The end was also foreshadowed, if not outright spoiled, by
the trailer, which clearly shows Wahlberg’s character firing a gun toward the camera’s POV. I recalled that scene as the body count started growing at the end of the film, and knew what exactly how the final scene would unfold.
That said, I loved the movie – while I liked *Gangs of New York * and The Aviator (more for Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance than anything else) enough, it good to see Scorsese return to modern-day gangster films.
I loved the music they used - any recommendations for where I can find more of it?
From what I remember, there were a bunch of classic rock covers, and a song or two or three performed by the Dropkick Murphys (pretty big Boston local rock-ish bank). The soundtrack also releases on November 7th (Amazon, but no track listing anywhere I can find).
Can we get a little love for Scorsese’s lifelong editor, Ms. Thelma Schoonmaker? The widow of the great English director Michael Powell. Quite a pedigree. She deserves almost as much credit as Scorsese does for the way this movie moves and lives.
Here’s a good interview with Schoonmaker. Scorsese introduced her to Powell, and she has 2 Oscars (Raging Bull, Aviator) and 4 total nominations from Scorsese films (plus she’ll almost certainly get a nod this year). Her contribution is exemplary and often the best thing about otherwise mediocre Scorsese films (particularly Casino).
That’s what I get for showing up at the last moment before the screening actually starts to nearly every movie I’ve attended all year long…I never arrive in time to see such things! Lucky for me in this instance.
I’ve instantly averted my eyes and ears at every trailer for this movie, so it suprised me a bit.
The editing was excellent, although I thought some of it was blatantly derivative of Aronofsky.
(I’m pretty sure when I was younger I vowed that if I ever wrote a clause like “derivative of Aronofsky”, I’d kill myself. . .but, there ya have it.)
Um, Aronofsky is the unworthy student grovelling at the feet of giants like Schoonmaker, so your “derivative” is a case of cart/horse displacement.
There’s a brief clip in the movie of Di Caprio throwing back pills, a quick cut to a door-lock opening (IIRC), and a quick cut to something else. Pure “Requiem for a Dream”. He used that technique in “Pi”, too, but more effectively in “Requiem”.
I don’t care if she’s a genius. That was pure rip-off. It was so close to what he’s done that it jarred me out of the movie.
Were they the ones that did the mix of rock and Irish music?
If you’ve never seen the last half-hour of Goodfellas, there are plenty of frenetic cuts with Henry taking drugs, entering and leaving rooms, and other quick cuts.
Aronofsky did not invent that cinematic shorthand for drug use. Heck, Trainspotting a few years earlier used similar devices. Schoonmaker didn’t “rip off” anybody (except perhaps herself).
Well it’s obvious you’re not gonna be convinced otherwise, but if anyone has absolutely no need to rip off Darren Aronofsky, it’s Thelma Schoonmaker. One possibility to consider is that a sequence like that is such an obvious way to present a pill-popping moment that it wasn’t an especially original moment for either of them.
THAT’S the image I had in my head, as a precursor to Aronofsky, that I couldn’t place firmly enough to cite. Thanks AG. Even that sequence in Pulp Fiction, of Travolta shooting up before he drives to Uma’s house, foreshadows Aronofsky.
Don’t get me wrong; Aronofsky is one talented mofo. But he didn’t make Pi, or RfaD, in a vacuum. The dude has watched him some movies.
Saw it last night. Wow!!! I loved the dialogue; the acting was fantastic, and the plot was great. I had the same complaint about the ending… How could Sullivan
not do something about Shrink Girlfriend? He knows she knows, and he knows she’s pissed out of her gourd. At least don’t walk into your some w/o your gun drawn…
I’m hoping there will be a director’s cut DVD with added scenes, because I couldn’t figure out
who the two people were that Jack killed near the airport at the beginning. Leo’s dad worked at the airport-- was that supposed to be him? The woman clearly was not his mother.
Did anyone else think it was odd that the Chinese were speaking Cantonese and not Mandarin? I’m pretty sure it was Cantonese-- it sounded like it and I heard gwai-lo (white devil) at least once.
I just want to add one more thing. I’ve never liked Leo as an actor. He was OK in The Beach, but I just never saw him do anything where he was believable. But this movie… man, what a top-notch job that guy did. IN-credible. I say give him the Oscar now!
Easily the best movie I’ve seen this year. It turned me into an instant Dropkick Murphys fan.
I agree that
The shrink gave the letter that DeCaprio gave her to Mark Wahlberg, which pretty much proved to be his death sentence.
No, this is realistic. The overwhelming majority of Boston Chinatown’s residents speak Cantonese. I have a friend from mainland China using our library who doesn’t speak much English, and she has a hell of a time making herself understood in Chinatown.
Forgot to mention that what wasn’t so realistic was Chinatown’s appearance at night. It’s not nearly as brightly lit as it was in the movie. It looked like DeCaprio took a wrong turned and walked into Blade Runner.
Nah, they’re going to give it to Clint Eastwood just because he’s filming a movie about Iwo Jima from both the American point of view and ( as a separate film !) the Japanese point of view. It will be the first Anticipatory Oscar in history, but will allow the Academy to once again slap Scorcese in the face by giving the gold to Clint, who is much beloved out on The Coast. :rolleyes:
Okay, I’m on very thin ice here. Lemme preface what I will say by saying I will go see this film a second time, to give Marty his due.
I hated the last third of this picture. It felt like a mess of a script, with no clear idea of how to resolve the very layered issues that had been set up very brilliantly in the first 2/3 of the picture.
I agree with all of the comments regarding the acting, all around. Great to see Jack ACTING again instead of gawking and prancing for the camera. Clearly the man still has his chops.
I must say, the psychologist character was a very sad lame-assed stereotype. Please. The delicate femme falls for the Bad Boy and screws him- WHILE being in love with the other main character, and moving in with him ? A wee tad far-fetched. The very idea that the main female character in a film full of strong well-defined males would be so weak is a flaw, IMHO.
Wife didn’t see it with me, so I will likely see it again. Perhaps it will feel a bit better upon second viewing.
Cartooniverse
I’ll agree with you on this. There was no way the (psychologist? psychiatrist?) should have fallen for Leonardo DeCaprio’s character. He was just too pathetic. Wrong type of bad boy for women to swoon over.
Also
The ending with Colin’s friend turning out to be a rat felt fake. Too contrived, and I don’t buy that the friend would have come out to save Colin’s ass. Anyway, it’s too much of a coincidence that the two insiders would have been friends on the force without knowing the other was a rat.
Well, I’m not going to pretend that it was a perfect film, but it certainly was the best film I’ve seen in years.
Yup. I was wondering how well known the Dropkick Murphys are outside the area. They’re a fun band.