The amazing world of daredevil tycoon Howard Hughes, before an array of untreated neuroses turned him into the 20th century’s most famous recluse.

It’s a sure sign that a film director has attained immortality when his most dynamic innovations have moved beyond the shock of the new and become so absorbed into the state of the art, they seem to be inevitable rules of movie grammar. This can work against the director if he isn’t careful — his new films can begin to seem like retreads, or stubborn attachment to a certain style, rather than an ongoing engagement with the things that matter in life.

This has sometimes been true of Martin Scorsese, a first rank iconoclast who remains a serious, redoubtable artist in the age of corporate Hollywood. During his long rise to legendary status, he has honed an audio/visual style that makes full use of the cinema’s many palettes – a constantly moving camera to match his storylines, bold shifts between color and black-and-white, multiple camera speeds and point of view, and soundtracks so densely layered they are almost a physical sensation.  (more…)