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Added by sunset96

on 3 Sep 2011 08:34

 
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Ranking of Martin Scorsese's films

Sort by: Showing 25 items
People who added this item 3645  Average listal rating (2248 ratings) 8.2  IMDB Rating 8.5 
1. Taxi Driver (1976)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 1


One of the few films with which I can identify. Taxi Driver communicates so much to me about isolation and solitude. We can all identify with Travis Bickle, aimlessly driving that Taxi as he withers into non-existence.

Watched in January 2010.
Rewatched in November 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 3174  Average listal rating (2041 ratings) 8.3  IMDB Rating 8.8 
2. GoodFellas (1990)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 1

Scorsese seems to begin every single decade with a great movie. Goodfellas is a brilliant crime saga that I cannot help but applaud its pacing, script, characters, climax and ending. Films like this remind me of why I love cinema.

Watched in January 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 807  Average listal rating (479 ratings) 7.4  IMDB Rating 7.5 
3. Mean Streets (1973)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 2. Behind The Wicker Man.

Mean Streets is less characteristic of Hollywood and more personal. I admired its gritty atmosphere and its stark realism, both of which are key characteristics of 1970s Hollywood, the Golden Era as far as I'm concerned. Decadence destroys, as this film argues, it certainly does reflect the era in which it was made. Unfortunately, we're being made to suffer due to Hollywood's excess.

Watched in May 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 1586  Average listal rating (971 ratings) 8.1  IMDB Rating 8.3 
4. Raging Bull (1980)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 1

Another film about self-destruction. I could not identify with this film as much as I identified with Taxi Driver. However, that didn't prevent me from admiring this piece of art. Raging Bull saddened me because it was filmed at the end of an artistic era, it seemed like the closing curtain to such a magnificent era that bore illusions of an artistic Hollywood.

Watched in June 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 611  Average listal rating (341 ratings) 7.6  IMDB Rating 7.7 
5. The King of Comedy (1982)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 2, Behind Fanny and Alexander.

This dark comedy, however uncharacteristic it may be, is a disturbing portrait of people who are determined to find fame as a substitute for satisfaction. Roger Ebert called it "an agonizing portrait of lonely, angry people with their emotions all tightly bottled up" which is an apt description. They seek fame simply to feel valued. When, in reality, these characters are compensating for their lack of personality.

Watched in February 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 1922  Average listal rating (1261 ratings) 7.8  IMDB Rating 8.2 
6. Casino (1995)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 1

I recall watching this as a 12 Year-Old and absolutely hating it, I didn't understand why it was listed on the Top 250. However, I soon watched The Departed and realised that Scorsese was talented before I returned to this film years later and realised how wrong my initial impression of this film was. I couldn't follow it when I was 12, I immediately translated my confusion into rage and criticised this film. It wasn't until I was 14 when I could fully appreciate it.

Watched in September 2008.
Rewatched in June 2010.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 374  Average listal rating (185 ratings) 7.3  IMDB Rating 7.4 
7. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 3. Behind Chinatown and The Conversation.

I enjoyed this early Scorsese feature staring the always Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel. It is a feminist film about an woman who must become independent after the death of her husband. Initially, I found the ending feeble and weak. However, upon reflection, she is becoming involved with someone who espouses equality in relationships and shall not submit to her previous partner's violent wrath and indifference.

Watched in February 2011.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 191  Average listal rating (95 ratings) 7.6  IMDB Rating
8. The Last Waltz (1978)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 1

Another film that represents the end of an era, not only for great music but also Hollywood. I've not much to say about this film as I've always admired it at arms length.

Watched in June 2011.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 4306  Average listal rating (2854 ratings) 8  IMDB Rating 8.5 
9. The Departed (2006)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: No. 5. Behind Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, The Queen and The Lives of Others.

Great Cast; great film. However, it was the least impressive Scorsese film I saw (before Shutter Island and Hugo). I don't believe that this is the film for which Scorsese should have won Best Director (I would award either Taxi Driver or Goodfellas with that honour). The Departed lacks restraint and subtlety and is often an exercise in excess as a result. However, I do admire, and appreciate, it.

Watched in November 2008.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 1380  Average listal rating (820 ratings) 7.5  IMDB Rating 7.6 
10. Hugo (2011)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: N/A

Hugo's first half is such a joy to watch that it's a surprise that the lacklustre second half seems to diminish its quality and counter-act the power of the first half. Scorsese hasn't directed a great film since 1995's Casino.

Watched in January 2012.
sunset96's rating:

People who added this item 3203  Average listal rating (2136 ratings) 7.7  IMDB Rating
11. Shutter Island (2010)


Place on my Top 10 List of its Respective Year: N/A

I enjoyed the novel and Scorsese is one of my favourite directors. However, this film does neither of the aforementioned justice. If it weren't directed by Scorsese, perhaps my expectations would not be so high. However, I was disappointed.

Watched in February 2010.
sunset96's rating:


Unseen Scorsese Films

Films that I plan to see.


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Comments

Posted: 1 year, 8 months ago at Sep 14 0:38
Great list! Like how you included your ranking of the film within its respective year! My 1-4 seem to rotate between Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino. I enjoy Mean Streets too, but just didn't think it was tightly enough focused for stretches. The first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes are pretty amazing though.

Hope you find a lot to enjoy in the rest of his films as you watch them!

Here's my list if you wanna check it out!
http://www.listal.com/list/scorsese-best-worstill-pretty-damn-tctorn
Posted: 1 year, 6 months ago at Nov 22 23:42
Mean Streets is great as he really established his trademark techniques, but I believe his top three are Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas in whatever order...
Posted: 1 year, 6 months ago at Nov 22 23:51
I think Casino got a bad rap because people would look at this movie and say,"Oh, Scorsese is playing it safe by re-casting Ne Niro and Pesci in another mob movie". If those people would actually watch the movie, they would see just how wrong that evaluation is. Although, I consider Goodfellas the better movie of the two, Casino tells a compelling story and deserves to be judged on its own merits. I am not going to compare the two movies, I am just going to say they both tell very different stories.

The thing I notice about Scorsese is that he is very versatile. He has made violent gangster movies, a very stylized Hollywood musical, light comedy, documentaries, heavy psychological dramas, biopics, and even historical romances.

I realized you only put the movies you have actually seen in the list, which I think is only right, but may I suggest 2 to add to the bookcase to watch? How about:

The Color of Money - Oscar-winning performance by Paul Newman.

Cape Fear - A chilling protrayal of a psychopathic killer by De Niro.

Posted: 1 year, 6 months ago at Nov 23 0:09
I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it.


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Posted: 1 year, 6 months ago at Nov 23 13:37
You're missing the following movies:
- 'Kundun' which was ok
- 'New York New York' which was ok
- 'I call first' which was ok
- 'Boxcar bertha' which I have not seen yet
- already mentionned 'The colorr of money' and 'Cape fear' both pretty good.

Personally, I have seen 23 of his movies so you still have some work to do ...

Nice list anyway!
Posted: 1 year, 5 months ago at Dec 25 3:59
GoodFellas & Casino are a few of my all time fav movies!
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Posted: 1 year, 2 months ago at Mar 2 7:13
TOP 5 is flawless
Posted: 2 months, 4 weeks ago at Feb 22 22:47
Good list, but major gaps without Gangs, Aviator, and Last Temptation. None of which are his best, but all must sees.

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