Bottom Of The Barrel

Scorsese goes long

While watching the Aviator last night, I keep thinking about the running time listed on the NetFlix White Sleeve as 2 hours and 50 minutes. I was watching for scenes that either ran long or didn't add much to the overall story [which seemed fairly accurate except the omission of his first wife Ella Rice or true details of creative financing]. In this film, Scorsese seems to just run long with every scene which keeps the movies pace slower than needed. This reminded me of Gangs of New York and The Departed, which he finally won his Oscar for Best Director which I believe was really given for his entire body of work [Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Color Of Money, ect] rather than just this one film.

In his three major motion pictures released this decade, they have all run long: Gangs of New York - 2:47, The Aviator - 2:50 and The Departed - 2:31. Prior to that he also released long running films like Casino - 2:58, The Last Temptation of Christ - 2:44 and Goodfellas - 2:25 but had made several movies that clock in at the rather expected 2 hour time frame. I have not been personally overjoyed at his last three films and it might be the length that gets to me each time. They all seem to drag and this is what ultimately keeps me from wanting to watch them again.

I hope that he can keep his next project to around the 2 hour mark and give it a little faster pace although with titles like Frankie Machine [mob movie], Silence [Jesuit priests traveling to japan] or The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt I'm not so confident that these will be short offerings either.

posted by TheWino @ 9:27 AM