@MongoLloyd said:

@CelluloidFan said:

That's your weird point, not mine, that "He's above (an Oscar)."

What's "weird" about it? Oscars are a marketing scheme for the studio system.

Hi Lloyd, I know I'm getting back to you late. Been busy. Your statement about the Oscars being a "marketing scheme for the studio system" is fine. I found it a little strange for you to judge M.S.'s state of mind in regard to the Oscars. Personally, I keep thinking it might mean something to me to win an Oscar for my own work someday, in terms of the respect of contemporaries in the industry. At the same time, Scorsese has earned my respect as a filmmaker who's kept on keeping on, without the statue on his shelf.

Scorsese is a director's director. Sure, an Oscar is nice, but I don't think he became a director so he could get awards.

@MongoLloyd said:

Scorsese is a director's director. Sure, an Oscar is nice, but I don't think he became a director so he could get awards.

Agreed!

@MongoLloyd said:

@CelluloidFan said:

That's your weird point, not mine, that "He's above (an Oscar)."

What's "weird" about it? Oscars are a marketing scheme for the studio system.

Agree 100%. So many times the actual "Best" does not win but the "best" connections win. It's all Hollywood business politics.

Not for nothing but he should have gotten it for Goodfellas as well. Although I can kinda, sorta understand Costner getting it for Dances With Wolves. I did like that film.

After an awkward start this got into its stride in great style, before sadly dissolving into a bloated and frankly infantile mess. Apparently the lead character in the book attempted suicide, but Scorsese obviously felt he didn't want to bother with a more rounded portrayal of excess that accurately reflected the source material.

No suicide attempts, no consequences for those who lost their money, no significant health issues for all the substance abusing traders. Just comic capers and a tactical use of female nudity to ironically distract from this all being a bit "Emperor's New Clothes".

Gravity wasn't any great shakes and I don't what dates were eligible for this American film award Scorsese missed out on. But 'Like Father, Like Son' (2013) and 'Nightcrawler' (2014) were two of the very best films of the decade released around the same time. Both extract value out of every second of their more sensible run times and neither resorts to cheap explosions and T&A to try and hold the viewer's attention. Both are in a different league to TWOWS.

I don't get the sense that Scorsese has to resort to T&A to hold viewers' attention. This is the man who directed films such as Kundun and The Age of Innocence, remember? I feel that TWOWS is excessive out of deliberate indulgence on his and DiCaprio's parts, actually....

True, he might have just been having a ball with nudity and explosions channeling his inner 'Michael Bay meets Pornhub' rather than an ageing director trying to be edgy and relevant. But whatever his motivations behind that I don't think it impacts on the quality (or otherwise) of the film.

I'm maybe being a bit hard on the film as The King of Comedy is one of the greatest things I've ever seen and all Scorsese's work I've seen after 2004s The Aviator (which I liked) has seemed either over-stylised, bloated or lacking any sort of subtlety in comparison. This started out with quite a lot of promise so I was gutted by the end of it.

@Fergoose said:

True, he might have just been having a ball with nudity and explosions channeling his inner 'Michael Bay meets Pornhub' rather than an ageing director trying to be edgy and relevant. But whatever his motivations behind that I don't think it impacts on the quality (or otherwise) of the film.

No need to be so "counter-life" with one's words there. In this world, as far as we are certain, there are only two choices: You are ageing or you are dead.