The Wolf of Wolf Street - Tedious rehashing of his earlier and better movies, yet the critics and award shows went ape-bats for this.
The Aviator - Another film lavished with Oscar nominations. It's OK, but fails to rise above the deadly traps of the biopic genre.
UNDERRATED
The Color of Money - Usually dismissed as a Paul Newman/Tom Cruise vehicle, it's actually quite excellent and full of wonderful texture.
Shutter Island - The only one of his last six movies which failed to earn him a Best Director Oscar nomination, but it's my favorite of the bunch. Even knowing all of its plot twists and turns, I still find this compelling and chilling viewing.
I loved Wolf of Wall Street and quite like The Aviator, and a hugo has its moments but the vast majority of Scorsese's movie I find to be absurdly over rated. The remake of Cape Fear for example has a number of camera angles that I'd have been embarressed to shoot in one of my little home Super 8 movies when I was 12 years old.
Never ever understood the adulation for him. Vastly over-rated director.
He's a very talented craftsman who mostly crafts films I'm not interested in. I respect his dedication to the art and craft of film, but the overlap between films he wants to make and films I want to see is slim.
The remake of Cape Fear for example has a number of camera angles that I'd have been embarressed to shoot in one of my little home Super 8 movies when I was 12 years old.
I like the bombastic, over the top approach for much of Cape Fear. I just felt that the climactic scenes on the houseboat were way too drawn-out.
MOST OVERRATED: "Cape Fear" -- Really not one of Scorsese's more shining moments.
MOST UNDERRATED: "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" -- A nice little film from the mid-1970s, the kind I wish he would make more often. You almost never hear anyone talk about it, which is a shame because it really shows he's capable of more than just the tough-guys-beating-the crap-out-each-other films we usually get from him.
Runner up: "After Hours" -- Another one you hardly ever hear about. Basically, a yuppie having the worst, most surreal night of his life, as only Scorsese can do it. That this one is so ignored by so many Scorsese fans really surprises me. But then again, I'm known for my weird tastes....
Runner up: "After Hours" -- Another one you hardly ever hear about. Basically, a yuppie having the worst, most surreal night of his life, as only Scorsese can do it. That this one is so ignored by so many Scorsese fans really surprises me. But then again, I'm known for my weird tastes....
The Wolf of Wolf Street - There wasn't any part of this movie that I enjoyed. For me it is tedious in its non stop debauchery, and I don't mean I'm offended by it... it's just overblown and not interesting.
UNDERRATED
Kundun - Wonderful, meaningful film. Beautifully written, filmed, and edited... with a great score by Philip Glass. Not necessarily for everyone due to its subject matter, almost the antithesis of what Scorcese is most know for (Goodfellas, etc)
I'd like to see After Hours again. It was very darkly comic. Two bits that stand out are when the maligned hero witnesses the domestic shooting and immediately intones that he'll probably get blamed for that too, on top of everything else going wrong that night. Then there's the final shot of him being dumped in the middle of the road, completely encased in plaster and unable to move a muscle. So OTT and outlandish. The film definitely spoke to me.
Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas are his masterworks and above any negative criticism from me. I don't believe he has any underrated films, as his failures don't get any better with age and his masterpieces have always been so.
Maybe the one exception of what could have been is After Hours. That film could have been better but imo Griffin Dunne just isn't a good enough actor to own the role. It all came off as obvious "acting."
The recent work doesn't even "feel" like Scorsese. I remember thinking that The Aviator seemed like a cynical way of getting him an Oscar and Scorsese seemed like a hired hand rather than a director with that oft-quoted term, "vision." That film was Leo's all the way, with Marty along for the ride.
LOL! I should add I don't think he's a bad director. It's just that his films often have such unpleasant characters their just so unpleasant for me to watch. I've seen parts of Raging Bull and thought it was quite good.
Shutter Island - The only one of his last six movies which failed to earn him a Best Director Oscar nomination, but it's my favorite of the bunch. Even knowing all of its plot twists and turns, I still find this compelling and chilling viewing.
I agree with you on this!
OVERRATED GOODFELLAS - a repugnant, repellent, pointless piece of pulp TAXI DRIVER (see above)
