Brad Warren

Despite a kind of messy screenplay, I love this movie. I love Ellen Burstyn’s performance. I love the humor. I love thinking about how kids don’t really know their parents at all until they’re older. Like when you’re a kid, you don’t know your parents as fully formed people at all. Thats portrayed in such a charming way in this movie. Also, is this Scorsese at his funniest? I say probably yes. Sneaky Winner: Alfred Lutter in a great kid actor performance! Surprising Loser: The Harvey Keitel stuff didn’t really work for me. **[Martin Scorsese Ranked](https://boxd.it/QYnyk/detail)**

It’s 100% thrill ride, but also asks some pretty deep ethical questions… and we talk about elevated horror as if it’s a new thing, knowing full well *Cape Fear *and *Silence of the Lambs* came out in the same year. Crazy commitment from De Niro. Great performances from Nolte and Jessica Lange as well. The score, cinematography, and screenplay all do a great job of making you feel a sense of absolute dread for a full two hours. Sneaky Winner: The houseboat set piece was nuts. So suspenseful. Surprising Loser: My only qualms are with some of the weird photo-negative/red-washed stylistic choices. I don’t get that at all. **[Martin Scorsese Ranked](https://boxd.it/QYnyk/detail)**

Honestly, pretty great representation of both depression and compassion fatigue. Great performances, and no one does the descent into madness like Scorsese. My favorite thing about this movie, though, is that it’s forcing the viewer to have compassion on people a lot of folks go out of their way not to show compassion to. Sneaky Winner: Ving Rhames made me laugh a lot throughout what’s otherwise a very dark movie. Textbook definition of comic relief. Surprising Loser: I think the screenplay does a lot of smart things, but there’s something weird about the progression of how Nicholas Cage and Patricia Arquette interact throughout the movie. **[Martin Scorsese Ranked](https://boxd.it/QYnyk/detail)**

This is the one Wes Anderson that just doesn’t get through to me. Not sure why… maybe his aesthetic doesn’t translate to sea life, maybe I can’t connect to any of the characters, or maybe the story is just uninteresting to me. The production value is obviously there, the soundtrack is great, and it has one really compelling sequence (with the pirates), but I’m just kinda out on it. Sneaky Winner: Anjelica Houston is just never not good, even when she only gets the tiniest amount of screen time. Surprising Loser: Owen Wilson’s accent work is abysmal. **[Wes Anderson Ranked](https://boxd.it/UsB6m)**