"Films used to be rooted in gravity. They were about real people doing real things,' the acclaimed filmmaker says. 'Today cinema is all about Batman, Superman, Iron Man: stuff I have no interest in seeing."
He believes that the chase by studios to appeal to the broadest audience possible is why his own films fell out of favour after the Seventies. "That is when my films went like that - out of the frame," added Friedkin.
He dates the change back to 1977 when he made what he considered his best movie - the largely ignored Sorcerer, starring Roy Scheider, about four men transporting a cargo of nitroglycerin in South America - only to see it eclipsed by Star Wars. "If I am remembered at all for anything, I hope it would be that,"
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
"Superhero movies are ruining cinema"
"William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of The French Connection and The Exorcist, has dismissed the modern craze for superhero and sci-fi movies."
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21 comments:
Last movie of his I saw was Rules of Engagement, which was, in the end, ludicrous. He might be right, but he's still a washed-up hack.
I've checked out of movie-going. I barely even rent or download anything. Hollywood bores me and I don't support the ivory tower bubble-dwelling collective elitist politics.
He makes good points but I think his real beef is with cgi. A few nights ago I tried watching Terminators, and honestly, it's unwatchable. It mass confusion. Nothing makes sense. And I thought the Egyptian pyramids part would hold my interest, their bashing through the temples at Karnak smashing the columns, you cannot see anything actually, not one single piece of transformer, when searching for pieces, there is nothing, just blurs of possible pieces, shapes and forms smashing around with blusterous explosive sounds the whole way through, and nothing but that, all those hieroglyphics flashing by and not one single readable hieroglyph. So much noise about nothing and I wondered, how this became a favorite of Matthew Reinhart such that he'd fashion a whole new type of pop-up book for it, a new way of presenting boxy characters that is extraordinary in itself, a real work of art, but it appreciates something that I just cannot get into. There is no way to tap his enthusiasm for it.
Maybe Friedkin was just bitter that audiences were not excited about his ripoff of "Wages of Fear".
If you want superhero AND real people doing real things, my autobiography is available for purchase. Easy blockbuster. Just follow me throughout my day and witness the awesomeness. I do my best work on Fridays. Tell your producer that no fluffer is required. Sorry Titus.
Chip, to simulate the action movie in popup, just make it burst into flames upon opening. It won't matter what was in it, quality nor content. It will still be a crowd pleaser - talked about for years after the bandages are removed.
You are awesome, Bags. I'd go see it.
Watching real people doing real things would be the ultimate in total boredom. Real people lead boring lives. Can you imagine the boredom!!!!
Common mundane activities like ours today in a movie: making lunch for my husband who is putting in a water pump into a well in a remote location. Bitching about the cost and quality of tuna lately while making sandwiches. Chopping up some fruit. THEN for the real excitement of real things: Watching the husband load the boom truck with some pipe, wire, pump, motor and other supplies. Ride along for the exciting 45 minute trip to the job location through agricultural land. You might see and antelope (that would be exciting) then watch while he puts together pipe, electrical wire and cleverly tapes the wire to the pipe.....you will be fascinated for hours. Literally hours. Then....ta dah!!!! Water.
Next the exciting trip back home to where the wife has been involved in a glorious day of pruning, watering, laundry, re-potting a few plants in some pots she bought at a yard sale...whooo hooooo.....cooking dinner, surfing the internet in between all the previous excitement. Maybe going to the store, because I believe we are short on scotch which will be the PINNACLE of OUR exciting movie of people doing real things when we sit on the deck with the cat before dinner and have a couple of cocktails and listen to the water fountain in the corner under the plum tree. Watch a show on the boob tube for a short while or read some books and then fall into bed and get ready to do the whole thing over again tomorrow!!!
Feel the excitement!!!
People don't want to watch real people doing real things. They want to watch and experience escapism from the "real things".
(Seriously, though, I love our life. I don't want real excitement in it on a daily basis)
Did you ever see an opera with a stupendously stupid plot line and extraordinarily beautiful melodies? Special effect movies are like that. Every so often there's a movie like Star Wars, the first Matrix, or Total Recall where the plot and the characters are as good as the special effects, but, generally, the people who design cgi are much smarter than the screenwriters. You don't judge Puccini on plausibility or character development, and neither should you judge Transformers on such a basis.......Hollywood should have a separate Academy Award for the destruction of a major city. Every year the destruction becomes more detailed and believable. I, for one, never tire of watching Los Angeles go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah although only the second Terminator had a worthwhile plot in which to frame its destruction.
The thing about superhero movies most divorced from reality today... aside from the superherawesomeness... is how no attempt is made at minimizing collateral damage.
Infrastructure and the people inside them.
I mean, I could understand the Godzilla rampage.
I didn't see Hancock. But from what I know about it, it may have been an attempt to address that... the collateral damage.
Age of Ultron is basically wall-to-wall attempts to minimize collateral damage, with sadly, minimal success. Hell, there's an extended scene with Stark flying around in a Hulkbuster armor trying (and mostly failing) to keep an amok Hulk from leveling... is that Johannesburg? Some built-up African city.
Godzilla is a twofer. Not only did you get the destruction of major cities, but the destruction was done by a dinosaur like creature. Dinosaurs are much more fun to watch on a rampage than aliens and transformers. Sadly, the movie lacked Megan Fox. There is no one I would rather watch save humanity from the destructive wrath of monsters than Megan Fox in a tight t-shirt.
William said...
There is no one I would rather watch save humanity from the destructive wrath of monsters than Megan Fox in a tight t-shirt that is wet.
FIFY :D
Still pickin' yer feet in Poughkeepsie?
People over 35 love real life and are bored silly by wham bam action crappola. But it takes real artists to present real life in all its kaleidoscopic glory. And real artists are always in short supply.
There are plenty of opportunities to see regular life. On TV. If you have Netflicks and Amazon Prime there are an amazing number of TV shows and independent movies from all over the world.
I agree with Methadras that I am delighted to see the comic books of my childhood come to life. Just as I did with the "Lord of the Rings."
This is another manifestation of the argument at the core of Gamergate and the Sad Puppies debate. The politically correct elitists demand that they control the enjoyment of the masses.
They get to determine what you like, what you play, what you watch and what you are able to see in the movies.
I enjoy watching real people possessed by the Devil spin their heads around and channel dead relatives.
I'm also with Meth here. Comic books come to life is a dream come true.
"There are plenty of opportunities to see regular life. On TV. If you have Netflicks and Amazon Prime there are an amazing number of TV shows and independent movies from all over the world."
"Trailer Park Boys" is as real as it gets. I'd swear I grew up with the whole cast.
1939, best year in the history of the movies.
The only superheroes were in the serials in the Saturday kiddie matinee.
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