Scorsese and Coppola Really Don’t Like Marvel Movies, but That Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Cinema

“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

-Martin Scorsese

“When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right, because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration. I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same move over and over again. Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

-Francis Ford Coppola

Now, to each his own; there are many movies I don’t like, and there are many genres I don’t care to watch. In fact, as “mafia” movies are one of those genres, I doubt I’ve seen a single film in either of these director’s collected works (I lie, I’ve seen Hugo, which Scorsese directed, and that movie remains one of my favorite movies of all time). But I’m not about to say The Godfather is a piece of trash- because I haven’t seen it.