The List: Top 5 Martin Scorcese Films

As it is another slow weekend at the box office, I have decided to not hit the cinema, but instead compile another film list. Like always, this list is my opinion. As opinions differ, please feel free to add your own favorites or comments below.

So let's get to my personal top 5 films of Martin Scorcese.



5. Raging Bull

This one might draw some fire for being fifth on my list. To be honest, Raging Bull should not be on my list at all. I personally am not a fan of Raging Bull. The film tells the story of embittered boxer Jake LaMotta and his turbulent life in and out of the boxing ring.

The reason I say that Raging Bull should not be on my list is because I personally do not enjoy the film. I feel that Raging Bull has an extremely unlikable main character and tries to make you want to follow along with him on his journey in life. As I do not enjoy Jake LaMotta, I did not enjoy the journey that the script provided.

The reason that I put this film on my list, though, is the amazing performance by Robert De Niro and the great directing by Martin Scorcese. Robert De Niro truly earned his Oscar for this film, not even by shedding the 60 some-odd pounds for the role, but he dived head first and immersed himself into the world of Jake LaMotta. His performance as a tough loser is remarkable and a highlight in this film.

Besides Robert De Niro, the real reason for this film being as good as it is lies squarely with Martin Scorcese. Martin infuses life and style into what is a really depressing story. Shooting the film in black and white to the amazing boxing scenes, this is an amazing film in Martin Scorcese's resume. It has all the feel of a classic Scorcese film, (which it is) but the style shines through what is a very dark film.

4. Bringing Out the Dead

Martin Scorcese and writer Paul Schrader return to the grungy, dirty days of New York City made famous by them in Taxi Driver (see #2). Nicolas Cage stars as Frank Pierce, a New York City paramedic who is burnt out. He wants to quit his job, but finds himself stuck working over a weekend that will change everything.

This is a forgotten Scorcese gem. Bringing Out the Dead provides the dark, Taxi Driver-esque New York City with some comedic elements that can be traced to After Hours. Bringing Out the Dead takes place over 3 days, and teams Frank up with a variety of quirky paramedics (Ving Rhames, John Goodman, Tom Sizemore). During this time, Frank also finds solstice and comfort with the daughter of a heart attack victim (Patricia Arquette).

This film was entirely forgotten when initially released, which is a shame. Nicolas Cage provides, for the most part, a quiet, nuanced performance while being surrounded by urgent and crazy people and situations. This is not Martin Scorcese's best film, but provides everything you want in a classic Scorcese film. And when ranking Scorcese films, this should always be a high consideration.


3. The Departed

The film that finally provided Martin Scorcese with that elusive Oscar for Best Director along with Best Picture. The Departed is a crime drama about 2 Boston police officers; one who is an honest undercover (Leonardo DiCaprio) within the mob and the other, a corrupt cop (Matt Damon) working with the mob. Both police officers work closely with the Boston crime boss (Jack Nicholson).

Martin Scorcese returns to the crime genre, which he knows so well, and provides us exactly what you would expect from him. The film is filled with Scorcese archetypes: freeze-frames, jumps in time, Rolling Stones songs, etc. I really enjoy The Departed overall, but it does feel like a step down from Goodfellas. If Goodfellas had never been made, I think The Departed would be talked up almost as high as Goodfellas is today.

Unfortunately, I feel The Departed will forever be linked as a "gimmie" to Martin Scorcese as he should have obviously won at least one Oscar prior to this film. As it is, The Departed is a well made crime film with obvious Scorcese touches and anchored by the strong performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg.


2. Taxi Driver

Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro take us to a darker version of New York City in Taxi Driver. Possibly Martin Scorcese's most renowned film, it tells the story of Travis Bickle, an unhinged taxi driver who becomes disillusioned with the city and its persons. After meeting an underage prostitute, Iris, (Jodie Foster) Travis takes it upon himself to try and help the girl escape her current life and her pimp (Harvey Keitel).

With recurring collaborator, writer Paul Schrader, Martin Scorcese places us into the darkest part of New York City: the 1970's. Full of drug dealers, pimps and lowlifes, we are exposed to every element that Travis experiences. We feel the environment and sometimes can even agree with how he feels. Though after a chance meeting with Iris, his mission in life becomes a psychotic version of saving Iris' life.

Robert De Niro shows us a transformation of a man sick with the life he is in all the way to a psychotic man who is willing to do anything to save a life. Along with the infamous, "You talkin' to me..." sequence, this film is filled with darkness and we are unfortunate enough to ride along with such an unhinged main character.


1. Goodfellas

Martin Scorcese's dark, violent and often funny tale of a lifetime in the mob. We follow Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) from childhood through his downfall in the Italian mafia. Along the way, he works for Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and makes friends with Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).

Based on the true story of the late Henry Hill, Martin Scorcese uses all the tricks he has learned through the years and uses them in this film. The usual freeze frames along with time jumps and more Rolling Stones songs lets you know your are in Martin Scorcese's world. We follow Henry, in this almost 3 hour film, from a curious teenager to a drug-addled gangster all the way through mob informant and the film never bogs down. This is a testament to screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, along with Scorcese, who zip us through this world at a breakneck pace yet completely immersing us within this world.

Goodfellas is a culmination of all the best Scorcese traits. He continues to use his good luck charm, Robert DeNiro and also stays within the genre that he is best known for: the crime drama. This is a close to perfection film and, as Roger Ebert has said, is "the best mob movie ever".


I know people will wonder where Hugo, or The Last Temptation of Christ or Mean Streets might be. As stated, this is my preference and I certainly do like a lot more of Martin Scorcese's films. When it comes down to it, though, these 5 films are the films I identify with Martin Scorcese and feel are his best works.

The List: 5 Films The Academy Got Wrong (1990-Present)

As with all my lists, this is just my opinion. I understand that what I think may not be what you agree with. If you have suggestions, feel free to post them.

This is a list of what I feel the Academy got wrong between 1990 and the present. This is to cut down on the number of inconsistencies over the years that the Academy has graced us with. This can be argued back to the first awards show where Wings won Best Picture, even though most argue the film should not have won.

5. Gladiator, 2000

Directed by Ridley Scott, this mega-budgeted historical epic stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a general who is betrayed by an emporer's son, Commodus and eventually becomes a slave. He must learn to fight in a gladiator arena and survive the harshness of slavery in ancient Rome while plotting revenge against Commodus.

This film has exactly all the elements that the Academy loves. An international star and director with a big budget that takes the audience into a historical world. If a film has swords and sandals, odds are it also has at least one Oscar. Unfortunately, the screenplay for this film is average at best.  It's a story as old as Maximus and Commodus. All the flair in this film belongs to the visual eye of Ridley Scott, who ironically did not win the Best Director Oscar.

The Best Director Oscar went to Stephen Soderbergh for his film, Traffic. Along with winning the Best Director Oscar, the film also won the Best Supporting Actor Award for Benicio Del Toro, the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and the Best Film Editing Oscar. And even more ironic, Traffic won every award it was nominated for besides Picture.

Gladiator on the other hand, besides Picture, won Best Actor, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design and Best Sound Mixing. By that rationale, Russell's Crowe's performance was so amazing that it made the film itself the best picture of the year. Though with rationale, I never look toward the Academy. Anytime there is an epic film from a different time period, odds are if you aren't that film, you will lose. See #2.


4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, 2011

This one will be short and to the point. 2 Oscar nominations total: Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Max Von Sydow. A very heavy topic: Dealing with the emotions of the September 11th attacks. Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 47%. Pretentious and preachy. Exactly what the Academy falls for, hence why it was nominated.


3. Zodiac, 2007

One of David Fincher's best films got zero nominations from the Academy. Even Norbit got a nomination. There were other factors that went into why this film was absent from the Oscars. Zodiac was released in March and overshadowed by two much larger films released within the same time frame (Wild Hogs and 300).

Zodiac tells the story of various lives that are intertwined by the hunt for the Zodiac killer in San Francisco. The screenplay by James Vanderbilt takes us through many years and is much more of a police procedural drama than a true serial killer film; ala Fincher's own Se7en. As this follows closer to procedural, this film was hard to market (check out the schizophrenic theatrical trailer) and opened weakly in theaters and fell hard down the box office totals.

As this film was forgotten even before the Summer movie season began, it was no surprise that the Academy ignored this film. Some of the blame obviously goes with the marketing department, as this should have been released in the fall and had a better marketing campaign behind it. The Academy does get some blame though as screeners were sent to Academy members as a reminder for nominations. And it is unfortunate that this film was overlooked as Mark Ruffalo gave an amazing supporting performance. Along with that, this should have been a contender for Best Picture and Best Director. As it is, the Academy does what it does best and screws over movies more deserving of Oscars than others.


2. Goodfellas, 1990

Martin Scorcese's masterpiece of mob life from the 1950's through the 1980's. Goodfellas brought all the elements from past Scorcese classics into one film. Unfortunately, Goodfellas was released the same year as the historical epic Dances With Wolves. Now this is a personal taste, but I find Dances With Wolves to be an unbelievably boring film. Obviously, I am in the minority so I must be wrong.

Goodfellas details the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) from childhood all the way through to his downfall. The story itself has been done before, but with Scorcese at the helm and a great script by Nicholas Pileggi with Scorcese, they turn a tried and true story into a very entertaining, violent and often funny film.

Even though it seems like the Academy has a love affair with Martin Scorcese, he never won a Best Director Oscar until 2006's The Departed. Granted, The Departed is a really good movie, but the Oscar felt more like a gimmie as he had never won before. And, with the exception of Joe Pesci for Best Supporting Actor, it is a shame that Martin Scorcese nor the picture itself didn't win the Oscar(s) it deserved.


1. The 68th Annual Academy Awards, 1996

I know the topic says 5 films that the Academy got wrong, but there were many at this Oscar ceremony that it had to be listed.

I'm not even going to say the biggest Oscar miss was letting Braveheart win over Apollo 13. My biggest gripe with the 68th Annual Academy Awards is the multitude of films that were NOT nominated for best picture, let alone any major awards.

Multiple films that year were majorly snubbed. From Terry Gilliam's time-travel mystery, 12 Monkeys to David Fincher's Se7en. Two dark films that were amazingly written and directed superbly. In 12 Monkeys, Bruce Willis played James Cole, a volunteer who time travels back to the 1990's to try and thwart a viral outbreak. In Se7en, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are partners on the trail of a serial killer who's motif is that each kill is inspired by one of the seven deadly sins.

Beyond those films, The Usual Suspects, a winner of Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay (already two-up on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) was left off the Best Picture list. And possibly an even bigger snub goes to Heat. Michael Mann's good guys versus bad guys epic starring Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in top form did not receive any nomination at all from the Academy.

Multiple films of amazing quality were again left off the list by the Academy. I know you can't be right all the time, but it seems like there are a lot more misses than hits.

As I said, this list is just mine and nothing official. I know there are other snubs like There Will Be Blood losing to No Country For Old Men in 2007 or Pulp Fiction and/or The Shawshank Redemption losing to Forrest Gump in 1994. Obviously there are plenty, but these are the ones that really jump to mind first.