1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

The Departed (the let's-get-Marty-tied-with-3 6 Mafia thread)

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Columbo, Oct 6, 2006.

  1. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    Finally saw this today. Wasn't blown away -- expectations may have been too high after all the good reviews -- but it was still pretty damn good. Like many, I'm not a Leo fan, but he was excellent. Matt Damon was good, though I would have liked his character to be at least a bit conflicted about the whole deal. And I think, going forward, I'll watch anything with Vera Farmiglia in it. One complaint: Jack Nicholson's character was a bit one-dimensional. In his opening monologue, he seemed to have the potential to be more than just a psychopath, yet he never lived up to it.
    But all in all, a good movie, one of the best new ones I've seen in awhile. 2 1/2 hours flew. And as a native Boston Irishman, I appreciated that they got a lot of the details right, that it wasn't just "hey, everybody loves the Red Sox." Like Vera's character, half of Beacon Hill goes to Suffolk Law at night, for instance, and they nailed the street Irish/lace-curtain Irish divide. And the accents, by and large, were pretty tolerable. Far better than, say, Mystic River, where Tim Robbins sounded like he had a speech impediment and Sean Penn's wife just sounded British.
     
  2. Pringle

    Pringle Active Member

    I know I'm late to the party on this one, but saw it last night and this morning.

    Tremendous and it should win tonight.

    A real movie goer's movie.
     
  3. fever_dog

    fever_dog Active Member

    put me in the camp that hates it.
    long, bloated, illogical, filled with cardboard cut-outs of characters lacking motivation. and a stupid love triangle to boot. just absurd.

    when marty is remaking a movie that came out in 2002, that oughta tell you the man's washed up and out of ideas. sad. it was like an awful scorsese knock-off.
     
  4. Pringle

    Pringle Active Member

    The characters lack motivation? DiCaprio is trying to make up for his family's criminal past. He's a kid with a 1400 SAT who wants to be a cop because he's trying to compensate for his dad and uncle. Damon's Sullivan character owes Nicholson a great deal for being such a mentor and father figure to him from an early age, when he apparently needed someone in his life like that (Nicholson, of course, wasn't altruistic, but looking far ahead and hoping to push a few of his youngsters into Boston's finest). Wahlberg and Sheen are cop's cops, though they approach their jobs in different ways, obviously. They still work really well together.

    No way those characters are lacking in motivation. I thought Scorcese did an excellent job in providing them with very well fleshed-out dramatic needs and they actors took it from there.

    A fun, fun ride and just a joy to watch.
     
  5. Boobie Miles

    Boobie Miles Active Member

    Just saw it again. Still found it entertaining, but liked it more in the theater. Really don't think that Wahlberg's performance was Oscar worthy. Not saying it wasn't a good performance, but I don't think he even played a big enough role in the movie (at least until the final scene) to merit the nomination. Surprised Leo didn't get one.
     
  6. Pringle

    Pringle Active Member

    Boobie - He was already nominated for "Blood Diamond." Actors never get nominated twice in the same category.
     
  7. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Finally got around to renting this movie this week . . . .

    (so I guess this is sort of a D_B, but it did win Best Picture)

    When I first heard about this film, I feared the "A Few Good Men" effect, in which a movie becomes overrated for artificial reasons. "Wow, it's three hours long, and I've heard of all these actors, and THAT'S JACK NICHOLSON!!!! It must be good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Well, A Few Good Men wasn't. The Departed was.

    Well, this was one of the best-acted movies I've seen in a while. Every one of the main characters was excellent. Which kept me going even as Scorsese's old soundtrack standbys made appearances. Some like Gimme Shelter; I find that it dates his films. "Hey, let's play that song I used when I was making movies 30 years ago that I SHOULD have won Oscars for way before this!" Because of that, it felt formulaic at times, like Casino did. Scorsese going back to draw from the mob well, etc.

    The only major plot element I had an issue with was DiCaprio sleeping with the shrink, and even with her involvement at the end I'm still not sure it was necessary. As someone who befriended this screwed-up dude, she still would have helped him. Throw in the complete stupidity of a lady who's seeing a cop who is in law school sleeping with some criminal, and you have . . . eh.

    Thought the ending would be more predictable, but the elevator scene was great. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with Wahlberg. Yeah, the last shot was cheese. But there comes a point in a filmmaker's career when he's making these movies and he so clearly wants to get that damn Academy Award, once and for all. So he throws in a final shot as a little virtuoso stretch.

    I liked The Aviator better, as its performances were also good, and I like to see Scorsese's non-mob movie work. I have long thought his mob movies were complete Oscar grabs, and often largely paint-by-numbers, Goodfellas being the exception. But I understand the praise for this one.
     
  8. GimpyScribe

    GimpyScribe Member

    Took you long enough ... dunce!

    I was never much of a Leo fan before last year, but his performances in "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond" were outstanding. I now am looking forward to seeing what's coming up next.

    By the way, I enjoyed "A Few Good Men" so suck it. ;)
     
  9. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Yeah, but you're also one of those UFC fanboys, so your judgement is qestionable anyway . . . . . .
     
  10. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    Question -- Did they ever say the shrink's baby was by Damon's character?
     
  11. John

    John Well-Known Member

    No, I got the impression that it was Leo's.

    Or it could have been Tom Brady's.
     
  12. GimpyScribe

    GimpyScribe Member

    Yeah, I hear that a lot on this site. ;)
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page