FILM INDUSTRY PRETENDS NOT TO LIKE THING THAT MAKES THEM ALL RICH
It would be easy to just pack all the Oscar winners into this news article and call it a day, but that would be about as cheap and easy as having a pop at superhero movies at the serious award ceremony for Serious Films of Serious Seriousness. In addition to honouring Birdman-a fine film but one that was happy to stop for a few minutes at a time to tell you that superhero movies are stupid and you’re stupid for liking them-the opening song at the Oscars featured a tirade by Jack Black against comic book movies and their constant sequels, prequels and reboots.
In a post on Facebook, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn responded to the criticism, saying:
“What bothers me slightly is that many people assume because you make big films that you put less love, care, and thought into them than people do who make independent films or who make what are considered more serious Hollywood films … If you think people who make superhero movies are dumb, come out and say we’re dumb. But if you, as an independent filmmaker or a ‘serious’ filmmaker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken.”
It’s cute that Hollywood actually tries to push this backlash against superhero movies in the name of artistic integrity when a) films like The Theory of Everything are just as formulaic and cynically motivated as any superhero movie, just in a different way and b) Jack Black wasn’t singing that song to a room where 90% of the people weren’t donning a cape in either the last five years or the next five.
DOWN AT THE END OF AWESOME STREET, AT GODZILLA HOTEL
Film production company Toho is building a Godzilla-themed cinema in Tokyo, which plans to open this April. The multiplex will have a 39-foot bust of Godzilla coming out the top of it, which will light up at night and occasionally shriek. Which is pretty awesome, although 39-feet is a little on the small side. The original Godzilla was 164 feet high guys. Maybe Godzuki is 39 feet tall.
A new hotel is also being built adjacent to the cinema, which will also carry a Godzilla theme. The Hotel Gracery will have a “Godzilla Room” available, filled with film memorabilia and a smaller Godzilla (do not make the King of the Monsters smaller!), or several rooms with a view of the Godzilla across the street. Tokyo gets all the coolest stuff man. They could open a Godzilla themed hotel in the west but it would probably only give you a brief glimpse of Godzilla when you’re checking out. Until then you just get a little Bryan Cranston in your room, and just when you’re getting excited about it they take it away and give you a little Aaron Taylor-Johnson instead.