Rating: 
Summary: five stars
Review: SCORSESE, DE NIRO, need I say more, five star
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent. Simply magnificent.
Review: This is perhaps the greatest American film of the past 25 years. TAXI DRIVER explores themes and characters that are archetypally American. If you've ever read about Tim McVeigh or John Hinckley, or ever wondered about the nameless nobody who seems to lurk on your city's streets, you know the Scorsese and De Niro and screenwriter Paul Schrader were there first. This is a brave, moral, explosive and graphic film that has only gained power over the years. With its antecedents in literature like Dostoevsky's "Notes from Undergound" and Sartre's "Nausea" and Camus' "Stranger" and French art films likes "Pickpocket" and "Diary of a Country Priest," as well as the real-life would-be assassin Arthur Bremer (who shot George Wallace in 1972), TAXI DRIVER takes a new direction by linking its protagonist's psychological wounds with sex and Viet Nam. Bickle's experiences in the war are subtly implied here, and all the more artful and true for that. Travis has been trained as a warrior and then thrown into the urban jungle. Obsessed and horrified by sex and women--what a perfectly American trait--his fantasies soon meld into an orgy of violence and perverted heroism. Ain't that America? A critic once said Travis Bickle was the offspring of John Wayne and Norman Bates. Perfect: misplaced psychosis is interpreted as heroism. Every aspect of this film is marvelous and prescient, vividly realized and superbly acted. The violent climax is morally right and true, no matter what any critic says; it is the inevitable outcome of Travis' psyche. Anything less would have been a cheat, dishonest, a lie. Scorsese's appearance as a homicidal jilted husband is blood-chilling; in only a few sentences he sums up the base mentality of, I fear sometimes, this entire American culture. I can't even watch TAXI DRIVER anymore; it sears my nerves from the opening notes of Bernard Herrmann's score and the first images of hellish, neon-lit NYC. I can no longer bear to see the utter loneliness of Travis Bickle, or hear him say "I got some bad ideas in my head." I cannot watch his conversations with Iris, the 12-year-old prostitute. I can't stand to see him before his mirror, forsaken and frozen, contemplating the darkest things in his heart, playing with his pathetic, terrifying weapons. This is the truest film I know, and if every piece of celluloid in history were going up in flames, this is the only one I'd save. TAXI DRIVER. Goddamn.
Rating:
Summary: Travis Bickle Is Brilliant
Review: "Taxi Driver" is one of the deepest and best films ever made. Robert DeNiro gives a performance that was truly oscar worthy in the film. The story takes you on a very deep and disturbing pschological journey into the life of a middle aged cab driver in New York City. Martin Scorsese does it again with another masterpiece in film history; further proves why he's considered one of the best directors of our time. I think some people maybe disturbed by the content, but other than that fact I can't see anything wrong with this film. This is definitely a must see film.
Rating:
Summary: Taxi Driver
Review: To start this off, I'll just say this: Do yourself a favor and buy this fantastic film. If for nothing else, buy it for DeNiro's INCREDIBLE performance! I'm a movie buff myself, and I have never seen such amazing acting. It's a crime he didn't win the oscar. Secondly, it's directed by Martin Scorsese, one of the more brilliant filmmakers of our time, and written by Paul Schrader. This is the team that brought you Raging Bull. When these two geniuses get together, they make pure movie magic. And finally, Jodie Foster. She's only fourteen years old, and beautifully brings to life the child prostitute who is secretly hating the horrible city she lives in. One of the most brilliant touches of filmmaking was made here when Scorsese portrays NYC as hell, such as focusing on the smoke spewing out of the sewers, and making Betsy, Travis Bickle's love, seem like an angel among all the demons. The story goes something like this: Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) Is a taxi driver who can't seem to sleep. He works at night, and the city around him fills him with paranoia, for the gangsters and the slime on the streets at night every day seem to be everywhere. Among all of these demons and devils, Travis sees an angel, a gorgeous woman named Betsy. He immediately falls in love with her, but his anti-social tendencies scare her off when he brings her to a pornographic movie on their second date, thinking it was just like all of the other movies. When she leaves him and won't return any of his phone calls, his depression rises until he meets a child prostitue named Iris (Jodie Foster) and her pimp named Sport (Harvey Keitel). Feeling the deepest sympathy for her, he tries to help her leave that terrible lifestyle, not believing her pleas that she loves her being a prostitute and loves her pimp. To sum this whole review up, do yourself a favor and watch this great piece of work. See Scorsese's nightmarish vision of NYC, and Travis Bickle's slow descent into insanity.
Rating:
Summary: Effective, Gritty And Brilliant.
Review: "Taxi Driver" is an effective, gritty work that is both a masterpiece and unforgettable. It is, I believe, the first movie that really showed the brilliance of Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader. This is a dark, disturbing journey into madness, realistically capturing the mean streets in all their realism. Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro), is a deep examination of a man falling deeper and deeper into the abyss of madness. Driven even deeper by what he sees in the world around him. Schrader's screenplay at times has the feel of a documentary, as does Scorsese's adaptation onto film. "Taxi Driver" vibrates with a realism seen in few movies. Maybe that's why it has stood the test of time triumphantly. Seeing this movie once is not enough, because you need to see it more than once to really get what it's saying, to truly understand it. Scorsese's film is gritty and at times, shocking, but not dumb or bloody just for entertainment. "Taxi Driver" explores through Bickle, the nature of crazy people, really getting into the mind of a lonely man who doesn't know much about the outside world because he seldom goes out to explore it. The film is always interesting, Scorsese brings it to life through the settings, camera angles and cinematography. The shoot-out at the end is one of the most brilliant ever filmed because it seems realistic, but not over-exagerrated, it's shocking, but we understand it. "Taxi Driver" opened doors for more filmmakers who wanted to make movies that didn't hold back, that were realistic in their representation of the dark corners of society. It stands as a brilliant work which will be studied and endured for years to come.
Rating: 
Summary: WEAK LOOKING PRINT - POWERFUL FILM!
Review: Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) has a big problem - and not just one. He's a seemingly ordinary New York cabbie who's stalking one woman, Betsy (Cybil Shepard) while playing savior to another, Iris (Jodie Foster). But ol' Trav' is just a few coins short of a full meter, a neurotic oversight that will allow him to turn vigilante, threaten the political reelection campaign of Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris) and blow away Iris's pimp/drug dealer (Harvey Keitel). Suffice it to say, "Taxi Driver" is not your feel good movie of the summer. It is a cinematic snapshot of 70s pop culture gone horribly awry, with its crack and whore infested streets, its unstable social setting for easy scores and cheap sex, and a seething underbelly of corruption and dismal isolation as its acrid palette for moral decay. Travis' slow spiral into becoming the loner with a purpose is predicated upon warping the old adage and precedent that one man can make a difference. But when that one man is touched by his own sexual and financial inadequacies, his psychotic inability to bond with another human being and his self delusion - that he is on par with a deity, above the rest of humanity and the law - then the difference he can make is between destroying himself and bringing about the next apocalypse.
Martin Scorsese directs adeptly enough, drawing the viewer into this dark world of unsettling realities. The irony of the ending seems somewhat strained and rather a bit like the happy ending tack on associated with conventional Hollywood wisdom, but there is the frightening prospect that with a return to normalcy, Travis' alter ego is, like many a volcano, merely dormant, not dead, and destined to erupt in the future.
The transfer from Columbia is a rather disappointing remastering effort. There are moments when the color is bold, if dated, and moments when fine detail is generally realized to good effect. But the bulk of this video presentation is riddled with excessive grain - both film and digital, a barrage of compression artifacts, a lot of aliasing, some tiling, and a considerable amount of edge enhancement. Night scenes break apart with pixelization and exhibit a very muddy color scheme. There's plenty of age related dirt and grit to further detract from your viewing experience. The audio has been remastered - but just barely - with low to no bass and a really screechy high end that betrays the original mono elements. Extras include a 70 minute making of documentary with interviews featuring the director and principle cast, a photo montage, still gallery, theatrical trailer and storyboard sequences.
Rating:
Summary: The Walking Contradiction
Review: This is that one movie,that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, if it's on I'm sitting down to watch it even if I catch it in the middle.
A very young, cut and delicious Robert DeNiro plays Travis Bickle, a twenty-six year old man out of the service, who is riddled with lonliness and sleeplessness. His mind is constantly realing with the disgust and filth that's rampaging the streets of New York with prostitution, drugs, pornography and physical trash. So he decides to place himself in the very middle of it by taking up a job as a cab driver, working day and night since he can't sleep anyway.
Constantly dissapointed whenever he believes there to be any goodness left, Travis is a man who decides he's not going to take it anymore. What I find most interesting is his fascination with all that he detests. For instance he is sick of the hookers and pimps smoothering the streets, yet he regularly visits X-rated movies with this child-like naivness. Is he fueling his rage, filling the void of human contact, is this some sort of self loathing punishment or is he the "walking contradiction"?
All Travis really wants (and perhaps it's his dissapointment after fighting in the Vietnam war and comming back to a life like this, without the respect or the quality of life he feels he deserves for being a soldier, which many vetrans were faced with) is to protect something that is worth protecting and to seperate himself from the filth that traps him. So he becomes the self appointed angel to a twelve and a half year old runaway hooker named Iris (played by Jodie Foster). To become reconized as the hero he may have been in the war (noticethe scars on his back during the excerise scene) which leads him into this horrific descent into hell.
I've also heard some dissapointment reguarding the color quality of this release. I'm glad it was left untouched. I feel it adds to the atmosphere of the seedy, gritty, raw streets of seventies New York City. It makes the hairs on my neck stand up. The slow dance into the final meltdown is taped on what looks like greasy film, sickening like Travis' enviorment. The final grisely scene where the camera floats over the hallway littered with guns and bodies, blood and dirt in every corner is tinged with this reddish-pinkish hugh, which (not sure if this was intended) gives the illusion that even the air is soaked in blood. I feel this is completey suiting.
This is an extremely intense, phsycological movie and one worth adding to any movie buff's collection.
Rating: 
Summary: "Taxi Driver" Review
Review: Well, the movie is always gone at the BlockBuster next to my house, so I figured I would buy it. I was very hesitant at first because of the "NOT was it was said to be." - "It's to slow." - "Only emotion you'll find in this movie is bordum." comments. It was none of the above. This movie doesn't appeal to most because it doesn't have people firing guns left and right. The context of the movie is what makes it a 'classic'. I highly suggest atleast renting the movie. If you can't rent it, I would suggest buying it. Yes, it's that good. Whatever though, each to his own, I guess.
Rating:
Summary: Just Buy It Already
Review: This is a great movie. With top notch acting, a great story, and some nasty gun battles. Just buy it you will not be dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro do it again!
Review: This is one of the deepest and best films ever made. Robert DeNiro gives a performance that was truly oscar worthy in the film. The story takes you on a very deep and disturbing pschological journey into the life of a middle aged cab driver in New York City. Martin Scorsese does it again with another masterpiece in film history; further proves why he's considered one of the best directors of our time. I think some people maybe disturbed by the content, but other than that fact I can't see anything wrong with this film. This is definitely a must see film.
|
