[user104658]

OK. Settle in Alf. I would like to talk to you all about one of (to me) the most important concepts in entertainment; escapism.

I love cinema. I love all sorts of cinema. I love deeply psychological movies and can absolutely appreciate a masterpiece of the genre when I see one but it is a complete fallacy to suggest that any one genre or "type" of movie is superior to any other. Honestly? I think that when Scorsese says that films are or should be about - ONLY about - "human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being" he is being self-aggrandising and short sighted. Sorry, Martin, if you're reading this, but Dezzy is correct... you are being a gatekeeping prick.

Because whilst some of the best movies, and many of my favourite movies, are complex narratives with deeply psychological themes - the idea that I (or I think most people) are looking for that every time they sit down at a screen is frankly insane. And being totally honest I think would be verging on damaging for most people.

Some days, so many days now, there's such a torrent of absolute BS going on in the real world that I can't imagine anything less appealing than a dark and gritty peek at the underbelly of the human psyche. No. Just... no, thank you.

Sometimes, for me at least and I'm sure I'm not alone, cinema is exactly what the guy says at the cinema when he's telling you to turn off your phone. "Switch off from the outside world". Just let it take you somewhere else for a precious few hours, where some familiar unambiguously good people fight some unambiguously bad people in scenes that could never exist in the real world, and the fate of the world and/or universe hangs in the balance.

And there is absolutely an art in that - because it can fail easily if it isn't done right. Maintaining immersion, keeping you locked away in that world where the unbelievable temporarily looks feasible, is absolutely not a formula that goes right every time. I've been to *plenty* of high-concept action/fantasy/sci-fi movies that jump the shark too early and snap you back to being a bored human looking at CGI explosions on a screen.

It's something I could go on about endlessly really, Alf. I'm huge on immersion, continuity, in-universe rules. It's a completely different type of film making and trying to say that "Scorsese style movies are better" isn't just comparing apples and oranges, it's comparing apples and... tennis. Or dogs. The whole reason for watching is completely different, and no one has to limit themself to one or the other.

It's also obviously completely subjective; for example, I can't stand musicals (in movie form; tbf I enjoy them on stage) but I can completely appreciate that they are some people's brand of escapism and that shouldn't be minimised either.


tl;dr I love movies. I love deeply psychological movies, but a lot of the time, I'm not in the headspace to watch them. Some days I just want to see a supersolder hitting a nazi in the face with a shield - and I'm eternally grateful that people are filming that.