99) The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

99) The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: August 12, 1988 Date Seen: March 15, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

Very moving. See my first of what I hope to be many Inessential Essentials columns for Movieline.

24) Hugo (2011)

24) Hugo (2011) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: November 23, 2011 Date Seen: January 16, 2012 Rating: 3.25/5

Something struck me as I watched Hugo's most striking scene, the one where Hugo Cabret learns about the cinematic tradition that followed after Georges Méliès made his pioneering films. The sequence, which is a hodge-podge montage of disparate films, is scored by a lilting section from Camille Saint-Saëns's "Danse Macabre," one of my favorite pieces of music. Saint-Saëns's piece is a playful but bombastic composition that celebrates the metaphorical ritual of the Dance of the Dead. In the song, the dead rise from the ground for a night and thunderously cavort around their headstones until the break of dawn. It's a lively piece and one I feel is put to good use in Hugo.

But what bothers me about the specific portion of the song that was sampled in this montage is that the sampled section is a very romantic and soft portion of St. Saëns's often raucous piece. "Danse Macabre" is an irreverent tribute to the unquiet dead! I didn't see that same irreverence maintained in Scorsese's scene-long homage to the power of films and I didn't see it in the rest of his film's sweet but sometimes sappy tribute to films. I quite enjoyed Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen's performances though. And the Paris train station set was boffo, too. Still: more bombast, please.

RV!: Taxi Driver (1976)

RV!: Taxi Driver (1976) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: February 8, 1976 Date Seen: March 10, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5

I may be low-balling this one...again. See my piece for Thompson on Hollywood.

RV!: Shutter Island (2010) and RV!: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

RV!: Shutter Island (2010) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: February 2010 Date Seen: January 7, 2011 Rating: 4/5

RV!: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Dir: Robert Wiene Date Released: March 1921 Date Seen: January 8, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5

All your base are belong to Caligari. See my piece on the pervasive influence of Robert Wiene's classic at Fandor.

86) Shutter Island (2010) and 87) The Ninth Configuration

86) Shutter Island (2010) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: February 2010 Date Seen: March 5, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

87) The Ninth Configuration (1980) Dir: William Peter Blatty Date Released: February 1980 Date Seen: March 5, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

It's very hard for me to imagine falling in love with either Shutter Island or The Ninth Configuration. I'm not talking about the distinction between being able to admire or to fiercely cozy up with psychodramas that disguise themselves as gothic horror stories. What I mean is: pulling off the crucial third act in this type of drama is especially crucial. You can have all the pieces of the puzzle assembled correctly up until this point but if they're laid down too zealously or not forcefully enough, its too easy to emotionally check out. That happened to me with both films and it's mostly because of third act narrative difficulties.

In the case of Shutter Island, there's a desperation to Scorsese's storytelling that is too vigorous in its need to deliver the story's tweesty payoff. Scenes, like the conversation about the nature of monsters or the "true nature" of the protag, force the viewer into the same corner that Leonardo Dicaprio's protagonist is forced into. They try to clonk us on the heads with overt metaphors that are too plodding to stick, too obtuse to be worth much of a damn. Likewise, the tragic revelation at the heart of Dicaprio's character just didn't grab me like it was meant to. It was too needy, too schematic to really draw me in. I appreciate Scorsese's vigor and it certainly shows that the film is most definitely not a work-for-hire project, but that same zeal can be rather off-putting. Still, I love the very last scene, which brought me back to my previous admiration for the intensity Scorsese invests in all of his (better) films.

I had the opposite problem with The Ninth Configuration, specifically that the last act loosened its grip too much for me. Again, this is a function of where the film's narrative goes, specifically outside of the asylum's walls and into a world without any rules except "The strong prey on the weak." That pat truism is shoved down the viewer's throat during the bar scene confrontation at the end and while that scene is necessary for the growth of Stacy Keach's character, it's a hard sell considering how broad the point is relative to the delicate interplay between Keach and the inmates up until that point. The story up until that point is very touch-and-go, very of the moment as it's about Keach listening to the inmates, finding out who they are and what he can find out about them. By the end, once a trajectory is assumed, the story's airy, tragic sense of humor evaporates. I wish there was more to my reaction to these films, because I think they're both rather striking. But that last act....god, that last act.

48) After Hours (1985)

48) After Hours (1985) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: September 1985 Date Seen: February 10, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

I really wanted to love this film but the "and then" structure of it made the film's preposterous caricature of SoHo stereotypes oddly grating. I love the ending though. Makes me think the film is an influence on Haruki Murakami's fiction. See my mention of it in my upcoming Marty's New York: Then and Now feature for The Onion NY AV Club.

453) The Age of Innocence (1993)

453) The Age of Innocence (1993) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: October 1993 Date Seen: December 19, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

Thoughtful and sometimes even moving but not usually at the same time. Still, I appreciate its density and formal control. See my tweets as part of Tom Russell's live-tweet by looking for "#aoi."

RV!: The King of Comedy (1982)

RV!: The King of Comedy (1982) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: February 1983 Date Seen: August 19, 2009 Rating: 4.25/5

It still has me in its bullying thrall. See my mention of it in my feature on "Super-Friends," er, "Celebrity Stalkers," for The Onion's Nyork. A.V. Club.