Are Marvel Movies Cinema?

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Yes. Marvel movies are cinema. So are the rest of the movies in the world. This argument reminds me of those long ago arguments about whether Rock and Roll is music. It was.

It seems like the larger question is whether they are good cinema. Personally, I appreciate the craft of making something like that, but as art goes, it doesn't seem that good to me. It reminds me of going to an art museum and seeing rooms fully of old European paintings that all feature guys in tights in palaces or cathedrals, looking at the king or whatever. Nothing about that does much to move me, even though I do appreciate that the painter put a lot of craft and effort into the painting.

It seems ironic that Marvel movies have returned to guys in tights.



yup, you're right.



So everyone knows that Martin Scorsese(and all kinds of Criterion snobs) famously hates superhero movies. He believes that they are more like theme parks. Same way the snobs feel about Nolan(ironically he directed a trilogy of superhero movies), Tarantino, Craig-era James Bond, Star Wars, and maybe Spielberg.

For me, I could enjoy superhero movies on occasion. I even quite enjoyed the bad ones like Thor: Love and Thunder. I think they are cinema as those movies still tell a story. The early MCU ones before they drew it all out is what it is all about. I find a certain charm in seeing superhero movies before the 2010s as they have less special effects and a lot more substance to them.

Same way I feel about The Bourne Identity and also Casino Royale but not Quantum of Solace, that one was forgettable. I think the newer MCU movies since Tom Holland Spiderman(what a scam) are "too MCU" as they are too silly, formulaic, and also seem too corporate. We need to boycott the new Black Panther movie. We respected Heath Ledger's death, how about Chadwick Boseman. Now they are going to make a sequel that is probably going to suck.

I am amused by how film snobs(including me in a way) believe that superhero movies, Tarantino, and Nolan are all novelty acts and have no cinematic value. MCU I could enjoy, Tarantino I am half-on-half as I usually enjoy the music and action scenes but is bored to death with the endless dialogue scenes(sorry not for me) and the 150+ minute lengths, and with Nolan I am not too familiar with him outside the Batman movies. I would like to see Memento though.

Now I kind of want to see a superhero movie that has some avant-garde elements in it and was made in Czech or France. Not that Dr. Strange Into the Multiverse... piece of pretentious nonsense.

That is my opinions.