Martin Scorsese Remembers Rob Reiner, Pens Emotional Essay

Martin Scorsese is remembering Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, penning an emotional essay to his late friends ... and taking a shot at their killer.

The famed direct recalled all his fond memories of Rob and Michele in a guest essay for The New York Times published on Christmas day.

Martin says he bonded with Rob over being New York transplants in Hollywood and retells some jokes Rob made at various dinner parties over the years ... and he praises Rob's directing and acting skills.

Rob played Leonardo DiCaprio's father in Martin's "The Wolf of Wall Street," and he tells a nice story about the filming of one particular season with Rob and Leo.

As you know ... Rob and Michele were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home earlier this month and their son, Nick, has been arrested and charged with their murders.

Martin writes at the end of his long essay, "What happened to Rob and Michele is an obscenity, an abyss in lived reality."