Martin Scorsese. Academy award, four BAFTA awards, three Emmy awards, three golden globes and a Grammy award later, has solidified himself in the Mount Rushmore of film directors.
As you look at his filmography, one word comes to mind, consistency. This is what separates your typical good actors, to the legends. Let’s rewind a bit to 1976, when he released Taxi Driver starring Robert De Niro, which was his coming out party. This movie has aged incredibly and shows how isolation and society can negatively affect one’s mental health, as well as wellbeing. At the academy awards in 1977, this film was handed 4 major awards, those being: best actor in a leading role, best actress in a supporting role, best music and original score, and best picture. That was only for one movie of his. He has only gone up through his career which is rare, considering most directors fall off a cliff, or gradually decline.
Fast forward to 1980, he outdid himself with the famous Raging Bull, yet again starring, Robert De Niro. 2 years pass by and guess who he gets for his famous King of Comedy? Yes, Robert freaking De Niro. Some of his notable films over the years are After Hours, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and the Irishman. He has owned the past 3 decades in my opinion, he had the western epic Killers of the Flower Moon, which released last year, which flies under the radar, compared to some of the other masterpieces.
One of my favorite characteristics is his use of dialogue and profanity, his scripts do not sugar code anything, they say what they mean, and mean what they say. His ability to get great actors and actresses is mind blowing to me, because he has such a reputation of having very good films that always do well, the actors want to be included and have big roles in his films, but that is why these movies end up having nonstop success. Just off the top of my head some of them include Robert De Niro, Leonardo Dicaprio, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Jonah Hill and Mathhew McConaughey, name someone who has worked with a better variety of actors, I’ll wait.
The Plots of most of Scorsese’s films a few of them are based on real events or true stories, grabs a viewer’s attention extremely fast. His films have a reputation for aging extremely well, especially films of his turning 40 or 50 soon. His use of violence is something that is extremely eye opening, his use of professional clothing, a majority of his protagonists are always dressed properly or professionally. His movies are all successes in the box office
You thought I was just listing movies here? He won the award for Outstanding Director a drama series in Boardwalk Empire, starring Steve Buscemi and Michael Shannon.
If you are a huge fan of his like me, patiently waiting for what he has to offer us next, whether its a mini-series, or a 4-hour film, he has my full undivided attention.
