The Departed (Infernal Affairs remake)

Started by MacGuffin, February 13, 2004, 02:09:12 AM

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cine


hedwig


Garam

Quote from: Pubrick on October 10, 2006, 11:23:00 PM
Quote from: JG on October 10, 2006, 05:56:23 PM
but facebook accounts, myspace accounts, all have been altered to include "The Departed" under favorite movies.
finally, scorsese made a movie assholes love.

Um, Goodfellas? Raging Bull too, but not to the same extent.

I liked this, but the Irishisms seemed a little overdone. Dropkick murphys, James Joyce reference, Jack singing an Irish ditty. When Jack took his jacket off at the climax between him and Damon, revealing a t-shirt that had 'IRISH' blazened across it, I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing too loud.

Though I did laugh loud at the rat shot at the end. So did the rest of the people in the cinema.

©brad

Quote from: Garam on October 12, 2006, 06:17:13 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on October 10, 2006, 11:23:00 PM
Quote from: JG on October 10, 2006, 05:56:23 PM
but facebook accounts, myspace accounts, all have been altered to include "The Departed" under favorite movies.
finally, scorsese made a movie assholes love.

Um, Goodfellas? Raging Bull too, but not to the same extent.

also add casino and taxi driver to the asshole list. gangs of new york to some extent. in fact, scorsese makes a lot of asshole-friendly movies.  :shock:

Pubrick

Quote from: flagpolespecial on October 12, 2006, 10:00:07 AM
i rate that cocksucker.

note for everyone: the first half of that sentence is an australian expression. the second part is not.
under the paving stones.

RegularKarate

Quote from: Pubrick on October 12, 2006, 10:53:28 AM
Quote from: flagpolespecial on October 12, 2006, 10:00:07 AM
i rate that cocksucker.

note for everyone: the first half of that sentence is an australian expression.

Does it mean "raped"?

Gold Trumpet

Scorsese made a competent thriller with this, nothing more.

SPOILERS.....The film isn't very well written. At the beginning, the stories intersect at lightning quick pace. Murder and jokes go at insane speeds and convene only to confuse the character points. Damon hits on a girl, they go out and enjoy themselves. Then next scene of them together is that they already are developing problems and she doesn't know what to do? Then look at DiCaprio. His character turns proves himself to be a brutal mob runner and then the focus shifts entirely by focusing on his difficulty to cope? No scenes tie together these character changes. We just know DiCaprio had a "history" of changing identity before he went out on assignment. The film needed better focus and sharpness.

Then the film isn't very funny. Some scenes are funny, but most beat along to a track of just capturing obnoxiousness. The characters are all mainly belligerant. Boondock Saints showed you can base a film off the idea that it is funny. It isn't. There is no insight, no point to most of it. Nicholson holds up to his legacy of being able to meander with any speech in a scene. The one really funny scene was of the two guys standing outside the bar trying to identify potential cops. It was sharp, undercutting of their behavior and was for a point. Anyone who wants to watch a deft crime thriller with great writing only has to go back to see L.A. Confidential. Plus, the writing is full of cultural references that are only realistic in Hollywood affairs. Would a tough guy in Boston really reference Joyce just because he's Irish? Doubtful. The adaquate writing of Goodfellas and Casino didn't try to tie the characters to past Italian figures.

The ending is nothing important. It turns into a guessing game of who will survive and who won't. Its because there is little emotional history to any of the characters. They are acting on beefs and the turning point of the next plot twist only. Scorsese is said to be a master of handling violence. He is only an amateur. The last time he gave violence any meaning or poignancy was in The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then he's been doing his fill and has been labeled by Hollywood of being able to film violence well. Yes, he works with composition well when handling violence, but so did the likes of Sam Peckinpah. The difference is that Peckinpah fought for his films to transform the ease and cool of violence into meaning. Peckinpah only gave in with The Getaway. Scorsese has been nonexistent in challenging cool violent films for nearly the last 20 years.

The acting is non-existent. Nicholson plays Nicholson and just lets its fly. When he played the Joker, he was playing with an extreme, but he was trying to create a cultural monster who stood up as larger than life. The comparison is with Brad Pitt playing Achilles in Troy. No actor could have personified greatness in bodily physique like Pitt and no actor could have encompassed madness the way Nicholson was able to do with the Joker. In the Departed, there is no greater identity. Jack is just playing tough and enjoying himself. Then there are the others. Damon is still too plain face to be succeptible to any feeling of greater emotion. He looks serious and talks with conviction. There is just nothing distinguishable in anything he does. He always looks too good. The last film I forgot I was watching a Matt Damon starring performance is Good Will Hunting. Then there is DiCaprio. As much as he tries, he's not very good. When he tries to convey depression, he relies on physical gestures too much. Its just trying too hard. DiCaprio just did not have the pedigree to embody to a low life in Boston. Not only does he not look the part, but he has no clue how to inhabit the part. He actually should have tried to have gone further in recreating his look.

But, Scorsese directs with energy and its always fun. He has a dictionary of camera shots to use and he always knows how to use them. The criticism sometimes is that a director only has a style to rely on. Scorsese's good enough that its sometimes all he needs to be able to entertain the viewer. This is just another film though in the end.


w/o horse

I agree with your destination The Gold Trumpet, because the film is little more than "When is everyone going to die" and the finesse of it all is great at distracting this point.

But man.  I read what you wrote, and I don't agree with how you got there at all.  It's like your narrow on in these obvious or ostensible faults and make them explode like I hear people talk about art films in a negligible way.  Like, "Man, I hated that movie, it was quiet."  You watched a mainstream Scorsese film and couldn't accept its most basic value.  That's all you needed to say.  You don't think you made stretches in everything you said?

QuoteThe characters are all mainly belligerant. Boondock Saints showed you can base a film off the idea that it is funny. It isn't.
It was sharp, undercutting of their behavior and was for a point. Anyone who wants to watch a deft crime thriller with great writing only has to go back to see L.A. Confidential. Plus, the writing is full of cultural references that are only realistic in Hollywood affairs.
The last time he gave violence any meaning or poignancy was in The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then he's been doing his fill and has been labeled by Hollywood of being able to film violence well.

When you take it to these drastic measures I think you're being sensational and don't know how to make your simple point.  You didn't like it because Scorsese didn't make an extra effort, I get it.  Picking it apart little by little, I don't see what that does.

That's me though, I don't know.  Like I said, I see where you're headed, but fuck, you make movies sound viciously boring.

QuoteScorsese's good enough that its sometimes all he needs to be able to entertain the viewer. This is just another film though in the end.

Films, those things.  I love them.

And I'll be goddamned if someone is going to say Goodfellas said less about violence because Christ didn't take Mexican mushrooms and watch a girl transform into a lizard.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

pete

I thought the film was overrated, but man, gold trumpet went pretty far.  the analysis of leo gesturizing was wrong, amongst quite a few statements.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Gold Trumpet

Another, "wow, are you serious? Who are you?" Its just my opinion, nothing more. I do try to explain myself though.

As for Goodfellas, well made yes, but nothing quite special. It indicts the Mafia but no more than any other general mob movie does. The story and acting talent make it good entertainment.

modage

write just one review that does not cite 10 other non-related films/directors.  thank you.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: modage on October 12, 2006, 08:24:33 PM
write just one review that does not cite 10 other non-related films/directors.  thank you.

Haha, try to lessen the frequency of your posts and actually say something. Your race to have the most posts is making you dull.

modage

if you slid in a positive review for something every couple months, it might make it less dull to read through all your negative ones.  thanks!
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Gold Trumpet

I try to, but I can't help the fact most movies suck. I actually was optimistic about The Departed.

Pubrick

then as a fun exercise, write a positive review of a film that someone else also likes, from whatever year -- just a review a great film that someone else thinks is great and that you agree with. a classic or whatever. and write a really good positive review. i just don't know if you're capable of that anymore. i'd like to see what you sound like when you love a movie.

so just pick a movie you love, maybe one that hasn't been spoken about in a while, and tell us why it's so great.. in the actual thread of course.
under the paving stones.