35mmReviews

New Tuesday... New Top Ten Tuesdays blog post! This week I've decided to bring my top ten favorite films from one of my TOP favorite Hollywood directors: Martin Scorsese.

10

Taxi Driver

Synopsis: Travis Bickle is a loner, alienated from society, who finds work as a cabbie working the night shift. Inside him grows a morbid fascination and disgust with the seedy side of the city's street life--a fascination that drives him to save a young prostitute and enact a vengeance against what he considers are the perpetrators of urban decay.

Personal Comments: Everyone thinks that Leonardo DiCaprio is Scorsese's golden boy, but the truth is that Robert De Niro was THE real golden boy for some of Scorsese's greatest films. I think Taxi Driver was the film that made Robert De Niro. It's one of the biggest classic thrillers I've seen so far.

9

The Color of Money

Synopsis: "Fast" Eddie Felson takes a cocky young protege under his wing and relives his hotshot days of 25 years back.

Personal Comments: Another great film with a superb direction and the amazing acting performance of two huge mega stars, Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. Paul Newman's performance on this film was simply superb, so worth of his Oscars Award.

8

The Aviator

Synopsis: A biographical chronicle which charts the early years of famous tycoon, Howard Hughes (1905-1976), whose eclectic career spanned across everything from oil, for which he cared little, to film, casinos, and aviation--as he turned millions of dollars into billions.

Personal Comments: Scorsese's new golden boy, Leonardo DiCaprio made it big on this amazing film. It was not just about Leonardo DiCaprio's performance, but the supporting cast that was even better than him. Scorsese made a unique and amazing production out of this great story, a very enjoyable film.

7

Goodfellas

Synopsis: Drama of a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn boy initiated into a neighborhood mob in his youth, and the struggles he encounters with the gang through the next 25 years.

Personal Comments: Once again, another great film with the perfect combination: Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese. This brutal and extremely addictive mobster film brings the best of Scorsese's directorial style. Such an ejoyable film!

6

Cape Fear

Synopsis: A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a 14 year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

Personal Comments: Yep, you're right... Robert De Niro, once again. This time, teamed up with two amazing stars: Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange. A creepy thriller that will keep you focused on the screen up to the very last second of this film. Great plot, amazing cast and superb direction.

5

Casino

Synopsis: Sam "Ace" Rothstein, the consummate bookie who can change the odds merely by placing a bet, has risen through the ranks of the Midwestern mob to be picked by the bosses to front their entree into Vegas. Ace lives and breathes the odds. He eventually doubles the mob's take and changes the rules of how the casinos are run. But he can't control the odds when it comes to Ginger McKenna, the chip-hustling vamp who charms Ace and becomes his wife. His infatuation with Ginger turns to obsession as she rises with him to the upper crust of society, then turns to the bottle and pills for consolation in her gilded cage. The third member of this triangle of greed and obsession is Nicky Santoro, Ace's best friend and fellow graduate of the city streets. Together, they run the perfect operation, with Ace in charge and Nicky providing the muscle. But as Nicky expands his interests and each man gains power, their lives become entangled in a story of hot tempers, obstinacy, money, love and deception.

Personal Comments: One of my top favorite films. One of the best mobster's films ever created. Scorsese worked with his truly golden boy, Robert De Niro to bring one of his very best films. A film about money, sex, brute force and crime.

4

Hugo

Synopsis: Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

Personal Comments: I wasn't impressed about the story, to be honest. What really impressed me was everything else involved in this film, the cinematography and visual effects were simply amazing.

3

Gangs of New York

Synopsis: In 1860's lower Manhattan, the Five Points section is a dark, teeming corner of the city known for vice and chaos. Into this frontier of lawlessness arrives the young Irish American, Amsterdam Vallon. Amsterdam is the orphaned son of the slain Priest Vallon--once chief warrior of the Dead Rabbits gang that rallied the Irish immigrants of the Five Points. After 16 years in a "House of Refuge," Amsterdam has returned to the Five Points to hunt down his father's killer. His target is William Cutting (aka "Bill the Butcher") who has since become the merciless new leader of the neighborhood and detests the newly arrived immigrants. Each year, on the anniversary of Priest Vallon's death, the victory is commemorated with a celebration--with invitations handed out by way of the Butcher himself. Amsterdam's plan is clear: to lie in wait and slay his father's killer. While waiting for that night, Amsterdam works his way deep into the Butcher's inner circle, a world of alternating honor and cruelty from which he can only hope to escape. But the closer he gets to Bill, the more he falls under his spell and becomes conflicted--playing the role of the man's surrogate son while keeping the true secret of his past in the shadows. At the same time, Amsterdam meets Jenny Everdeane, an enigmatic pickpocket whose fierce independence fascinates him. When details of her closely linked past with Bill the Butcher emerge, the relationship between the three intensifies. Amsterdam's fight for family honor, freedom and the woman he loves ultimately collides with a pivotal moment in New York and American history: the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots. This uprising, fueled by new Americans like Amsterdam, will have repercussions that will spread through the Five Points to the halls of Government and beyond, and reveal a tenacious spirit in the city that endures.

Personal Comments: Brutal, bloody and intense. One of the best films I've watched in a while, and definitely, one of best films directed by Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis were superb, especially Daniel Day-Lewis. His role on this film was electrifying and overwhelming!

2

The Departed

Synopsis: 'The Departed' is set in South Boston, where the state police force is waging war on organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Billy is quickly gaining Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that there's a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy -- and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself.

Personal Comments: One of the best and most exciting films I've watched in recent years. Scorsese's success was, besides his astonishing work directing this film, putting together one of the best casts I've seen working with such unique chemistry. Totally recommended! Worth of all the Oscars Awards received.

1

Shutter Island

Synopsis: Two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

Personal Comments: One of the best psychological thrillers I've seen in a very long time. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo's electrifying performances makes you forget everything else and get involved in the story. The mistery at the end leaves you thinking, trying to get the real situation involved in the lives of Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule. The location, the story, the direction, the acting performaces, everything together makes this film so, but so worth to watch!