gangs of new york Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What goes around comes around. Back when the wonderful laserdisc was just beginning to find its stride, and the serious movie buff could actually find most of the titles he or she was longing to see, the DVD came along and all but wiped out this entire format, this entire subculture. Now, at the dawn of 2008, it looks as if the war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD may be coming to a close. Will one or the other format catch on? Will the regular DVD become extinct? No one can say. But when it comes to movies I'd like to see, none of this matters. 2007 brought us some amazing DVDs and DVD box sets, and the following is my wish list for titles I'd like to see produced in 2008.

(Note: I deliberately left off titles that are already available on import DVDs, such as Satantango, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Man of the West, Johnny Guitar, Lost Highway, Napoleon, The Dead, the Jean Vigo collection, and many more.)

1. Othello: 3-Disc Special Edition
In 1992, Orson Welles' daughter Beatrice authorized a "restored" version of the film that played in theaters. But purists claimed that her film deviated from what her father originally intended, and so the Criterion Collection released a laserdisc edition of Welles' original cut, the one that played at Cannes in 1952. Beatrice apparently blocked this earlier version, and so now only the 1992 cut is on DVD (and out of print besides). My fantasy DVD would be a three-disc box set (from Criterion, of course), collecting both the 1952 and 1992 cuts, as well as Orson's impossible-to-find documentary Filming Othello (1978), which is the last of his completed films I have yet to see. (There are clips of it on the Criterion Othello laserdisc.) On a side note, of Welles' thirteen completed films, seven are available on U.S. DVDs and four others are available overseas. That leaves only Othello and Filming Othello. Let's get on it!

One of my favorite directors of all time, Martin Scorsese, has been having a very good run lately. After having a little trouble getting films made during the late nineties, the last few years have propelled the director to not only greater creative accolades with films such as Gangs of New York, The Aviator and the exceptional The Departed, but for the first time in his career, significant financial success, as seen with The Departed -- his most successful film ever having earned over $150 million at the box office to date.

Scorsese has directed more than 40 films during his illustrious career and is one of the most honored filmmakers in Hollywood -- having been nominated for six Academy Awards and six Director's Guild awards so far. Even though it appeared, at least according to the man himself, that Scorsese was perhaps tired of big-budget filmmaking in the Hollywood studio system and was going to take a break, it seems now that he has changed his mind and is ready for more work. According to a release this week from Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures (via Coming Soon) the studio has entered into a four-year, first-look deal with Scorsese which will have him directing and producing projects for the studio across all platforms including feature films, DVD and television.

In his statement about the deal, Grey said: "Marty and I have enjoyed great personal success together of late. Now it is our great privilege to welcome Marty to the Paramount Pictures family – a motion picture dream come true." In true Hollywood fashion, Scorsese was quick to acknowledge Grey's statement. "I have had a great personal relationship with Brad Grey for several years now and am looking forward to working with him at Paramount, a studio rich in cinematic history and responsible for making some of my favorite films-'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Shane' and 'The Heiress,' among others," said Scorsese.

In addition to financing projects directly for Scorsese under this deal, Paramount will also have the opportunity to co-finance and co-distribute any project Scorsese may direct for other studios or independent companies. This deal marks the first of its type for the director in many years but I, for one, am thrilled for him. A man with this much talent and skill deserves a home and it makes sense that that home is going to be Paramount -- especially given his relationship with Grey. No matter what projects are eventually born of this deal, it gives me hope for Hollywood in general when a major studio realizes a director like Scorsese needs to be given the resources to to do what he does best -- make movies.

First he visited Hong Kong to remake the film Infernal Affairs, which is now set in Boston and called The Departed (opening October 6 nationwide). Now, it appears Martin Scorsese has chosen his next film; an adaptation of the Japanese novel Silence. Scorsese originally wrote a first draft of the script (with Jay Cocks) a decade ago and planned to shoot the pic immediately following Gangs of New York. However, he ultimately decided to stick The Departed in between the two.

At this time, we're not sure what he plans to do with it, but according to Production Weekly the story is "set in sixteenth century Japan, where Portuguese missionaries must contend with traders from rival European nations and the persecution of Christians by Japanese feudal lords." Oh, and did I mention Scorsese plans to shoot this in Vancouver next summer? Yes, f**kin Vancouver. I was somewhat underwhelmed by Scorsese's trip back in time for Gangs on New York, though I absolutely loved The Departed. This sets my intrigue level rather high, and I'm definitely curious to see where he goes with it. I also wonder if Silence will indeed be one of the director's last efforts for Hollywood, as Martha pondered wayyy back last November.