With so many superhero movies on the horizon, there’s a growing concern in some quarters that the current comic book movie boom is leading to the death of cinema, but one person who definitely isn’t concerned is Paul Thomas Anderson, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the likes of Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice.
“Ah, that’s such a fucking crock of shit,” Anderson told Rolling Stone when asked for his thoughts on complaints about contemporary American filmmaking being nothing but superhero movies. “I can’t remember a year in recent memory where there were less complaints about the quality of movies. And what’s wrong with superhero movies, you know? I don’t know. You’re talking to someone that enjoys watching those films. People need to get a life if they’re having that discussion [laughs]. Those movies get a bad rap.”
It’s hard to disagree with Anderson, especially when the box office success of superhero movies provides studios with the financial security to take greater risks when it comes to the rest of their slates. And of course, for the most part, superhero movies make for solid entertainment, and that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.
What are your thoughts on Anderson’s comments? And if he was to direct a superhero movie, what property would you like to see him take on…
Inherent Vice opens in the UK on January 30th 2015, with a cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Josh Brolin (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), Owen Wilson (The Internship), Katherine Waterston (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby), Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Hong Chau (Treme), Martin Short (Damages), Jeannie Berlin (The Heartbreak Kid), Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live) and Michael K. Williams (Boardwalk Empire). Read our review here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F&v=usnScWU5JkY&feature=player_embedded
Originally published January 16, 2015. Updated November 7, 2019.
