The Martin Scorsese Celebration Thread

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 May 2006, 01:19

After watching Raging Bull again last Friday I felt compelled to start this thread. Raging Bull is a great film which just gets better with each viewing for me.

Anyway recent discussions with Brad have convinced me to finally order Warner's lovely-looking R1 Scorsese boxset. So I'll finally own my favourite film, Goodfellas. Also ordered his lacklustre period drama The Age of Innocence and The Color of Money (which I haven't seen).

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 09 May 2006, 02:07

I liked Casino and Cape Fear most.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 09 May 2006, 06:34

not his greatest fan tbh, quite liked taxi driver though it's dated somewhat. i enjoyed cape fear as well.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 May 2006, 11:06

Taxi Driver is getting a new theatrical run (in celebration of it's 30th anniversary) in the UK starting 14th July, new prints will be shown.
http://www.parkcircus.com/TaxiDriver/Ta ... rMain.html
It'll be shown uncut according to the BBFC website. I dunno why Park Circus bothered to resubmit it for classification when it had previously been passed uncut for the DVD release.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 May 2006, 11:37

Has your Sendit Raging Bull DVD arrived then? You must've taken the last one

as they're all out of stock. My NYNY has arrived but no Raging Bull as yet.

I've yet to see a bad Scorsese film with only GONY being flawed but not bad. Most are absolutely awesome.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Anyway recent discussions with Brad have convinced me to finally order Warner's lovely-looking R1 Scorsese boxset.

Mine arrived this morning. I was leaving for work so wasn't able to open it yet.

saltysam wrote:not his greatest fan tbh, quite liked taxi driver though it's dated somewhat.

:shock:

Taxi Driver is only one of the best films ever made. Definitely Scorsese's best IMO. It has so much raw power.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Taxi Driver is getting a new theatrical run (in celebration of it's 30th anniversary) in the UK starting 14th July, new prints will be shown.

Woo hoo. I so hope my local art house shows it. Taxi Driver on the big screen. I'm definitely there.

I hope this means Sony will give us a new SE DVD but I doubt it. Who are Park Circus? Huh how come Sony lost the rights? Or maybe they don't own the theatrical rights.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Uncut according to the BBFC website. I dunno why Park Circus bothered to resubmit it for classification when it had previously been passed uncut for the DVD release.

Not quite. There is a zipper edit when Jody Foster undoes Robert DeNiro flies. She was a minor at the time.

You'd think people would've been pissed off but no one seems to care. It doesn't bother me as I've yet to actually spot the edit. I hear it's very minor. Still I don't see cuts mentioned on the previous release so maybe it was altered before submission.

Don't they have to resubmit it as it's being reshown theatrically? Not just a new DVD.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 09 May 2006, 13:51

bradavon wrote:Not quite. There is a zipper edit when Jody Foster undoes Robert DeNiro flies. She was a minor at the time.

The cut was waived a while back... DVD release is uncut.

Don't they have to resubmit it as it's being reshown theatrically? Not just a new DVD.

Yes, if it hasn't already been passed in that media and/or form by the same company.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 09 May 2006, 13:55

Taxi Driver is his best film, by a mile.

I liked Cape Fear, but really the rest of his films are not good, and some are downright awful, its like he remakes the exact same film over and over again, very bland and un origanal.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 May 2006, 13:57

The cut was waived a while back... DVD release is uncut.

I didn't know that cheers.

romerojpg wrote:its like he remakes the exact same film over and over again, very bland and un origanal.

Romero hat on: Say that after you watch a few. Sure he's returned to the same themes a few times but to say he remakes the same film over and over again is well wrong. A handful of similar themed films doesn't equate to them all being the same. He does clearly have an interest in American violence and in particular New York violence.

He's made lots of other types of films too such as "Age of Innocense" and even "Kundun". Have you seen that one? I'm willing to bet you haven't. Personally I really enjoyed it, very unlike most of his other work.

Even "Bringing out the Dead" is very different again (also very good and very underrated) so all being remakes and exactly the same not true at all. I've yet to see The Avaitor but that too looks nothing like his ganster output.

Unoriginal, yeah right. They may share themes with other films but the sheer quality in most cases far surpasses the competition.

p.s - Which ones are awful?

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 09 May 2006, 14:24

You like to think you know what I watch dont you

you are nearly always wrong mind you

I have seen Age of Innocense and Kundun, not that I can remember anything about either films mind you. I have seen nearly all his films.

Goodfellas for me is one example of his work going maybe to far, I loved the film to start with and about half way thru it just went downhill for me for some reason. The violence in some of his films I dont like I must say, I dont ussually mind violence at all, but the knife in the trunk was very nasty.

I hated Kind of Comedy (been a long time since I saw it, so I do want to see it again) the same goes for Raging Bull, I really detested that film.

The Color of Money, ahh yes that was good

forgot about that.

Taxi Driver I think holds up well for so many reasons, I dont know why its just a really great film the music esspecially is amazing. The 1st time I saw it maybe 5 years ago I was quite shocked.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 May 2006, 16:25

Lucky I didn't bet anything on Kundun then

. I've no idea how you can say they are remakes and the exact same film then.

Oh wait I was wrong Kundun is identical to Gangs of New York.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 May 2006, 10:24

bradavon wrote:Has your Sendit Raging Bull DVD arrived then?

Yes. That's why I re-watched it last Friday. The remastered transfer is lovely and the DTS track is quite effective - it's used for music and during the boxing scenes, the rest of the film is pretty much rooted in stereo (the film was originally in stereo anyway). The new doco (divided into 3 parts) is great and they've carried over the fantastic "Bronx Bull" featurette from the "25th AE". It's packaged in a nice digipack with a booklet.

You must've taken the last one as they're all out of stock. My NYNY has arrived but no Raging Bull as yet.

That's too bad.

I've yet to see a bad Scorsese film with only GONY being flawed but not bad.

Agreed, GONY is flawed, but I still like it. 3.5/5 from me.

Mine arrived this morning. I was leaving for work so wasn't able to open it yet.

Just to make sure, you received the R1 boxset with the Mean Streets SE?

saltysam wrote:not his greatest fan tbh, quite liked taxi driver though it's dated somewhat.

Stone the heathen!

I haven't watched Taxi Driver in years, must watch my DVD sometime. I received it as a birthday gift in 2003 and a great gift it was.

bradavon wrote:I hope this means Sony will give us a new SE DVD but I doubt it. Who are Park Circus?

From their website:- "Park Circus is the UK’s only commercial distributor specialising in the acquisition and distribution of classic films for theatrical release."

Park Circus is the UK’s only commercial distributor specialising in the acquisition and distribution of classic films for theatrical release.

Sony still own the rights. Obviously Park Circus have licensed it from them for theatrical distribution.

Park Circus is the UK’s only commercial distributor specialising in the acquisition and distribution of classic films for theatrical release.

Well the BBFC says "all previous cuts waived".

Don't they have to resubmit it as it's being reshown theatrically? Not just a new DVD.

Don't ask me, it's your country's laws. I've only spent a month in England 10 years ago (I was 9 at the time), you've been there about 27 years.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 May 2006, 11:09

I didn't much like Age of Innocence when I saw it on TV. The setting was fantastically created and the production details were awesome, but the story was totally un-engaging. I cared nothing for the characters and the acting of the female leads (Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder) was atrocious (Daniel Day-Lewis was fantastic as always though).

I have to say that Winona Ryder is one of the most fucking awful actresses of the last 20 years.

Moving onto Kundun. Which DVD to get? The R4 (authored by Madman) is the only anamorphic DVD in the OAR of 2.35:1, but it is missing the original 5.1 mix (which is equally as important as having an anamorphic transfer in the OAR). I haven't seen the film, so I might just buy the R4. If I like it enough, could always double-dip for the R2UK (since it'd have PAL speed-up) and author my own "definitive version".

BTW Brad, The King of Comedy is £3.79 at Sendit at the moment. I really want to see it after reading this review.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 May 2006, 12:15

Just to make sure, you received the R1 boxset with the Mean Streets SE?

Yep.

FYI if you manage to find each seperately cheaper get that as it's just 5 keep cases (not amaray's) in a cardboard box. I'm pleased I bought it as each works out as £5 or so each. The films look really good. I've only seen Mean Streets (decent but not great) and Goodfellas (Great and 2 Disc of course).

EvaUnit02 wrote:Don't ask me, it's your country's laws. I've only spent a month in England 10 years ago (I was 9 at the time), you've been there about 27 years.

He he that was a general question to everyone that Mark answered.

26 years and 5 months shy of 5 days actually. Oh I also lived in Belgium for a few years when I was a baby too so not even 26 years actually

I have to say that Winona Ryder is one of the most fucking awful actresses of the last 20 years.

I couldn't disagree more. She was excellent in Girl, Interrupted and Edward Scissorhands.

Why did you buy AOI then?

EvaUnit02 wrote:Moving onto Kundun. Which DVD to get? The R4 (authored by Madman) is the only anamorphic DVD in the OAR of 2.35:1, but it is missing the original 5.1 mix

That's a hard one. I'd go for the R4 despite being DD2.0 only. Anamorphic is more important IMO but yes 5.1/2.0 is also important. Do Madman own Shock Records?

Just because both are PAL that doesn't mean they would sync together properly. I wouldn't bother.

The French R2 looks to have both:

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004WZAD

Rear cover art (it says both Anamorphic and 4:3 so should be safe. French DVDs are the only ones I know of to make use of the Anamorphic Flag which converts an anmorphic DVD to 4:3 if your DVD Player is set to do so, most just output it as non-anamorphic):

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0 ... ZZZZZZ.jpg

And so does the Dutch R2, there looks to be two version one cropped and one not:

http://www.mediadis.com/video/detail.asp?id=119715

The Japanese DVD maybe anamorphic too:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=PIBF-7073

I'd still get the R4 as the Dutch, French and Japanese DVDs are bound to cost loads.

BTW Brad, The King of Comedy is £3.79 at Sendit at the moment. I really want to see it after reading this review.

Thanks but I've bought enough for now. It's not high on my list.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 May 2006, 12:43

bradavon wrote: Why did you buy AOI then?.

It was only $11.50 (£3.99) and seeing it in it's uncropped OAR without ~30-40 worth of ads might improve my opinion of the film.