Jake LaMotta is a scary guy. But not for the reasons you’d expect. When he fights in the ring he likes to hurt himself, when he’s at home he likes to create situations in which he has a reason to hurt others. I'm not a sports fan, but I believe Scorcese isn’t either. So he directs the film making everything have a sort of sensibility that I couldn’t explain. I really liked the montage with the home video style. It made those scenes feel like a memory.

Those ring shots look so fucking surreal

The Scorses-a-thon This is unusual for me. There are many unpopular movies that I have loved. Just look at my five-star list. But very rarely, if ever, has there been a very popular movie that I have really disliked. Maybe it’s just from watching like ten Scorsese movies in a row, but I’m kind of tired of these stories on toxic masculinity, especially one with a character that has exactly zero redeeming qualities.  This movie does look incredible, and the fight scenes are cool. But I don’t care about this guy if he wins or loses, and honestly, I wish he would just drop dead. I feel like Marin Scorsese’s other characters have some depth or redeeming qualities, but this guy just sucks. Also, all the stuff between the fights, which unfortunately is the majority of the movie, feels like a real step backwards. It reminds me of Who’s That Knocking, which, let me remind you, is his first film. The pacing is just excruciating, and I just don’t care.