Karen Gillan spoke with The Hollywood Reporter today to defend Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, "I would absolutely say that Marvel movies are cinema. Cinema is story-telling with visuals." Gillian plays Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy series.
Gillian continued, "There's so much heart and soul, and it's James' soul in there. He injects so much of his own personality, his sense of humor ... that's a very big representation of who he is as a person and therefore it's very cinematic. He's an artist."
Scorsese originally critiqued Marvel films in an interview with Empire. "I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema," Scorsese said. "Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."
Gunn responded to the comments yesterday on Twitter saying, “Martin Scorsese is one of my 5 favorite living filmmakers. I was outraged when people picketed The Last Temptation of Christ without having seen the film. I’m saddened that he’s now judging my films in the same way.”
https://twitter.com/_/status/1180158383070105606
