>>>Like Bringing out the dead by Scorsese.. I'm a huge fan of
>>his
>>>catalogue, but I still rate this as one of the worst movies
>>>i've seen..
>>>
>>>(John Leguizamo in Dreads wasn't a good sign)
>>
>>a. Maybe I'm fooling myself too, but I actually like
>Bringing
>>out the Dead. However, when I rented it the first time, the
>>lady at Hollywood Video asked me if I wanted to rethink the
>>rental.
>>
>>b. That's Marc Anthony not John Leguizamo.
>
>oh snap you're right.. been a while since i've seen it.. while
>we're on the subject, what did you like about it? It seemed so
>over the top.

It's not a top tier Scorsese movie (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, etc.) or second tier (After Hours, Kings of Comedy, etc.) but it's better than other stuff he's done, e.g. The Color of Money or Cape Fear.

I like:

a. How he used frequent-Oliver Stone collaborator Robert Richardson for the cinematography. But whereas sometimes Stone has a tendency to let the image overpower the story, for me, the energetic and lively photography here enhanced the story.

b. The use of "TB Sheets" by Van Morrison. It's probably one of the best ways Scorsese has utilized a single song throughout his career, which is of course high praise.

c. The supporting cast. Tom Sizemore, John Goodman, and Ving Rhames all were good-to-great. The same can't be said about Nicolas Cage or Arquette, but they weren't awful.

d. The look into the hectic world of the EMS. I had read the book upon which it's based before seeing the movie, written by a guy who was an actual EMS, and thought that the transition from book-to-film seemed like a decently respectable version of that life.

Plus, the geek in me liked that Scorsese was the voice of the dispatcher.

It it perfect? Absolutely not. It's a little scattered and then suddenly slow at times, some of the characters are too one-dimensional, the use of voice-overs disappointed me, but I like it enough.