Shutter Island

When I first saw Shutter Island it absolutely blew me away. It was a film that I knew nothing about and I picked it up relatively cheap on the recommendation of a woman who I did not know. It was a complete unknown. However, skipping forward two and a half years and it is one of my favourite films. It is the film that cemented Leonardo Di Caprio as one of my favourite actors, and to this day whenever I watch it I pick up new things about the story.

Basically it’s about a guy called Teddy Daniels who is sent to investigate an escaped patient at a hospital for the criminally insane. Alongside his partner Chuck, he investigates her disappearance in the eerily creepy hospital. However, things start to get a little bit mysterious and scary. Added to Teddy’s flashbacks to his experiences in the war and his hallucinations of his dead wife, the audience is soon aware that something isn’t right. By the time the twist came around there was no way I saw it coming, and even at the end there is an ambiguity which leaves me pondering the outcome for hours after I see it.

Like Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed before it, Shutter Island is another collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Di Caprio. Of all the Di Caprio-Scorsese films I have seen (three out of five) this one is the one I enjoyed the most. While it is not Scorsese’s best film in terms of direction and impact and what not, I found it so fantastically enjoyable that I rank it up there with some of his best work (much to the dismay of many Scorsese purists I’m sure).

Leonardo Di Caprio is fantastic in the film. He plays a character who starts out angry, and by the end of the film, what with everything that has gone on, is positively fuming. If you haven’t seen the film before then skip over the next couple of sentences because there will be spoilers. Ready? Good. His acting is so convincing that even when Dr Cawley and Chuck were telling him the truth about his identity, I was fairly convinced that it was part of the plot to trap him there. This is a credit both to Di Caprio’s involvement in his character, and to the writers for making the story so absorbing. I have nothing but praise for Di Caprio in this film and, although it is not one of the best acting performances ever, it comes in a film that is so engaging and enjoyable that it is hard not to like his character, and feel for him at the end of the film.

Ben Kingsley is riveting as the enigmatic Dr Cawley. Throughout the film, largely due to the emerging plot around Ashecliffe, the audience is unsure whether he is trustworthy or not. Ben Kingsley, in the nicest possible way of course, has an appearance that breeds a certain ambiguity about his character. At the end of the film though (spoilers) he is revealed as an inherently caring man who always wants what is best for his patients. Although there is evidence of this throughout, it only becomes apparent when the audience is made aware of the twist.

Shutter Island is based on a book by the same name. The film does follow the book relatively closely. However, the ending of the film and the book are relatively different. While there are some parts of the book that the film would be unable to include (for obvious reasons of time) the film adds one line in at the end (“is it better to die as a good man or to live as a monster?”). This is the line which makes the ending so much of a mindblower. However, it isn’t in the book and creates a more pointed sense of ambiguity. The inclusion of this line points much more towards one direction of the sane-insane ending. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, and I fully trust Scorsese’s judgement on this one. Ultimately, he has directed more candidate films for the ‘best of all time’ than I have.

When you watch the film for a second time, with knowledge of how it is going to play out, it becomes much better as you are able to appreciate every little bit of information that points you in the direction of the conclusion. From the initial reactions of the guards when Teddy and Chuck arrive through to the fear that the patients have of the marshalls, the exchange between the Warden (Ted Levine) and Teddy, and the nature of Dr Naehring’s (Max von Sydow) conversations with Teddy. Everything becomes apparent the second time and this is why I enjoy the film so much, even now when I have seen it more times than I can remember. I pick up new bits of information every time I watch it, and it is a film with many different layers to it. That probably sounds weird, but it is a film with every last bit of Scorsese’s subtext as his other masterpieces. There is ambiguity over the positioning of the lighthouse and the angles from which it is viewed, as well as the flashbacks Teddy has.

Ultimately, Shutter Island is one of those films that you have to make your own mind up about. Personally, (spoilers) I think that he is sane but realises that he is too dangerous to risk relapsing again and sacrifices himself. I cannot recommend that you watch Shutter Island strongly enough, just so you can make your own mind up about what is going on. It is a fantastic film, very enjoyable, and captures your attention without difficulty. Unmissable in my opinion. 

Other films starring Leonardo Di Caprio
Django Unchained - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/django-unchained.htmlThe Great Gatsby - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-great-gatsby.html

Other films directed by Martin Scorsese
Casino - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/casino_28.htmlRaging Bull - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/raging-bull.html

Other Scorsese-Di Caprio films
The Departed - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-departed.html
The Aviator - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-aviator.html

The Aviator

The Aviator is a biopic about the aviation magnate and Hollywood director Howard Hughes. With Leonardo Di Caprio in the title role, Martin Scorsese directing it, and a supporting cast including Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Kate Beckinsale and John C. Reilly, I was really looking forward to watching it.

Howard Hughes starts out as a director, and produces a few very successful films. Early on we see that he is completely devoted to this, and has a really need to get every aspect of his production as perfect as possible. This manifests later as profound obsessive compulsive disorder, but the early signs are there once you watch it back. After a very successful directing career he marries a woman (Cate Blanchett), but his successful lifestyle soon begins to causes their marriage problems. Hughes starts to focus on aviation and buys a large share of an airline company. Breaking a number of airspeed records, and experiencing a number of horrific crashes, Howard Hughes soon becomes a massive influence on aviation but then the cracks start to appear. His life becomes thrust into the public eye more and he becomes paranoid and compulsive. He is then investigated by the Senate and manages to defend himself successfully. However at the end of the film his compulsions become worse and the film end with him repeated ‘the way of the future’ over and over.

Scorsese is an absolute genius in my opinion, and has directed some of my favourite ever films. While The Aviator does not quite make the list, it is a very good film, and is fantastically made. For example, all the aeroplane scenes were shot using scale models because of the criticism that Pearl Harbor received for using CGI. This makes the film more of a spectacle, and makes it seem a lot more realistic. Scorsese’s impressive attention to detail shines through as well. For example, he made Cate Blanchett watch all the film that her character Katharine Hepburn had starred in up to the point of filming so that she could perfect her mannerisms. Not being particularly knowledgeable about Hepburn’s films, I can’t say whether or not Blanchett does a good job, but the level of devotion to perfection that Scorsese has (and indeed that Hughes had), is a hallmark of the best directors.

Di Caprio is wonderful to watch as the main character Howard Hughes. I really like him as an actor, and as a person, and think that The Aviator marks another example of his impressive skills. His perfection of the obsessive compulsive mannerisms of Hughes is brilliant, and while I don’t know how true to Hughes they are, he is very convincing when he displays them. Di Caprio conveys the fill range of emotions that Hughes experiences in the film with immense precision. When he is directing the films there is a sense of tension when something hasn’t gone perfectly, and when Hell’s Angels premiere’s the anxiety Di Caprio shows in anticipation of the audience’s reaction permeated through the screen (although that might just be me getting weird). He seems completely comfortable in the cockpit of an aeroplane, and Di Caprio’s ability to turn this joy and elation into sheer panic so convincingly completes the tension of the crash scenes. Since 2002, Di Caprio has appeared in all but one of Scorsese’s films and, given time, this could become as iconic a pairing as De Niro and Scorsese. Di Caprio’s acting stock is definitely on the increase, and The Aviator is just one example of why.

Although, it is not a film that is completely made by Di Caprio, and the supporting cast add an awful lot to the impact of the film. Cate Blanchett is fantastic as Hughes’ first wife, and manages her accent perfectly throughout the film. Her relationship with Hughes is intriguing. Although they may grow apart, when she comes to visit him in his isolation there is a sense that the chemistry is still there. Alec Baldwin plays Hughes’ main rival Juan Trippe, the chairman of Pan Am airways. His determination to impede the progress of the protagonist makes him a dislikable character in the film, and this is only compounded by the influence he has over the politicians. No-one seems to want to help Hughes succeed except those who he employs. Even then Hughes is suspicious of nearly everyone around him. Alec Baldwin comes to represent the people plotting against Hughes and the eventual defeat of the Senate investigation is one of the best moments of the film. A quick mention must also go to John C. Reilly. When I reviewed Carnage I think I mentioned how strange it was not to see him in a comedy role, and once again in The Aviator it felt a bit odd. However, he does very well and seems to be forging himself a more serious acting career. All the evidence so far suggests that this can only be a good thing.

The Aviator is not a high powered, joy-filled, rollercoaster of a film. It does have its ups and its downs in terms of keeping the audience’s interest. However, as with any biopic, it is an opportunity to find out a little bit more about something new, and if you get into it, it is thoroughly enjoyable. It is very long (just short of three hours), but if you have the patience to sit down and engage with it, I think it will be well worth your time.

Other films starring Leonardo Di Caprio

Django Unchained - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/django-unchained.html

The Great Gatsby - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-great-gatsby.html

Other films directed by Martin Scorsese

Casino - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/casino_28.html

Raging Bull - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/raging-bull.html

Another Scorsese-Di Caprio film

The Departed - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-departed.html

Raging Bull

Raging Bull is widely lauded as Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, but it’s also the kind of film that people disagree on. It’s about the boxer Jake La Motto, who has a dazzling career ahead of him, but his personal issues, such as his anger and his love of food, ruin his family life and then his career. He ends up washed up and overweight performing jokes to a crowd who are not laughing, estranged from his wife, children and brother.

I thought it was a very good film, and enjoyed it greatly, but equally I could see how people would find it boring and dull. There’s not much that actually happens, and the film moves at a very slow pace. The fight scenes have been criticised as being unrealistic, but I think they are meant to be more artistic, and should be interpreted as Jake La Motto looking back on his fights. Nevertheless, love it or hate it, you have to sit back and admire Martin Scorsese’s direction once again. For me, he is the greatest director of his time. His choice to produce Raging Bull as a black and white film increases the artistic feel to the film, and I felt much more connected with the memory of the protagonist for it. But this may just be me.

Robert de Niro, working with Scorsese for the fourth time in his career, is absolutely masterful in this film. Not only does he manage to play a lead character who is totally and utterly dislikable, but he does it perfectly. He has played bad guys before, and he has played guys who should be dislikable, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but in Raging Bull his character doesn't even has a drive or a motive to make the audience empathise with him. Personally, I didn't even pity his character at the end of the film when his wife leaves him and he becomes a washed up failed sportsman. Raging Bull is also a dedication to how much de Niro likes to throw himself into every role he plays. There are some impressive stories of him doing this, but for Raging Bull he gained 60 pounds of weight to play Jake in his older days. 60 pounds! That’s just over four stone. He captures every single aspect of his character, from the ambitious boxer to the man who hits his wife, begs her back and then does it again. In my opinion, Robert de Niro is the greatest actor, not just of his time, but of all time.

Joe Pesci stars in Raging Bull, making his first appearance on a Scorsese movie, and performing admirably as Jake’s brother and manager. His patience with his brother is admirable, and the audience really begins to sympathise with him when Jake starts to throw his life away. However, there is a sense of ‘something coming’ throughout the movie, and when Jake begins to get paranoid about his wife, he attacks his brother, believing him to have slept with her. This leads to a period where they don’t talk, and the scene where they are eventually reunited is one of my favourites. Jake tries to make amends with his brother, and Joe Pesci delightfully portrays a character who is so sick of his brother’s ways that he just doesn't care. On the basis of this film it is not hard to see why Scorsese wanted to work with Pesci again: he is simply excellent.

Cathy Moriarty plays Jake’s wife Vikki. She starts the film as being beautiful and desirable. However, mainly due to Scorsese’s direction, she becomes more and more ruined by having Jake in her life. When he hits her for the first time, Moriarty’s response is perfect. Instead of leaving him like the perfect wife would in Hollywood, she does what is most common in cases of domestic abuse, and believes it is a one-off event. Now I don’t want to get onto domestic violence because it is too sensitive an issue for my humble blog, but when she eventually does leave him, and takes her children with her, I found myself delighted, and feeling that Jake deserves everything he gets.

People have lauded Raging Bull as the best sports movie ever made. Now this is a claim I disagree with. I think that the movie is not a sports film. Undeniably it focuses on the life and career of a boxer, but for me the movie is more about his life and his character than it is about the sports. For an out-and-out sports movie, Rocky would be my first choice, just because it focuses more on the sport and less on his character.

At the start of the film, Jake is surrounded by people who all adore this future boxing star. However throughout the film, one by one these people leave him and by the end of the film, he is standing alone in his dressing room reciting lines for his show that few turn up to. Raging Bull is an absolute classic. Many people disagree on whether it is brilliant or boring, but I think that you should see it for yourself and making your own mind up. Personally, I loved it, and I consider it to be one of those films that you just have to see.

The Departed

Once again I find myself writing about a film I've been dying to see for ages and finally have. With an all star cast, a fantastic director and great reviews from nearly everyone I know who has seen it, Academy Award winning film The Departed promised to be a very well spent two and a half hours. And it didn't disappoint.

While it was quite hard to follow at times, the plot was fantastic. It was full of little twists and turns that made for a brilliant anticipation of the climax at the end. With Leonardo di Caprio working his way closer to finding out who the mole in the police was, and Matt Damon working his way closer to finding out who the mole in Frank Costello's crew was, the realisation of the identity of the two traitors was brilliant. The way they solved it was equally exciting, and just when you thought that everything was going to work out, something happened to throw that into doubt.

The cast of this film is incredible. Jack Nicholson is always fantastic, and I don't think I've ever not enjoyed watching him act. As the leader of the gang in this film he came across as an extremely powerful and dangerous man (which I guess was the point), but there were hints of his performance as The Joker as well. He came across as slightly unhinged at one point, but generally exuded the power of a man who will smash another man's cast and broken hand repeatedly just to make sure he's not a policeman.

Leonardo di Caprio is very strong once again. Although he was a policeman of sorts for the whole film, his integration into Costello's gang meant that he came across as a bad guy, and this was refreshing because I don't think I've ever seen him as a bad guy. Nevertheless he was very good and was perfectly cast in this role in my opinion. His ability to flick between 'member of the gang' and 'convincing undercover cop' was good to see and the whole resulting scenes from his discovery of the police mole were thrilling.

These scenes would not have been complete without Matt Damon. One reason that the film is so thrilling is because right from the start the audience knows that Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio are the two traitors, and so you find yourself willing them both to discover the other, and urging them to pick up on clues, and admiring the irony of the police putting Matt Damon in charge of the hunt for the police mole. Generally I can't make up my mind on what I think about Matt Damon as an actor, but with The Departed I think I may have found a starting point for my appreciation of him. His role in the conclusion is thrilling, as I mentioned before, and he plays his part to perfection.

Now those three names: Nicholson, di Caprio and Damon, aren't bad names to have as the first billed actors on any film. The amazing thing about The Departed though is that they're not the only stars. Mark Wahlberg is brilliant as the wronged police officer who seeks his vengeance on the man who replaced him. Martin Sheen is the initial chief of the police who gets a bit too close to one of his moles. The appearances of Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone and Vera Farmiga were delightful, and the roles that each of them played helped make this film that little bit more memorable. Obviously Ray Winstone was a non nonsense enforcer with a bit of an accent and taste for violence as ever, but in The Departed this works so well with the rest of the storyline that it fits perfectly.

Martin Scorsese is a genius. He has directed far too many of my favourite films for me not to absolutely love him, and with The Departed he does not disappoint. One thing I noticed was that several characters who die in the film is warned of this with a little 'X' in the shot before they die. This little tip of the cap to the 1932 'Scarface' is fantastically applied in The Departed, and with so many people dying, this helps the audience keep up, but only if they notice it. This is widely considered by film critics to be Scorsese's finest work since Goodfellas. While I cannot argue that it is a fantastic film, there are others that I prefer more. However, anyone who likes a Scorsese film has to see The Departed.

The Departed is a action-packed thrill ride of guns, blood, twists, turns and terrific actors. Yes it's difficult to follow at times. Yes it's quite heavy to watch. Yes you should see it though. It won 'Best Picture' for a reason, and what that reason is does not take much working out. It's simply fantastic and I would strongly recommend giving it a watch.

Casino

Casino is a spectacular film. It's another classic Scorsese-De Niro partnership and it is masterfully produced. It tells the story of Sam 'Ace' Rothstein who starts out in sports gambling but hits the big time and runs a casino. Joe Pesci plays the 'enforcer' Nicky Santoro, and Sharon Stone completes the star studded cast, playing Ace's wife Ginger. Like most Scorsese films it starts with a scene from later on in the film and then explains how things got to that point.

The plot basically follows the lives of these three characters over an unknown period of time, and it's written superbly. It's definitely the sort of film that you need to pay attention to. You can't have it on in the background and expect to understand it, but if you do get into it, it's really enjoyable. It is based on a true story, like Goodfellas, and this makes the film even more impressive. Some of the details are changed for cinematic effect I assume, for example the casino that Ace runs is called the Tangiers, but this is a fictional casino. It also has a really cyclical nature to it. Ace starts the film gambling on sports events, and that's exactly where he ends up at the end of it.

Scorsese, as ever, does not hold back on the violence either. Joe Pesci's scene at the end is as pretty grim, but the icing on the cake is the 'vice scene'. Anyone who has actually seen the film will know what I'm on about, and for anyone that hasn't, don't try to find out about it if you're a bit squeamish  Also, he doesn't hold back on the profanity, and Casino ranks fifth on the list of films to frequently use the word 'Fuck'. This all contributes towards a very heavy going, yet gripping film.

Robert de Niro is, unsurprisingly, completely sublime, perfectly portraying the character of a casino owner. Every microcosm of detail is covered by his acting, and once again, I found myself marvelling at his portrayal of Ace Rothstein. De Niro is perfectly at home in the gangster role, as Goodfellas evidenced, and so Casino is no exception. His protection over his daughter, and his reaction towards Ginger at various points in the film   and his relationship with Joe Pesci compliments his style perfectly.

Joe Pesci is also at home as the loose cannon enforcer whose violent 'dealings with' people often put a stain on Ace's legitimate appearance. As with the 'dance scene' in Goodfellas, the 'vice scene' in Casino is disturbing and stands out from the rest of the film. His character is interesting though, and Joe Pesci plays him perfectly. Whether he's comforting Ginger or asking Ace for help or if he's being warned about his lifestyle and the effect he's having on Ace's reputation there's always the feeling that he could fly off the handle. His protection of his brother at the end of the film is a touching addition to his character, but the end that he meets matches his lifestyle and the punishments he's dished out perfectly.

Sharon Stone's character changes dramatically throughout the film. She starts off as a really nice and delightful woman, and you get the impression that her and Ace are a good match. However, as the high roller lifestyle catches up with her she becomes more and more dislikable. The scene where she's trying to get into the house to get her things exemplifies this, and her need for the jewellery and money that Ace promised her is also very dislikable. However Casino seems to be a classic example of two guys who are close friends for years, and it only takes a woman to tear them apart. She does very well in this role.

Casino is a heavy-going film, and I'd really only recommend it to people who genuinely liked Goodfellas and other similar gangster films. It's not a light film, it's not a short film, and it takes some effort to watch it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.