Raging Bull

1.)  Relate to Discussion:  The editing in the movie was on point.  The fight scenes were pretty seamless considering the era.  Today there are about 50 cuts between every punch to mask any mistakes or fake looking punches.  The fight scenes in this movie had less cuts and a little more choreography.  I think you let this get a little more into the fight and added suspense.  The movie was shot in black and white and as I mention later I think is much better than color.  That is, if you have good cinematography, and this film definitely did.  My mother had seen this movie when it came out and being very religious the cursing shocked her and ruined the film for her.  This cursing was not exactly aimless, but brought you closer to La Motta and his lifestyle.  Cursing was not exactly as common as De Niro and Pesci made it in Raging Bull but it added to the rawness and realness of the movie.  
2.)  Article: ( http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/21721%7C0/Raging-Bull.html ) In 1978 Martin Scorsese was lacking confidence after the lack luster response for New York, New York.  He wanted a project where he could tell a story of a self destructive protagonist.  After year of persuasion from Robert De Niro Scorsese made a film based off of the life of Jake La Motta.  It won best Actor and Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards.  Raging Bull re-creates WWII era Brooklyn impeccably.  Joey LaMotta has his hands full as he tries to keep Jake's personal life in check while ale keeps his fitness and career in check. Joey also has to keep the mob at bay.  As the 40's continue so does Jake's dominance, but a few years later Jake is champion once again but his personal life is in jeopardy.  Jake throws a game for the mob, but so poorly that there is an inquiry for the fight and his career is jeopardized.  After two years that has blown over and he becomes champion once again.  As his career is at its peak his home life is on its decline.  He accuses his brother of sleeping with Vickie and beats him up even though Joey never did what he said.  He drops out of boxing shortly after for three years.  Jake gains weight and moves to Florida where he does novelty acts where he does dramatic readings about his career and professional life. Robert De Niro gained a reportedly 50lbs for his role as retired La Motta and then lost it to play Jake during his career.  Joe Pesci received his first major role and that sparked a major career for him.  Thelma won the Academy Award for editing and has edited every one of Scorsese's movies since Raging Bull.  Shoonmaker felt that Scorsese deserved the award.
3.)  Relate to Article:  I think that the Article supported how I felt about the movie.  The article did mention facts about the movie such as plot and awards it won.  It did also mention the cinematography and representation of Brooklyn.  The overweight Jake was portrayed by an overweight De Niro and I thought that was impressive and was probably done so that De Niro could relate to the dieting lifestyle of boxers.  The article mentioned editing and that was clear in the fighting scenes.  When watching the movie there were never awkward cuts even throughout the many scenes of dialogue.  Scenes of extended dialogue can be very boring if not edited well and none of the scenes heaving in dialogue were slow.  
4.)  Personal Opinion:  I liked the movie, and that it was in black and white.  I think that when movies or photographs are shot in black and white that the end product must be better than that of products in color.  When things are shot in color, you can distract the viewer with bright colors or filters in order to cover up poor cinematography, or a bad photograph.  When something is shot in black and white it is more raw, and therefore must be a better end products.  There are no bright greens of the grass, or blues of the water to mask anything.  Only the shot and what it is composed of is what the viewer sees, and that product better be good.  If it isn't than the viewers will get bored.  I also like when there are real characters in a movie.  For example Jake La Motta was a unique person.  He is not a cookie cutter character that you might see in a teen movie where the main character is a good looking kid who is nice, smart, and part of a average family but is still made fun of for some reason.  Raging Bull was about much more than Jake La Motta's boxing career.  It is about his life and his brother, and boxing, and his romances.  I like movies that have a big theme like his boxing career but at the same time have a much deeper more powerful person story behind it.