How does Martin Scorsese direct a scene? Beyond the soundtracks, the masculinity, the classic film references, the Catholicism, the violence, the misogyny, and all the what-not critics like to talk about when they don't talk about a movie, what does Scorsese do when he frames a shot?

Charlie sits down after dancing with the stripper, and Michael sits down next to him. Scorsese has an obvious set up between the actors and the camera—they're both staring out toward the camera, Michael sitting slightly in front so he can look back. The scene basically cuts between three shots, one larger exterior shot of both men, and single medium close-ups of each individual. As the two men talk, the shot-reverse shot doesn't…

Everyone has a favorite Scorsese. Goodfellas. Raging Bull. Taxi Driver. Casino. The Departed. The King of Comedy. Those are just a few examples of Scorsese's insanely influential take on cinema. And yet, I feel one is forgotten. Sure, It was arguably as influential as those later masterpieces, but this particular film feels left in the dust.

Mean Streets is that forgotten cinematic gem. This film is like the wild horse that Scorsese hadn't tamed just yet. Crazy, uncontrollable, fascinating. Mean Streets is the ultimate test film for the now master director. But, that doesn't mean it isn't good. Actually, It's my personal favorite of Scorsese's filmography, and I could argue until the end of time that its one of his…

New Hollywood Redux Project #1

Harvey Keitel is freaking awesome in this film. His lupine facial features make him look like a fresh-faced young wolf in a finely tailored suit. This makes him perfect in this role as he wrestles with his faith, tradition and loyalty in attempt to move from a young cub scrapping and tumbling about with the rest of his litter to becoming an alpha male ready to lead the pack.

His elders have him on the fast track to enter the corridors of power within the Italian community. His ambition drives him to fall into line with the unwritten code of conduct of his elders. Yet, this flies in the face of his principles and his…

I am a little flumix why I had not seen this movie yet. In many ways it was like seeing a rosetta stone and seeing how film DNA has intwined and melded together over the last 45 years. Okay, I'm not entirely sure those two metaphores worked together but you get what I mean. And it's not just what Taratino did with it in the 90s, more how with this third movie Scorsese shaped movies in general. It's in very board strokes and part of a larger indepentant movement that was already happened in the early 70s. But you take this movie out of film history and it looks very different. I always knew how important Scorsese was, now I…

“Wuzzuh matta wit’ chu?” The only dialog Scorsese likes more than the F Bomb.

The first really poorly made Scorsese film I’d seen. I was hoping if Goodfellas was his pulp fiction this would be his reservoir dogs, but that’s not it. If Goodfellas is a really good movie with some scenes in a bar, this is just a film set in a bar.

The moral of this story is don’t help those who can’t help themselves. That’s really evident. You can tell De Niro is no good from his opening intro.
We get a quick scene of him blowing up a mailbox and running away, ‘Johnny Boy’ appears on screen  then it cuts somewhere else. Really jarring that we…