GOODFELLAS (1990)

Monday, February 2, 7 pm

Scorsese’s much celebrated 1990 film charts the rise and fall of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), a mafia associate who turns FBI informant when drugs and paranoia spin his world out of control. Goodfellas was nominated for six Oscars at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991. Its sole win went to Best Supporting Actor Joe Pesci for his portrayal of hair-trigger Tommy Devito. Starring alongside Liotta and Pesci are Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, and Paul Sorvino.

RAGING BULL (1980)

Monday, February 9, 7 pm

Scorsese, widely known to have no interest in sports, was pestered by Robert De Niro for several years to helm the adaptation of pugilist Jake LaMotta’s biography. After his previous film bombed, Scorsese accepted De Niro’s offer and created one of the greatest films ever made. Raging Bull follows LaMotta as he transforms from a middleweight champ into a broken, lonely has-been, destroying his relationships with his wife (Cathy Moriarty) and devoted brother (Joe Pesci). De Niro famously gained seventy pounds in order to play the older LaMotta. His raw, brutal performance earned him the Best Actor Oscar at the 53rd Academy Awards in 1981.

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993)

Monday, February 16, 7 pm

Taking a detour from the New York stories is Scorsese’s 1993 adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel, The Age of Innocence. Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a respected attorney in 1870s New York. He is to be married to the prim and proper May Welland (Winona Ryder), a union that he appears to find suffocating. When Newland meets May’s cousin, the lively rule-breaker Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), he falls madly in love with her. Traditions are difficult to break, and Newland must decide whether he’s willing to abandon high society and his upcoming marriage for the love of a woman others have branded disreputable. Ryder was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 66th Academy Awards. Scorsese and Jay Cocks were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

Monday, February 23, 7 pm

Robert De Niro is Travis Bickle, an anxious, bitter, lonely man who drifts through the neon-soaked nightmare that was New York City in the 1970s. Bickle’s insomnia leads to him getting a taxi driving job at night. His paranoia and isolation only grow as he witnesses the decadence and cruelty of the nighttime class, while his obsession with a young campaign worker (Cybill Shepherd) and underage prostitute (Jodie Foster) sends him further into the void, culminating in a violent, inevitable climax. De Niro and Foster were nominated for Oscars for their portrayals of fringe dwellers searching for a shred of humanity in the filthy Big Apple. Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, and Leonard Harris co-star.