100th Movie

Taxi Driver: One of the all-time best movies ever, in my opinion, but one which I haven't seen for about ten years, so it's worth revisiting. There's not much I can say that hasn't been said already, but what I particularly like about it is the way in which, viewed objectively, Travis Bickle's life is nightmarish, and yet the way Scorscese directs the film you find yourself drawn into it, finding it normal and his reactions natural. At the end of the film, Bickle achieves closure, but not redemption; having gone to Vietnam as a teenager, he is now an adult operating on the principle that problems have violent solutions, and his firearms spree, however grateful Iris' parents may be for the outcome, has done nothing to move him towards a more normal view of the world.

Movie count for 2009: 100 (goal reached!)