Monday, February 26, 2007

Let's go to the beach

Phew: I couldn't find anywhere confirmation of my reservations at the Hilton. Not on this computer and not on the old one. Did I hallucinate making them, I thought. But, no, no, I didn't, because I surely didn't hallucinate the bounced check I made after I forgot to account for their already charging for the first night. That kind of sting you don't forget. So I called and all was well, like I knew it had to be.

***

So Scorsese won, finally, an Oscar for The Departed after two straight films of begging for one. I really like The Departed, bought it on dvd, in fact, but it strikes me as minor Scorsese, with moments of his trademark whiplash kineticism but it's never quite Goodfellas.

Still, it's not a bad choice and long overdue.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree re: Scorsese. It's definitely not one of his four best films, and might not be in the top six. I'd say:

1. Top tier (in alphabetical order, since I can't find a ranking that I can stick with): Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver.

Second Tier (also in alphabetical order): Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Casino, The Departed, King of Comedy, Who's That Knocking At My Door (AKA I Call First)

Third Tier: The Color of Money, Cape Fear, After Hours

Crap Tier: The Age of Innocence, The Aviator, Gangs of New York

Tier of the Fun-Loving Gods: video for Michael Jackson's "Bad"

I haven't seen Kundun, Bringing Out the Dead, The Last Temptation of Christ, or The Last Waltz, which are all notables.

But you can also say the same thing about the Pulitzer (especially in poetry): a lot of times it's more of a retrospective acheivement award, rather than an award for the specific work that gets the prize.

P.S. How was Meacham?

Paul said...

I'd agree with your ranking entirely, though it seems to me Casino belongs somewhere between second and first tier, suffering by comparison to Goodfellas, that comparison being brought on by the re-teaming of De Nero and Pesci.

Cape Fear is third tier all the way but a complete gas, Scorsese cashing in, just like with Color of Money, which I also like a lot.

Bringing Out the Dead I liked a lot when I saw it, though it's faded a bit in memory. My guess it would hold up pretty well.

As for Meacham, I didn't make it this time, after all.

Glenn Ingersoll said...

So do you know whether the psychiatrist girlfriend ever opened Leo's manila envelope -- not the white one that came in the mail but the manila one which she wrote "Costigan" on and slipped into the top of her desk? If she did, I missed it.

We rented the DVD last night while the Oscars was on. Didn't find out we'd been watching the Best Picture of 2006 until this morning.

Anonymous said...

I didn't even know the Oscars were on until 7pm that night when I called my aunt and uncle and asked what they were doing.

Yeah, someone needs to pull me out of the cultural cave I'm in.