To each their own has never been so true. I am constantly amazed by people and how they differ

Rating: 3/10 (13 September 2008)

It has been awhile since I reviewed a stone cold classic. As a movie fanatic with over 700 reviews under my belt I have been trying to see some of these classics for the first time. I finally watched Gone With The Wind (see my review) and loved it, saw Casablanca and was touched (see my review) and now I finally sat down to watch Raging Bull which apparently is considered my some to be the great film of all time...what a statement to live up to. I love Robert DeNiro, the man is a master at his craft, and Martin Scorcese for me is very over hyped. He has had a lot of hits and misses for me, I thought Taxi Driver, and The Departed, were brilliant but on the flip side he has directed some of my least favorite movies including Goodfellas (get over it I hated it), Bringing Out The Dead, Gangs of New York, and now this...considered one of his greatest? Now finally I have to say that I think Martin Scorsese is severely over rated and tries far too hard to make obscurity along with gratuitous violence, language, sex and anything else that can get a rise out of the average viewer. I mean if there was some sort of artistic merit for cramming the most obscenities into a movie than hand it over to this man but when did that ever make a good film?
Sadly this is considered one of Robert De Niro's finest roles when in fact I think he had one good scene in the entire movie. The rest of the time he was kind of an ass, beating on his women, going into paranoiac freak outs, and making no sense at all. He looks ridiculous as boxer Jake La Motta and the character is boring and I care so little about him, I can't even believe it. Amazingly Joe Pesci is actually pretty good as La Motta's brother Joey. I figured that Pesci would be no more than he was in Goodfellas which was a ridiculous character that does nothing but beat people into bloody messes and swear until your ears bleed but he actually turns in a serious performance this isn't completely ridiculous. Cathy Moriarty practically puts herself to sleep along with everyone watching this movie as the love of La Motta's life. She looks strung out and she is boring in the role period. I'd go on about the rest of the cast but they are hardly in it and they certainly doesn't make the movie any better nor really any worse because the script and entire idea behind the movie does that right away.
Anyone who considers Raging Bull a boxing movie or even BEGIN to compare it to Rocky needs their head examined. First of all there is nothing good about Jake La Motta. He is insane, and an abuser both mentally, physically, and a stone cold scum bag through the entire movie that somehow we are supposed to feel sorry for. He disgusts me more than anything and I guess that's an impressive performance. Second of all for the ten minutes of boxing in this movie it's hardly worth it. What do we get to see? A couple of knock downs and DeNiro beating people's heads in, in black and white. The black and white is a nice touch and I mean it does make the film seem older, more classic but it doesn't over shadow the horribly boring story, and the ridiculous hero they try to make out of someone who is a scum bag in every sense of the world. This movie may have garnered Oscar nods and made DeNiro more of a star but I would love to sit down with anyone and explain to me what entertainment or education or anything that comes out of this because to me it was amateur garbage period. 3/10