Marvel Cinematic Universe

See, I think his argument is bullshit. He harkens back to some imagined halcyon time when kids appreciated indie movies but that’s not true, is it. Does he really think that kids were going to see and appreciate Amadeus in 1984? Instead of Ghostbusters? When I was at school everyone was talking about Robocop and Predator, nobody gave two shits about A Room With A View.

He also seems to totally ignore the fact that streaming services make discovery of film far easier than it ever was *and also makes it easier for “arthouse” films to be enjoyed*. Does he think that Parasite would have been enjoyed by so many if it had to be rented on VHS? Or Nomadland?

To be honest I'm fine with some things being formulaeic - I ;ike some things like MCU being what they are, there's plenty of experimental stuff out there. It's true of most media - for example I want a new Halo to be Halo, not Doom.

Interesting discussion. I'm happy with marvel films being of a certain format because that format is a fun format.

If I'm paying to see a film more often than not I want it to be a fun spectacle. Sure occasionally I want something more deep and meaningful. Arrival is a superb reasonably recent example.

But if a film is low budget I less inclined to feel the need to see it in the cinema. Sat in the dark on a large TV in 4k with hdr and 5.1 surround is more than enough for me.

So yeah with modern streaming services art house definitely still has a place. I just don't have the time to search for it or chance it these days like I did as a student.

Yeah, Villeneuve isn't wrong. "Marvel films are factory-produced to a specific formula" shouldn't even be a controversial statement, it's pretty obvious that they are. Which isn't to say that they're bad, just that they have a formula.

I don't think he even really gives a shit. It's more entertainment journalists asking famous directors "BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT MARVEL MOVIES" because they're desperate for a headline to feed the culture war.

Anyway, formulas are fine, Marvel movies are fine. I don't get particularly excited about them, but I'm fine with them existing as long as they don't crowd out things that I like. In normal times I like going to the cinema, and I want to be able to keep seeing things that are not Disney/Marvel at the cinema.

Saying films which belong to a shared genre share a framework really shouldn’t be as controversial as this has turned out to be.

Those original Sam Raimi Spidermans are very close to the Marvel formula, so are flops like Green Lantern, and some of the 90s superhero films.

They are all currently on NowTV for the next 10 days or so too.

I think Garfield’s movies are the weakest Spiderman sequence but only in as much of them being fine at a time when other superhero films had stepped it up a notch.

Raimi’s Spiderman 2 is arguably still the best superhero film there is

Amazing Spiderman 2 is really bad makes emo peter parker from s3 looks good

The only thing you really need to know in terms of wider MCU is that Stark dies between the Spider-man movies. It's only really Iron-man that ties in, otherwise they work fairly well in isolation.

For 5 mins, yeah, but the reference is all that's needed. They use alien tech to make stuff, job done. You don't need to have seen Avengers.

You'll get more from the movie if you've seen all the little references but most aren't needed to make sense of anything going on. Stark's death is heavily referenced in Far From Home, which is why it's fairly key to understand.

 Mostly because his girlfriend looks like she's 40.

Oh, I dunno. The Raimi movies nailed it with their main villains. Dafoe and Molina are all-time great supervillain roles, and I think Thomas Hayden Church is really good as Sandman. James Franco, before he went all weird, did a lot of good work as Harry, which was sadly all undone in the third film (I'm not as down on SM3 as others, but how the resolution of the Peter-MJ-Harry arc was handled was poor).

Topher Grace was miscast, but Venom was handled badly anyway in that film.

Wasn't Raimi's Spider-Man 4 going to have John Malkovich as the Vulture and Anne Hathaway as Black Cat?

Can't comment on the Amazing movies as I ain't seen 'em.

Ah, Amazing Spider-Man 2, which had Rhino on all the posters and he only turned up in the very final scene. I thought Garfield Spidey was ok - but he was a bit miserable.

My favourite Spider-Man is actually Peter B Parker from Spiderverse - not just because he’s hilarious but also they did an excellent job of showing how easily acrobatic Spider-Man is - much more so than any of the live action films imo.

I thought it was awful myself, probably one of the worst things in the MCU so far. Felt like an awkward attempt to cash in on the comedy cartoon craze, only without good writing or any kind of point. Filler of the worst kind.