Age of Innocence

Hey, it's my birthday today! I'm actually going to keep my post shorter since I want to treat myself to going to bed on time. My parents and Anthony and I got some delicious Indian take out, but we didn't eat until almost 9! You can imagine my movie was a bit delayed as well. It was worth it, though. I got some great movies - The Thin Red Line and Videodrome on Criterion from Anthony (now I can finally go shop the B&N Criterion sale!), and my parents got me the wonderful Stanley Kubrick Blu-ray box set. I can't wait to watch these!

For the whole course of the project so far, Anthony and I have been interested in what movie lands on people's birthdays. Usually it's something really strange that we haven't heard of before, except for two person, who actually got a movie they really enjoyed on their birthday for some reason (two of our friends share the same birthday and like the Godfather, which is what landed on their day). I was really happy that I happened to have two Scorsese films in a row. :) I never saw today's movie - Age of Innocence - until now, but it was fun to watch and at least it was by one of my favorite  directors!

After Hours

I'm happy that Ebert put today's movie on his list, otherwise I probably never would have seen it! Tonight I watched After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese in 1985. It's a great movie, with no real logical plot or resolution or message. It was awesome to see a Scorsese film that felt so different, as well. I could still see his style, but the story and actors were so far off from what he usually works with. He's so talented, and it's so fun to watch all of his movies!

I actually never wanted to watch this movie before. I had a friend who really loved it, but I didn't like his taste in movies. He had a tendency to like movies about dorky guys (like himself) meeting older women or women who would go home with the main character quickly, and getting into wacky adventures together or something. For some reason, I always was under the impression that this was what he thought real life was like, and because it bothered me so much, I avoided this movie because he liked it so much.. I'm so happy I finally saw it, because it was great, and really deepened my already obsessive love for Scorsese.

Mean Streets

There was a long time that I was pretty ignorant of Martin Scorsese. I hadn't seen many of his films, and didn't really know anything about him, other than everyone seemed to like him. In a class in college, we studied him, watching his first short films (like The Big Shave) that he made in film school. We watched Italianamerican, his documentary about his family, and Who's That Knocking on My Door? Then, we watched his famous films. I saw Taxi Driver again, but in a new light. I could see his style - similar images and themes coming to the surface. Later, we saw The Departed, and I could really appreciate a big scope of his work. After that class, and after learning so much about Scorsese's style from seeing his early films, I really fell in love. It was so great to be able to watch him develop his craft. He's one of my favorite directors now, and I'm always so eager to watch any of his work.

One of his films that I haven't ever seen before is today's movie - Mean Streets, which he directed in 1973. It was pretty much the first film that he did on his own and outside of film school. I found an interview with Scorsese, where the inspiration for Mean Streets is mentioned. "Scorsese remembers that when he made his first feature in Hollywood in 1972 for the producer Roger Corman, the Depression-era exploitation film Boxcar Bertha, [Nick] Cassavetes told him, 'You’ve just spent a year of your life making a piece of shit.’ The criticism reinforced Scorsese’s conviction to return to what he knew. The result was Mean Streets, made in 1973," (from here). The best filmmakers simply write and direct what they know, and Scorsese, and Mean Streets, is a fantastic example of this.

Goodfellas

Goodfellas, directed in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, is one of my favorite movies. I love that it’s not just a typical mafia movie. It was made with love, by someone who grew up in that violent environment. I know I said before that Scorsese tried to make movies that showed “everyday violence”, the kind that he saw growing up in his neighborhood in Little Italy. He clearly tries to show this aspect of life in Goodfellas, as well. There seems to be a constant underscore of violence in the movie, and often, the most brutal scenes happen randomly after people are barely provoked. He gives it context, though, and real, well-written characters to back up the story. We watch them do bad things, but we know them so well that we can’t help but feel for them. Or well, at least I can’t.

Taxi Driver

I really don't have much time to write about this. I'm so exhausted and I keep putting it off, because after reading Ebert's essay, which has a very interesting analysis of the film, I feel like there isn't anything interesting I can say! I really loved his essay, he compares Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver (which I watched tonight) with The Searchers, which stars John Wayne. Both films, he argues, are about the same sort of man - scarred by war, looking to rescue a woman from a situation where she might not want to be rescued from. I love this thought, and I feel pretty jealous that I didn't come up with it. If that sounds interesting to you at all, I highly suggest you read his essay, it's pretty amazing, and seems like a departure from some of the other ones that I've read so far. Plot spoilers follow, just as a warning.

Raging Bull

Another movie this week that I am at a loss for words from. It is so famous that it feels like there isn't anything left to say. It's the movie that probably saved Martin Scorsese's life. Although it didn't win the Oscar that year, it clearly is the better movie and has withstood the test of time. Directed in 1980 and shot in striking black and white to show a ton of blood and sweat, I think everyone has heard of this film, if not seen it. I feel like I've seen this movie so many times, but I never get bored of it. It's constantly on in film classes, constantly referenced in film literature, from studious textbooks to gossip rags like the infamous Easy Riders and Raging Bulls. I wish I had some more obscure films this week - everything I've watched is so hard to write anything original about, and it's going to stay that way for a little while. Oh well, I can survive, although I wish I could write something that didn't sound like I was just trolling through Wikipedia.