Remembering Marty's Win

One of my favorite Oscar moments -- don't know why George Lucas was there presenting the award as he is hardly considered on of the best directors of the last 40 years.  I could think of countless other winners from that time period James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Jonathon Demme, Oliver Stone or Woody Allen that would've made more sense.  Anyway here's a link to his speech.

Marty

Shutter Island

Shutter Island
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Martin Scrosese
Runtime: 138 Minutes

Be advised that this review contains a discussion of key elements to the movie, while not exactly revealing spoilers, if you want to a fresh viewing of the movie I suggest you read with caution.

Much of the talk on Shutter Island the last few weeks has focused on in its supposed “twist” ending. This is a bit unfair as the movie should be viewed as an entire experience, where the reality of everything is questioned. That being said, I will keep this review brief as not to tread too far into spoiler territory.


Most of you will know the basic gist of the story, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a US Marshal in Boston that is sent to investigate the disappearance of patient at a facility for the criminally insane. Not helping matter is that this facility is located on an isolated island, and that his investigation coincides with an incoming hurricane. DiCaprio quickly gets the sense that all is not right with this particular facility.

Shutter Island could have easily played out as your standard genre film. Directed with forcefulness and a singular vision, Shutter Island rarely finds a dull moment in its 2 hour plus running time. Scorsese has never been accused on compromising his vision of a story and that holds true. Shutter Island oozes with atmosphere; from the head doctor’s office, to a sketchy lighthouse and images of the storm a sense of dread and confusion hangs over the proceedings. Scorsese and the entire production do a wonderful job of luring the viewer into this world.  I was struck with how closely the film’s mood reminded me of The Shining. Both movies play with reality and use an impending storm to heighten that sense of confusion.

Also present is Scorsese’s usual exploration of guilt. DiCaprio’s character is constantly haunted by the reminder of his wife’s cruel death and the atrocities he faced in Germany. He is unable to come to terms with what he has done and what he has seen, as the mystery on the island grows deeper so does DiCaprio’s guilt.

The movie is filled out nicely with a superb cast, with both Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow delivering blistering supporting performances. Initially I was afraid Kingsley’s character would be too obvious, but he plays him just right, whether we should trust him or not remains a question to the very end. The always marvelous Patricia Clarkson also delivers a standout performance in her only scene. Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, Ted Levine, Jackie Earle Haley, Emily Mortimer and Elias Koteas round out the cast nicely.

A few last words on the ending, while it doesn’t blindside you it works well with preceded it. Even in appears to be a conclusion, the viewer still has questions to what it all means and if he can still trust everything he has heard or seen.

Regardless, it’s great to Scorsese unrestrained from the burden of trying to win an Oscar. He forged a singular vision for this movie and ran with. Thankfully the movie fits nicely into his canon and acts as a nice introduction to those unfamiliar with is work.

B+

Shutter Island and Who's That Knocking at My Door

Scorsese had a good weekend as Shutter Island easily took number one at the box office at this weekend.  All the fuss over this being a genre flick confuses me somewhat considering Scorsese has made more mainstream fare like Cape Fear and The Color of Money.  I also caught his first feature Who's That Knocking at My Door tonight, a mixed-bag of a movie.  The end result clearly exhibits Scorsese's progression of the film from a student movie to feature film, creating an effort that isn't as strong as other debut features.  However, given the ardent following Scorsese has, I'm a little shocked to how little seen this small movie is.  Two things stick out watching this movie, (Scorsese's love of movies and his love of music).  As has become standard Scorsese uses a bold soundtrack to bolster his story. Any fan of Scorsese should check this out.

Paul Newman - The Color of Money

The latest in my addition of Best Actor Winners

Actor: Paul Newman                                
Film: The Color of Money
Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1986

Other Nominees:

Dexter Gordon - Round Midnight
Bob Hoskins - Mona Lisa
William Hurt - Children of a Lesser God
James Woods - Salvador


Paul Newman's Oscar for his reprising his role Eddie Felson is often cited as one of the greatest examples of Oscar rewarding a favorite actor for one of his lesser performances.  That's not to say that Paul Newman delivers a less than average performance here, but given his great roles in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hud, Butch Cassidy, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, The Verdict and later performances in Nobody's Fool and Road to Perdition leave some people wishing he could've received it for a greater performance.  However, his award here is more than acceptable than other career Oscars such as John Wayne's in True Grit.

Paul Newman certainly knows the Fast Eddie character well and he displays that confidently here.  There isn't much trouble buying that Eddie has ended up where he is, Newman takes it even further and displays the character's doubts and strengths as he takes a young hustler under his tutelage.  Eddie still possesses the same confidence, but also must face the realization that he isn't untouchable as he once might have been.  This type of character obviously wasn't new for Newman, so the performance lacks the range of earlier Newman performances.  Despite the simple nature of the performance it is also a performance that is difficult to dislike, and Oscar saw an appropriate time to honor a Hollywood legend.

Bob Hoskins' performance in Mona Lisa likely posed the greatest threat to Newman's win, but with Newman's star power and the smaller nature of Hoskin's film paved the way for Newman. Notably absent in the field were Jeff Goldblum hampered by the sci-fi and grotesque nature of The Fly and Gary Oldman's breakthrough in Sid and Nancy.

Paul Newman's win is notable for being the only time an actor has won an Oscar for reprising a role in a sequel.  Newman was also the third actor to win in  Martin Scorsese film.

Other Wins:
National Board of Review

Remake This!

I've held off the many announcements on the possible reboots of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (really?), Vacation and countless others from the last few weeks. However, I would be remised if I didn’t speculate regarding the rumor coming out of the Berlin Film Festival. Reporting from Ekko magazine out of Sweden has Martin Scorsese talking with Lars von Trier about the two collaborating to rework Taxi Driver. As respected of a filmmaker that von Trier is, I don't see why there's a need to mess around with a film that stands perfectly well on its own. A sequel or prequel following Travis Bickle makes little sense. What more can you do with Bickle’s story? I suspect a more experimental way of remaking the story, von Trier after all is a rather bold experimental filmmaker. I also respect Scorsese and if he is confident that he can make this work then I might have to trust him. Scorsese has taken on remakes successfully with both Cape Fear and The Departed, but neither one of those films was remaking a classic the size of Taxi Driver. This could just be idle speculation, but the head of von Trier's production company is issuing a no-comment, which means Travis Bickle better be worried.