Legendary Killers of the Flower Moon director Martin Scorsese has never minced words when it comes to his dislike for Marvel movies (the superhero genre overall, really), and this has not sat very well with some MCU fans.
In a recent GQ profile, Scorsese was asked about his previous comments on the subject, and made it clear that he believes comic book films (and huge studio blockbusters in general) may ultimately contribute to smaller, independent and art house movies being erased from the cinematic landscape completely.
“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture,” he said. “Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those — that’s what movies are.”
“They already think that,” he continued. “Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”
While most tend to feel Scorsese is more than entitled to his opinion and don't take his comments all that seriously, others almost seem to view his dismissal of major superhero blockbusters as being little more than "rollercoaster rides" as a personal slight.
Now, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame co-director Joe Russo has belatedly responded to Scorsese via a TikTok video. The original clip sees Scorsese asking his dog, Oscar, to "show me sadness," and Russo has added a little dig about his MCU films performing a lot better at the box office.
Though Russo is clearly just having a bit of fun here, he has been called out for being "petty," and Film Twitter (Film X?) is being predictably over-the-top about the whole thing, with Scorsese defenders falling over themselves to point out that Joe and his brother Anthony's post-MCU projects haven't exactly been major critical or commercial hits (though one could argue that their Netflix collaborations have performed very well for the streaming service overall).
What do you make of Russo's video? Do people need to lighten up and stop taking all of this back-and-forth so seriously, or should the filmmaker go get his f*ckin' shinebox and apologize to Marty? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.