Never Mind Pop Film

This marks the first post in a new series called Muses and Maestros, featuring some of the most talented pairings in modern film. First up, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese.

The players: Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese
The works: Gangs of New York,The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island

The most famous actor/director duo that Martin Scorsese will ever be involved in is his partnership with Robert DeNiro. The movie classics that evolved from that relationship will always be untouched. With that said, Scorsese is treading similar waters with Leonardo DiCaprio to great results. The Departed finally netted Scorsese that coveted Best Director trophy and it's hard to argue that DiCaprio's performance isn't a major reason for the film's success.

DiCaprio has gone on to other great work for directors besides Scorsese (Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott), but his highs have rarely reached the same heights that Shutter Island accomplished. Still, the…

Well the nominees are out and - just like every year preceding this one - someone deserving of a spot in the big dance is robbed (what does Christopher Nolan have to do?). Ryan Gosling, Daft Punk, and Barbara Hershey all come to mind, but in my mind these are the some of the lesser known snubs of 2010.

The most glaring snub this year has to be for Leonardo DiCaprio for Shutter Island. Creating a portrayal of psychosis that leads the viewer to invite themselves to his point of view without going into judgement is easily one of the hardest performances to create. That it is also easily one of the scariest descents into madness captured on film is due to Mr. DiCaprio. The Supporting Actor field was quite crowded this year with Bale, Rush, Renner and his own 'Social Network' co-star Andrew Garfield, but Armie Hammer made a large splash in his big debut. He has it all: strength, wealth, and rugged good looks. Thankfully, he also can appreciate the irony of himself and his twin cha…

2010 saw many things; the rise of more original scripts, the box-office flops of properties that were thought to be assured, and surprisingly films with adult audiences did well in a year that could have killed them. Mind-fucks seemed to be the theme of the year as Shutter Island, Black Swan and Inception stirred up audiences considerably. I myself needed two viewings of both Shutter Island and Inception to fully grasp what happened.
The Town took Affleck's sophomore effort into the realms of some of the best crime drama offered and the two weeks of December had Jeff Bridges go from neon-cloaked Zen Master to drunken Marshall with a penchant for killing.
Animated and foreign films did not make the cut for me personally, especially after Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox debuted strongly last year, but Toy Story 3 did make up for much of the slack. I did not get a chance to catch How to Train Your Dragon so that probably colored my opinion of the genre this year. However, documentaries wer…

It has been almost twenty years since Martin Scorsese has last took on a genre film like Cape Fear but with his latest effort Scorsese has returned to the horror landscape once again.
Let me clarify that Shutter Island is not a horror film like The Wolfman where the "scares" are primarily from a loud musical score at a select moment and at least thirteen gallons of blood. This is real horror; the things that keep you up at night long after watching them like The Shining, or Jacob's Ladder.
Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo)is on investigation to find out how patient Rachel Solando disappeared from the Ashecliffe Institute on Shutter Island. The only ferry that comes to the island is under control of the institute and the island is more than ten miles away from the Boston shore. Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) is concerned with the safety of people on the island after the escape of Solando, but he is keeping something from …

Probably only news to me, but when going through the synopsis for Shutter Island I found it to be remarkably similar to that of Shock Corridor.
U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. Teddy's investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As Teddy  is ever closer to the end of the case he begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

Daily Globe Johnny Barrett aims to win the Pulitzer Prize for solving the murder of the inmate Slone, stabbed in the kitchen of a mental hospital with a butcher knife and witnessed by three insane interns. With the support of his boss and manager of the newspaper Swanson and the orientation of the psychiatrist Dr. Fong, Johnny simulates an incestuous situation with his stripper girlfriend Cathy, who is totally against the idea, an…

This looks great. I'm going to go ahead and put this on top of my most anticipated for the year list.