Today’s comic is as much about comic Tom slapping Jared for a terrible joke as it is about real-life Tom slapping himself for not coming up with a better one.
I don’t mean to be overtly critical of myself. I’m just explaining the genesis of today’s comic. Sitting around, staring into space and trying to come up with a joke about Shutter Island is no small task.
The marketing for the film has done a very good job of obscuring exactly what about Shutter Island makes it so terrifying. From what I can gather, it’s about the criminally insane, twisted experiments and some kind of psychological time bomb Leonard DiCaprio has roiling under the surface as he tries to solve a missing person case. But beyond that, I can’t connect the dots.
Added to this, Martin Scorsese directed it. Certainly the man is not above making mistakes (Kundun, anyone?) but the man gets a pass on his name alone. Scorsese lives and breathes film and it is evident in his work. It’s a rare treat to watch a film maker whose love of movie transcends money or art. Watching Scorsese’s films, you get the distinct feeling that he tells these stories because he has to. For that alone, I’ll watch anything he directs.
So how do you make fun of a movie you know nothing about directed by an auteur you greatly admire? Like I said, no small task. When the chips are down, just have your characters slap each other silly!
What do you guys make of Shutter Island? Are you excited to see it? Does it concern you at all that the film is being released in the dead-zone traditionally known as February? Would it encourage you to learn that Scorsese picked this weekend on purpose after DiCaprio’s availability pushed the film past awards season?
It was 19 years ago this weekend that Silence of The Lambs was released. If you recall, it did pretty well at the Oscars. It was the last film to earn all 5 major awards – Best Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay and Film.
I’m skeptical that Shutter Island can repeat the same feat, but I’m excited to watch Scorsese slip on his horror boots again. If it’s anything like his last foray into the genre – 1991’s Cape Fear – then we’re in good hands.
Leave your thoughts about Shutter Island in the comments below!
Heh, heh. "Shutter?'''
I HARDLY KNEW HER!
SMAK!
Look, I know we make fun of movies and that's our thing.
But this is Scorsese we're talking about. Show some respect.
I assume Shutter Island will have a Jacob’s Ladder like twist and DiCaprio was on the island *the whole time* as an inmate.
Now, the only Martin directed film I’ve ever seen is “The Departed”, but even so. He DOES deserve some respect. “The Departed” was amazing, and “Shutter Island” looks even better. Plus Leo has the lead role.
Sorry for the double post, but I want to correct the sound of stupidity by saying that I know that Leo was the lead role in “The Departed”. I was just stating that the film deserves a little bit more respect BECAUSE of Leo.
I read the book (by Dennis Lehane) and it was very dark and psychological. It will be interesting to see what the movie does with the book’s plot line and twisted ways. I am going to see it because it looks like a classic psychological thriller and because Rorschach is in it as an inmate.
I don’t understand – it’s not okay to make fun of Scorsese, but it’s almost required to make fun of Leo DiCrappio.
Why do they keep making movies together!?!
I think DiCaprio has established himself as a serious and committed actor. So it makes sense Scorsese would want to work with him.
It’s just unfortunate that DiCaprio looks perpetually 12 years-old.
I’m not a big Scorsese fan. Granted I haven’t seen some of his big movies (Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Mean Streets), but I just haven’t seen anything from him that I have loved. I just don’t see what everyone drools over when it comes to him.
Having said that, I am looking forward to Shutter Island. I hope it is as kick ass as the trailer makes it out to be.
I was pretty surprised when my wife told me she wanted to see this… but also pumped at the same time because I want to see it. But she doesn’t watch scary movies at all, and I guess I don’t either really, but she wants to see this because it looks like so much more than the typical hack-n-slash crap movie and it’ll make her think… and with Scorsese I’m sure that’s what we can expect. Also, having Leo in it made her want to see it too. When you think about it, it really is amazing how his career has changed. I never would have imagined myself looking forward to a Leo performance, but that’s how a lot of his movies are these days! He started playing those hard guy roles, but when I really took him as a higher rung actor was after watching Aviator. Now we’ve got Shutter Island and Inception to look forward too! I can’t wait. It seems like not so long ago that Leo what a whiny stupid little girl with long blond hair… but those days are thankfully long behind us.
sorry for all the typos and bad grammar… it’s early and I’m still tired.
I’m really excited about seeing this, been waiting for months and months (the delay from last October’s original release date was a real downer for me). Scorsese’s a real Kubrick-level director, and seeing as when the latter dipped into horror we got The Shining, I can’t wait to see what the former does (I always counted Cape Fear as more thriller than horror, but it was steps in the right direction).
After reading the book I had a rapid series of thoughts:
Jeez, I bet he wrote this just so that someone would offer him a movie deal on it.
I wonder how long it will take before someone makes a movie out of it.
I hope it’s long enough that I forget at least some of the details of the book.
I’ve lost respect for Scorsese since The Departed. Anyone who is a fan of that film should check out the movie of which it is a remake: Infernal Affairs, released in Hong Kong in 2002. Scorsese did nothing special; he merely remade an already-amazing movie.
I don’t get the joke, I feel like i’m missing out on something
Don’t think about it too hard, Benzi. It’s not much of a joke. 😉
Shutter Island…”Lame” is what came to mind the first time I saw the trailer and still does every time I see it. My guess as to what the movie is about? Leonardo “IS” the 67th missing patient. The whole movie is all in his mind and we find out the reveal in last 10 minutes. He was probably some beatnik cop who went off the deep end as has been locked up ever since. Meh!
I’m cautiously optimistic. DiCaprio’s shown himself to actually have acting talent rather than just be a pretty face, and after the Departed and my finally watching Goodfellas (great movie) Scorsese gets a movie ticket out of me until something flops.
I looked up the trailer for this because I couldn’t remember whether or not I’d heard of this movie before this. I had seen the trailer before, but I guess it was just that lame and forgettable for me. (Most horror movies look lame to me, actually. If it’s a comedy and it parodies the genre or knows enough not to take itself seriously, then it might be alright.)
Is this really a horror movie? Is that what we’re calling it? I dunno. Seems like a mislabel.
Psychological horror? A thriller, maybe? If you classify horror as someone in a mask carving up teens, then no, I guess Shutter Island wouldn’t be horror. I just think of it that way because I think the intent of the film is to scare – or horrify – you.
I didn’t get the joke either (not being from the U, S and A, y’see), but thank god there’s urbandictionary for all us clueless people!
And now that I got it, I lol’d.
Wow 19 years since Silence of the Lambs. That was an amazing movie. What is Anthony Hopkins up to these days?