The Departed

the movie was great. a bit long, but enjoyable. DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Wahlberg, Sheen, even Alec Baldwin give great performances. The action was great, the story was great, the directing was great, editing was great. Very enjoyable film, highly recommend it, go out and see it.
 
c.g._eads said:
Uh oh, here comes the critics' praise! Wait a minute, could it be true that the critics are gettng overly excited about a Scorcese film and that it's skewing their opinion? No, not possible. Especially when we look back at the RT meter for Gangs of New York (77%). Or The Aviator (89%). I challenge anybody to watch these movies now and get excited about them. They are sub-par mediocre films given high grades because of what? Critics getting overly excited about a Scorcese film.

Now I'm not saying this movie is good or bad. I haven't seen it. But please go in with a realistic frame of mind. The original version of this movie doesn't bring anything new to the table - so it's not like they're working with all-star material. Everybody just CALLLLLM DOWWWWN. You might actually enjoy the movie.
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I find those 2 films some of the better films made in the last few years; they're on my list. Scorsese makes movies with ambition; that is something we don't see too often these days.

The RT Meters; they have actually seen the film you know
 
John_Hudson said:
I find those 2 films some of the better films made in the last few years; they're on my list. Scorsese makes movies with ambition; that is something we don't see too often these days.

The RT Meters; they have actually seen the film you know
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Personally, neither Gangs nor Aviator were among my favorites, though I think I liked Gangs a little better. I'm not saying these weren't good movies, they just weren't MY favorites by him.

From ALL the reviews and clips I've seen of The Departed, I think it could well be amongst the best things Scorsese has done. I have heard that both Damon and DiCarpio have career performances in this movie. That, along with all the other actors involved, not to mention Scorsese, make this a MUST SEE for me...:thumbsup:
 
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Blaine said:
Personally, neither Gangs nor Aviator were among my favorites, though I think I liked Gangs a little better. I'm not saying these weren't good movies, they just weren't MY favorites by him.

From ALL the reviews and clips I've seen of The Departed, I think it could well be among the best things Scorsese has done. I have heard that both Damon and DiCarpio have career performances in this movie. That, along with all the other actors involved, not to mention Scorsese, make this a MUST SEE for me...:thumbsup:
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i really dont think you'd be dissappointed Blaine, it was a very good movie. DiCaprio and Damon are in top form in the film.
 
DiCaprio is a stud and Damon has really really grown on me as he has matured ...

Is this possibly Scorseses first BEST DIRECTOR WIN ?

(I have not seen it)
 
John_Hudson said:
Is this possibly Scorseses first BEST DIRECTOR WIN ?
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At some point the members of the DGA are going to feel they "owe" him one (isn't that the way these things work?:huh: ). I just hope it's for a good one.
 
He has most certainly deserved it many times before but if the academy's memory is still stuck on his association with Elia Kazan - then sadly probably not.


Scorsese, (IMO) is one of the most gifted directors still alive.

(I'm getting ready to go see it in 1/2 hr.)


dmc
 
Kubrick never won an award for directing, so who knows what'll happen. It'd be nice to see him win one, but even if he never wins an academy award for best director, he's still made an immensely important body of work. I'm going to try and see The Departed this weekend.
 
Saw it today and loved it. Looking forward to seeing it again soon. The best performances by ALL of the actors respectively in recent memory (for Nicholson - probably the best in 15-20 years.)

I was a little worried when I saw the running time is almost 3 hrs. - I think this film warranted it, though, and I was definitely never bored. I saw the movie by myself and was damn temped to just stay in the theater for a second viewing but couldn't bring myself to waste the entire day. The play between Wahlberg, Damon, and DiCaprio is great; Baldwin had a couple of small but brilliant scenes that were perfect for him, and DiCaprio solidified his versatility and overall chops. Sheen was more of the stabilizing straight man for all of the banter between the young guns which worked really well. Nicholson teetered just on the edge of over-the-top, but never crossed that line and was spectacular throughout. Highly recommended.
 
Take this review with a grain of salt, cause I walked out 75 minutes into the film. And that's when I thought the movie was two hours! Now I'm hearing it's three?? Thank god I left. (Two walkouts before me by the way).

This movie was boring. Plain and simple. People talk about the story. What story? Unless Scorcese decided to add a story after the 75th minute, the only story I saw was that two internal affairs cops were being trained and getting their experience on the job. I think S.W.A.T. had a better story than that.

The acting. Acting?? What acting?? Unless you get a hard on for Hollywood actors trying to act cool and playing pretend tough, there was no acting here. I mean I guess DiCaprio did a good job. Mainly cause he just used that cold steely glare a lot, and he looks cool when he uses that cold steely glare. But Matt Damon?? Talk about an actor who tries too hard. Every single scene he's in I say: "acting." "acting." "acting." Never once did he convince me he was that character. When he tries to woo what's her name in the elevator with his fake laughs and fake charm? Ahhh! ACCCTTTIIING! Acting acting acting.

Then we have what's his name. Nicholson. What did he do in this film that was so amazing? Be boring and predictable? I mean I guess when he sings that little Irish song it's kinda sorta cool. But it seemed like postering. It seemed like "this is my moment to make that scene that people will remember." Boring.

Mark Wahlberg was funny. I mean I chuckled when he said "erection". But give him an Oscar for that? Give me a break.

Directing: Scorcese can direct the camera and is a good editor but he definitely should not get an Oscar nod for this.

Now I'll be the first to admit I'm not a fan of this genre, but I believe Goodfellas is a masterpiece, and whereas that movie will be remembered for centuries to come, this one will be lucky to be remembered a week after it comes out on DVD. And when did it become okay to make 3 hour movies that could easily be contained in 2 hours? I thought that Monahen writer would've learned his lesson after writing that 4 hour script for Kingdom of Heaven. Remember how that movie came out, was the most boring movie ever, and then they started claiming "yeah yeah, but that's cause the studio cut out an hour of the movie and that hour made it great." And then I rented that to see if it indeed made the movie great, and all it did was make the movie an hour more boring. I mean I'm sure The Departed had many twists and turns along the way, stuff that made the movie cooler and more neato. But I wouldn't have cared because those characters were boring. What, do DiCaprio and Damon face off or something? Is that what happens? Whoa, Pacino and DiNero/Heat part 2!

What nobody wants to admit is that Scorcese made this film so that he can make other films. The crime genre is his genre. He knows where the well is. He was even too lazy to come up with an original script. He had to resort to exploiting Asian cinema just like everybody else in Hollywood. So this gives him a couple of films that he wants to make. I guess there's something noble in that.
 
Not at all surprised to see this review from you, based on your earlier post. In fact, I'd have been shocked if you had said anything good about it. I haven't seen it, but I will definitely go and make up my own mind about it.
 
well, i certainly enjoyed it. I'm glad it was remade. I thought it was a freakin good movie too. I liked it better than the original.
 
Man was that bleak! Well directed. Well written. Fantastically acted. Certainly a downer of a movie though. I was really into it but I'm not sure if I like how quickly the bodies piled up in the last few scenes. I'll have to watch it again (when I'm ready) to see if I think it was warrented or just un-neccesarily bleak.

John_Hudson said:
DiCaprio is a stud and Damon has really really grown on me as he has matured ...

Is this possibly Scorseses first BEST DIRECTOR WIN ?
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Don't count on it. Scorseses says he thinks the reasons his films don't win Oscars is because they are so violent and depressing. If that's true then the Academy sure as hell isn't gonna like this. LA insiders suggest the reason he never wins is simple East coast vs West coast rivalry. Scorseses will always be a New York guy to them. Either way, he's screwed.
 
DavidBeier said:
Scorseses says he thinks the reasons his films don't win Oscars is because they are so violent and depressing.
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Yes, Braveheart was violence-free and had a hell of an upbeat ending.

Blaine, I did say I liked the cinematography and the editing. :)

I just think this guy gets a free pass no matter what he makes. And everybody assumes that whatever he does is genius because he's Scorcese. I'm saying if you take the name away, the movie falls apart at the seams, like a lot of his films.
 
saw it tonight and really liked it. I haven't enjoyed Scorsese last few movies so I'm glad I wasn't disappointed yet again.

I do agree that the begining is kinda weak though. I'm not sure if it was necessary for set up or not, but i wasn't sure where it was going for probably an hour. That said once they get to the chip trade, I really started to get into it. From there the movie seems to just gain momentum all the way to the end, getting better and better.

I thought the 3 leads (Jack, Leo, and Matt) I thought were all really great.

That said, I still don't think this comes close to any of the Scorsese classics. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino are movies that I enjoyed a LOT more than this. I can't imagine him winning best director for this. I love the guy, but c'mon.
 
c.g._eads said:
Yes, Braveheart was violence-free and had a hell of an upbeat ending.

Blaine, I did say I liked the cinematography and the editing. :)

I just think this guy gets a free pass no matter what he makes. And everybody assumes that whatever he does is genius because he's Scorcese. I'm saying if you take the name away, the movie falls apart at the seams, like a lot of his films.
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Sorry but untill you actually sit through the whole movie then please refrain from commenting on stuff you don't understand.
 
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