In Contention

Tag: Martin Scorsese

  • Remembering ‘Raging Bull’

    Robert De Niro in Raging BullThe first time I saw “Raging Bull” was in 1980, the second day the film was in theater after release. I was an acting student at the time, heading to the theater with my friend Kevin McDonald, who went on to fame as one of the “Kids in the Hall” stars and film roles in “Galaxy Quest,” denim guy on “Seinfeld” and loads of voice work.

    Like me, Kevin was a film junkie, and we both had been looking forward to the new Scorsese film. Our paths went very different ways, but I know for a fact he recalls this evening with much fondness as what we saw changed our lives forever.  Two and a half hours later we left the theater exhausted, drained and stunned by the event.  We talked incessantly about the film on the subway as we headed back home and convinced our classmates to see it with us the next night, if I recall correctly.

    There was little doubt Robert De Niro would win not only the Academy Award for Best Actor but every other acting award n the planet as well, but I remember being shocked when Scorsese himself did not follow suit. When the Oscar nominations were announced, Scorsese and his film were up for eight, but the writing was on the wall: Robert Redford‘s “Ordinary People” was going to win the lion’s share, no doubt about it.

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  • Shutter Fear

    Anthony B. mentioned the similarities between the “Cape Fear’ and “Shutter Island” posters last week, so I thought I’d toss this up now that Comic-Con craziness has subsided.  Intriguing parallels:

    (from left) Posters for Shutter Island and Cape Fear

  • PAGE TO SCREEN: “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane

    Shutter Island by Dennis LehaneDeep into Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel noir “Shutter Island,” there’s a wonderfully telling exchange between the two central characters. Reflecting on the gothic heights to which their situation has spiralled, one observes, “It’s all a bit Grand Guignol, don’t you think?” His partner’s reply: “I don’t know what the fuck that means.”

    Ostensibly a nod to class difference within the narrative, it’s also arguably a tongue-in-cheek dig at the novel’s self-reflexive straddling of high and low culture. “Shutter Island,” of course, is Grand Guignol of the highest order, but with an acute awareness of the term: steeped in references to throwaway pulp fiction and lurid 1950s B-movies, but written with the literary discipline and deference of a serious novelist.

    Needless to say, Boston-ish setting aside (and even then, “Shutter Island” goes to significant dramatic lengths to distance itself from the city), the novel is a very different beast from the two Lehane titles successfully given the screen treatment in recent years. For all their whodunnit trappings, “Gone Baby Gone” and “Mystic River” traded largely in earnest authenticity; “Shutter Island,” by contrast, hinges on artifice.

    Lehane has apparently stated his admiration for Graham Greene’s alternation between “novels” and “entertainments”: this, carefully wrought and quotation mark-enclosed as it is, is plainly his idea of a pure entertainment, a funhouse, a ride.

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  • 9/7 Web Round-up

    David Lynch• Jeffrey Wells offers his own mid-year assessment of 2009’s best and worst so far. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • How New Line mutated from house of horror to chick-flick central. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Memo to “Baywatch: The Movie” producers: it’s about the jugs, not the jokes. [The Guardian]

    • Too lowbrow for you? Here’s David Lynch on his unlikely collaboration with musos Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. [Sight & Sound]

    • Apparently, Meryl Streep gained 15 pounds making “Julie & Julia.” Wow, she really does want that third Oscar. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Francis Ford Coppola talks movies, wine and why he wanted Scorsese to direct “The Godfather Part II.” Really. [Esquire]

    • An “Up” doubter (commercially speaking, anyway) eats his words. [The New York Times]

    • Not movie-related (yet), but a “Catcher in the Rye” sequel without J.D. Salinger’s involvement? Stop the madness. [The Wall Street Journal]

  • 7/8 Web Round-up

    Woodstock• AMPAS elects its governors. Among those returning to the board: Tom Hanks, James L. Brooks and eternal Oscar bridesmaid Kevin O’Connell. [Variety]

    • Nat Rogers reflects on his favorite thesps of the decade’s first half… and how they’ve fared since. [The Film Experience]

    • Martin Scorsese looks back on Woodstock. A good read, this. [Times of London]

    • Ebert has some choice words for the “Transformers” defenders. [Roger Ebert’s Journal]

    • Noah Forrest boards the “Hurt Locker” train. [Movie City News]

    • Ahead of “Frozen River”‘s long-delayed UK release, Melissa Leo talks about how an Oscar nod has changed her career. [Times of London]

    • Celebrating the delights of the movie-mangling “Cinemash” web series. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Why Nicolas Cage should still be in the conversation for Superman. Uh, right. [The Guardian]

  • Is the auteur a dying breed?

    Lars von TrierBy far the boldest, baldest expression of auteur identity I’ve seen in recent times came in the opening credits of Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist.” It’s a sequence that consists of precisely two emphatically scrawled title cards — “Lars von Trier” and “Antichrist” — in that order. No actors, no production credits, no “a film by,” nothing. Lars von Trier. Antichrist.

    It’s an insistent, slightly tongue-in-cheek declaration of full creative ownership — the film that follows is entirely the product of his own imagination, and all other collaborators are merely at the service of his vision. It may strike some as an arrogant, even hostile, approach, but it drives home the point that he’s one of the few contemporary filmmakers who can legitimately claim the title “auteur” — the term coined by New Wave doyen Francois Truffaut to assert the rise of directorial control in a previously producer-centered artform.

    How many directors in the current film lanscape can boast that kind of brand-name power? It’s a question raised by critic Kaleem Aftap in an interesting — and highly debatable — piece in today’s Independent, in which he argues that, in America at least, the notion of auteurism is on the way out:

    Films directed by Truffaut himself, Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola (used to be) must-see events. At its height, the draw of the auteur was such that films by the Italian modernist Michelangelo Antonioni would regularly appear in the top 25 box-office hits of the year. The right director’s name on a poster was enough to sell tickets and what the directors would do next was something to be genuinely excited about. Now barely any film is sold on the director’s name alone.

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  • 6/22 Web Round-up

    Last Year at Marienbad• Steve Appleford taps into Spinal Tap, 25 years later. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Dennis Lim, meanwhile, revisits the “last gasp of an old-fashioned modernism” that is “Last Year at Marienbad.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • A few of the cinema’s most inspiring, moving and emotional dad moments. [Empire]

    • John Hiscock talks “Year One” with Jack Black. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Popcorn as a sexual aid? [The Guardian]

    • Lou Lumenick, spinning his wheels, wonders whether the top brass shakeup at Paramount this week is prelude to a merger with Universal Pictures. [Lumenick on Film]

    • Sam Mendes beat Martin Scorsese to the “Middlemarch” punch. [The Independent]

    • Speaking of which, Brad Brevet accuses Sam Mendes of attacking the state of American marriage.  If the shoe fits… [Rope of Silicon]

  • The Auteurs: Your online cinema, anytime, anywhere

    TheAuteurs.comI’m quite late to the table on The Auteurs, an on demand film streaming and social networking website mentioned briefly in this morning’s round-up.  I probably should have given it a closer look, since I’ve certainly noticed Glenn Kenny’s continued editorial contributions to the site, but I didn’t really get in there and start digging until over the weekend, when I noticed CNN’s story concerning a partnership with Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation to exhibit restored lost classics.

    “The basic ambition behind The Auteurs,” writes CNN’s Mairi Mackey, “is to make high quality cinema accessible to a young, global audience by making it available on demand cheaply…The Auteurs’ particular niche is auteur-driven cinema combined with social networking.”  The site is the brainchild of former Goldman Sachs banker Efe Cakarel and was funded by Argentine millionaire Eduardo Costantini of Costa Films.  It features a novel community component where you can create a profile, designate your favorite films and interact with other users as well, creating a “platform for discovery,” as Cakarel puts it in the CNN piece.

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  • 6/15 Web Round-up

    Eddie Murphy in Delirious• In case it wasn’t obvious, Paradise Falls from Pixar’s “Up” was inspired by Venezuela’s Angel Falls. [Associated Press via Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Today’s superhero movies have artistic roots in the UK. [BBC]

    • Speaking of which, here’s a girl’s guide to Comic Con 2009. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Anyone else tired of non-news items like this regarding a potential “Arrested Development” movie?  Who cares? [Collider]

    • Martin Scorsese works hard to bring little-seen classics to the web. [CNN]

    • The potentially exciting web site in question. [The Auteurs]

    • Beat writers make their way to the big screen. [The Independent]

    • The Brit-Hitch love-fest (in light of the director’s BFI retrospective) continues. [The Guardian]

    • “Imagine That” might have tanked this weekend, but this Chris Lee remembrance of Eddie Murphy’s comedy turning point — “Delirious,” which celebrated a 25th anniversary last month — is still worth a look. [Los Angeles Times]

    • In honor of the limited reelase of Duncan Jones’s “Moon”: 10 unhappy movie astronauts? [Spout Blog]

  • ‘Shutter Island’ trailer

    Even though the thriller throttle is wide open, the moody atmospherics of this just-released trailer for Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” had me from frame one. DiCaprio looks in confident control, everything in stride these days. Kingsley conveys subtle sinister panache with the best of them. Haley is having the time of his life, taking the bull by the horns. And how can Bob Richardson be at the top of his game each and every time he turns his light meter on?

    This one just shot to the top as must-see. Now. Give it to me ASAP.

    See it in HD at Apple.

  • Hahahahahaha

    From this morning’s Telegraph (among other sources):

    Jamie Foxx, the African-American actor, singer and comedian, has been named as a potential contender for the role of Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s biopic of the entertainer.

    Foxx, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 film Ray, reportedly considered to be “perfect” for the role. If he is chosen for the part, it will be one of the most prominent examples of “colour-blind” casting in Hollywood history. Also in the running are George Clooney, Leonardo di Caprio, Harry Connick Jnr and Justin Timberlake.

    They forgot to mention Dakota Fanning.

  • Keep hidden

    In trying to disentangle the order of Martin Scorsese’s upcoming projects (in the wake of this week’s news that the master is taking on Sinatra), AwardsDaily’s Ryan Adams takes a peek at the range of titles that IMDB Pro lists on the director’s slate.

    I am mistrustful of IMDB’s information at the best of times, particularly with a director like Scorsese who seems to nurture multiple projects indefinitely. (For how many years has “Silence” been in the conversation, after all?) But I was intrigued and a little puzzled to see an optioned property titled “Cache” at the head of the list, with a projected date of 2011.

    Is this the long-mooted American remake Michael Haneke’s 2005 masterpiece, or is it unrelated? (There’s no accent aigu on the title, after all.) Can anyone enlighten me? I remember recoiling in horror when Ron Howard was mentioned in connection with the project a few years ago. Scorsese is obviously a step up, but a remake — by anyone — of Haneke’s very idiosyncratic film still strikes me as a dicey prospect, given how rooted it is in a very specific historical and political context.

  • Scorsese saves ‘Red Shoes’

    The Red ShoesI’m willing to lay a substantial bet that there won’t be a better film screened at this year’s Cannes festival that the brand-new restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 ballet-drama-cum-fairytale “The Red Shoes.” Easily one of the most exquisitely designed works ever put to celluloid, and a jewel in the crown of the great (and recently departed) DP Jack Cardiff’s career, it’s a film I’ve loved since childhood that never fails to show me something new upon each visit.

    The fully restored print will be introduced tomorrow on the Croisette by Martin Scorsese, who arranged and funded the restoration with his longtime editor (and, of course, Powell’s widow) Thelma Schoonmaker. Anyone familiar with Scorsese’s career likely knows the deep affinity the director has for Powell and Pressburger’s work, and there’s a nice piece in today’s Guardian in which he discusses the influence the British team had on his own creative development, as well as his personal friendship with Powell himself:

    I had to explain to him that his work was a great source of inspiration for a whole new generation of film-makers – myself, Spielberg, Paul Schrader, Coppola, De Palma. We would talk about his films in Los Angeles often. They were a lifeblood to us, at a time when the films were not necessarily immediately available. He had no idea this was all happening.

    Apparently, Scorsese and Schoonmaker plan to restore more works in the Powell/Pressburger canon down the line. Bless them. For my part, I’ll be seeing the restoration at next month’s Edinburgh Film Festival. There’s something to look forward to.

  • Shortest brief ever?

    But I’m excited:

    LOS ANGELES – Martin Scorsese (scor-SAY’-zee) will be telling Frank Sinatra’s life story on film.

    Universal Pictures says the Academy Award-winning filmmaker will direct “Sinatra,” the first feature film about Ol’ Blue Eyes‘ life.

    Source: AP.  Love the pronunciation key.

  • The trouble with ‘Margaret’

    Anna Paquin in MargaretLast month, I discussed my frustration over the terminally delayed status of Kenneth Lonergan’s sophomore feature “Margaret,” while sharing a slender hope that linking of composer Nico Muhly to the project might bode well for its eventual completion.

    Unfortunately, an extended LA Times investigation into the matter suggests that “Margaret” is a long way from seeing the light of day — if that ever happens at all. John Horn’s interesting piece provides by far the most comprehensive breakdown to date of the factors delaying the film, and it doesn’t make for encouraging reading. With Lonergan apparently incapable of completing an edit that satisfies him and/or the film’s backers, “Margaret” is now deeply tangled in legal limbo.

    A number of producers and editors — including (Scott) Rudin, (Sydney) Pollack and Martin Scorsese’s legendary editor, Thelma Schoonmaker — have tried but failed to help Lonergan complete his movie, court documents and interviews show. With his financing from (Gary) Gilbert and Fox Searchlight cut off, Lonergan borrowed more than $1 million from actor and close friend Matthew Broderick (who has a small part in “Margaret”) in an attempt to complete the editing of the movie, according to a person close to the production.

    The film’s lengthy post-production sparked two lawsuits, which are scheduled to be tried in June and September. Last July, Fox Searchlight sued Gilbert and his production company, claiming he failed to pay the studio half of the film’s production costs. Two months later, Gilbert’s Camelot Pictures sued Fox Searchlight and Lonergan, alleging that the studio and Lonergan thwarted Gilbert’s many attempts to finish the movie, forcing Camelot to pay for “a clearly inferior and unmarketable film” that Lonergan, several people say, will not support.

    There’s a lot more messy detail where that came from, and the article lays it out better than I can. Horn also offers the bittersweet revelation that the troubled film buried beneath these unfortunate circumstances may well be worth saving.

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  • 2/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mickey Rourke in Diner• Thom Yorke and Gustavo Santaolalla to join forces on “Terminator Salvation” tunes?? [The Playlist]

    • Tom O’Neil spotlights the BAFTA voting process. [Gold Derby]

    • T.L. Stanley on the politics of Dustin Lance Black’s WGA acceptance speech. [Gold Rush]

    • David Poland says Universal dropped the ball on “Frost/Nixon,” as represented by its incredibly weak box office showing. [The Hot Blog]

    • Along a similar line of thought, and in an increasingly popular column idea the past week or so, Peter Sciretta comments on three of this year’s Best Picture nominees being among the lowest grossers in Academy history. [/Film]

    • Presumably out of ideas for the time being, Jeff Wells goes seeking advanced word on “The Road” at…IMDb. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Barry Levinson writes a love letter to Mickey Rourke.  Did they kick the tires and light the fires in the nick of time for this campaign to push on ahead? [New York Times]

    • Bolt and the other characters who transformed cinema. [The Independent]

    • Roger Ebert predicts a handful of the categories, steps out on a limb for Viola Davis. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Across the pond, newly minted BAFTA winner Penelope Cruz explains why she can’t stop crying. [The Sunday Times]

    • Richard Brody spots a mole on the set of Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.”  Well, not really — it’s actually a Cahiers du Cinema-sponsored Argentinian filmmaker/mentee. [The New Yorker]

  • ‘Young Victoria’ surfaces

    A lavishly mounted biopic of the eponymous British monarch that boasts Martin Scorsese among its producers, “The Young Victoria” seemed primed for Oscar consideration last year. Sandy Powell’s typically elaborate costumes were an apparent shoo-in, and some pundits had star-in-waiting Emily Blunt as a dark horse on their Best Actress lists — until the film was unceremoniously yanked from the 2008 schedule.

    Now, ahead of its UK release on March 6, the Telegraph offers an extensive profile of the film, declaring it “a vibrant celebration of a joyous and passionate Queen.” The film certainly has an interesting pedigree, pairing a quintessentially British writer (Julian Fellowes of “Gosford Park” fame) with a very adventurous choice of director, French-Canadian auteur Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée’s last film, the funky gay-oriented family drama “C.R.A.Z.Y.,” has become something of a cult item, so it’ll be interesting to see what he brings to the table here.

    The cast, as you would expect, is mighty impressive, with Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong and Rupert Friend (soon to be seen in “Chéri”) supporting Blunt, whose lead turn Fellowes describes as “one of those wonderful meetings of part and actress that doesn’t happen very often.” The trailer below is, I think, a little dourly cut, but with the level of talent involved, this could be one to watch.

  • 2/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    Martin Scorsese• How “The Wrestler” is rescuing professional wrestling. [The Independent]

    • Kim Voynar on spinning against the frontrunner. [Movie City News]

    • Michael Cieply writes up the Oscarcast as a production struggling to be exciting in the wake of an under-seen slate of nominees. [New York Times]

    • According to Christopher Nolan at the DGA Awards, should Heath Ledger win the Oscar, his family will accept the award on his behalf. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • An Italian office worker is claiming “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was based on a story she wrote 15 years ago and she’s not happy about it. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Nathaniel Rogers has a post-SAG podcast discussion with a few friends.  The topics are too many to list here, but have a listen. [The Film Experience]

    • Scorsese + Day-Lewis + Del Toro = Oscar in the very near future? [Variety]

    • 10 documentaries Hollywood should make into dramatic features, including “Blessed is the Match,” similarly suggested in this space last week. [Spout Blog]