Over at Salon, Matt Zoller Seitz on Friday Night Seitz has put together his favorite Scorsese movies:
This has been quite a year for 60-something American filmmakers. Terrence Malick, who started directing in 1973, created the year’s most divisive conversation piece with “The Tree of Life.” Woody Allen, who started directing in 1966, had his biggest financial success with “Midnight in Paris.” Steven Spielberg, who directed his first feature-length movie 40 years ago, has two blockbusters coming out this month, “The Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse.” And Martin Scorsese, who made his directorial debut in 1966, has had another success with “Hugo,” a film history-conscious 3-D art film for kids that finished second to “The Muppets” at the box office during its opening weekend and was just named film of the year by the National Board of Review. It’s as good a time as any for a Best of Scorsese list — as if I really need an excuse!
On Facebook I ranked my favorite Scorsese movies just for the hell of it. And though I suppose my favorites shift depending on what I’m feeling at the time, right now I’m going through a Departed phase, and of course, it’s hard not to look at the diversity of this director’s work in light of his success with Hugo. Right now, this is my list — if I had to pick ten, I’d go:
Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Goodfellas
The Departed
Hugo
Mean Streets
Age of Innocence
No Direction Home
A Personal Journey Through American Movies
The Last Waltz
But then, I couldn’t give up these either:
The Aviator
Shutter Island
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Cape Fear
Gangs of New York
New York New York
How about you?