tambor."

it's amazing to me how badly x-men was handled and how popular they were anyway.

let’s dig up Altman and tell him he was unfair to not think these movies were for serious grown-ups, by ...explaining that they were bad?

Revisionist nonsense - the first two X-Men movies are good-to-great, as are the first two reboots.

xpost who said he was unfair?

the first two x-men movies are turgid and unmemorable. what made the first one significant was that it didn’t *look* like BATMAN & ROBIN.

X2 was totally memorable, gtfo

Nightcrawler BAMFing scene in X2 is good, one of the only times in a superhero movie I’ve seen that the idea of powers is actually conveyed as something otherworldly in a “real” space, genuinely uncanny. Jackman & Paquin carry the first through deadpan. idnrc anything else good about either

I would happily accept a permanent moratorium on all future superhero movies if it meant that the people who dislike their existence (often without having actually seen them) would STFU forever about superheroes.

ive seen a few, thx, is 25 the minimum?

Anyway, speaking of business:

https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/kevin-feige-ike-perlmutter-marvel-disney-1203377802/

every time i see "WandaVision" i feel certain it's a typo

Favreau takes the high road: https://variety.com/2019/film/news/jon-favreau-scorsese-coppola-marvel-films-1203379391/

I worry all this discourse may prevent Martin Scorsese from being cast as Doctor Doom.

— Peter LabuzAAAHH! (@labuzamovies) October 22, 2019

i see him as more of a rhino tbh

the most Almodovar criticism I can think of is superhero movies are bad because the characters don't fuck enough. God bless u Pedro https://t.co/rVNtZDxNeT

— nuanced opinion guy (@charles_kinbote) October 23, 2019

They were so mean (especially Brisn DePalma) they literally made Lucas cry when he was showing them rough cuts of Star Wars. https://t.co/tABxjZzge2

— PETER kupLOEWsky - "AM A VAMPIRE!" (@PeterKapow) October 21, 2019

Did we miss Ken Loach? There's almost enough for a poll pretty soon:

Loach said of superhero films: “I find them boring. They’re made as commodities … like hamburgers … It’s about making a commodity which will make profit for a big corporation – they’re a cynical exercise. They’re a market exercise and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema.”

I'm really enjoying how these director's are using themes and ideas in their own movies to construct their Marvel takedowns. Next up, 'The severe lack of symmetry in Marvel Movies is appalling'- Wes Anderson https://t.co/jyLAtQWYJk

— Nia Childs (@nia_loves_films) October 23, 2019

Lucrecia Martel said it best:

“Companies are interested in female filmmakers but they still think action scenes are for male directors,” Martel said. “The first thing I asked them was maybe if they could change the special effects because there’s so many laser lights. I find them horrible. Also the soundtrack of Marvel films is quite horrendous. Maybe we disagree on this but it’s really hard to watch a Marvel film. It’s painful to the ears to watch Marvel films.”

As soon as the argument strays away from the legitimate concern of megastudios dominating theaters and narrowing opportunities for filmmakers, these complaints seem to very rapidly lose focus in their scramble to document the narcissism of small cinematic differences.

lol narcissism

martel otm about the experience of watching them but aren't the actions scenes in all of these films done by one team?

It's just kinda sad to me that people who are no longer in like their teens or early twenties feel so compelled to stridently stake out a side wrt 'high' vs. 'low' culture, as if it's impossible to appreciate (and critique) the broader spectrum.

I don't know that there's ever been clarity on who directs what.

More like it's impossible for there to even be a broader spectrum in this environment, but point taken on me not being in my 20s anymore.

i mean in all these cases the directors have been asked their opinion. also these films, the monopolisation of disney and obsession with ip development across studios are crushing out the rest of the spectrum while their fans demand we all acquiesce to their worthiness

(Re-poll this question btw)

The directors don’t have to give these opinions, it’s possible to dodge a question! Or they could make the economic argument that ppl here want them to be making, but which they aren’t — they’re dissing their fellow filmmakers on aesthetic grounds, which is why it’s interesting that they’re “going there.”

guess what losers it's been an aesthetic game all along, culture plays the long game!!!!!

Almodovar has just released a "superheros don't fuck" opinion