“Hugo” (2011)
The films of Martin Scorsese often have a psychological weight, themes of sin, guilt, absolution, respect, power, et al, but infrequently do they have a truly resonant and lasting emotional one. Often it’s simply because Scorsese’s central preoccupations have lain elsewhere, but how heartening was it to see the filmmaker stray into such warmly emotive territory with the genuinely personal “Hugo.” An enchanting children’s tale shot in 3D and set in 1930s Paris, “Hugo” chronicles a tumultuous period in the life of an orphan living with the walls of a bustling train station and secretly maintaining its gargantuan clocks. An adaptation of Brian Selznick‘s award-winning novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” Scorsese’s picture centers on a mystery involving Hugo’s late father, an automaton and bitter toy-shop owner. Visual splendor is always in Scorsese’s back pocket, but in “Hugo,” the luxurious use of 3D (really the first post-“Avatar” occasion on which the extra dimension really added to the experience), and care he takes over the emotional impact, is virtuosic. A touching ode to the wonders of imagination and cinematic history (Ben Kingsley‘s character turns out to be the rather important figure Georges Méliès), at 125 minutes, “Hugo” admittedly is overlong and has pacing issues (as a kids movie it was wholeheartedly rejected in North America and became a domestic flop). And it is true that it’s difficult to see where the audience for such a deliberately old-fashioned paean to a bygone age and an evolving technology might have been found amongst the modern tots and tweens for whom it was ostensibly made. But for adults like us willing to embrace its slow, rich charms and alive to the kind affection for cinema that only a devoted cinephile like Martin Scorsese can bring, “Hugo” is a loveletter to the imagination and a warm, generous effort on Scorsese’s part to provide us all with the key to the wonderful world of film that makes him tick. [B]
While we’ve endeavored to cover all of Scorsese’s theatrical features, and some of his TV, the man has a demonic work ethic, and is also responsible for directing a few other television projects, not least among them the “Boardwalk Empire” pilot episode, his only music video for Michael Jackson’s “Bad” and an episode of Steven Spielberg‘s “Amazing Stories,” along with one episode of music documentary series “The Blues.” He also has a bevy of short films to his name, aside from the justly famous “Italianamerican” which we’ve included in the main list. Among them are the largely unavailable “Vesuvius VI,” comedies “What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?” and “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” (featuring the first Scorsese hoodlum perhaps?). Then came student film “The Big Shave,” and “Street Scenes,” a documentary about anti-Vietnam activity in New York which at 75 mins is a little long to consider a short, but usually gets grouped along with the shorts due its relative unavailability.
Since his graduation to feature filmmaking, Scorsese has contributed segments to a couple of portmanteau films (all of which are given their own entry above), and also a documentary short, written by “Age of Innocence” and “Gangs of New York” writer Jay Cocks, about Giorgio Armani called “Made in Milan” in 1990. He then made “The Neighbourhood” which was included in the “Concert for New York City” that took place after 9/11 and used some footage from “My Voyage to Italy” and new candid interview material with Scorsese and the people now living in the Elizabeth Street area where he grew up. And the 9/11 loomed large also 2004’s “Lady by the Sea” his first directorial team up with “Letter to Elia“‘s Kent Jones, about the enduring legacy of the Statue of Liberty. And finally in 2007 he made “The Key to Reserva,” actually essentially a long commercial for Freixenet Cava, but a tremendously warm inside joke featuring Scorsese himself and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker, as they pay homage to Hitchcock by pretending to have found some lost pages of a script and recreating them. Starring Simon Baker and Michael Stuhlbarg, and shoehorning in references to multiple Hitchcock films, but primarily “North by Northwest,” it’s a trifle, really, but a sweet one and, since it’s got kind of a holiday vibe, we thought we’d include it for you below. Enjoy, as we hope you enjoyed the retrospective, and a very Scorsese Christmas (that is to say, abounding in vigor and family and life, rather than violence and angst) to you all.
–Jessica Kiang, Rodrigo Perez, Erik McClanahan, Drew Taylor, Katie Walsh, Mark Zhuravsky, Kevin Jagernauth, Kimber Myers
Great to see After Hours score a A-. Such an underrated movie.
Correction. Only DeNiro was nominated for Cape Fear. Nolte was also nominated in the same year\’s Oscars but for The Prince Of Tides.
Nick Nolte was nominated in 1991, but for Barbra Streisand\’s "Prince of Tides" and not Cape Fear. Juliette Lewis was the other nominee from that film.
You should include now The Wolf of Wall Street. These are very valuable lists and they should be updated every time a new film comes out.
matt darmon in The Departed. LOL
The films of Martin Scorsese are all "B" movies if you really think about it. Most of the films have a common thread and by that I mean the racial epithets and the violence perpetrated against Black characters in some scenes. If you take away these controversial scenes each movie would lack any substance other than being a poorly conceived and directed mellow drama. Scorsese is an overrated bum.
This is just wrong. Taxi Driver and Goodfellas get A+ but Raging Bull gets only an A. Goodfellas doesn't even hold a candle to the depth and complexity of Raging Bull. It's one of his more over-praised films.
Just started a blog about Scorsese – The Wolf Of Elizabeth Street.
Would love people to have a look and let me know if they agree…
'The Wolf Of Elizabeth Street' – thoughts on Scorsese.
http://sheldrakemovies.wix.com/blog
Another correction: Barbara Hershey wasn't nominated for an Oscar for "Last Temptation of Christ."
I don't understand this list…at all. It's nice that you've awarded two A+s to two of his best films, but why not Raging Bull? How is Mean Streets only an A- and not a straight A? Honestly, reading through all of these, it seems like the contributors don't actually care about Scorsese, or are trying to knock him down a peg. Only a B for Last Temptation of Christ? It seems that in every case in which some critics love a film, while others are indifferent toward it, The Playlist decided to take the indifferent route. Age of Innocence, Casino and Kundun are all better than they're represented here. The Last Waltz only a B? After the totally positive retrospective you did on the Coens, this list makes Scorsese seem like the weaker artist.
What's with all the indifference towards The Age of Innocence still lurking around even after 20 years? That film is a piece of art, never failing to bring tears to my eye after all those viewings over the years in awe of the wonderful direction, set and costume design and not least of all the tragic and impossible love affair between its two lovers achingly brought to life with almost career best performances by its two leads Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis? A thorough reevaluation is long overdue for that glorious film in my opinion. And for its 20th anniversary which inf fact is right now, a special features laden new Bluray edition would be so helpful for this. Are you hearing Sony?
NICK NOTLE Was Not Nominated For An Oscar For "CAPE FEAR",
De NIRO Was Though!,NOTLE Did Nab A Nod For A Movie That
Came Out The Same Year As "FEAR" BUT It's Was For "THE PRINCE
OF TIDES"!
1. Raging Bull
2. Taxi Driver
3. The Goodfellas
4. Casino
5. Shutter Island
6. The Big Shave
7. Kundum
8. Mean Streets
9. Cape Fear
10. The Aviator
I am just going to do a top 5 because I feel like 6-10 could change on my mood.
1. Goodfellas
2. Casino
3. Gangs of New York
4. Age of Innocence
5. Taxi Driver
At the moment these are my favorites.
1. Raging Bull
2. The Departed
3. Taxi Driver
4. Goodfellas
5. Mean Streets
6. The Aviator
7. Hugo
8. Life Lessons
9. The King of Comedy
10. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Also, must say that I have to agree 100% with After Hours and New York Stories. I had After Hours as a teenager and couldn't stop watching it, must have watched it twenty times and loved it the twentieth as much as the first. And the perception of Nolte's ambition coming to life as he discovers a new muse in NY Stories is priceless!
And Age Of Innocence? Uh, yeah, I guess I forgot all about that one, like everyone else on the planet. (except the Playlist, of course!)
Better version of "Key To Reserva" http: //www. scorsesefilmfreixenet. com/video_eng.htm (correct the url yourself, cut/paste to address bar)
IMO Bringing Out The Dead is hugely underrated while Hugo is overrated. Yes, it's technically brilliant but a bit dull and some performances are uninspired.
Scorsese also directed "Bad" in 1987 (both the short film and the accompanying music video) for Michael Jackson, and the half hour (with commercials) episode "Mirror, Mirror" for the Steven Spielberg-produced television series "Amazing Stories." Not to mention the three short films he made at NYU, and whatever involvement he had in the 1970 "Street Scenes" documentary on the student riots at NYU.
I've said this before, but I'll keep saying it – the way you break out articles into so many pages really discourages me (and I imagine others) from visiting this site. Please CUT THE CRAP!
I've always felt Bringing out the dead was far too underrated (it's a great book too), and Shutter Island and the Departed have been way overrated in general.
Excellent list and a labour of love, a good read too. You may have been too kinda to some of the later stuff, or I'm just a curmudgeon.
Gangs I think suffered more from Weinsteins interference than Scorseses direction. This was during a dry spell where he unfortunately took the bait offered to him. It's not a bad movie but it's certainly not up to his general standards.
casino a B-? that's an A+.
bringing out the dead and departed also deserve an A
my 10 favorite Martin Scorsese movies are
1-Goodfellas
2-Casino
3-The Departed
4-Taxi Driver
5-Raging Bull
6-Cape Fear
7-The Aviator
8-Gangs Of New York
9-Hugo
10-The Last Temptation Of Christ
Scorsese films in my time..
Bringing Out The Dead
Gangs Of New York —saw it in the cinema
The Departed —saw it on pirate dvd
The Aviator
Shutter Island
Wolf of Wall Street —will watch it online
As great as Scorsese is this list is way too kind to Hugo, Gangs of New York & Bringing Out The Dead.