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Ethan Hawke has been everywhere. Frankly he hasn’t been this ubiquitous since the slacker ’90s, and up till now the attention has all been generally positive. Whether that’s due to acclaimed films — like First Reformed, the new Juliet, Naked and his most recent directorial effort Blaze — or for his enjoyably frank (but not, like, controversial) interviews where he talks about not owning many shoes, the fortysomething Hawke is having a well-deserved moment.
But after spending much of the last decade-plus quietly cranking out excellent work in everything from the original Purge to Boyhood, his upbeat streak has now ended thanks to him questioning the quality of comic book movies.
In a typically rich (and long) interview with The Film Stage, Hawke — who in real life really does seem like Jesse, the chatty aging Gen-X-er of Richard Linklater’s Before movies — stumbled onto the topic of superhero films. Specifically he got to talking about last year’s Logan, the gritty, hard-R X-Men spin-off in which Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is a cussing, ultraviolent sadsack.
A lot of comic book fans cited that as proof that their favorite genre wasn’t just frivolous but deep, even Academy Award-worthy. And indeed, Logan was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. But Hawke isn’t having it.
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Boyhood SUCKED!
Boyhood isn’t the one I would recommend to people. The ‘Before’ series is where it’s at (especially Before Sunset)
Agreed, it had no purpose. It was just like, hey guys, look how long it took to make this movie! Training Day, though…
There was no one in tights in Logan that I can remember. Although I do recall some tights in Valerian.
He’s right.
hes a 100% right. just cus its rated R doesnt mean its not a childrens movie. a 23 to 45 year old child of course.
Ethan Hawke is a true thespian, not an actor looking for the biggest payout. He seems to genuinely love the craft of acting. If you search any of his interviews he talks so passionately about film. Of course, he’s absolutely right about Logan. Just because it was more dramatic than the others in the category doesnt make it any more than a comic book movie. Of the few hundred people to star in CBMs theres only been a handful of actors to really make you forget theyre not an A-List celeb.
I thought he’d be an excellent Dr.Strange.
Essentially he’s saying the comic-book movies cannot be considered great movies, they can only be considered great relative to others in their own genre.
That IS being elitist and exhibiting cine-snobbery.
Is he saying can’t be or haven’t been?
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“Now we have the problem that they tell us Logan is a great movie,” Hawke explained. “Well, it’s a great superhero movie. It still involves people in tights with metal coming out of their hands. It’s not Bresson. It’s not Bergman. But they talk about it like it is.”
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He is making a clear distinction that he doesn’t believe superhero movies to be real films, so has to clarify that Logan is a great movie within its own bubble, but cannot be considered great when compared to ‘proper’ movies.
He’s making a delineation between high art and low art.
[www.denofgeek.com]
Of course he makes a good point and essentially states the obvious. Whenever you hear people talk about “The Dark Knight Returns” like it is such incredible cinematic achievement, you realize you are talking to a child…or at least an adult with a childish mind.
So of course the less intelligent fanboys will throw a tantrum over his comments. The more intelligent ones will agree that Infinity War is an awesome, fun film, but it is not high art.