Cinema Critics Back At It

 

The Cinema Critics Are Back At It

Anyone who like me watched the 95th Academy Awards saw Jamie Lee Curtis win the Academy Award/Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Deirdre Beaubierdre in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once. While many viewers, myself included, enjoyed the film and Mrs. Curtis' performance, there was one major problem that no one could ignore. Angela Bassett was the person everyone expected to win the Oscar after her phenomenal and gutwrenching work as Queen Ramonda of Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences had other ideas. They decided to give the award to Jamie Lee Curtis because not only is she Hollywood royalty and the daughter of Hollywood royalty but also because she is older than Angela Bassett. They did not know if Jamie would ever win another Oscar. Angela should have won the Oscar due to her phenomenal work not some Hollywood bias against the genre of film that Black Panther falls under. Some things need to change for Hollywood to improve over time.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a phenomenal film in my opinion. I believe that all of the main actors in the movie, especially Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett should have won Oscars for their work. I feel the same way about the work that Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Scarlett Johansson did in Avengers: Endgame. All of these actors spoke to the emotional core of being humans given gifts(except for Bradley who voices Rocket Raccoon) that you can not always control but they also changed the way superhero movies are looked at. There is a bias in Hollywood, especially amongst critics who feel like arthouse movies like Leonardo DiCaprio or Natalie Portman films are more deserving of awards because they focus on telling a well-put-together story instead of relying on the razzle-dazzle of special effects and CGI to give the film a boost. While I do agree that that is important, I also feel like there need to be different types of movies getting Oscar or Golden Globe nominations because many of the same types of movies get nominated and after a while, the actors feel pigeonholed. 

Changing how Hollywood views superhero movies will let the critics put on their thinking caps. Sometimes going to the world of Pandora in the Avatar franchise or Wakanda is key because you can digest what you see and look at the world-building on a more grandiose level. Marvel films but also Disney films as a whole do a really good job of taking audiences on a ride that is unlike anything they have ever seen or felt in their lifetime. Art is art and can be viewed in whatever way you feel like viewing it. Many of the critics like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese are guilty of everything I have just said. They cast the same actors like Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio in certain roles and when they are looking to cast the next Godfather-like movie or gangster movie, they want the same actor they worked with multiple times in that role to fill that role. That is the literal definition of pigeonholing an actor. Many actors who have done Marvel films like Angela Bassett and the actors I have named before including Natalie Portman are known for their serious work but decide to do superhero films or television shows because it provides them the opportunity to do something different. Recently, actress Florence Pugh who has appeared in dramatic work from Dont Worry Darling to Litle Women was told by a director that she should not try to join the superhero genre because it could spell the end of her career. She obviously did not listen because her character of Yelena Belova in the Black Widow solo film for Marvel made her a fan-favorite MCU actor and character. Funnily enough, not only has her character appeared in other Marvel work since then but she is also scheduled to be in Marvel movies that are either in production right now or will be soon.

Being an actor in the superhero genre is no different than being in a movie like Django Unchained. You are appealing to an audience either way. The endgame is a large revenue and almost if not every Marvel movie grosses millions if not billions of dollars at the box office. Both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are in the top five list of the highest-grossing films of all time. That goes to tell you that as a critic, you are subject to your opinion but you should stop acting like everyone can not have their own opinion. Not every superhero movie fan today grew up in a time 40 or 50 years ago when there were little to no superhero films so everything was either cowboys or some other dramatic work. Times are changing and superhero films need the same respect as Leonardo DiCaprio and Denzel Washington get for their work. Samuel L. Jackson has worked for Marvel for over a decade and he is still getting work and honestly, he is better for it. He is at the stage of his life and career when he needs some fun. Playing the same type of role gets tiring. One of the main reasons actors work for Marvel or other superhero film worlds like DC is because they get to use their imagination and be a kid again. Nothing wrong with that. You can have fun with your work and still be taken seriously as an actor.