Francis Ford Coppola backs Scorsese in row over Marvel films

Thrill_house

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,389
Well, despicable might be a bit much but he is definitely on the money with the "same movie over and over" comment lmao
 

TheBaldwin

Member
Feb 25, 2018
6,303
I don't know - Is art something that gives you a reaction? Then how can anyone "judge" art? How can one film be better than the other? If it's all just about how passionate you are, then Sonic the Hedgehog is the best piece of art ever produced because I've never seen people as excited by anything as a lot of Sonic fans are by Sonic. Hell, the Nintendo Direct is art, I'm sure a lot of Nintendo fans are moved to tears by some reveals.
I'm not being cynical here, I don't think the definition of art is clear-cut to anyone. I can agree that art is based on emotions, excitement and inciting a feeling in the viewer - But then you get to a point where everything is art, because everything it capable of affecting humans emotionally. Making a person lauch or cry is very hard, and it requires tremendous skill to do so - But it's not enough to make art in my opinion. I appreciate the work done on soap operas who can get people to follow 3000 episodes and cry and laugh, and I appreciate it just the same in the MCU (and I enjoy that as well when I do watch them, because they've gone to great length to suit it to my tastes as a 20-something geeky male.)
So I think art needs an extra layer - I'm not sure how to explain that extra layer and I'm not sure I need to, I'm not an art philosopher. I just want to point out "excitement" and "reaction" are not enough in my opinion - and it's not gate keeping to say it. No one is taking away the hard work poured into these movies, or the skills and expertise needed - They're great entertainment.

They just lack that extra layer, that layer that makes the excitement and the emotions more than just my brain reacting to stimulus. It's that layer that gives it meaning, and makes you feel like you just had a new thought for the first time, like you discovered something through that work. Again, I can't explain it, but I'm sure (or hope?) at least someone here will get what I'm saying.

Regarding the Oscars - I actually think if shouldn't let streaming movies be up for Oscars without doing a full theatrical run. Why? Because we're nearing a point of total fragmentation in the streaming market, and pretty sure you won't be able to watch most Oscar movies unless you're paying monthly to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple and who knows who else. The theater should remain a place you can go to watch a movie without subscribing to anything.
Yes that's exactly correct. Pretty much everything is art, because it's entirely subjective to the audience and that's the beauty of it. Sure, having many people call something art and come to a overall average critical consensus that it is overall a great piece of media, but just because critics don't believe something is art to them doesn't devalue the experiences other people may have with a product.

I get you want art to convey a feeling or thought you've never had before, and that's a very difficult thing to do, but on the otherhand the emotions that art can convey to you arn't ranked, and theres incredible value in the art of simple excitement. Migo's or drake playing in a club, it's an amazing feeling the amount of energy that suddenly comes into the room. Seeing a crowd full of people immediately filled with adrenaline is an incredible feeling, and that's what makes it art in it's own way, but it doesn't give you a new thought or perspective on life but it still holds incredible value, just in a different way compared to say other music that may make you contemplate a new perspective on life or make you cry. Both have, too me, equal artistic merit. Feeling excitement or happiness, especially in someones life who may be going through a rough patch especially in today's political climate, is incredibly valuable as a piece of art. Sure it may not change your life perspective in your eyes, but that doesn't diminish the effect it has on general audiences.

All im trying to say is, is that the beauty of art is that it can come in so many different ways, convey different emotions to a multitude of different people with different backgrounds at different points in their life, it's a really beautiful thing once you have that freedom and stop putting arbitrary barriers on pieces of media as if it's some kind of tier system, and even more narcissistic to say that something isn't as valuable as a whole simply because YOU don't personally connect with it or don't think it is as deep as it is/could be. Your nintendo direct example is a good one as it's not a traditional medium. I'm not a nintendo fan, but there is an artform in itself to construct the perfect trailer, to match visuals and musical elements and tease to the audience about an announcement of something that they themselves are fond of, and to get that reaction whilst it might seem weird to an outsider can be quite a endearing thing to see, especially that series or game relates to someones childhood or important events in their life.

And I'm not doing this as a way to defend just marvel movies, as i mentioned in my last comment I just greatly dislike any sort of gate keeping within a genre, music and film especially. Hell even games have it with 'Triple A games are completely souless' and arn't art arguement. And a side note is that many films that have that critical consensus that 'they are so deep and will make you rethink aspects of your life' really arn't that deep *cough* bladerunner *cough*.

To your point about theatres, yeah i can understand that the market is getting fragmented, but at the same time it's not exactly a colossal hurdle or burden for audiences to overcome. if you see an indie film on a streaming service you want to watch, you buy a months subscription, or a free month if it's your first time, for the same price that you would a cinema ticket? Of course i dont want cinema chains to die, but you can't blame big budget movies for that, it's the fault of cinema chains making them inaccessible to some people from a price and inconveniance standpoint.
 

UltraMagnus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,553
He's entitled to his opinion, but I don't go to Marvel movies to enjoy "cinema" or for the art of filmmaking, I just want entertainment. The crowd that enjoys movies as art seems to be getting smaller as the years go by which I would guess is why all these old filmmakers are coming out against the MCU, since it is the mainstream identity of modern movies this decade.
Films don't need to be "art house" films to have solid fundamental story telling. Rocky, The Lion King, Titanic, Star Wars ... most of the biggest grossing films at least pre-2010 when CGI wank fests became the big priority tend to have pretty solid storytelling.

Things kinda went to shit in the last 10 years or so, but before that you couldn't really rely on just CGI to carry a movie because it was a limited feature that you could use for some effects shots, not something to build an entire movie around.
 

SlumberingGiant

alt account
Banned
Jul 2, 2019
1,389
who is this guy? just googled him and all he has made is some old war movie and italian gangster stuff? Get back back to me when he was had a real film like captain America vs megaman
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
I don't think Scorsese has ever claimed his works to be on par with the works of Descartes, I'd love it if you could point me to such a quote.

Also, the statement about arthouse directors make me fairly certain that you're fixated on the wrong aspects of film in your wholesale dismissal of it as a medium. Film is visual, it is the creating of illusion through the assembly of still images, and the use of that illusion as a medium to convey a message. For comparison, a poem will probably not be as enlightening as a philosophical treaty by descartes, just like the philosophical treaty will not be able to present an explanation of the functionings of reality in the same way that science offer. The poem isn't even trying to. It wants to wake an emotional response or to make you reflect over something through it's use of art. It kind of seems that you're heading down a path where you condemn all artforms for not being philosophy or science. And on that note, I promise you that there is better art than marvel films.
That's not what I was saying. Didn't he make the distinction of how cinema is more enlightening than comic books movies? And as I said I don't see it because in the end cinema always puts entertainment before speaking truth to a thing. The same way all movies do. Hence same level of shallowness due to similar concessions that are tied to the medium.

So to me this higher level of enlightening that he subscribes to cinema is kind of laughable and what he is actually describing are books. It feels like a second grade elementary schooler bragging to a first grade that they learned multiplication and that he has attained such higher knowledge while first graders are still on addition, when it's all just basic algebra.

Also worth noting with this comparison multiplication is just stacked/layered addition just to drive home how silly the differention is he tries to draw.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 9932

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,711
Y'all can have fun eating at Wendy's or Mc Donalds without telling people who prefer a good restaurant, that the food that they are eating is of similar quality as yours. Would you call someone an elitist if he said the food they are eating is better than yours?
For me, it's the McChicken. The best fast food sandwich. I even ask for extra McChicken sauce packets and the staff is so friendly and more than willing to oblige.
One time I asked for McChicken sauce packets and they gave me three. I said, "Wow, three for free!" and the nice friendly McDonald's worker laughed and said, "I'm going to call you 3-for-free!".
Now the staff greets me with "hey it's 3-for-free!" and ALWAYS give me three packets. It's such a fun and cool atmosphere at my local McDonald's restaurant, I go there at least 3 times a week for lunch and a large iced coffee with milk instead of cream, 1-2 times for breakfast on the weekend, and maybe once for dinner when I'm in a rush but want a great meal that is affordable, fast, and can match my daily nutritional needs.
I even dip my fries in McChicken sauce, it's delicious! What a great restaurant.
 

Aegus

Member
Oct 29, 2017
708
Coppola isn't even part of the recognised Boomer generation years you nitwits.

Anyway I think he's right on some points. MCU films are passable and enjoyable, but I wouldn't really put them on any best films I've ever seen. McDonalds food is probably the most apt comparison. There's nothing particularly stand out about any of them when you put them in a line, but in terms in spectacle they are probably best in class.
 

Dyno

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,753
Sure, and people are seeing Marvel movies over almost anything else, It’s obvious that megafranchises have hurt pretty much all films. There’s not a “problem” with that so to speak, but I do see why film makers of past years would be upset with it and I think their criticism is valid.

But I do think that it’s bound to swing back at some point. We’re kind of at the peak of super hero movies and people will want to seek out other things in the near future.
I mean I can see why it would bother them but I dont think its despicable in any sense. Its delivering on what right now is the big thing.

I do think were gonna see a natural slow down anyway, especially on the MCU as the end of phase 3 was kind of the end of the whole arc in a way. I'd say even Marvel/Disney are aware that they've less to build off with Endgame done and are looking to their streaming service to bolster stuff in part because of it.

But even then, I figure something else will be the next blockbuster and fall into the same criticised traps the MCU is having here.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,348
If Coppola and Scorsese aren't fit to judge what could be considered cinema, then who the fuck is.
They can judge films all they want. They are inarguably fit to do so. Picking and choosing what is and isn't cinema is no man's job. Cinema has a definition. If a body of work fits that definition it's cinema. Why do need Scorsese and Coppola to create new classifications?
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,348
It is definitely an opinion, regardless of whether you like it or think it makes sense.
What if someone's "opinion" is that liquid water isn't wet?

Cinema has a definition. They don't get to redefine it and call it an opinion.

"X film production isn't cinema" isn't an opinion. It's just a ridiculous statement.
 

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,906
That's not what I was saying. Didn't he make the distinction of how cinema is more enlightening than comic books movies? And as I said I don't see it because in the end cinema always puts entertainment before speaking truth to a thing. The same way all movies do. Hence same level of shallowness due to similar concessions that are tied to the medium.

So to me this higher level of enlightening that he subscribes to cinema is kind of laughable and what he is actually describing are books. It feels like a second grade elementary schooler bragging to a first grade that they learned multiplication and that he has attained such higher knowledge while first graders are still on addition, when it's all just basic algebra.
I guess we'll just have to disagree on the notion that cinema is unable to offer enlightenment in any way or form. I'd also like to add that not all cinema puts entertainment ahead of its message (even though that is admittedly in large part true for Scorsese, not that there is anything inherently wrong wIth that. You can have entertainment coexist with an actual message.) and if that is your honest opinion, you should probably explore the medium further.

Either way, I can only come to the conclusion that we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter, which is also, y'know, fine.
 

UltraMagnus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,553
What if someone's "opinion" is that liquid water isn't wet?

Cinema has a definition. They don't get to redefine it and call it an opinion.

"X film production isn't cinema" isn't an opinion. It's just a ridiculous statement.
Does it really even matter, lol, why are you so hung up on the specific terminology. A dictionary doesn't necessarily dictate what everything is as if its some tablet passed on high from god to Moses either that you can wave around as definitive proof of anything. If anything Coppolla saying the films are "despicable" is a bigger diss than anything, lol. That's pretty harsh.
 
Last edited:

Angie

Best Avatar Thread Ever!
Member
Nov 20, 2017
15,893
Kingdom of Corona
If you guys want to continue to use their age as an insult, at least try to get it right.

Boomer 1946 – 1964

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939
Martin Scorsese was born in 1942
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,348
If you can’t understand why classic film makers might be upset with the marvel cinematic universe With the way the films are clogging up the majority of screens at movie theaters and making studios reluctant to fund anything that’s not guaranteed profit I’m not sure what to tell you. Marvel movies are fine but I also don’t blame any film makers who are upset with them given the way they have captured so many moviegoers attention and made people stop going to theaters for anything else.
I'm not even sure what this has to do with the topic at hand.

I think we all can understand why classic film makers would be frustrated with the current state of the industry, and the tastes of the audience....

None of that as anything to do with whether or not these films are cinema.
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
I guess we'll just have to disagree on the notion that cinema is unable to offer enlightenment in any way or form. I'd also like to add that not all cinema puts entertainment ahead of its message (even though that is admittedly in large part true for Scorsese, not that there is anything inherently wrong wIth that. You can have entertainment coexist with an actual message.) and if that is your honest opinion, you should probably explore the medium further.

Either way, I can only come to the conclusion that we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter, which is also, y'know, fine.
I didn't say that. I actually very much said the level of enlightenment that it offers is very comparable to marvel movies. In the end it's always entertainment before truth. So sure you pull stuff out of these movies but you could also instead just read a book on the topic cinema is trying pitifully make a statement about and be 100 times wiser.

And all these movie makers know it themselves. Do they study george lucas, spielberg, fincher, etc for their thematic research? I doubt it. They're reading stuff for sure instead. Cause in the end books are a much more enlightening medium compared to film.

Just cause it popped into my head, star wars wasn't thematically shaped by other cinema, it was shaped by joseph campbell. So dunno it just seems like silly bullshit with Scorsese trying to elevate a certain kind of thing over another when they're all basically the same shallow level. I'll change my mind when these movie makers openly talk about studying other movie makers for the narrative of their projects.
 
Last edited:

Nameless

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,433
As a horror movie fanboy this entire 'controversy' is sorta hilarious. The genre has been getting shafted, snubbed, and disrespected by Hollywood for well over half a century despite delivering bona-fide classics that are widely accepted as 'real cinema' by any measure. Every now and then it's thrown a bone, but like my most horror fans I've been conditioned not to expect or even really value validation from Hollywood. Like what you like. Great art speaks for itself.

At least super hero fans get the box office glory. We rarely even get that.
 

Nokagi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,889
Thankfully these movies are very successful and will continue to be made as long as that holds true. So stay mad I guess?
 

Gartooth

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,296
Films don't need to be "art house" films to have solid fundamental story telling. Rocky, The Lion King, Titanic, Star Wars ... most of the biggest grossing films at least pre-2010 when CGI wank fests became the big priority tend to have pretty solid storytelling.

Things kinda went to shit in the last 10 years or so, but before that you couldn't really rely on just CGI to carry a movie because it was a limited feature that you could use for some effects shots, not something to build an entire movie around.
It's incredibly funny to me to even suggest films like Star Wars and Lion King became popular movies in culture because of the strength of their storytelling. They have high emotional resonance with audiences but the average movie-goer didn't come out of one going "wow, this really makes you think".
 

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,906
I didn't say that. I actually very much said it's level of enlightenment that it offers is very comparable to marvel movies. In the end it's always entertainment before truth. So sure you pull stuff out of these movies but you could also instead just read a book on the topic cinema is trying pitifully make a statement about and be 100 times wiser.
And then we'll still have to disagree. The film medium isn't inherently less capable of carrying a message across than books are. Besides, if you really do believe in the medium pecking order you describe, why don't you exclusively read philosophy or science papers? Why waste your energy on fiction at all?
 

Alice

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
5,867
It's not phony at all. Pick any fastfood restaurant you like. That's what these movies are. They are fun themepark rides, and that's it.

You can find MCU movies good all you want, comparing them to Godfather and other movies on that level is hilarious. You can ask me a third time, I won't change my answer.
No one is even doing that. What are you on about? No film needs to be fucking Godfather to be "cinema" a term that applies, by definition, to every damn film.
 

Big_Blue

Member
Dec 12, 2017
3,774
Two old white men who barely cast any black men or women in their movies aren't inspired by Black Panther, which they probably didn't even see. Shocking.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,348
Does it really even matter, lol, why are so hung up on the specific terminology. A dictionary doesn't necessary dictate what everything is as if its some tablet passed on high from god to Moses either. If anything Coppolla saying the films are "despicable" is a bigger diss than anything, lol. That's pretty harsh.
Your right, a words meaning is a function of how people understand it. And people generally understand "cinema" to be the art of filmmaking.

I'd argue that suggesting that these films don't meet the basic requirement to exist as examples of the artform is much harsher than saying they are despicable. I don't think any creator expects all critics to like their work. But to be told their work doesn't count at all? That's fucked.
 

Aske

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,046
Canadia
Be awesome if one of these guys made a film to express their feelings and opinions about superhero movies. But art you don't like is still art, and people find inspiration everywhere. It's bizarre that this still needs to be said.
 

UltraMagnus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,553
It's incredibly funny to me to even suggest films like Star Wars and Lion King became popular movies in culture because of the strength of their storytelling. They have high emotional resonance with audiences but the average movie-goer didn't come out of one going "wow, this really makes you think".
A movie's goal is not necessarily to "make you think". The theme can be communicated through emotional impact, in fact it's probably better that it is.

But absolutely you can go into any screenwriting class and films like Star Wars and Lion King are studied all the time. There will be a class somewhere today where they're going over the plot, theme, story, structure of one of these films tomorrow guaranteed.
 

InRainbows

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,086
Marvel is like a good dinner that gives you diarrhea.

Good at first but real messy afterward.

Fun is there. Quality isn’t there. They are lab grown money projects. Gotta agree with people who make quality cinema on this one.
 
Last edited:

Aegus

Member
Oct 29, 2017
708
If you guys want to continue to use their age as an insult, at least try to get it right.

Boomer 1946 – 1964

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939
Martin Scorsese was born in 1942
Looking into this even more. The majority of the directors in the MCU are in the boomer definition or are a couple of years off.

Peyton Reed - 1964
Scott Derickson - 1966
Shane Black - 1961
James Gunn - 1966
Russo Bros - 1970
Alan Taylor - 1959
Jon Favreau - 1966

Shut up boomers??
 

UltraMagnus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,553
Your right, a words meaning is a function of how people understand it. And people generally understand "cinema" to be the art of filmmaking.

I'd argue that suggesting that these films don't meet the basic requirement to exist as examples of the artform is much harsher than saying they are despicable. I don't think any creator expects all critics to like their work. But to be told their work doesn't count? That's fucked.
Scorcese did say to him cinema is the art of telling stories that have meaning to them (basically), so if that's a metric one uses then his POV isn't really that far off. It's whether or not you think movies should have something to say or not.
 

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
No one is even doing that. What are you on about? No film needs to be fucking Godfather to be "cinema" a term that applies, by definition, to every damn film.
The person who made Godfather never said the MCU needs to like his movies either, yet everyone feels insulted and is acting like he did.
I'll be watching Parasite in a few hours. I will most likely consider it art, if all the impressions are anything to go by. I enjoyed almost every MCU movie I watched. I wouldn't call a single one of them art. There is no art in them outside of the art of making money. And that's ok.
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
And then we'll still have to disagree. The film medium isn't inherently less capable of carrying a message across than books are. Besides, if you really do believe in the medium pecking order you describe, why don't you exclusively read philosophy or science papers? Why waste your energy on fiction at all?
Because fiction trumps those for entertainment and as a normal human you're not just consuming for enlightenmment but also to relax. But then I also clearly never made the silly attempt establishing this pecking order. It's Scorsese that does try to do that. I'm just correcting his silly attempt by using the framework he hints at and correctly stating within that framework books would trump the silly attempts cinema has done to try to say something meaningful compared to books.

I mean we can disagree but give me a movie that carries the "message" of a Treatise of Human Nature? You can't cause movies aren't capable of carrying the same information density within their runtime nor are they able to communicate with the same clarity cause they have to veil the message in entertainment.

Another example I love whiplash as a movie... if you're truly trying to stand up for it as enlightening cinema oh boy. It is so far removed from the musician experience it is wildly not enjoyed by most musicians.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,348
Consider a real high up there in their snozzy self chef. Do you think they respect McDonalds?
The snozzy self chef can diss McDonald's all he wants. But if he fixes his lips to say a quarter pounder w/ cheese isn't food, he'd be talking nonsense.

That's nonsensical as saying an MCU film isn't cinema. Its cinema by default.
 

Alice

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
5,867
The person who made Godfather never said the MCU needs to like his movies either, yet everyone feels insulted and is acting like he did.
I'll be watching Parasite tomorrow. I will most likely consider it art, if all the impressions are anything to go by. I enjoyed almost every MCU movie I watched. I wouldn't call a single one of them art.
Yeah, the person who made Godfather said they're not cinema (wrong) and that they're despicable (wtf).

That's what people are talking about. This isn't about "art", this is about the term "cinema", look up a definition and you'll see why.

As for "art", that's entirely subjective, with your line of thinking video games aren't art either. *shrug*

I feel this sort of shit is just people tryin'a toot their own horn over how sophisticated their tastes are. I own almost every single Masters of Cinema BD release, and can still let the MCU be cinema without tarnshing my little imaginary crown of sophistication.
 

UltraMagnus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,553
Because fiction trumps those for entertainment and as a normal human you're not just consuming for enlightenmment but also to relax. But then I also clearly never made the silly attempt establishing this pecking order. It's Scorsese that does try to do that. I'm just correcting his silly attempt by using the framework he hints at and correctly stating within that framework books would trump the silly attempts cinema has done to try to say something meaningful compared to books.

I mean we can disagree but give me a movie that carries the "message" of a Treatise of Human Nature? You can't cause movies aren't capable of carrying the same information density within their runtime nor are they able to communicate with the same clarity cause they have to veil the message in entertainment.
A movie can be about any theme/topic you want. There's no "you can't make a movie about this because the camera will explode" topic.
 

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,504
Looking into this even more. The majority of the directors in the MCU are in the boomer definition or are a couple of years off.

Peyton Reed - 1964
Scott Derickson - 1966
Shane Black - 1961
James Gunn - 1966
Russo Bros - 1970
Alan Taylor - 1959
Jon Favreau - 1966

Shut up boomers??
Boomer Cinematic Universe
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
A movie can be about any theme/topic you want. There's no "you can't make a movie about this because the camera will explode" topic.
Can you stop chiming in with unrelated stuff. I can't even answer with anything to this cause it doesn't relate to anything I said. Point to me the statement where I say "you can't make a movie about this". Hint I didn't say that anywhere. But if you want to engage pls bring a counter example to the one I specifically raised. Then I can answer.