The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)

Based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir of the same name, it is an extravagant retelling of the rise and the fall of a young stockbroker who ruled the financial world.

The King of Comedy

The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983)

Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin wants to achieve success in showbiz, by resorting to stalking his idol, a late night talk show host who craves his own privacy.

The 15 greatest Alter egos in the History of Cinema

John Ford and John Wayne
One of the most successful association in movie History. The two John made their trademarks as Western filmmakers and a few War films. This is one of the reasons why they are on this prestigious list. And a film list is not a real film list if there are no mention of John Ford or John Wayne. Come on!

Films together: Stagecoach (1939) The Long Voyage Home (1940) They Were Expendable (1945) Fort Apache (1948) 3 Godfathers (1948) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) Rio Grande (1950) The Quiet Man (1952) The Searchers (1956) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune
Kurosawa and Mifune might have been the best ambassadors of their country in the world especially with the spread of the Samurai genre. Interesting fact: Kurosawa wanted to make Samurai films like John Ford did Westerns. If you ask me he made himself clear that he is the John Ford of Japan.

Films together: Drunken Angel (1948) Stray Dog (1949) Rashomon (1950) The Idiot (1951) The Seven Samurai (1954) Throne of Blood (1957) The Lower Depths (1957) The Hidden Fortress (1958) The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Yojimbo (1961) Sanjuro (1962) High and Low (1963) Red Beard (1965)

Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin
The most hip duo since the buzz around The Artist that began at the Cannes Film Festival last May and that culminated with the crowning of The Artist, Hazanavicius, and Dujardin at the Oscars. It is interesting to discover that it is far from being the first collaboration of the two Frenchmen.

Films together: OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006) OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (2009) The Artist (2011)

Federico Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni
This might not the most popular choice here but with only 8 1/2 Mastroianni impersonated the great Fellini and give one of the greatest performances ever shot on film.

Films together: La Dolce vita (1960) 8 1/2 (1963) City of Women (1980)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
The most obvious choice for contemporary film buffs. Those two have made it clear that they like to work together with their upcoming The Dark Shadows.

Films together: Edward Scissorhands (1990) Ed Wood (1994) Sleepy Hollow (1999) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Corpse Bride (2005) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
I've just discovered Hunger lately and it is a revelation to me. Fassbender gives great performances one after another but his pairings with McQueen are tremendous.

Films together: Hunger (2008) Shame (2011)

Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart
Of the many leading man Hitchcock had in his films, Stewart is most common man and easy to relate to actor that worked with him. I could have gone with Cary Grant but Stewart stars in my favorite Hitchcocks.

Films togeter: Rope (1948) Rear Window (1954) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Vertigo (1958)

F.W. Murnau and Emil Jannings
German Cinema of the pre-Second World War would never have been the same without those two greats.

Films together: The Last Laugh (1924) Faust (1926) Tartuffe (1926)

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro
Do I really need to explain myself here? There is no one single film they made together that I wouldn't watch right away. They embrace the definition of alter egos and I hope that some day they find some time to make another film together something like a last goodbye or even a documentary/interview with fragments of their films together, thoughts etc.

Films together: Mean Streets (1973) Taxi Driver (1976) New York, New York (1977) Raging Bull (1980) The King of Comedy (1983) Goodfellas (1990) Cape Fear (1991) Casino (1995)

John Huston and Humphrey Bogart
Bogie had such a presence in films that Huston exploited like no other director, except Howard Hawks and Nicholas Ray maybe, with his raw personality and created a kind of character just for Bogis with the creation of the Film Noir in The Maltese Falcon.

Films together: The Maltese Falcon (1941) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Key Largo (1948) The African Queen (1951) Beat the Devil (1954)

David Fincher and Brad Pitt
Fincher is slowly becoming one of the most respected filmmakers today, their first two collaborations are already considered as classics for contemporary film enthusiasts.

Films together: Se7en (1995) Fight Club (1999) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski
The most destructive duo of this list, just watch Herzog's documentary My Best Fiend about Kinski to fully understand their insane relationaship. It is almost unbelivable that they made more than one film together.

Films together: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Stroszek (1977)  Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) Fitzcarraldo (1982) Cobra Verde (1987) My Best Fiend (1992)

Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson
With the recent lost of Josephson the World of Cinema lost one of the most talented actors. He worked on twelve films with Ingmar Bergman and always gave tremendous performances. Everytime I see Josephson on the screen I immediately connect him with Bergman. Especially with Scenes of A Marriage that contains many Bergman moments almost autobiographical.

Films together: It Rains on Our Love (1946) Brink of Life (1958) Hour of the Wolf (1968) The Passion of Anna (1969) Cries and Whispers (1972) Scenes of A Marriage (1973) Face to Face (1976) Autumn Sonata (1978) Fanny and Alexander (1982) After the Rehearsal (1984) In the Presence of A Clown (1997) Saraband (2003)

Jean Renoir and Jean Gabin
One of the greatest master of Cinema, Jean Renoir, collaborated with Jean Gabin on four films but they represented the Frenchmen for the World. La Grande Illusion and La Bête Humaine brought both to international recognition.

Films together: The Lower Depths (1936) La Grande Illusion (1937) La Bête Humaine (1938) French Cancan (1954)

Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale
Probably the most popular alter ego in the world of Cinema right now with The Dark Knight Rises coming in theatres this summer. All their films together have immense success at the Box Office as with the critics. Let,s hope they did as they usually do with the new Batman; a superb job.

Films together: Batman Begins (2005) The Prestige (2006) The Dark Knight (2008)

Top films of Martin Scorsese by LMdC

The living director I probably respect the most and the one that directed my all-time favorite movie, Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese's top film list is not an easy thing to do. With more than forty films, shorts, documentaries, concert films features, the career of this great director of 69 years old isn't even slowing down. With a film presently in theaters, Hugo, Scorsese's first 3D experience, and a biopic about Sinatra announced and another project titled Silence, the man sure wants to work. He could have only made films until the early 1980's and his place amongst the greats of the media would have been casted forever in stone.
After many problems in the 1970's and 1980's Scorsese directed his Last Temptation of Christ a controversial film that represented this tormented catholic's preoccupations. Even if I only saw more than the half of his filmography I think I've seen the major works of this amazing director. Here are the top films of Martin Scorsese by me:

1. Taxi Driver (1976)
2. Raging Bull (1980)
3. Goodfellas (1990)
4. The King of Comedy (1983)
5. Mean Streets (1973)
6. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
7. New York, New York (1977)
8. After Hours (1985)
9. Casino (1995)
10. The Departed (2006)
11. Shutter Island (2010)
12. The Last Waltz (1978)
13. The Key to Reserva (short) (2007)
14. I Call First (1967)
15. New York Stories (segment Life Lessons) (1989)
16. Gangs of New York (2002)
17. Shine A Light (2008)
18. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
19. The Age of Innocence (1993)
20. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
21. The Aviator (2004)
22. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
23. The Color of Money (1986)
24. Boxcar Bertha (1972)
25. Cape Fear (1991)

I still need to see: Vesuvius VI (short) (1959) What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This? (short) (1963) The Big Shave (short) (1967) Street Scenes (1970) Italianamerican (1974) American Boy: A Profile: Steven Prince (1978) Mirror, Mirror (Amazing stories) (1986) Bad (video short) (1987) Made in Milan (1990) A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) Kundun (1997) Il mio viaggio in Italia (1999) The Neighborhood (short) (2001) Feel Like Going Home (2003) The Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty (2004) No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) A Letter to Elia (2010) Boardwalk Empire (2010) Public Speaking (2010) George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) Hugo (2011)

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)
Gangs of New York is the Martin Scorsese picture that Harvey Weinstein wanted to produce to win many Oscars and be the ultimate David O. Selznick. Weinstein wanted to produce the movie of a true Hollywood director and have full control over "his" director. The Miramax tycoon always thought he knew movies better than anyone else and he knew what the public wanted to see. Buying foreign films at low cost and cutting them to please American audiences was his bread and butter in the 1980's. In the 1990's, he decided that he would buy Independant American features and control the lenght and the content. He began producing with Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and slowly earned fame and recognition within his peers. However, ther a re few filmmakers that haven't been well acquainted with Weinstein because he is a man of control and a manipulative fellow. He'll always present himself like your best friend, buying your movie and making you a favor to distribute and promote it the way you wanted it to be.

Boxcar Bertha

Boxcar Bertha (Martin Scorsese, 1972)

This is my contribution for the Roger Corman blogathon hosted by Nathanael Hood at the Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear blog from June 17 to 19.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)


No presentation needed here for Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, The Departed, Shine a Light) an Academy Award winner for Best Director (The Departed). Scorsese, is probably the best American director breathing right now. With a cast of regular Leonardo DiCaprio and newcomers, but talented Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Max von Sydow, and John Carroll Lynch Shutter Island stands strong as one of the best films of 2010.

#7 Martin Scorsese

Cinephiles who voted for Martin Scorsese:
Phil Concannon
Ed Howard
Jonathan Nadeau
Michaël Parent

Lists:
The Cinematheque
Digital Dreamdoor
Entertainment Weekly
FilmJournal
MovieMaker
nighthawknews
Sight & Sound 2002 Poll (directors)
They Shoot Pictures Don't They?
Total Film