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

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

guess these nerds should have been reading kracauer instead of editing wikipedia pages on inter-media appearances of fifth-tier stan lee characters!

xp from april i believe, so not jumping on the bandwagon

the glove is a football

teamwork is cooperation

self-sacrifice is the ultimate virtue! a true message for the ages

(Re-poll this question btw)

― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Wednesday, October 23, 2019 9:24 AM

I've been thinking this, new thread for Phase 4 & beyond, repoll, etc.

xp from april i believe, so not jumping on the bandwagon

― devvvine, Wednesday, 23 October 2019 bookmarkflaglink

A timely revive as I've been watching a few films by A

And you just go cool posting as he always does

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

many xps but Martel has every right to talk about superhero films as she was interviewed to direct a marvel movie and opted out early
https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/lucrecia-martel-marvel-offer-black-widow-sexist-dont-worry-action-scenes-1202027524/

oh, never mind; wins beat me to it.

The directors don’t have to give these opinions, it’s possible to dodge a question!

what a weird thing to want them to do.

"You want my opinion on the series of films that have completely reshaped the industry I work in and redefined the forseeable future of how movies are made, shown, and seen? Welllll, what's one person's opinion in the grand scheme of things, the important thing we can all agree on is that watching movies is fun and all movies are movies! I like my popcorn with extra butter!"

Asking Martin Scorsese a question about movies and him dodging the question or simply saying no comment is something that would never happen btw.

Where did I say I “wanted” them to do that? I said it was interesting that they didn’t (which is why we’re talking about it)

Considering how much the personal style of the filmmakers involved is mostly subsumed and made invisible by the demand for consistency in the films I don’t even know how any of them can take it very personally. Scorsese et al are basically being a little agnostic about a corporation not an individual.

Much like the marvel films themselves, I looking forward to this whole thing never running its course

xxp apologies if i misread how you meant your post morrisp - like a marvel movie, this thread is busy and long and i dont always keep track of the characters well

the forseeable future of how movies are made, shown, and seen?

for the love of fucking christ

“Kore-eda san, thank you for coming to talk with us. My first and only question is what did you think of the scarlet witch?”

“Well, I—“

“WHY WONT YOU LET PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CFc7s4aDlM

It seems like half of what Disney & co. are taking offense at is in feeling erased as individuals and being treated like a corporation.

"When Francis uses the words, 'those films are despicable', to whom is he talking?" he quizzed, reeling off a list of names, including Kevin Feige, Marvel's newly-promoted Chief Creative Officer, directors Taika Watiti and Ryan Coogler, as well as MCU stars Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, and Robert Downey Jr, as examples.

https://ca.ign.com/articles/2019/10/23/disney-ceo-bob-iger-defends-marvel-movies-after-disrespectful-attacks-from-scorsese-and-coppola

corporations are people iirc

MODOK IS GENIUS!

Honestly, most of these complaints probably should be leveled at Kevin Feige. He's too good at what he does, and I maintain that when he moves on from shepherding the MCU, we will see a marked decline in the fortunes of the superhero film. I mean, see pretty much every superhero film he doesn't handle, some of which do quite well at the BO but which generally don't have the guiding hand to make continued success (via sequels, bumbling attempts at universe-building, etc.) sustainable.

editing wikipedia pages on inter-media appearances of fifth-tier stan lee characters!

Literally the only Stan Lee character I can think of is Stripperella (unless you count Funky Flashman), imagine even one tier below that having a wikipedia

There is a cross-media section though, right enough:

Originally there was to have been a promotional Stripperella comic published by Les Humanoïdes Associés (publishers of Métal Hurlant magazine) alongside the animated series, but creative differences between Spike TV and Pamela Anderson saw it canceled before publication.

for the love of fucking christ

I saw a technicolor print of Leave Her To Heaven about this time last year. When do you think anyone is going to be able to do that again?

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/disney-classic-fox-library-repertory-bookings-1202170485/

Next Tuesday.

I mean apart from anything else, 'last year' is the middle of Phase 3, so the iron gates that means that superhero films have blocked all other movies should be even more in effect then than now.

(unless you're talking about what devvvine linked, which is indeed shithousery, but nothing related to what I was responding to)

Disney reshaping exhibition in a whole variety of ways is what you were responding to, though.

this stuff is not changing back anytime soon

So your contention is that, in the context of the Scorcese argument, One Eye Open said "the series of films" when he meant "Disney's rep and small new releases policy"?

The weight of this series of films is a significant contributor to Disney’s closing off of lesser profit streams, yes. They would rather spend person-hours on $300MM films that they expect to make $1B than to keep employing people who rent out films for $1000 a shot. It’s the hegemonic nature of these films that allows them to demand a higher percentage of receipts, even though (as linked) this is actually driving exhibitors out of business. Their demands on exhibitors for their series-sized films specifically do stop smaller films from being seen, even when “smaller” means big expensive colourful action-filled family-friendly adventures, as with Paddington 2 and Black Panther.

There's probably something to be said for distinguishing among these claims/critiques:

• Aesthetic: MCU movies are shallow, simplistic, homogeneous, too long, too loud, too chaste, have too much and/or crappy CGI; their financial success will lead to more of the same
• Generic: superhero properties take up too much space literally (screens) and figuratively (in the discourse / the attention economy)
• Sociological: the often aggrieved fan culture around these culturally hegemonic movies irritates me for the following reasons
• Economic: insert a variety of concerns over Disney's increasing consolidation of and power within the industry (see that other thread)

A respite and then there’s an 18 month span coming up in which we’ll get six new marvel movies

And we were singing bye bye miss American pie

xp
yeah it's not a good defense lol

Speaking as an unabashed fan of Marvel, I could easily cobble together a half dozen barbed critiques of the MCU with more substance than those voiced by many of the folks who actively loathe the MCU. The maverick filmmaker cognoscenti should hire sic and Ward Fowler for their talking points, imo.

eeeeeaaaaasily

All the things on rob’s list are inarguably correct perfectly valid reasons to criticise these things and, as sic says and andrew seems to be denying, they are not unrelated to each other

maverick filmmaker cognoscenti

I mean, I cited the studio’s highest-grossing film of the decade

I was, ftr, not snarking! When a reporter approaches let's say a Wong-Kar Wai about his thoughts on the latest Marvel film, it would be a boon if he were able to consult with you and refine some sound talking points beforehand so he isn't forced to extemporize all like 'these superheroes today with their rocking and a-rolling and hipping and hopping, Batman punching Spider-Man in Riverdale...it's all just noise!'

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.”

lmao what a hypocrite btw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJp6tBoa9JI

They're not entirely unrelated, but at worst they spring from "these films are very popular", which isn't the angle Scorcese et al are taking.

putting aside the more interesting critiques raised in this thread, there's an implication here that man, anyone could do it if they just set aside their principles and devotion to the craft which, uh, Dark Phoenix and F4 and Justice League and etc etc called and they'd like you to know they tried that and where is their cookie?

the angle Scorcese et al are taking.

1) the angle he's taking? he was asked at the end of a 3000-word career-retrospective piece if he had watched Captain Marvel for tips on de-aging software before making The Irishman, and, concluding an interview where he had repeatedly praised multiple films that he thinks are great and influential and worthwhile, said that made-by-committee superhero films aren't to his taste.

2) of course they wouldn't care about some bad films if the market wasn't unbalanced towards them. neither Loach nor Coppola nor Scorsese have ever been clickbaited for slagging DTV trash, and Coppola always urged amateurs to use cheap video technology to get out and start making something.

If he had merely said they "weren't to his taste," we wouldn't be having this conversation!

do you really think that in the context of the interview he was any more extreme than that?

"that's not cinema" is fairly extreme!

bazin to thread to settle this