Wall Street Wolf

DiCaprio has never looked better. (I know, cheesy, but I mean it. [His portrayals never connected with me]). The guy looks like a real person in this trailer. He always looks like he's in 'actor-mode', but not here. Here, he looks like a Wall Street wolf. A crazy guy with tons of money. I'm looking forward to seeing DiCaprio in this movie -- something I've never been able to say before.

And Matthew McConaughey looks like a movie star, a lead, for the first time. Yes, I know, he's carried movies, but here he seems like a star, a headliner, which he never did before.

That this is based on a true story, namely Jordan Belfort's, and is directed by Martin Scorsese makes 'The Wolf of Wall Street' something to look forward to. Really, a breath of fresh air.






















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Poster/Trailer for 'Easy Money'

Very nice poster. They go for this look with crime thrillers all the time but miss a lot.

Looks must-rent.
























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The Restaurant Scene: La Femme Nikita

Lots of good scenes in restaurants. Scorsese's tracking shots from 'Goodfellas' comes to mind. I like this one from 'La Femme Nikita'.



Directed by Luc Besson in 1990, with Anne Parillaud and Tchéky Karyo. Lovely subtle emotions, lots of stuff between the lines (typical for a French film), and great camera/editing. I like the juxtaposition of elegance and brutality, intimacy and betrayal, then pain followed by resolve to do your job in a professional manner.

This was remade by Hollywood as 'Point of No Return', directed by John Badham with Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne -- a by-the-numbers walk-through that offers the advantage of not having subtitles as it was done in English.

'La Femme Nikita', on the other hand, is one of the most rewarding flicks I've ever seen. It plays in a single breath and you never, for a second, feel disconnected. It's very nearly spellbinding.













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Trailer for Scorsese's 'Hugo'

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Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal on Charlie Rose

Here's an interesting clip



The adaptation of I Heard You Paint Houses is called 'The Irishman'. With Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and De Niro, directed by...Martin Scorsese. Good news. Good to hear the gang's doing another crime thriller.

'Taxi Driver' Featurettes

Scorsese de Chanel

As with all of Martin Scorsese's work, this ad for Bleu de Chanel is easy to watch. Beautiful edits -- he really places the viewer within the scene.

The Key To Reserva

A beautiful commercial for Freixenet sparkling wine shot a la Hitchcock by Martin Scorsese. When Scorsese does Hitch you can't help but win. Camera work is very authentic and arrests your attention right off the bat. The acting style is dated and authentic. The music is the same -- the real deal by Herrmann -- with that signature underlying pulse accented by dramatic outbursts from the strings. Of course, Thelma Schoonmaker's editing clicks.

I feel a little guilty posting the YouTube video but, it's there and Freixenet probably arranged to have it put there, so... Nod to the ever well-informed Anne Thompson. Crack a bottle of Freixenet and enjoy.

Shine A Light

Scorsese does The Stones

Scorsese Throws His Hat In The Ring...Again

I will see any movie because it was directed by Martin Scorsese -- and -- I'll see any movie with Robert De Niro. Put the two together, and, well, I buy the disc and admire their work again and again. Scorsese's latest, "The Departed", will surely be nominated for Best Picture and he will probably get another Best Director nod. This will make the sixth time Scorsese will be up for top honors. Stephen Hunter (story at WP) asks whether we should care, calling “The Departed” 'an earnest bit of corporate filmmaking designed to honorably milk genre expectations for maximum profit'. This is exactly the impression I've gotten from the previews. 'Departed' just doesn't seem to have the power of "Goodfellas" or "Casino", and Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson don't have quite the magnetism of De Niro.

Hunter continues with, "It's somehow largely unconnected with his previous great films..." -- and, "The irony? If he wins, it'll be for one of his least Scorsesesque films. It even could be argued that "The Departed" is an imitation Scorsese film." Again, reading my mind. "Gangs of New York" was a far cry from the gritty quality of, say, "Taxi Driver" and Scorsese seems to be continuing the trend with ‘Departed’. His recent work, while avoiding self-parody, does strike me as a tad derivative and a little too pretty, a little too safe, a little too 'product'.

This leaves us with the possibility that, if he wins for "The Departed" Scorsese may be left high and dry when and if he makes some future picture with the snap and click of his earlier movies. I'm not a fan of proper epics like "The Aviator" (and Gangs) and keep holding my breath for this auteur to deliver another 'shoot from the hip' crime saga. For now, I'll get the sit-up-straight 'Departed' on disc and hope it's a bit edgier than most are saying.

Scorsese seems to be striving for a glossier, more conventional, more mainstream professionalism is his recent movies, and it just doesn’t quite come off. Marty, give me the spiked energy and slick subversive sleight of hand I fell in love with when I first watched “Goodfellas” -- just one more time -- and if it goes unrecognized by the Academy (again), well, that’ll be okay.

Paramount Scores Martin's Take On The Stones

Anne Thompson reports that Paramount has secured the North American rights to Martin Scorsese's feature documentary on The Rolling Stones U.S. tour:

The camera team expects to film more than half a million feet of film at the Beacon, using additional Hi Def, DV Cam, 16mm and 8mm cameras to shoot behind-the-scenes footage. Veteran docu filmmaker Albert Maysles also will provide backstage coverage, while the A-list cinematographers operating cameras in the auditorium will include Mitch Amundsen (2nd unit, "Mission: Impossible III"), Stuart Dryburgh ("The Piano"), Robert Elswit ("Good Night, and Good Luck"), Ellen Kuras ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), Andrew Lesnie ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki ("The New World"), Anastas Michos ("Mona Lisa Smile"), Declan Quinn ("In America") and John Toll ("Braveheart").

Full story at THR (via Goingtothepictures)