Scorsese Doesn't Score in This One

Rating: 1/10 (18 February 2007)

It amazes me how the fact that a director has made his mark will cause him to garner praise from the movie-going masses. It's like all of those who stare at a white canvas with a black dot in the center an proclaim it to be masterful art. Martin Scorsese used to be masterful at generating emotions through violence. Lately, all he seems capable of is generating yawns.
I watched the Gangs of New York for a second time a couple of months ago. I felt like I was watching a National Geographic special. There was nothing particularly special about it and Daniel Day- Lewis's voice/accent in it reminded me of Popeye. Scorsese seems to love irritating accents. The Departed is replete with a Massachusetts grate (among the most annoyingto meaccents the English language possesses.) The movie is overlong and takes forever to get anywhere. I loved Leonard DiCapprio in Titanic, but after trying to watch this blubbering whale of an attempt at good cinema, I kept thinking it would have been so much better if his career had stayed submerged.
Dicapprio, Walhberg and Damon are all identical pieces of cardboard when it comes to acting and they are all the same type. It's like putting Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Anna Nicole Smith all the the same picture. There's just no telling them apart. The dialogue is flat. The story moves at soap opera pace. The cinematography is the opposite of John Woo. If I hadn't been watching this at home on my wasted DVD purchase, I would have walked out on it and I was almost tempted to, regardless. I remember I actually did walk out on What Lies Beneath years ago. But here there is no beneath. There are no layers. Hey, give me $90 million and I can make a film, too.
So, watch out Michael Cimino, you have a contender for the Golden Raspberry Award, because this film is a bowlful.
An additional note: Yesterday I tuned in the last half hour of the Academy Awards and have mixed feelings about the fact that the Academy is apparently allowing those who are both blind and deaf to vote the best picture and best director. Apparently, all the sympathy votes for Scorsese finally came in. Argh Gratia Artis!