Ranting On...Martin Scorsese & Francis Ford Coppola

It's rare in recent months that I've been able to get a proper discussion about something cinematic on this blog.  Oftentimes when controversies hit the movies, it's along the lines of a Joker, where I haven't had a chance to see the movie, and where it feels like people are more reacting prior to seeing the actual film than having an honest discussion after the public has weighed in on the movie.  So color me surprised that the recent comments by film directors Martin Scorsese & Francis Ford Coppola have had enough legs that I'm actually able to have some opinions and discussion about what they said, and how the truth between their fight with the Marvel films is somewhere in-between right-and-wrong.

For those who don't know, Scorsese & Coppola, two of the most important filmmakers of the 1970's (and in Scorsese's case, still a name that commands awards attention every movie he makes), have been lambasting the onslaught of comic book movies in recent years, in particular the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Scorsese said of the films that they are "not cinema" and "the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks."  Coppola went further, stating "I don't that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again...Martin was kind when he said it's not cinema.  He didn't say it's despicable, which I say it is."

Naturally, considering these are the most popular things in movie theaters right now, reaction was swift online, condemning Scorsese & Coppola as out-of-touch.  Figures like James Gunn and Natalie Portman have defended the films (both, it's worth noting, after getting sizable checks from the MCU).  And we all get to have an outrage fest that ultimately goes nowhere.  But I wanted to take a look at the context of these two men's thoughts, particularly since I admire them both.  The men who made Taxi Driver and The Godfather and Raging Bull and Apocalypse Now deserve to at least discuss the current state of cinema because in a lot of ways they helped to invent it, so let's chat here.

I think the knee-jerk reaction here is to assume that Scorsese & Coppola are condemning all comic book movies, and while that may be the case (has anyone outright asked them if they liked, say, the Nolan Batman movies?), it doesn't read that way to me-they're condemning the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an argument that's verboten on the internet (unless you want to be surrounded by fanboy criticism until you die), but isn't without merit.  Coppola is right-the films do seemingly repeat themselves ad nauseum.  I'd dispute that they're all "despicable," but if this is a qualitative discussion about the movies themselves, critics do go out of their way to prop these films up, even though they are cumulatively "fine" and only a few installments in the series (specifically Captain America: Winter Soldier and Black Panther) are genuinely rising above and approaching masterful cinema.  Increasingly they are just retreads of the same stories, the same ideas.  Films like Spider-Man: Far From Home are a bore, putting talented actors in the same plots over-and-over-again, without enough differentiation to simply accuse Scorsese & Coppola of genre bias.

So if this is just a debate about whether or not the MCU movies are any good, well, I invite it.  I think as we expand that story and pull it like taffy into a new generation (post the end of the Infinity Wars saga), it's worth asking if we're essentially just creating another uninspired corner of the Disney universe.  Disney's other franchises (the live action remakes, the endless Pixar sequels, the Star Wars trilogy that is basically just the same story as the last two trilogies), are hardly stretching the imagination, and it might be worth some reflection on the talented minds who create these films over whether or not they are making the movies a better place by putting all of their collective celebrity and capital into such disposable content.

But I also can't let Scorsese specifically slide here.  After all, Marty is also helping the deterioration of film with him signing a contract with Netflix, who one could argue is doing more to disrupt the "classic cinematic experience" than even Disney.  Scorsese is not Coppola, who hasn't had a hit since Bram Stoker's Dracula 27 years ago, and honestly could use the added boost of a streaming platform such as Netflix.  Scorsese's movies make tons of money, and even when they don't he still demands cache.  The Wolf of Wall Street and Shutter Island were colossal moneymakers, and Hugo charmed critics and was an Oscar giant.  Marty doesn't need Netflix's money to be able to get into a theater-he can do it on name alone, and casting still notable names like Robert de Niro & Al Pacino in his pictures is just as easily going to get him screens.  Scorsese, is, in fact, one of the few people who can still command attention for a straight drama or a movie that isn't going to franchise; he's one of the only people who can prove that studios shouldn't just bank on tentpoles.

That he is still willing to sell out, then, proves that while Scorsese has a point, he's not necessarily offering up a real solution.  Attacking someone else for cutting down trees while you've got your own buzz saw in hand is kind of hypocritical.  I love these men (their films have brought me endless joy through the years), but it's not just Disney that is trying to stifle the creativity of modern cinema, making it so that a future generation doesn't have movies like The Godfather and Taxi Driver to enjoy.  It's also Netflix, giving movies like Roma and The Irishman a home...but only if you pay them $13 a month for the privilege.  Pretending that there is only one culprit who is making cinema less original and less accessible is disingenuous, and Scorsese & Coppola should know better...even if they might have a point about the Marvel movies.