Last week fans and filmmakers alike felt rubbed the wrong way when Martin Scorsese told Empire magazine that “theme park†movies like those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were “not cinema.†So what’s another full week of hurt superhero feelings? “It’s not cinema. It’s something else,†the director said Sunday at a BFI London Film Festival press conference for his new film The Irishman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We shouldn’t be invaded by it. We need cinemas to step up and show films that are narrative films.â€
His most recent critique follows other comments made Saturday, when Scorsese took part in the BAFTA’s David Lean Lecture, also in London. “Theaters have become amusement parks. That is all fine and good but don’t invade everything else in that sense,†the director said. “That is fine and good for those who enjoy that type of film and, by the way, knowing what goes into them now, I admire what they do. It’s not my kind of thing, it simply is not. It’s creating another kind of audience that thinks cinema is that.†Hey, at least he admires how much work goes into making all these terrible “theme park†movies? That’s something, right?