Gangs of New York

Started by Gold Trumpet, January 08, 2003, 03:57:05 PM

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Gold Trumpet

This could arguably have been the most hyped film of 2002 and for me especially since i am a major fan of Scorsese, but I was very much let down by this film.

The main reason being is that I felt Scorsese was generalizing too much on NYC history and trying to show too much of the history to the point that the original story of leo and day lewis completely faultered. Also, Scorsese's own directing style is not really a right fit for the subject since it is set up as a western but Scorsese does too much filmming like his own style, the style of old classical hollywood where the camera will move in from the top to the bottom to introduce a scene or move really fast toward something when an action has been done. Scorsese's style never really let me be able to fully grasp the old New York and I was wishing for someone like Kurosawa to have tackled the movie. Even though people say Scorsese held back a lot in his own style, he never fully did and never fully accepted what genre of film he was really doing, that being a western film and the basic shooting of the western is the compostion of shots that are not moving in order to build tension and/or show the isolation of the west or feeling of where they are. The love story between dicaprio and diaz was not really needed and even handled in a simple and obvious way that was very reminding of the faults that was of the classical hollywood style in the sense it always needed a love story in its story to attract an adiuence more even if not really needed.

Scorsese is a great director, but this is not a great film. It is a film I would have liked to seen Kurosawa have done during his lifetime instead because Kurosawa has such a patience with his films that he does the very rare act of making normal things astonishing in a film. A director that could have better complemented the times would have been better. Though with Scorsese's next film being The Aviator, you will see him find a story that better fits his style. Though, the screenwriter of Gladiator is writing it, so who knows.

~rougerum

Cecil

yeah, it sucked...

and what was with those stupid black and white flashback things?? like for example when we see john c reilly as the cop, theres a short shot of him in b&w from the beginning... WE KNOW THEYRE THE SAME GUYS FROM THE BEGINNING! what are we idiots? well... most people are but still

budgie

I'm just dreading the wandering accents. It's not quite here yet but an article was of the opinion that everyone's accent was off except Day-Lewis' (could have been a bit of favouritism there). In the trailer Di Caprio's and Diaz's were pretty dodgy. Don't say it's true... what with that and what GT is implying is the heavy-handedness of 'history' (I call it brown), I'm afraid.

Duck Sauce

I didnt think it was bad as everybody said. Daniel Day Lewis was awesome. Bill the Butcher is the best villian in a long time. I was disgusted by the flashbacks, one to let you know that John C. Rielly was once a dead rabbit, and two that it was done in black and white so we knew it was a flashback. Hope that wasnt Scorsese. About this movie getting held back for so long, what was the alternate ending?

MacGuffin

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetThough with Scorsese's next film being The Aviator, you will see him find a story that better fits his style. Though, the screenwriter of Gladiator is writing it, so who knows.

CINESCAPE spoke with Leonardo DiCaprio recently concerning his upcoming role as Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR, which will focus on the early part of Hughes life – when he was a young, glamorous millionaire who built his fortune on aerospace.

DiCaprio is prepping for the role, he says: "I'm going to watch the rare amount of footage that there is on him. I've already read numerous books and accounts of his life."

So what's distinctive about Hughes, Leo? "He pushed every environment around him to its utter extremes. He was so driven and he was a pioneer in the world of aviation. He was a huge director in Hollywood. He was a womanizer. But more important, as a character study, he was a germaphobe, and he was somebody that was obsessive compulsive."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Duck Sauce

Leonardo has it made....

But really, is the studio that is funding The Aviator a little skeptical after Gang's performance at the box office? I mean, has there been any talk of it not happening of being scaled back?

MacGuffin

Quote from: Duck SauceBut really, is the studio that is funding The Aviator a little skeptical after Gang's performance at the box office? I mean, has there been any talk of it not happening of being scaled back?

Sixth place and $47 million in three weeks (domestic, mind you) is great for a Scorsese film ("Cape Fear", his highest grossing film, topped off at $79.1m), and the box office will only grow as Oscar season approaches. Miramax only funded about half the production costs anyway.

Also:
Leo DiCaprio might have won the battle of the competing Howard Hughes projects, but he may lose the race to get an Alexander the Great project filmed first. Leo's ALEXANDER isn't scheduled to begin filming until fall 2003 after he finishes work on his Howard Hughes biopic THE AVIATOR with Martin Scorsese. But now Warner Bros is closing a deal that would have Oliver Stone's ALEXANDER THE GREAT greenlight for a June start date with Colin Farrell in the starring role. Intermedia (TERMINATOR 3) will finance the majority of the budget, expected to be between $100 and $150 million dollars. Whether Leo ever gets his Baz Luhrmann directed project off the ground remains to be seen. The clear winner in all this is Warner Bros who will release both DiCaprio's AVIATOR, Stone's ALEXANDER, Brad Pitt's TROY and Tom Cruise's THE LAST SAMURAI all likely within a year of each other.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

RegularKarate

I thought it was really good.  

The last hour of that film was worth the price of admission and quite possibly the wait.

As far as the accents... Scorceze said that there was really no accent then... everyone was from a different place, but most had lived in America long enough for the accents to start mixing.  So (like Gladiator) the strange accents were intentional.

©brad

This may very well be one of the most anticipated movies of all time, atleast among the movie buffs, so it already has that going against it before you even see it.

PROS
- Cinematography, set design, and costume design are all top notch, film really has a theatric feel to it that is never boring. Good Performances, Mr. Day Lewis, god bless the man. The final riot sequence with the shot of New York at the end was amazing.

CONS
Uninvolving father/son revenge story, dull dialogue  (why is Steve Zailian the best working screenwriter today?)
- Enjoyed Ms. Diaz's performance, but never understood why she suddenly cares so much for Leo, and it doesn't look like he cares a lot for her, so why have the plotline in there at all?
- One thing I was interested in, or curious about-- Where are the mothers? Is their existence so unimportant to the fate of these young men, a father figure in one's life is what counts? Would like to see what family life was like during that time, but didn't see it.

OVERALL
- Ok, perhaps it's flawed, but what movie isn't? This is still much better than 90% of the crap that is out there. It's definetly worth seeing. Why are people talking about how this is the worst movie of the X-Mas season? I enjoyed it. It sure was great to see a Scorsese movie on the big screen again.

- Side note-- I noticed that visually the film is without the usual Scorsese trademarks (the fast dolly/zoom in, long takes) He did do some interesting cuts in a couple of the battle scenes (I loved the opening scene, w/ the guitar, I thought it was great) Do you think he is trying to move away from his old techniques that are now over-used by many other filmmakers? (PTA?)

budgie

Quote from: RegularKarate
As far as the accents... Scorceze said that there was really no accent then... everyone was from a different place, but most had lived in America long enough for the accents to start mixing.  So (like Gladiator) the strange accents were intentional.

Thanks RK, you may have allowed me to enjoy it all the more (just read a five star review that calls it a 'flawed masterpiece' too).

Hello, by the way, I'm so glad you haven't jumped ship.  :angel:

bob

what i hated was the whole, "America was started in the streets" hype bullshit.  looks like gay-fashion was started in the streets would be a more correct thing to say.

RegularKarate

Quote from: budgie
Hello, by the way, I'm so glad you haven't jumped ship.  :angel:

And hello to you too.

Glad to see you have a lady avitar now, even if it is HB in her Edward Scissorhands look.

©brad

One little thing I haven't heard anyone talk about is the cameo by Mr. Scorsese himself. I thought it was pretty hysterical, was the only one in the theater laughing.

RegularKarate

Quote from: cbrad4dOne little thing I haven't heard anyone talk about is the cameo by Mr. Scorsese himself. I thought it was pretty hysterical, was the only one in the theater laughing.

Okay, this was something I was wondering... first of all, I don't think I ever SAW him, but he DID do some ADR right?  I'm not crazy.

Dirk

He was the guy at the head table when Diaz was the "maid" at their house. He had some ginormous eyebrows on. Pretty funny.
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