When you are a legendary filmmaker with a career that spans six decades, there are inevitably people who are going to argue about which films are best. In the discussion surrounding Martin Scorsese’s career, narrowing it down is difficult enough, with many people having an issue trying to pinpoint which of his crime thrillers are best, let alone which is his overall best film. That said, his only Oscar win for Best Director came with “The Departed,” a film that many people rank up there as one of his better pictures.

Continue reading ‘The Departed’: Martin Scorsese Says The Studio Wanted To Keep The Main Characters Alive & Create A Franchise at The Playlist.

Mark Wahlberg is not afraid of working on sequels. We’re talking sequels in franchises like “Transformers,” “Ted,” and “Daddy’s Home,” just to name a few. But one sequel the actor-producer was hoping to get off the ground that never came to fruition was “The Departed 2.”

Yes, a sequel to Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning film, “The Departed.” Needless to say, the pitch didn’t go well. 

READ MORE: 25 Essential Films About Corrupt Cops & Police Brutality

Speaking to KFC Radio (via Esquire), Mark Wahlberg shared a story where he talked about a failed pitch for “The Departed 2,” where he was discussing potentially approaching actors such as Brad Pitt and Robert De Niro about roles.

Continue reading Mark Wahlberg Pitched A Version Of ‘The Departed 2’ Starring Brad Pitt & Robert De Niro at The Playlist.

A casting update has arrived on George Clooney‘s next dramatic outing for Amazon, titled “The Tender Bar.” “X-Men: Apocalypse” actor Tye Sheridan is joining the film that already has Ben Affleck reportedly attached in a lead role with Clooney directing. 

READ MORE: Ben Affleck May Star in George Clooney’s Next Drama ‘The Tender Bar’

“The Tender Bar” has a script written by “The Departed” scribe William Monahan and is based on a memoir from J.R.

Continue reading ‘The Tender Bar’: George Clooney-Directed Amazon Drama Adds Tye Sheridan Alongside Ben Affleck at The Playlist.

Months before the 2016 presidential election, Alternet writer Adam Johnson used the term “copraganda” to describe any media story that “that uncritically advances a police department’s image or helps undermine reform efforts.” The same label can be applied to the way film and television have carefully sculpted the way we view law enforcement for nearly a century. Rookie cops, hero cops, crooked cops, buddy cops, supernatural cops, even a series devoted to a “Maniac Cop.” Filmmakers like David Ayer have practically built careers out of rehashing the “dirty cop” story in films like “Training Day” and “End of Watch.” Networks have flooded our TV screens for decades with stories like “Dragnet,” “Law & Order,” NYPD Blue,” “C.S.I.,” and enough spin-offs, reboots, and copycats to fill its own streaming channel (please, don’t actually do this).

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We can all agree that director and filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a genius. His films like “Taxi Driver,” “Goodfellas,” and “Wolf of Wall Street” made him a household name, and he’s still going strong with his career. But it was 2006’s “The Departed” that won him four Academy Awards, including Best Director. It was a classic, a fan favorite except for one tiny, squeaky detail.

Continue reading Director Adam Sacks Wants To Erase The Rat From ‘The Departed’ at The Playlist.

Jack Nicholson is eccentric. Jack Nicholson is also rich enough to afford the luxury of eccentricity. But even in the late ’60s, remember the breakout role of “Easy Rider” didn’t come until 1969, Nicholson did weird, surreal things like walking around nude for months at a time. “As a matter of self-help, he spent three months walking around in the nude, at all hours of the day, no matter who stopped by, his daughter included,” Rolling Stone wrote in a 2013 profile.

Continue reading The Essentials: Jack Nicholson’s Best Films at The Playlist.

If you go and see “Baby Driver” this weekend expecting another gag-heavy comedy in the vein of Edgar Wright’s earlier films, you’ll likely be in a shock. The absolutely tremendous car-chase-musical (read our review) is funny, sure, but that’s not its primary aim: in a big departure from Wright, it has more in common with classic 70s crime cinema than with, “Hot Fuzz” (for example) using the director’s formal gifts in service of a surprisingly hard-boiled heist movie.

Continue reading The 50 Best Crime Movies Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

At 74 years old, Martin Scorsese seems to busier and have more projects on his plate than filmmakers half his age. With “Silence” finally finished, the director is hoping to turn to “The Irishman” next, with tentative plans to start lensing in February, but he’s also got a filing cabinet filled with developing projects, and at least one of them is still being actively looked at.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese Says ‘Devil In The White City’ Still Being “Worked On,” Explains Why Making ‘The Departed’ Was “Highly Unpleasant” at The Playlist.

It was late summer, and you might’ve missed the news as you enjoyed the waning weeks of the season, but a TV show based on Martin Scorsese‘s “The Departed” is in the works at Amazon. A drama about criminals and cops with moles in each other’s organizations is a pretty good foundation for a series, and an opportunity to go deeper into the intrigue on both sides of the equation.

Continue reading Producer Says ‘The Departed’ TV Show Will Add To Martin Scorsese’s Film at The Playlist.

Martin Scorsese is an intimate, immediate filmmaker. Through style and storytelling, the veteran director knows how to thrust you into the frame, propelling you with forward motion into the action at hand. In moments both quiet and loud, subdued and bold, he lets his enthusiastic influence been seen and felt in every single frame. That can often be seen in his use of fast dolly zoom shots, which have been a fixture of his works since 1973’s “Mean Streets,” as made evident in the newest video compilation from Vimeo editor Jorge Luengo Ruiz.

Continue reading Hang On For This Supercut Highlighting Martin Scorsese’s Fast Dolly Zoom Shots at The Playlist.

While there is a very good argument to be made that there are plenty of other movies in Martin Scorsese‘s catalog that deserved to win Best Picture and Best Director, “The Departed” was one that got the Oscar gold on his shelf. And while it might not be one of his great movies, it’s very good, wickedly entertaining, and manages to pull off the feat of being one of the few remakes that are better than the original (it’s based on the 2002 Hong Kong action flick “Infernal Affairs“).

Continue reading ‘The Departed’ TV Series In The Works At Amazon at The Playlist.

'Interstellar,' 'Wolf Of Wall Street,' 'The Dark Knight,' More Top IMDB List Of The Best Movies Of The Last 25 Years

Continue reading ‘Interstellar,’ ‘Wolf Of Wall Street,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ More Top IMDB List Of The Best Movies Of The Last 25 Years at The Playlist.

Watch: Colorful Supercut Highlights The Use Of Red In The Films Of Martin Scorsese

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Watch: Explore Gangster Culture In This Fedora-Filled, Bullet-Riddled Supercut

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Watch: 10-Minute Video Essay Explores The Connection Between Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed' & Elia Kazan

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Watch: Supercut Of Martin Scorsese's Use Of "Gimme Shelter" In 'Goodfellas,' 'Casino' & 'The Departed'

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Continue reading As ‘Dinner For Schmucks’ Opens, We Run Down 15 Notable Hollywood Foreign Films Remakes at The Playlist.

The filmmaker has made his most lucrative pictures (“The Departed,” “Gangs of New York,” and “The Aviator”) with frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio attached, but it’s interesting to note that his biggest pre-Leo hit was “Cape Fear,” a genre film that is closest in spirit to his latest work.

Continue reading Box Office: Martin Scorsese Scores Biggest Opening Of His Career With ‘Shutter Island’ at The Playlist.

While most critics agree it’s a minor work from the auteur, some do unabashedly love the genre tropes, the deliberate artifice, while others are finding it predictable and a long, uneven slog. Even the the top critics on RT who generally warm to Scorsese’s work (or sometimes give him a pass) are only settling on a 65% rating. So reviewers are mixed and it’s apparent here on The Playlist too as Drew Taylor gave the film a very positive review calling it a “more artful, cerebral, and emotionally captivating movie” than “The Departed.”

To each his own, but this writer respectfully disagrees, though we’ll try and keep it brief.

Continue reading ‘Shutter Island’: Another Take at The Playlist.

According to the recent issue of Men’s Journal, you’re contemplating retirement. “I consider my entire movie career a complete failure,” you said. “The goal of movie-making is to star in a film where your performance drives the film, and the film is either a soaring critical or commercial success, and I never had that.” You then go on to say you’ll announce your retirement in 2012, at what you assume will be the wrap party for “30 Rock,” the show that earned you a well-deserved Emmy.

Continue reading An Open Letter To Alec Baldwin: Do Not Retire at The Playlist.

‘Boulevard’ will follow an ex-con (Farrell) who in an attempt to live a straight life takes a job as a handy-man for a reclusive, young, actress (Knightly).

Continue reading ‘The Departed’ Scribe William Monahan Set For Directorial Debut With ‘London Boulevard’ at The Playlist.