A few days ago, director Josh Trank offered a candid review of his 2015 epic flop of a film, Fantastic Four. In his review, he praised the actors and talked a little bit on the production problems that plagued that film. The review was, to put it simply, nice and it looked like the world was ready to root for Trank — who once made the brilliant indie superhero film, Chronicle — again. However, Trank might have just ruined whatever good faith he built over the past couple of days.
The craziness started off with Trank tweeting about Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman which dropped on Netflix a few hours ago.
Watching the Irishman. The first 5 minutes have more humanity and truth and cinematic intrigue than the running length of every single Marvel movie combined ahahahahahahahaha. Sorry, facts. PS: Not sorry.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the Tweet, it did seem like Trank was trying to rile up Marvel fans and film Twitter in general (especially considering his ‘hahaha’ and the ‘not sorry’). But that isn’t the problem. In fact, considering he directed a Marvel movie himself, it can be seen that he’s also perhaps poking fun at himself.
However, as the replies started to flood his Tweet, Josh Trank started to get both pretentious and obnoxious. One fan politely brought up a fair point. The fan said: “But why do we have to knock something to show we like something else. goodfellas is my favorite movie of all time but I also love marvel movies.” To which, Trank replied:
You don’t love Goodfellas as much as you think you do. Watch Mean Streets and After Hours 5000 times and make 25 short films and we will talk.
There’s no way to sugarcoat this. Trank sounds like a high-horse sitting elitist right here. Are we not allowed to formulate opinions on films or love films unless we’re filmmakers ourselves? It’s one thing to respond in such a way to someone who was rude or personally attacked you. But the fan, at least from where I’m sitting, brought up a fair query.
The ridiculousness didn’t end there and by the end of it, Trank just came off as nothing more than a toxic internet troll. Of course, there is a possibility that Josh Trank was in fact just poking fun at the social media culture of extremism. But Trank isn’t exactly known to be a funny guy, so even if his Tweets were indeed satire, it sure as heck flew over everybody’s heads.
Check out some of his Tweets below:
Watching the Irishman.
The first 5 minutes have more humanity and truth and cinematic intrigue than the running length of every single Marvel movie combined ahahahahahahahaha.
Sorry, facts. 🤷🏻♂️
PS: Not sorry.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) November 27, 2019
You don’t love Goodfellas as much as you think you do. Watch Mean Streets and After Hours 5000 times and make 25 short films and we will talk.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) November 27, 2019
Mmmm. Yes, because I’m actually, legitimately more knowledgeable and thoughtful and honest than at least 85% of certified rotten tomatoes critics.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) November 27, 2019
Don’t try to talk to me about film history, film appraisal, art, professional risks, personal growth, and/or understanding/fairness to films/art/self expression.
Real film lovers understand and fux with me. 🤷🏻♂️. #cinema #offbrand #art #life
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) November 27, 2019
