While John Landis may not have directed a film since 2010’s “Burke and Hare,” his ongoing influence is undeniable. As the director behind “The Blues Brothers,” “Trading Places,” “Coming To America,” “Animal House” and “An American Werewolf In London” his work still resonates with the current generation of the filmmakers (Edgar Wright has already cited “The Blues Brothers” as an influence on “Baby Driver“). Moreover, he’s always pretty current with the contemporary movie landscape, which makes his most recent comments about the tentpole world fairly interesting.
Speaking with the Irish Times, Landis didn’t hold back, explaining his issue Universal’s current Dark Universe, and why he couldn’t care less about Marvel movies. Here’s what he had to say:
Dark Universe:
First of all, it’s not a new idea.
If you remember with Universal back in the ’40s, once they made all their classics, they started cross-pollinating. ‘House of Dracula,’ ‘House of Frankenstein,’ ‘Frankenstein Meets The Wolf-Man‘ — you know what they used to call those? Monster rallies! (laugh) And then of course, one of the great ironies is what was considered… OK — it’s over now!… was ‘Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein,’ which is actually a very funny movie and very respectful of the monsters. I think, y’know, maybe that’s one of the problems with Universal’s Dark Universe is that it isn’t respectful of the monsters.
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Y’know, when they want to reinvent and sometimes it works great — look at David Cronenberg‘s ‘The Fly‘ or John Carpenter‘s ‘The Thing.’ It can be done.
Marvel:
I’m just… truthfully, I’m bored shitless with the Marvel Universe now. All the superhero movies tend to be interchangeable, you always have these mass destruction of cities and huge computer-generated extravaganzas to the point where you could take a reel from any of the Marvel superhero movies and put it any of the others and nobody would notice. They’re very well-made, it’s just they’re the same thing over and over again. But, I don’t know, people are showing up. One of the reasons ‘Wonder Woman‘ has been received so well by the critics is that it doesn’t destroy cities! (laughs) Even the superhero stuff is on a very human scale, it’s the gods! We’re not seeing skyscrapers tumbling! (laughs)
I’m not sure how Dark Universe isn’t respectful of the monsters (or what that actually means), but Landis does pinpoint one issue that has been persistent with not just Marvel movies, but many superhero films — a tendency to lean on mega-obliteration setpieces.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments section.
I agree about the mega destruction point. IMO it’s one of the bigger reasons that ruined Suicide Squad for me. That group was not put together to defend the earth but to do smaller impact conflicts, more espionage type storylines. They totally ignored what SS was supposed to be about. (like I said it was ONE of the things that made that movie a disappointment, there are others for sure)
Maybe what he means by ‘disrespectful’ is that they’re now less scary than they were in Abbott and Costello movies. Even Stephen Sommers The Mummy remembered to put scares in, it remembered it was a horror movie (fair enough the second film went all out action/adventure).
John Landis can suck my sweaty salty nutsack. I love the Marvel Universe and I love the cross overs. You know what’s different about Marvel’s pantheon from the monsters of days pasts. There’s more of them and they have more in-depth characters/character development. And all I can think when he critiques new films is: If he knew what actually entertained movie-goes today, he’d might have had a hand in making something that the current generation has actually heard of in the last 20 years!
Some has-been doesn’t like the new direction of cinema? WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I CARE? The marvel movies entertain me and I love seeing my favourite characters live action. I owe him no explanation for why, nor do I owe him a justification. Let Marvel keep bringing me my favourites on screen and let him relive 20 year old glory-days. But you’ll need to pay me to care what some has-been thinks.
Who cares whether or not you care?
well, you. obviously.
He’s got you there Dean. You clearly cared enough to comment.
Jon, you need to take a shower. And pay particular attention to your (ugh) “salty, sweaty nutsack.”
Maybe boxers would help with that. Also, I have about 20 times more respect for John Landis then I do some overexcited and crude fan boy.
Since “The Twilight Zone Movie”, i have very little respect for John Landis.
And i found “The Blues Brothers” over blown, oversized, and overly proud of itself. Some parts of it were almost as funny as Landis obviously thought they were.
“Animal House”, “American Werewolf” and “Schlock” are the important films in the Landis canon.
He doesn’t say anything bad about “new direction”. He said Marvel movies are completely repetitive! He’s right. At least Marvel is actually aware of this fact – unlike yourself – to the point that they are trying to make Thor 3 a comedy and mix things up a bit.
Why are you so angry Jon Leo?
“WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I CARE?” Exactly what many people think every time DC or Marvel announce a new movie.
Jon, I’m glad you found your cup of cinematic tea. And, judging on the box office receipts, it’s a brew many others love just as much as you do.
There’s no reason you should care what John Landis thinks. And he never said you should, or that you owe him an explanation, or a justification.
But, when a grown-up who gives a shit about cinema is asked, they’ll tell you plain: superhero movies are boring. When you’re a grown-up… When you’re capable of using your own imagination… When you have a sense of irony… When ideas and emotions deliver more potent thrills than desperately emphatic (and by now resolutely formulaic) FX, editing, musical bombardment, and none-too-subtle endorsement of reactionary politics… When you can still smell the stink of high-camp no matter how many coats of studio polish it’s had slapped on top of it… When you view life in it’s million-fold shades of grey rather than simplistic black and white… When you want to watch actors play human characters dealing with human problems… When you want some kind of story instead of a contrived excuse to stitch together computer-generated set pieces that look like “cut scenes” from over-produced video games… When you recognize – deep breath and massive eye-roll time – the difference between legitimate vision and hollow, hacky, money-grubbing excess aimed at kids who haven’t fully developed a sense of taste yet and adults who never developed one…
That’s when you’ll stop and think… maybe I’ve out-grown this embarrassing phase of worshiping muscle-men in tights who make buildings fall-down-go-boom.
Til that day, if it ever comes, enjoy.
Lord god – the hipsters are here, explaining why what mere commoners without their refined tastes like is trash.
This screed reminds me of an Error 404 screen i collected – sneering hipster type says “I only visit websites that don’t exist yet. You’ve probably never heard of them.”
don’t lose your head over these things, John Landis
I agree to a certain degree about how repetitious these movies can be but that’s Hollywood for you, if something works keep doing it until fans stop showing up at the theater, wait a few years and the reboot it.
Every genre of movies suffers from it.
It’s entertainment.ie – not the Irish Times. I wrote the interview.
He’s exactly right about the city-wide destruction. Heroes are suppose to save people, not allow skyscrapers full of thousands of civilians to collapse.
There could be a superhero movie out every week and I wouldn’t be bored. Grumpy old men like Landis need to remember a time when there wasn’t a lot of this sort of movie around and suck it up.
first of all, whenever john landis opens mouth i want to say “why aren’t you in jail”? second, cronenberg’s fly and carpenter’s thing were made in a hollywood that no longer exists, so there’s no point in bringing them into this.
This.
No criticism of Logan though……because, on an emotional and story level, perfect
He’s free to share his opinion. After all, people stopped giving a shit about John Landis movies three decades ago, so the public will decide.