Taxi Driver (1976) review

(9/10)

I had been putting off seeing this one for the longest time for absolutely no reason. Now, I'm glad I saw it and wondering why I put it off so long. It's a hard-hitting, smooth, and truthful film on the dark streets of the world.

PLOT:Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) has just gotten a job as a taxi driver in the streets of New York. He's smooth, quiet, and hates most of the rabble of the streets. However, he meets a beautiful blonde working in office named Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) and falls in love. It doesn't last long, though, until he makes a big mistake and scares her way. No matter how much he tries to re-kindle things with her, she always turns him away, which forces him to snap. He then comes up with an idea to kill the candidate in office this girl is working for. Meanwhile, he's trying to help a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster) escape from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel), and go back to her parents. It's a good plot executed greatly.



ACTING:The acting in here was very great. Robert De Niro did an excellent job of playing our lead, Travis Bickle. I think it was a very memorable performance, Another performance worthy of note is the young Jodie Foster as 12-year-old hooker, Iris. Even at this young age, she was a very talented actress. The other shiners would be Harvey Keitel as Sport, Cybill Shepherd as Betsy, Peter Boyle as Wizard and Martin Scorsese himself in a cameo as the weird, vengeful passenger.

SCORE:The score in here is very smooth and smoky sounding, like a crime mystery in a bar. It fits the mood of the film very well.

EFFECTS:The blood in here flows pretty freely for an action flick. There are a lot of kills, and blood to accompany. The blood effects in here look pretty realistic and detailed as gunshots are fired and knifes are used.



OTHER CONTENT:This film is a very interesting look at the decline of society today. The exaggerated realism of it all shocks you and puts the urban world into what I believe to be its place. The performances lead the plot through with great direction by the beloved Martin Scorsese. However, this film had a plot issue for me. Though the plot was very well thought-out, it wasn't completely solid. You couldn't sit down and tell me the plot without telling me all the twists in it first, like Dazed and Confused. It makes the film open to suprises, but a little complicated to follow for some.

OVERALL,an awesome film with a good plot, very great performances, smooth score, realistic blood effects, shocking realism, and great direction, but the plot wasn't completely solid

Hugo (2011) review

(8/10)

It's good seeing something new from Scorsese, especially this quirky, inspiring fairy tale on cinema, but it isn't the best he's ever done.

PLOT:Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is a young orphan who lives in a Parisan train station's clock tower because his father died in a fire. The only thing his father left him was an old automaton which needed fixing. Hugo has been stealing parts from a toy merchant to use, but this time the merchant (Ben Kingsley) finally catches him and steals his book of automaton design. Hugo follows him home, begging the merchant not to burn it, and meets his "granddaugher", Isabelle (Chloe Moretz), who teams up with him to save his book and fix the automaton. What they don't know, however, is that they're about to get into a mysterious adventure. It's a great plot executed wonderfully.



ACTING:The acting in this was pretty good overall. Asa Butterfield played a suprisingly good part as the lead child, Hugo. Chloe Moretz also played off of him rather well as Isabelle. The best role was probably Ben Kingsley as Georges, the merchant. The other shiners were Sacha Baron Cohen as the Station Inspector, Jude Law as Hugo's father, and Christopher Lee as Monsieur Labisse.

SCORE:The score was very intense and inspiring by Howard Shore. It really went with the film.

EFFECTS:The effects in here for the most part weren't the best to me. The CG effects looked rather cheap and too fake to me. The effects used for the clock and the old films showed in this were pretty great though.



OTHER CONTENT:This film was a pretty fantastic addition to Scorsese's resume, but it did have some problems. Aside from the British accents in the Parisan town, this film didn't have a real solid plotline and didn't show as much honor to the director as his other works. The plotline can't settle on exactly what it's trying to convey, but its execution more than somewhat makes up for that. However, it still remains a tad to quirky. Also, Martin Scorsese is a brilliant director, but this film just doesn't seem to match up to what he's done in the past. Aside from these minor flaws, this film was very fun, interesting, and a great honor to the magic of film in its pure form.

OVERALL,a great film with a wonderful plot, pretty good acting, inspiring score, cheap CG effects but good other effects, and a great honor to pure film, but the plotline seems a bit messy and it doesn't seem to add up to what Scorsese can do.

Shark Tale (2004) review

(4/10)

This is one of DreamWorks' flops that reassures me that Pixar's tons better.

PLOT:Oscar (Will Smith) has been a nobody his whole life: broke, ridiculed, and working at a "Whale Wash", the fish paralell to a car wash. One day, when Oscar's boss, Sykes (Martin Scorsese), tells Oscar he needs five grand that he borrowed within 24-hours, Oscar must get it. With the help of his friend, Angie (Renee Zellweger), he gets it and squanders it, leaving Sykes and his jellyfish minions (Doug E. Doug and  Ziggy Marley) to take drastic measures. Meanwhile, the sharks are at the top of the food chain and rulers of the ocean. The lead shark, Don Lino (Robert De Niro) tells Sykes that he's retiring and leaving his rule to his two sons Frankie and Lenny (Jack Black). The flaw in this is that Lenny is a vegitarian shark that can't kill a fish. Lino then tells Frankie to go out and show Lenny the ropes. Well, these two storylines meet when a fatal mistake klls Frankie and Oscar is blamed. Due to a white lie, he is now known as the shark-slaying savior of the reef. This, of course, can't last with the sharks after him, Lenny on the loose, and the fact that it's all a lie. It's a cleverly-thought plot executed pretty badly.



VOICES:The voice cast is mainly all-star, inlcuding the voices I've listed above along with Angelina Jolie, Michael Imperioli, Peter Falk, Katie Couric, and Bobb'e J. Thompson. However, this experienced cast is squandered; even the most expert voice talents, such as Jack Black, fail and become annoying. The only voices that actually did a pretty great job with their roles were Robert De Niro as Don Lino, Martin Scorsese as Sykes, and Doug E. Doug as Bernie with an honorable mention to Katie Couric as Katie Current (a clever play on words). Renee Zellweger did okay, in my eyes, but she still was pretty annoying, as the others were.

SCORE:The soundtrack is actually pretty upbeat and fun. It includes songs by artists such as Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot, Ziggy Marley, Sean Paul, Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, India.Arie, Pussycat Dolls, D12, and way more. Not to mention, this has one of the most memorable compositions by DreamWorks beloved Hanz Zimmer.

ANIMATION:This is the highlight of the entire movie. If it weren't for the colorful and detailed animation, this movie would have been even more of a drag.



OTHER CONTENT:This is definitely one of the worst DreamWorks movies. It's generic, unfunny, and at times, boring. This does have a few good things, however. There were times when it was clever and a lot of fun, and some jokes actually did inspire a chuckle or two. Still, it's pretty bad.

OVERALL,a not-bad-but-not-good DreamWorks movie with a pretty badly executed plot, squandered voice talents, fun soundtrack, detailed animation, generic style, unfunny jokes, and boring moments, but it can be clever and a lot of fun with its moments.