Xixax Film Forum

The Director's Chair => Martin Scorsese => Topic started by: Keener on April 25, 2003, 08:46:32 PM

Title: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Keener on April 25, 2003, 08:46:32 PM
Am I the only person who missed this movie ? I mean, I love Scorsese and Schrader and it had a good cast supporting it. But over-all,  the film seemed kinda lacking to me. Anyone agree ? Disagree ? Don't care ? Want some donuts ?
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Sleuth on April 26, 2003, 01:19:56 AM
It was a little lacking spirit, but everything else seemed well done.  Donuts, yes
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: oakmanc234 on April 26, 2003, 02:16:54 AM
'Bringing out the Dead' is the perfect midnight movie (as in you watch it at midnight), you'll feel like your doing the graveyard shift with them. Or better yet, watch it in the early hours, about 3, when its still dark, so that it finishes when dawn breaks. Thats how I watched it the first time and I absolutely loved it. It wasn't really an 'experience' (that word gets used too much for watching a movie) but a lot of fun. I think at times it was uncannily like 'Taxi Driver' in look and sound (which I loved), its the closest anyone will get to a 'Taxi Driver' sequel, thats for sure...
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: MrBurgerKing on April 26, 2003, 10:25:09 PM
Quote from: oakmanc234'Bringing out the Dead' is the perfect midnight movie (as in you watch it at midnight), you'll feel like your doing the graveyard shift with them. Or better yet, watch it in the early hours, about 3, when its still dark, so that it finishes when dawn breaks. Thats how I watched it the first time and I absolutely loved it. It wasn't really an 'experience' (that word gets used too much for watching a movie) but a lot of fun. I think at times it was uncannily like 'Taxi Driver' in look and sound (which I loved), its the closest anyone will get to a 'Taxi Driver' sequel, thats for sure...

Good points, oakmanc. How about a midnight double feature of After Hours followed by Bringing Out the Dead? Or perhaps make it a triple feature and add that Power Rangers movie.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: sphinx on April 26, 2003, 11:40:40 PM
i thought it was a rockin' fuckin' movie.  it really must be watched late at night with some kind of a stimulant, although it's just as effective by itself.  bryan still has my copy of it, that bastard!  that makes me want to watch it right now!

although it's not completely out of print, the dvd is getting harder to find these days, so if you want to nab a copy of it, you'd better do it soon.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Ghostboy on April 26, 2003, 11:55:51 PM
I love this movie. It's not as great as 'Taxi Driver,' but it tells a very similar story (man seeking redemption), and it has a lot of really amazing scenes. This is one of those movies that made '99 a really great year.

And strangely enough, I first saw it around three in the morning, too...screening it at the theater the night before it opened.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Keener on April 27, 2003, 12:01:25 PM
I've tried to sit through it twice and it just doesn't click with me. Guess I'm alone on this one.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Duck Sauce on April 27, 2003, 12:59:07 PM
i know what you mean, it seems like one of the movies where I would be bored and just not really into it, only i wasnt bored and i really was into it. Loved the movies, especially the backwards shit.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: SoNowThen on April 28, 2003, 11:38:06 AM
I love this flick. A couple years after I saw it, I started working the night shift at a shitty hotel in downtown Vancouver, that happened to be next door to a hospital. Everything in this movie is SPOT ON. The night shift produces some very unusual characters...
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: MacGuffin on April 28, 2003, 01:59:36 PM
It took me a second viewing to really appreciate this film. The first viewing, I guess I was expecting something else and had that in mind, and felt disappointed. But upon another look, I looked past all the colorful characters and saw the character study of a man saving himself by redeeming himself.

Also, I think this is Scorsese's best use of source music. The soundtrack is killer.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: chainsmoking insomniac on April 28, 2003, 07:57:08 PM
Keener, you're NOT alone.  I could never settle in with this movie either...there are a couple of scenes that were kinda cool, but overall this film lacked a 'spark'...I almost felt like it wanted to be two movies....
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: ©brad on April 29, 2003, 08:07:36 AM
Quote from: MacGuffin
Also, I think this is Scorsese's best use of source music. The soundtrack is killer.

oh yes. casino is a close second.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: dufresne on May 01, 2003, 03:05:55 AM
Quote from: MacGuffin

Also, I think this is Scorsese's best use of source music. The soundtrack is killer.

exactly.  this movie had more energy than people give it credit for.

DON'T MAKE ME TAKE OFF MY SUNGLASSES.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: brockly on May 02, 2003, 02:06:12 AM
I though this movie was great. The cinematography was classic Scorsese, and the story really sucked ya in. The dialogue was a little disappointing though.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: The Silver Bullet on May 03, 2003, 07:11:43 PM
QuoteOriginally posted on my blog:

In the lead up to the release of the long anticipated Scorsese picture Gangs of New York I have decided that I will go through each of the Scorsese pictures [the ones I can get my hands upon at least] and devour them. I have started with a film that I have been waiting to see since I read the Ebert review of it [a four out of four].

Bringing Out The Dead is a terribly sad, haunting, chilling and at times extremely funny, but not always in an uplifting way, film. The three characters that Nicolas Cage rides with [played by John Goodman, Vhing Rhames and Tom Sizemore, in that order] are brilliantly crafted characters that at once bear testament to the madness of the city of New York and strike the viewer with a near lethal amount of comic relief. It is hard to describe. Some moments are light hearted, yes, some of the characters are caricatures and not real people, sure. But if the audience laughs it laughs uncomfortably and nearly unwillingly. Scorsese’s bright lights fry at the mind and hurt the eyes. The film, at times, plays as much like a music video as a Guy Ritchie, Quentin Tarantino, or Baz Luhrmann film would. But underneath all the glamour and cartoon character comedy is something frighteningly real and desperate screaming at the top of its lungs.

The screenplay reminded me, quite a lot, actually, of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut; we experience a certain world [in this case the world of death and dying on the late night/early morning streets of New York] through the eyes of a man who may not be the most reliable narrator [Cage is plagued by reoccurring visions of a girl who he failed to save; a technique that at times grated and at other times touched, but most of all, seemed just slightly tacked on by Schrader. I didn’t see why failure was necessary to Cage’s character; surely having seen so much death would have been reason enough to have been as emotional torn up as he was?]

The episodic nature of Bringing Out The Dead is what Roger Ebert picked up upon in his review mainly [the review that I can remember anyhow]. Aside from that it is brilliantly executed, crafted, edited and scored [all trademarks of Uncle Marty, yes], but indeed the episodic nature of the piece, aided with its ultimate lack of plot [there are reoccurring threads including experiences with an apartment named the Oasis, with the daughter of a man who is in a coma, and the run ins with a violent and delusional young man, but these are not plots, just experiences, loosely related happenings in the eyes of a man who walks the same road every day of his life] that make the picture what, for me, it was.

Scorsese is probably the best American director to have ever lived. Most everyone who has a true knowledge of film would without a doubt call him the most consistent [his track record far out ways that of, perhaps, his closest rivals, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman who have churned out crap in their times], and so calling him best may not be that far behind.

I did not hear much about Bringing Out The Dead when it was released in theatres, or on video, or on DVD. And it is a shame, because the film is an amazing cinematic experience [and a brilliant way to experience the mastery of Scorsese.].

Up until now one of the most influential pieces of inspiration in the writing of my own new screenplay was in fact not Bringing Out The Dead, but Roger Ebert's review of Bringing Out The Dead. The basic rundown by Ebert of the structure of the film supplied me with a wealth of ideas. Seeing the film I realise that, perhaps, the film is not structurally what Ebert set it up to be [the three nights; Thursday, Friday and Saturday, are not as stylistically defined as I thought they may be, bar the title cards and Cage's acting partner for the evening]. But what did strike me was the theatricality of it, something that I desperately want to capture. Something overacted or a little heightened that by all logical reasoning should be funny, but isn’t. Something humorous that is eaten alive by the desperation of everything that surrounds it.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Ghostboy on May 03, 2003, 08:08:24 PM
Great essay there, SB.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Derek237 on May 07, 2003, 05:04:16 PM
I loved BOTD! One of my favourite movies. For some reason I just personally liked it better than Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Casino, and all of Scorsese's other great movies. The only one I like better is Goodfellas. I totally agree with the 'midnight movie' comment. It just doesn't feel right watching it on a sunday afternoon.   :)
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: modage on May 28, 2003, 12:00:55 PM
Quote from: MacGuffinAlso, I think this is Scorsese's best use of source music. The soundtrack is killer.

i really liked the soundtrack too.  EXCEPT did anyone else think that the one scene with Nic and Patricia in the back of the ambulance with NATALIE MERCHANT playing was more than a bit out of place in THAT MOVIE?!?  it seemed to kind of capture the spirit of the scene but really seemed to not fit with the overall spirit of the picture.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: SoNowThen on May 28, 2003, 12:03:39 PM
No, no, I almost cry when I see that. No talking, but they just kinda bump with the ambulance, like when she almost hits her head and kinda grins at him. That's in my top romantic scenes ever.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Victor on May 28, 2003, 02:31:57 PM
i think its a great scene. even though i hate the song, it works in a way, it makes it feel more like a period piece, new york in the early 90s, that song would have been playing on the radio, or in their heads. you know when you start to fall in love and songs you never liked are suddenly great?

this is one of my favorite scorsese pics, the whole things gravy. he needs to work with cliff curtis again.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: ShanghaiOrange on June 01, 2003, 08:42:43 PM
Marc Anthony's role in this movie its the best thing he ever did.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Find Your Magali on October 30, 2003, 09:37:44 AM
Finally watched this late last night (after midnight), after working 12+ hour shifts 10 of the past 11 days. ... So I was very punchy but a bit too caffeinated to sleep. ... It's a very impressive movie to watch, tremendous cinematic. Wonderfully captures the late-night beats and rhythms of the city. ... But I can understand some people's comments that it "doesn't click" like a "traditional" movie. ... I think the reason it's so hard to get sucked into the movie and identify with anyone is because it's supposed to be unsettling. Cage's nervous breakdown of long night shifts with different partners, whiskey, caffeine, cigarettes, phantoms, and general craziness doesn't give his character -- or the viewer -- a chance to really get comfortable with the character, or the movie. And that's mostly the point, I think.

Some other random comments:

-- Great soundtrack, agreed.
-- I loved the scene with Cage and Arquette riding in the back of the ambulance. Not because of or inspite of the Merchant music. But because I watched Arquette's face the entire time, watching her go through the range of emotions and expressions, and it's just a wonderful, wonderful acting job. Who needs dialogue?
-- I thought the dream sequences ranged from creepy and surreal to overproduced in a special-effects kind of way, which sucked me out of the moment. For example, Cage pulling the ghostlike bodies out of the street was just too crisp and Hollywood of an effect for me. It seemed like a movie, not a dream.
-- OK, it's always great to have Scorsese in a film. BUT I was annoyed and distracted by having him as the voice of the Dispatcher. The dialogue by the male dispatcher is already over the top and too stylized to seem real. But then having Scorsese recite these perfectly written, poetic, "missions" for the ambulance crew just disrupted the suspension of disbelief too much. Maybe that was just me. I'm not saying I didn't like it. It just didn't fit with the tone the movie was going for, I think.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: SHAFTR on April 18, 2004, 12:16:20 AM
I watched this movie late at night and it freaked me out.  Everytime Rose appeared, I got freaked out.  Most of the dream sequences worked, but I agree with the drug halucination sequence of him pulling people out of the sewers..did not work.  I also didn't buy Patricia Arquette's character.  Most of the soundtrack worked for me, especially Red Red Wine.  Most of Scorsese's cinematic tricks worked for me, except the strange jump cut in the Waiting room with Arquette's character, that felt out of place.  I loved Ving Rhames' character, cracked me up.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: SHAFTR on April 18, 2004, 08:45:42 PM
also, could kind soul quote the scene in the ambulance when Cage & Rhames are talking about people be saved before jumping, and Cage mentions something that happened in Iceland(?) and that the wind blew the girl back up.  Rhames says it was jesus, and Cage says it was the wind.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: SiliasRuby on May 14, 2004, 02:27:16 AM
I LOVE this Movie, The cinematography, The soundtrack, the acting. Reading this thread made me want to watch it again so....it is now 12:25 in the AM, I'm going to turn off all the lights in my room and I am just about to put the DVD in....See yeah later
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: Big Owl on May 23, 2004, 08:27:34 AM
Quotecould kind soul quote the scene in the ambulance when Cage & Rhames are talking about people be saved before jumping, and Cage mentions something that happened in Iceland(?)

It was Ireland actually.I just think i should be the person to point that out

                                 

                          Marcus
Say I ever tell you about that time years ago i was on this ledge uptown trying to pull this damn psycho inside

                                    Frank
you mean where the guy jumped and you almost fell. No, you never told me that story

                                    Marcus
no you never listened .So there i was , i put everything i had into saving this dumb-ass, low-life suicidal that when he went down it was like I wanted to go with him

                                     Frank
That happened once in IRELAND this girl jumped off the cliffs of Moher and the wind blew her back up

                                    Marcus
the wind blew her back up

                                    Frank
yeah the wind

                                   Marcus
oh no that was jesus son

                                    Frank
it, it was also..the wind

                                   Marcus
The wind my black ass that was jesus Don't tell me about the good book now ill preach heaven and beat the hell out of ya.Don't tell me that now

                                    Frank
alright

                                    Marcus
I was going son .But if some one up on high-thank you jesus-hadn't pulled me in

                                      Frank
Can you turn left here i wanna make a stop

                                  Marcus
The point is everybody goes through a stretch where some ones gonna die on you just don't meditate on it
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: gob on July 13, 2006, 02:49:12 PM
I bought this today. Watched it today. The second time I've seen it. I'm not too sure how highly regarded this film is, the reviews were fairly underwhelming as I remember but I don't think it's as appreciated as it should be.

Nic Cage is perfect in this movie. (And in my humble opinion a damn fine actor). The supporting cast of nutters, Sizemore, Goodman, Rhames and Afemo Omilami as Griss (Don't you make me take off my sunglasses!) are all brilliant as well.

Scorsese's style works in everything he does but the use of under-cranked film speed and the dynamic use of moving camera in this especially combined with a fantastic soundtrack makes for a really effective film.

It's also really funny in a brilliantly dark, bitter taste in the mouth kind of way.

I think it's shortcoming is that it never truly grabs the viewer emotionally. Despite this you can still sympathise with Cage's character especially and the deaths/ghosts/impacting moments in the film do have a tangible effect.

I know it's not Scorsese's cinematic zenith but I think it's pretty pretty pretty good.
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: JG on July 13, 2006, 03:15:03 PM
Yes, its very good and very underappreciated.  In fact, I think you just inspired me to go watch it again!
Title: Re: Bringing Out the Dead
Post by: FORT on December 01, 2006, 10:44:28 PM
saw this in theaters like 5 times, dragged all my ignorant friends to it.

im feelin Derek237's enthusiasm over this flick.

so im gonna go out on a limb too, n state that
this is prolly one of marty's greatest.