Goodfellas - Stacks Gets Whacked and How Scorsese Went CGI

-You were late for your own fuckin' funeral

Boardwalk Empire premiered on Sunday and it was everything you could expect from the great Martin Scorsese. The sets, the acting, and the cinematography were all very impressive. But when it comes to the gratuitous mob violence, Martin Scorsese shines. Boardwalk Empire delivers, as the death scenes were very violent-one scene in particular involving a shotgun to the face, but there was something a little off. Something that I have noticed Scorsese has been doing ever since The Departed in 2006, a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The CGI headshot.

Not sure what the hell I'm talking about? Take a look at the final scene from The Departed. Pay close attention, because once you see it you can't unsee....

But it wasn't always like this, before CGI took over Scorsese was the master of the unconventional headshot. From the goon that gets his face shot up by Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver to this scene great scene from Goodfellas, where Stacks(Samuel L. Jackson) gets a visit from Tommy(Joe Pesci). Scorsese loves to show us the blood splatter and we get plenty of that here. Notice the difference between this scene and the computer generated one from The Departed. Does the CGI take anything away from the story? No, but it does seem to diminish some of the gritty realism. Almost to the point where it screams out: Look! I'm animated!

Timecop - Same Matter, Same Space

The same matter cannot occupy the same space. That's the major rule when you're time traveling in Timecop, you can't come in direct contact with your past self. This rule is broken when when Walker(Jean-Claude Van Damme) kicks the younger McComb(Ron Silver) into the older one. The two McCombs fuse together into a writhing blob of bad CGI flesh until the mass disappears into the floor.

Independence Day - Checkmate

The scene that relaunched the disaster movie genre. Independence Day was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film resurgence of the 90s. The film used miniatures and in-camera special effects more often than CGI to create a scene that would've even made the late great Irwin Allen proud.

Eraser - Alligator Rampage

Eraser is what you expect from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, two hours of mindless nonstop CGI action with preposterous situations, a body count in the dozens, and epic Arnold one-liners. My kind of movie.

In this scene, Arnie shoots the Alligator tank in the middle of a shootout at the New York City Zoo. The Gators must have been pissed because they go on a rampage. Not Industrial Light & Magic's best work, but decent, I've seen worse. One guy gets his arm ripped off, another gets his head crushed by the Gators. After the appetizers, the gator goes after Arnie. After a short scuffle, he shoots the alligator through the head, and gives the classic line, "your luggage."

Related Arnold One-Liner Kills

Total Recall - "See you at the Party Richter"