“It’s a perilous time in film exhibition, and there are fewer independent theaters than ever,” says Martin Scorsese. Credit…Jasu Hu.

For me,… cinema was about revelation… It was about characters — the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures… Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes….

(Martin Scorsese, “I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain,” NYTimes, 11-4-19)

“This is not that” will usually start a fight. The fan-chise for super-hero movies is still howling at Scorsese. I respect his views on film-as-art, though I’ll watch anything entertaining even if it’s not emotionally dangerous.

(c) 2019 JMN