Martin Scorsese, super genius

I read a magazine interview with Michael Chapman today (Were he and I reading the interview together? 'Tis a mystery.), and it occurred to me that this thread has been seemingly abandoned. Where-what-gone-who?

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"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow-worm."
--Winston Churchill

Yup, that does it. Off to buy a couple Marty DVDs.....

Back in a flash

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I'm glad I read this thread through again. Holden, will you please do write ups about Gangs of New York and The Last Temptation of Christ? I'll buy you a six-pack.

I'd really like to see Matt gushing about Scorsese again too.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Oh, believe you me, I could.

I recently had the oppertunity to see the great man's student shorts and lesser-known documentaries and frankly, that lead into a huge Scorsese binge. I read two books [both interview based] and watched as much as I could...for a second time, I mean. I really needed to get some GoodFellas goodness into me again.

Why, even now, I'm about to re-watch [and give another chance to] Gangs of New York.

Be back soon.

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www.esotericrabbit.com

The verdict on Gangs Silver? I watched Taxi Driver again recently. Yup, it's still the ****.

Ah, you know...

As much as I like Scorsese, Gangs is easily one of his weakest films. Take out Day-Lewis' performance and there's not a whole lot there, as far as I'm concerned. It feels to me like Scorsese's prestige picture and nothing more, which is odd considering its importance to him personally. It doesn't have any of the personal passion that's evident in, say, The Age of Innocence or Last Temptation. 'Tis a shame, to be sure.

I'm personally looking forward to The Aviator and seeing which way he goes with that. Will it be another "prestige" Oscar-bait movie, or will it be, as I'm hoping it will be, a GoodFellas-like treatment of Hollywood and it's golden era?

I guess we'll see.

Thanks for that great review, this is one I haven't seen but will try and watch it soon.

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After Hours, as well as Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Who's That Knocking at My Door? and new special editions of Mean Streets and GoodFellas, are all being released on R1 DVD on August 17th. They'll be avialable individually, and as a boxed set.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

After Hours will always have a special place in my cinema-loving heart, because I only got to see it for the first time after someone sent me a copy of it in the mail. I was really blown away by that.

I remember thinking, firstly, that the film was really wonderful and, secondly, that it would be "wrong" of me to keep the copy for myself. Instead, like the person I received it from, I passed it on to someone else, and for all I know, it's still circulating.

I think that's great. Cinema should be shared.

That's sounds great, I will keep my eye out for the boxed set.

*Bump*

The boxed set has arrived folks, and last night I took in After Hours with my girlfriend, and we both loved it. Wonderful direction, characters, photography, and score.

Highly recommended.....

when i first got the box set i thougth After Hours would be my least favorite in the set but it was so much better than i expected.

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"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

How do you feel about Alice? There is a scene filmed in a small town I lived in for a few years (Amado, AZ), where Alice and her kid come walking out of a giant bull skull. I used to drive by that building (now empty) every day on the way to my sh*tty restaurant job I had at the time....

Just ran across this review. Have any of you folks read this book? Is it worth the read?

Scorsese's Psyche

No, I haven't read it. But I'm generally wary of making leaps using psychology to disect and explain art. Scorsese's religious upbringing is overtly evident in Mean Streets and The Last Tempation of Christ especially and colors much of his work, and yes he's a native New Yorker (duh), but going much deeper than that seems silly to me. Especially as Marty is very open about his process, and is very willing to discuss his thoughts and influences. I don't need a scholoarly dissertation to aid me beyond what Scorsese says and what any person can logically glean for themselves.

But hey, what do I know?

Any person? Hey, you know better than that Some of the folks that come through here, I am surprised they haven't electrocuted themselves hooking up their DVD player. Anyway, Just popped in Alice at lunch at watched a few frames, I am starting to pick up the elements of Scorsese's style a bit more (especially the pans), and you are right, his characters draw you right in invariably, I didn't want to go back to work.

I guess I am interested in some other points of view on his films as I know very little about Scorsese in comparison to some of his biggest fans (i.e. you). One of the reasons I like this thread so much is because you, Silver and Piddy to some extent layed out a ton of interesting tid bits about Scorsese that got me buying his DVDs left and right. I know what the his films mean to me, but I find it interesting reading/hearing others expound on the genius that is Scorsese, and what they meant to him.

"All my films are personal. I put myself on the screen"
--Martin Scorsese

Extreme angles, unusually fast, sweeping pans, or extreme, steady-cam techniques and odd-angle extreme close ups (After Hours) are some of the techniques that seem to be jumping out at me, but I know so little about the man and his background, that I feel I miss most of the subtle meanings behind a shot or a concept in his film. Me being a tall skinny dude from Arizona (originally), I haven't a clue about the lifestyle of a Little Italy New Yorker. Alas, I guess I just need to watch more of his films to understand him a bit more, and watch them I shall....

Me too i still haven't see alot of his films which i must rent.

i still havent watch alice doesn't live here anymore. thats awesome about the town.

It's funny how they twist things in film. We watched Alice all the way through last night, and you are given the impression that Alice and her son stop for lunch at this place on the trip from Phoenix to Tucson, where they finally end up at Mel's etc. Amado, the town the skull building resides in is actually about 30 minutes south of Tucson, off of Interstate 19, on the way to Nogales, Sonora (Mexico). The duo wouldn't have passed through this town on their little trip. This got me wondering just how in the hell this building got discovered before production. The town is ever so tiny, and is quite out of the way, although the skull horns are visable from the Interstate. It looked like they filmed many of the highway shots on this short stretch of interstate between Tucson and Mexico actually, so maybe while on location in Tucson, they went scouting for good bleak highway landscapes and saw the little cafe.

Regardless, this is a film that I found hits a little too close to home for me, and is a bit unnerving to watch. I was raised by my single mother, in Tucson, and we had some of the same issues crop up (mean boyfriends, on the road a lot with each other as our only companions). Being an adult now, I could relate to Alice's inablility to connect with her son's mindset at times, and her frusatration with this little annoying, but smart, ball of energy in her station wagon. BUT, I also felt a connection with the boy because, well, I was him at one point. Man, it's uncanny how similar some of the scenes were with my own life experience as a child and how genuine they felt while watching. Great performances by all involved. I felt like these people weren't filming a movie, but that somehow Scorsese had hitched a ride on the hood, somehow unnoticed, and captured the whole thing on film.

Brilliant and a bit too real for this child of the 70s....

i recently saw Gangs of New York (d. Martin Scorsese, 2002) yup recently i enjoyed watching it, but i hated the Disc switch. I became interested in Movies last year and ever since i cant stop borrowing and renting. I think im going try to rent all of Martin Scorsese's films the ones i didnt see.