I think 'Her' should have won. But 'Wolf of Wall Street' would be a close second. I always thought 'Gravity' was overrated. It's good, but they blew it out of proportion. It's empty spectacle.

Just noticed you said best director, not best film. Yeah, Wall Street should have won.

If Scorsese had halved the running time. It should had been best director and picture.

I didn't mind it's length. I was entertained throughout.

You are right, in any other year it could have won. My favorite scene is when in the movie the wolf of wall street the protagonist of the same jordan belfort played by leo di caprio is waking up from his dream and gets his wife super annoyed by the mess she made at night when she got home.

Now that a few years have gone by, I feel the same way about Wolf as I did when I first saw it. It's nigh impossible to be edified by such a lengthy film about a nearly hopeless, self-glorifying, soulless a**hole as the guy that Jordan Belfort is presented as being in this. It's too difficult to get past that, regardless of how skillful Scorsese is in his achievement(s) here - hence, I can't imagine him getting the Best Director award for it.

@CelluloidFan said:

Now that a few years have gone by, I feel the same way about Wolf as I did when I first saw it. It's nigh impossible to be edified by such a lengthy film about a nearly hopeless, self-glorifying, soulless a**hole as the guy that Jordan Belfort is presented as being in this. It's too difficult to get past that, regardless of how skillful Scorsese is in his achievement(s) here - hence, I can't imagine him getting the Best Director award for it.

I found it's exactly because it's about a nearly hopeless self-glorifying, soulless asshole that made it so entertaining.

@JustinJackFlash said:

@CelluloidFan said:

Now that a few years have gone by, I feel the same way about Wolf as I did when I first saw it. It's nigh impossible to be edified by such a lengthy film about a nearly hopeless, self-glorifying, soulless a**hole as the guy that Jordan Belfort is presented as being in this. It's too difficult to get past that, regardless of how skillful Scorsese is in his achievement(s) here - hence, I can't imagine him getting the Best Director award for it.

I found it's exactly because it's about a nearly hopeless self-glorifying, soulless asshole that made it so entertaining.

That depends on what your cup of tea is, I guess. I watch movies firstly to feel something. After that, I watch them to be edified, that is to hopefully have my humanity affirmed in some way. And the Jordan Belfort of The Wolf of Wall Street doesn't satisfy my faith in humanity. Most likely, the only part of the film that scratched that itch for me was when Jordan wouldn't sell out his friend, even though he was wired by the cops.

The Wolf is an annoying, white-collar version of the Goodfellas arc: detailing a criminal's fantastic rise and tragic fall, complete with resolution. I remember feeling that M.S. didn't have to practically do that storyline again when I watched the former film.

@CelluloidFan said:

That depends on what your cup of tea is, I guess. I watch movies firstly to feel something. After that, I watch them to be edified, that is to hopefully have my humanity affirmed in some way. And the Jordan Belfort of The Wolf of Wall Street doesn't satisfy my faith in humanity. Most likely, the only part of the film that scratched that itch for me was when Jordan wouldn't sell out his friend, even though he was wired by the cops.

I think it's good to have different reasons for watching a film. Sometimes I want to watch a film that gives me a sense of faith in humanity, sometimes I want a film to tell me the bitter truth. The Wolf of Wall Street happened to tell me the bitter truth in a very fun way. I also like to learn. And the film represents a bad, exploitative world but you also learn how that world operates. How these people con people out of their savings, their way of thinking. Belfort's world of excess is a world so far removed from my own and that's what makes it fascinating. I also found it pretty damn funny.

The Wolf is an annoying, white-collar version of the Goodfellas arc: detailing a criminal's fantastic rise and tragic fall, complete with resolution. I remember feeling that M.S. didn't have to practically do that storyline again when I watched the former film.

Yeah, I do agree that Scorsese does tend to repeat that kind of arc and format of Goodfellas. He did it in Casino too. But I do like that format. And it really does feel like you're watching a Scorsese film as opposed to the stuff he had been doing just before that like The Departed. Which aside from a few elements here and there felt like it could have been directed by anyone.

The thing is, Scorsese doesn't need any Oscar awards. I doubt him or his agent gave two sh!ts about campaigning for an Oscar.

@MongoLloyd said:

The thing is, Scorsese doesn't need any Oscar awards. I doubt him or his agent gave two sh!ts about campaigning for an Oscar.

You know, I have written the exact same idea about him on this board. My main thought was: Look at how much the man has excelled in the place he existed in without the Oscar. This is not to diss the films that Scorsese's directed since winning Best Director for The Departed. It is not to diss anyone who's won an award for anything. Not at all. I just suspect that he is the type who can rock out extensively without that validation, that's all.

Yeah, point is, he's above it. Even from just a marketing perspective, a Scorsese film doesn't need awards. Just like a Tarantino (ugh) film, or a Spielberg film or a Nolan film.

That's your weird point, not mine, that "He's above (an Oscar)."

@JustinJackFlash said:

Yeah, I do agree that Scorsese does tend to repeat that kind of arc and format of Goodfellas. He did it in Casino too. But I do like that format. And it really does feel like you're watching a Scorsese film as opposed to the stuff he had been doing just before that like The Departed. Which aside from a few elements here and there felt like it could have been directed by anyone.

I liked your post, but if you think that The Departed feels "like it could have been directed by anyone" for the most part, then you haven't been paying attention to Scorsese.

@CelluloidFan said:

That's your weird point, not mine, that "He's above (an Oscar)."

What's "weird" about it? Oscars are a marketing scheme for the studio system.