archive | I’m NOT interested in the review, but in the complaint about a generalized movie trend. The author, Louis Chilton, goes on a rant using about what he sees as having gone to far in and overly exemplified by the latest Marvel release:

If we are watching, as some critics have suggested, the death of cinema happen before our eyes, then it’s taken the form of a public execution.

It is a film that is about absolutely nothing – a film with no discernable purpose or artistic ambitions, beyond the perpetuation of its own corporate myth.

He explains a little:

Audiences didn’t love Blade because Snipes just showed up, stood there and barked catchphrases – he was part of a story, with a proper character, and stakes, and intentionality. That Marvel cannot see the difference – or, even worse, if it can see the difference but chooses to ignore it – is surely damning.

We call Deadpool & Wolverine a movie because it is released in cinemas, and is two hours long, but other than these technicalities, it shares almost nothing with a traditional blockbuster, when it comes to intent.

And finally concedes with admonishment:

And of course, people are allowed to enjoy what they like. But freebasing cocaine is surely enjoyable to many people; that doesn’t mean we should all get on board with its production and distribution.

  • ZC3rr0r
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    4 months ago

    There is a market for movies that make you think as much as there is a market for movies that are just about spectacle.

    Calling one more true to the art of cinema than the other does a disservice to the medium and all the expressive, creative, and entertainment potential it holds.

    Calling it the death of movies is so hyperbolic, it is beyond nonsense and frankly smacks of elitism.

    • memfree@beehaw.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      What really struck me was that he compared Deadpool & Wolverine to Blade?! So… Blade is the movie with “discernable purpose” and/or “artistic ambitions”? I mean, I liked Blade, but if the complaint is that Marvel movies aren’t Citizen Kane, then Blade seems a weak comparison. So where does he draw the line?

        • ZC3rr0r
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          4 months ago

          Red Bull looked at that and said “hold my energy drink while I create crashed ice”