The Wolf of Wall Street

Started by MacGuffin, March 26, 2007, 01:27:30 AM

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AntiDumbFrogQuestion

I'm sick of this site. It used to be a safe place to come and discuss enthusiasm over film with a few jabs thrown in to keep it lively. Now it reads like a bunch of angry high-schoolers who never get laid come here to bitch and put each other down.  I'm not defending this movie before seeing it, just the treatment of others in regard to their opinions.

"Good" you might say "the weak shall leave the pack"

I'll still be checking in to read because I enjoy reading the comments and perspective provided by a small group of cinefiles such as yourselves.

But calling a movie "defarted" and telling someone they're uninformed because maybe they liked "The Aviator"? Sure, some have a high perch on the board, but this is just getting fucking idiotic.
(Hm...maybe it could have been called "The Retarded".)

So long Xixax. It was fun when we started, but you've changed, man.

Derek

Quote from: Pubrick on June 21, 2013, 12:14:05 PM
your upvoters are idiots too,.

Didn't upvote him because I agreed with his opinions on the movies. I upvoted him because you're a bully and a threadkiller. Contrary to what you may think, your opinions are not the be all and end all. And you're not nearly as witty or insightful as you think.


Don't give a shit if you're an admin.
It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.

Gold Trumpet

I understand people may be hard on Scorsese now, but I think Hugo is one of his best films, period. Is it comparable to Raging Bull or Taxi Driver? Nope, but I don't think Casino is comparable to those two films either. Scorsese's relationship to violence and gangster world changed (for me) with Goodfellas. He started to integrate the filmmaking tricks he learned with his more commercial affair in the 80s (After Hours, Color Of Money) and mixed it into a more dramatic story. I don't think the film was as serious as Mean Streets about the characters and was more about the excess of the world. For me, Casino was a continuation of that and the best filmmaking Scorsese would do on the subject and type of stylized filmmaking.

The reason it's so hard to really compare Scorsese films because his every decade has different barometers of filmmaking and story approach. Hell, a film like the Last Temptation of Christ does not feel like a film made right before Goodfellas. Stylistically, it's from another world, but Scorsese wanted to be able to have a Rolodex type of talent to his approaches with style. With Hugo, I think he found a crescendo level of inspiration for a fairytale story and it allowed him to be more freewheeling with his filmmaking than in recent years.

I think The Departed is just a bad film and where it lacks in any character depth, it tries to make up with suspense tricks that are too familiar. Just thought the ceiling on the project was too low and Scorsese played the story too straight with his filmmaking work. I believe the original director's cut to Gangs of New York has beauty and inspiration the journalists who saw it talk about seeing, but for whatever reason, we're never going to see it. I don't know, his last 15 years have been a mixed bag and I'm not too shocked. I wouldn't cast away all the work. I'm still happy whenever I see a new trailer for a Scorsese film, I still get excited. And that's all. Some bad trailers foreshadowed bad films and some great ones bad films. It's preliminary stuff.

polkablues

I just don't get a sense that Scorsese feels a personal connection to much of his material anymore. Inasmuch as Hugo worked, it worked as a love letter to cinema history, which it seems is the only thing that really gets Marty off the couch nowadays. Where it didn't work was everywhere else. It's nice that Scorsese loved Amelie as much as I did, but leave the Amelies to the Jeunets from now on. Jean-Pierre Jeunet has more magic and whimsy in his little finger than Scorsese has in his entire eyebrow.

Maybe it's a product of age, complacency, whatever, but I almost get a going-through-the-motions feeling from the bulk of his post-2000 output. I would be amazed if he ever makes another film that feels as alive and as necessary as Raging Bull, or Taxi Driver, or After Hours, or Age of Innocence, or even Bringing Out the Dead. Hell, I'd take another King of Comedy at this point.

The most annoying thing is, he's not even making BAD movies (Gangs of New York comes close, secret director's cut notwithstanding). He's a very good filmmaker. He can make a solid, cinematically proficient movie with very little effort. And he has. Over and over for 13 straight years.

What's this thread about? Wolf of Wall Street? I don't even care anymore. You hear that, Marty? You've broken me. Do a Cape Fear prequel with Bradley Cooper or whatever, I won't even get outraged anymore.

Postscript: Can we please leave all the butthurt sanctimony at home from now on? Everybody is responsible for their own words, but you are responsible for how you choose to react to them. Reacting like you got pushed down on the playground is the wrong choice.

Also, please reread Pubrick's initial post toward Garam, recognize that it's a Game of Thrones reference rather than a brutal personal attack, and adjust your outrage accordingly.

Fuck this thread. But sincere kudos to GT for trying to right the ship not once but twice. I agree with you about everything except how good Hugo was.
My house, my rules, my coffee

03

are you guys for real?
being offended by pubrick is so 2007.

Alexandro

well...
I liked the trailer. today I saw the aviator on a bus ride. on mute because it was dubbed to spanish so I just watched, and it's just brilliant. It kept me thrilled by the second...I know this "late" scorsese phase will get it's due recognition someday.

HeywoodRFloyd

Quote from: Alexandro on June 22, 2013, 02:35:39 AM
today I saw the aviator on a bus ride. on mute because it was dubbed to spanish so I just watched, and it's just brilliant.

It is brilliant, you know you're in the hands of a master when Hughes is out of his comfort zone on the red carpet, but you realise that throughout that whole scene, you yourself have subconsciously leaned further and further back, with a cringe and squinty eyes mirrored on your face just as Hughes with every blinding flash (Richardson's "shining bright lights into actors faces" syndrome is only redeemable here). In fact I don't know about everyone else but in every neurotic OCD moment in the film, I found myself subconsciously cringing, as if I felt his discomfort, it's a rare thing but I tip my hat to Scorsese, what a master.

Just as the use of 36 fps whenever Jake is overanalysing situations in Raging Bull, obsessing over little situations far more than what it actually is. Or even PDL the score is Barry's inner demons and delights, everything from the cinematography (camera movement, lighting etc.) to the music is reflective upon how Barry feels at that given moment, so it's essentially the purest kind of character study as the film is almost first-person from an emotional standpoint. 
These character studies are captured through the emotional looking glass of the character, The Aviator is the same. The film begins with a 3 strip-technicolor look, we're in the mindset of Hughes' current obsession "Hells Angels", he sees the world around him being an extension of his film, he attends parties not to enjoy himself but to find more cameras for his film etc. And then of course we foray into more normal visuals when his obsession with furthering the staple of aviation takes precedence.

I feel that The Aviator is one of his best, and perhaps Dicaps best role along with Catch Me If You Can.

That said TWOWS looks very formulaic to what "sells" today, I hope I'm just jumping to false conclusions and there really is more than meets the eye here. I don't share the Scorsese disappointment of latter years with other veterans on this board, I actually really like Shutter Island aswell, sure some would say you could see the twist from a mile away, but it has an atmosphere that's almost perfectly crafted, and the visuals are the best in Scorsese's oeuvre.

All in all, I don't like this trailer at all, but i hope I'm being a grouch and it turns out great.

Stefen

Quote from: polkablues on June 21, 2013, 10:01:41 PM
I just don't get a sense that Scorsese feels a personal connection to much of his material anymore.

BUSINESS MAN MODE.

To be fair, he kept it real for longer than most. Nolan lasted like 4 movies, Spielberg like 4. Other dudes I've forgotten probably like 4. Scorsese went decades. Maybe he just got old and lazy. He's made lazy shit since 2000.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Tictacbk

Quote from: Garam on June 21, 2013, 10:17:21 AM
If you could give me a list of XIXAX-acceptable films I'm allowed to enjoy, and compile them in a nice ranking order, we can avoid any more of this unpleasantness in the future.

Yeah, when are we doing another Dekapenticon?

polkablues

Just read the last one and insert The Master in, like, eighth place.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Robyn

it looks pretty fun! I was never a huge scorsese fan anyway.

Quote from: Tictacbk on June 23, 2013, 12:34:52 AM
Quote from: Garam on June 21, 2013, 10:17:21 AM
If you could give me a list of XIXAX-acceptable films I'm allowed to enjoy, and compile them in a nice ranking order, we can avoid any more of this unpleasantness in the future.

Yeah, when are we doing another Dekapenticon?

eh, what's that and where can I see the previous ones?


Pubrick

Quote from: Brett Ratner on June 23, 2013, 07:49:50 AM
eh, what's that and where can I see the previous ones?

we did one in 2004: http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=5109.0

and another (more definitive) one in 2006: http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=8560.0

for some reason the 2004 pics don't show up anymore, but you get the idea from the second batch.
under the paving stones.

Robyn

Quote from: Pubrick on June 23, 2013, 08:16:58 AM
Quote from: Brett Ratner on June 23, 2013, 07:49:50 AM
eh, what's that and where can I see the previous ones?

we did one in 2004: http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=5109.0

and another (more definitive) one in 2006: http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=8560.0

for some reason the 2004 pics don't show up anymore, but you get the idea from the second batch.

that's pretty much what i expected. if we do another list I think it should be better to do a top 25, tho. the surprises are too few in that list, and the only movie that made me raise my (inferior) eyebrows was esotsm.

martinthewarrior

"The Aviator" is absolutely one of his best films. Nothing controversial about that position. Now, off to lurk in the shadows for a few more years.

pete

Quote from: martinthewarrior on June 24, 2013, 10:06:10 AM
"The Aviator" is absolutely one of his best films. Nothing controversial about that position. Now, off to lurk in the shadows for a few more years.

wait can you hang around for a little bit so Pubrick can trash you?
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton