CloverClover

How was this movie?! It looks like a great film, and I've never heard of it; however, Scorses directs, and I heard comparisons to Taxi Driver

How is the DVD? loaded?

I saw Ebert gave it 4 stars,

thanks for any Info.

garmonbozia

Well I would give it 4 stars too putting me, my best friend, and Ebert in a minority. I don't know many people who appreciated this film. I just saw that you posted in the Movies forum that you had just watched this, so I will repost that post here where it belongs.

garmonbozia

quote:
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Originally posted by TheCLovur
I'm watching The Rock right now,

It's not that good, but pretty entertaining..

I guess it's because I saw Bringing Out the Dead right before.. Boy was that a trip
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Hey, glad you liked Bringing Out the Dead. I think that film is highly underrated and most people do not like it. A friend of mine who used to have some NYC ambulance driver friends said that the mania/craziness was pretty accurate. I thought it was a beautifully haunting film. Many people on these boards think that Scorsese last few films were disappointments (BOTD, Kundun, Casino). I think they were all still truly great films.

CloverClover

yeah, I rented it

wow, the movie didn't really have a plot, but I guess that's the point, it was disturbing, and beautifully done..

I didn't get to rent the DVD because they only had the VHS, but I looked on Amazon.com and it has a making of (I think); that would be interesting

monkey

Great movie, nice DVD. Buy it.

MrBEAViS

"Seven thumbs up!" -mrbeavis


...it was Great.

rockinphotog

I'm pretty easily entertained, but when I left the theatre I was confused, thinking, "did that movie suck?". I can't say for sure, but I don't think I would watch it more than once.

garmonbozia

well, IMO, the film dealt with themes common in Scorsese's work, spirituality mixed with violence, etc... but they were done more visually in this film than in many others and were not as overt in the story itself, or at times they seemed too overt. It really depends on what you as a person consider to be "sprituality".

dave955

This is his Eyes Wide Shut. That's the best short one sentence description I can give. I found Bringing Out the Dead to be moderately boring but visually interesting. I can see how some might find it more appealing than I did. I wouldn't recommend a buy, but it's worth a rent if a surrealistic drama might appeal to you.

garmonbozia

I think that's a "fair" statement. In my experience, people are more likely to like both of these movies or not like both of these movies than they are to like one and not the other. A distinction for me however, I regard Eyes Wide Shut to be Kubrick's greatest film, but do not regard Bringing Out the Dead to be Scorsese's greatest film.

MrBEAViS

So you agree with me that it was brilliant? Seriously, I thought EWS was great, along with this. If you want a less-than-brilliant film by Scorsese go see New York, New York. I hate musicals though, so i'm biased.

dave955

I thought Eyes Wide Shut was interesting to watch and densely layered but ultimately fairly uninteresting on the surface. So while it rewards multiple viewing, it's not one of my favorite films. I didn't find much on the surface of Bringing Out the Dead to like, and I didn't really know what to look for under the surface, so I missed out on a lot. That said, I don't plan on watching it again to find out what I missed. Based only on my initial critical reaction, I think it is definitely a lesser film than Eyes Wide Shut. I'm open to the notion that my appraisal of Bringing Out the Dead is wrong/ignorant/uninformed, but not so much so that at this point I would consider spending two hours to view it again.

One of the parallels I saw between the movies was the "wooden" acting in both by the protagonist. (I'm aware this was not accidental or the result of bad performance skills. I don't mean "wooden" to imply that!) Also, the movies are highly symbolic and rely on the use of color. Both were anticipated by audiences and critics and then met with (mostly) indifference or worse. In my opinion, both lack an involving and interesting main storyline to maintain viewer interest in the surface plot.

come on pilgrim

So it was Scorsese's best film in ages?? I agree completely, dave.

Meatpants

Nice transfer. I understand the EWS comparison, though I think EWS is better than BOTD in both a general and Kubrickian-canon sense. Anyway, if you're thinking about it, check Best Buy's PVD selection, because I've seen BOTD there often for $9.99.

Justin Doring

I'm a pretty big Scorsese fan, but I was disappointed with Bringing Out the Dead. I think I understood what Scorsese was going for, but he just didn't hit the target. Of course I only saw it once, but I thought his themes were pretty obvious and what he was saying wasn't exactly profound. The film left me feeling cold and rather apathetic; I didn't feel emotionally or intellectually satisfied, but I didn't feel cheated either--I just didn't feel! Perhaps he wanted to elicit no reaction from the audience. If so, he was successful. I think better editing and more reliance on Elmer Bernstein's talents would have helped the film immensely. Bringing Out the Dead is not a bad film, but it's not even close to being among his best works. I'd probably give it a **1/2 out of *****.

For what it's worth, I think Eyes Wide Shut is absolutely brilliant and probably Kubrick's best film.

Smog

incredible cinematography, horrible casting. Why is Cage's wife in this film? She is completely unbelievable in her role.No replay value. 1 1/2 stars.

beebs

The truth of this film will come in time. This is no momentus film event as some of Scorsese's films can be.

I don't expect to judge this one fairly until I've watched it the third time, and a few years have passed.

-Beebs

DVD Smurf

Meaning of life to be paramedic? No I don't think so. This is from a former military medic. Yet, this is a great film.

TheDude

Bringing out the Dead is extremely underrated, and one of my top ten '90's films - this has unfairly been compared to Taxi Driver; even though the two share some similarities (i.e., both characters drive around at night in NYC), IMHO they couldn't be more different. That being said, one of the many reasons I like this film is the late night urban atmosphere (which is the only similarity to TD) - this gives the film a strong pseudo-noir aspect.

Re-watched this a while back, and was very moved by the paramedic main character (Nic Cage) & his empathy for the people on the streets - IMHO, this is definitely NC's best role. The scenes that especially get to me are: when he keeps seeing that young woman's face on random people, and also when all of the "ghosts" come out of the streets in the dream/fantasy sequence. The harsh lighting here is fantastic - really sets the mood.

Also, BOTD boasts an incredible & very diverse soundtrack - who else but Scorsese could use songs by REM, The Clash, The Marvelettes, 10,000 Maniacs, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, etc. in the same film and make it work?! This is probably my favorite soundtrack in a Scorsese film....

Also, BOTD is one of my top five favorite Scorsese films - the other 4 are Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, and King of Comedy.