For The Love Of God, Martin Scorsese, Please Retire.
 

My wife forced me to watch Shutter Island. I am a good husband. I knew nothing about the film beforehand. When the credits rolled at the end, and I found out who directed this monumental mess, I was in shock. Then I cried.

Shut up!

Yep, Shutter Island is one of the worst films I've ever seen. TONS of people in real life warned me not to watch it, or told me they couldn't get through it, but I was like, "Eh, it's Scorsese! It's gotta be good!" Nope. It was GARBAGE. Absolutely horrible. What was the point? I just don't understand how anyone involved in the production would honestly think that 2 1/2 hours of some asshole walking around a mental institution is compelling, in any way. It really has to be one of the most dull films I've ever witnessed. The biggest praise I've seen for this turd was people saying "Oh, it's not THAT bad." I mean, when that's the best compliment a film has going for it....... on the other hand, what did Ebert say? I'm sure he gave it 4 stars since he wrote a book on Scorsese's eyebrow hair or some bullshit.

Then again, what's the last good -- I'm talking really good -- ORIGINAL (so, not his Infernal Affairs remake) film he's even made? I have a soft spot for Bringing Out the Dead, though it really just reminds me of a poorer version of Taxi Driver, but in an ambulance. So, 1995's Casino would probably be the last really great original film he made -- and even that seems like a retread of Goodfellas at times.

ebert gave shutter island a 3.5/5

shutter island was like a second rate Twilight Zone episode with good visuals.

^agreed... and yet I didnt think it was THAT bad. I don't see how it's some horrible film. It's certainly cliched and all. But whatever. I've seen way worse shit.

no, not THAT bad. had some very interesting moments, but frankly, I cannot take the 5'1" tall Leo DiCaprio seriously in anything.

my bro thinks he is a good actor, and he may be, but I think he is boring to watch.

i didn't bother with shutter island, however, i really disliked the departed, i thought it was bland and boring and predictable. the aviator was a grat production, superbly edited; the previous of gangs of new york made me gag.

he's had his ups and downs, not all movies can be taxi driver or raging bull.

scorsese probably just needs some good drugs to loosen up the encrusted shit in his mind--

or maybe he just needs to team up with paul schrader again

Yeah, he just needs to team up with DeNiro and Schrader (whose films "Hardcore" and "Light Sleeper" blow away nearly all of Scorsese's films anyway). One thing about Scorsese though... his favorite film of all time is Shuji Terayama's Pastoral: To Die in the Country, which is one of the most obscure films ever (I mean, it has like 30 votes on imdb last I looked) but really really is one of the best films I've ever seen. Dude has good taste. Or did like 30 years ago or whenever he made that statement. Too bad he doesn't use his vast fortune to actually, y'know, bring that film over here so people can watch it. Wouldn't it be awesome if it actually got, like, a legitimate release?.. Uh.. anyway... he's just some dude who can release a bunch of garbage and critics will eat his farts, free of charge, because they have respect for movies he made 30-40 years ago (wouldn't it be cool if we had more, y'know, HONEST film critics who weren't concerned with asskissing? I mean, this is not Japan, where everyone is polite and no one wants to hurt anyone's business -- they'll tear Saw 7 a new asshole because it made by some no-name, but if it's some darling like Scorsese, mum's the word until retroactively they will undoubtedly state "WHILE IT WASN'T ONE OF HIS BEST WORKS......."). He hasn't been relevant in a long time. I've watched, oh, 500 films in the past year, and I can safely say that Shutter Island was the worst. Hahaha.

On the other hand, I did watch Who's That Knocking at My Door? again recently, a film he made.. oh... 42 years ago.. and it's absolutely brilliant. Go check out that movie asap.

of course scorsese has extraordinary good taste and love for movies. he's the one who bought, restored, and made fresh prints of la dolce vita-- bless him. visually he's an extraordinary director, his use of the camera is magnificent, but maybe he can't pick a good screenplay and/or he can't cast right.

schrader also made affliction, which i mentioned yesterday (based on a russel banks novel). great fucking movie and very underrated.

That's a really good question and I tend to agree with all your points there. I think Scorsese's reputation is largely made from the fact that he made a few truly great films (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas) and lots of very good ones (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the Color of Money, Casino, Kundun, Cape Fear, After Hours, Bringing Out the Dead, The Departed). Moreover, prior to Shutter Island (and maybe Gangs of New York), I don't think he'd ever even come close to making a truly bad one (I say that as someone who thinks New York New York is a far better film than a lot of people give it credit for). Either way, I'd probably say Goodfellas was the last film he made that was absolutely successful on every level.

Agreed.

I do want to mention KING OF COMEDY, though, which wasn't in any of your lists. That's one of my favorites by him... I mean, dude was seriously untouchable for 25-ish years. But man, he hasn't done ANYTHING of relevance in forever.

Haha, After Hours, I like that movie (anyone else think of the Bill Murray movie "QUICK CHANGE" when they see it? Both films are about people comedically running around New York all night. They're completely different films, but they're linked in my mind in some weird way), but I always think of that Aunt Jemima Pearl Jam interview where she said her and T. Hurston watched it and she said it was the worst movie ever made. Haha. Anyway...

Haven't seen Affliction, symbol man. Will check that out!

dont be put off by nick nolte. he plays a good drunk.

Oh, Nick Nolte rules. I saw him in CLEAN a few months ago and thought he was great.

Goodfellas was his last masterpiece.

Departed was so fucking BORING. Gangs of New York was allright but it did not pull me in enough to acre about any of them dirty micks. ;)

scorcese really has a hard on fro DiCaprio though

Yeah, Dick Craprio is the worst actor of our generation, maybe MAYBE only being outshined by Keanu Reeves (who at least is entertaining in his stupidity and blankness.. "wHOA.")

To work with Keitel and DeNiro for most of your career... and then DiCaprio for the rest of it? I mean.. "whoa." ... DOWNGRADE.

hhaha. too true.


You know who i woudl love to see get their acting chops really dirty in a Scorcese crime freakout? John Cusack and George Clooney. Imagine them two in a flick as sick as Goodfellas. I think John Cusack could play a sick sick fuck if he chose to.

Yeah, but Scorsese poses a more complex problem for critics in that it's impossible not to watch a new film by him without remembering what he achieved in earlier ones. In that sense I think that critics, while never hostile to Scorsese, are often more reluctant to give the full backing to one of his later films simply because it doesn't match the standards of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver or Raging Bull. Had Bringing Out the Dead been made by anyone else it would've received absolutely rave reviews, I'm sure. His early successes, while cushioning him against outright attacks have also put a ceiling on the praise he's received for great films whose only crime has been that they've not been as good as Mean Streets or Taxi Driver (which very few films are).

I've seen Mean Streets twice, once when I was 18 and once when I was around 30 and both times it BORED ME SHITLESS

I do not understand the appeal of it to so many people.

Good points, demonrail.

Also, Rob, I'm actually not a big Mean Streets fan either. I think it was good at laying the groundwork of his style and whatever, but he refined his approach with subsequent films.

To me, Mean Streets and Saturday Night Fever are paired up in an odd way. Both movies take a specific slice-of-life angle on a group of people who normally live in the fringes in a way, and both are basically plot-less character studies. I think that many USA movies in that decade did this a lot. It was new and interesting and not the typical Hollywood film style .

In that same decade the opposite was also prevalent, what with the opulent heavily plot-driven films such as The Godfather.

For the love of God, Martin Scorsese, please shave your eyebrows!

Some good points here -- it's INSANE to watch mainstream films from the 70's; been watching lots of Sidney Lumet lately.. y'know, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, and so on.. and they're great, but they feel like they're from ANOTHER FUCKING PLANET compared to films coming out nowadays.

Really, I don't think a film like The Godfather could even exist today. It's so bizarre. There really aren't any directors crafting films in that style anymore. It seems like movies nowaday go overboard on music, cutting, etc.

I've also noticed music is simpler. Listen to popular "classic rock" songs; hell, listen to pop hits from 80's. Those songs are downright complex, they're fucking MATH ROCK compared to the forgettable, simple, disposable pop songs on the radio today.

We live in an age that shouldn't exist, pure fucking sensory overload, and everything is being designed to get in, do its thing and make money, then get the fuck out. SIMPLICITY. Everything is simple, direct, and meant to constantly entertain in obvious ways. Disposable, forgettable garbage...

disposable forgettable garbage is a good description of stuff like Pineapple express, the american pie crap, etc. not to mention the horrible spoof Wayans films that seem to keep making money..

it wasnt great by any stretch of the imagination but it wasnt the worst film of his i have seen either.

DiCaprio's problem isn't a lack of acting chops but a difficulty adapting physically to more adult roles. I thought he'd overcome it with The Departed (which I do think he's great in) but saw the awkwardness creep back in with Shutter Island. I do rate him as an actor but suspect that he'll have trouble finding really suitable roles.

Very true. It truly is as if hollywood has diluted their "art" so much to try to create mass-appeal fodder. This is a strange thing to see, because there are so many awesoe movies being mae, yet, comparing the big budget primo studio flicks from the 70's to the big budget flicks of today is sad. Think about the artistry inherent in soemthing like th Godfather. It came from the director, from the cinematographer, from the use of extremely thought out visual/musical/audio cues to inform the audience.
Then you compare that to a similarly budgeted movie from today like AVATAR, which was all flash, using every pssible gadget and trick in the book but no fucking artistry. No fucking real humanity. It was basically a fucking saturday morning cartoon for adults, equally inane, equally devoid of anything deeper than bumper-sticker platitudes.

What's the last great, multi-character, multi-plot-line, intelligent studio masterpiece the hollywood studios have put out? I wonder.

100% agree! Two of my favourite movies ever and, as you say, very similar.

rob who is that in your avatar pic? don ramón from el chavo del ocho posing as jim morrison?

Again, I'd probably have to say Goodfellas.

What I find weird is the way in which the industry has no problem doing this for TV (The Sopranos, The Wire, Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under) but seems incapable of transferring those qualities onto the cinema screen.

holy shit, it IS don ramón!

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demoño-- desperate housewives?? furreal??

it is Don Ramon (or Ron Damon) as Jim Morrison!

You think it is a case of too many cooks spoil the broth? Modern movies are made with not only endless studio assholes weighing in, and with endless producers weighing in, but with fucking FOCUS GROUPS! fuck focus groups. Let the director make the fucking movie.

Can you imagine how horrible something like the Godfather or Apocalypse Now would be if left to focus groups to determine whether it would "appeal" to the fanbase?

I don't think I'm as bothered by DiCaprio as you all seem. I dont think he's all that bad. I thought he was good in The Departed. He's definitely better than Keanu Reeves anyway. Haha. I mean c'mon.

Yeah, i think the first few series of DH at least were great, and certainly far more intelligent than anything I've seen Hollywood make for the cinema recently.

okay, the first season was amusing, a kind of ongoing screwball comedy with a bit of murder mystery that begged to be directed by almodovar. i know this because at the time i was living next door to my wife's parents and we'd come visit on sundays and sure enough my mother in law would watch this thing. so yes, it was funny-- but no way near what the sopranos, the wire or 6 feet under were doing at the time. the 2nd season it became a sad fucking cartoon and we couldn't bear it any longer. then we moved away.

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re: di crabio (for NR)

he's actually a good actor, believable. the problem i think is that his face was all over the fucking place in the late 90s/early 00's and it became a fucking overbearing presence in the media to the point that it is hard to forget he is di crabio. plus he got to make out with claire danes and for that i will never forgive him. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The big difference is one was a major network locked into the morals clauses and the others were made free of a morals clause. I too also enjoy DiCaprio to even compare him to Keanu Reaves is an insult to Tom Cruise who is definitely related to Keanu.

As far as multi plot lines and characters I would say the Dark Knight deserves some consideration with the mob, the cops, Harvey, Batman the Joker, the Japanese, and the lovely Rachel.

i'm gonna say NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN but that's not a "studio" movie like that shitty jerry bruckheimer makes, that's a coen brothers movie, and they get a different treatment than most directors.

I agree 100% with this, but seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (which is overload at some points, but that's the beauty of it) and hearing Mastodon does give me hope.

Granted, Mastodon aren't a pop band and Scott Pilgrim has bombed at the box office, but they have made money...

Sure, but when did Hollywood last produce an intelligent scewball comedy? Of course it can't be compared with The Wire but in its own way it's further illustrating how Hollywood's TV sector is continually out-doing its movie one.