No David I wont, but your review of this film, has sparked some
interest,
which says a lot for your writing, there havent been many that cause me to
want to bust out of my
paradigm.
I like Scorsese's style and hard edge reality.
My introduction to him was the "Last Waltz" ending with my recent
viewing of Casino. (all within the last year)
(and all of the other good ones in between), I have also come to appreciate
Tarrentino who is not veryone's cup of tea and
Like with Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66, the cast was all there to support
Gallo and this film which said a lot about both, and it turned out to be an
exceptional film, However I learned a valuable lesson in Hero
worship and
the long awaited arrival of "The Brown Bunny", where the only thing
redeemable was the fact that Gallo
stated he wished he had never made that dirge.
As as an artist and linen backer I can only empathise, I wish
they would all turn out as I envision.
susan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 5:58
PM
Subject: RE: [MOPO] Scorcese's "The
Departed"
Hi Susan:
** As I've told
others who've privately written me since last night -- please, don't take my
comments as a hearty recommendation to see Scorcese's "The Departed." If
you go, bring lowered expectations. This is not "Goodfellas" nor is it
as beautifully stylized as Scorcese's better films. Because after a jet
rocket opening, about 30 minutes in I started to feel cheated, feeling the
film was overrated. It started to bog down and became confusing. I
was finally able, around the 60-minute mark, to sort things out and better
understand what was going on.
** And by the end of
the picture, I felt fine. The closing shot isn't subtle and feels
contrived. Such contrivances are missing from most of Scorcese's better
pictures -- and their absence may explain why he's not a household name among
mainstream audiences who don't understand what the fuss about Scorcese is all
about. So if you've followed his career, you may walk out disappointed
from "The Departed." However, this last shot gives commercial audiences
something Scorcese has historically been incapable of giving -- and that's
"closure." Not happy ending "closure," but Scorcese's "idea" of what
comes close to it.
** I feel this is a
"B+" movie for Scorcese. It's really gory, almost over-the-top violent
with racist and anti-gay and anti-religion comments sprinkled
throughout. This is what I meant by forgetting what a Scorcese picture
like this is like when you see it on a big screen vs. on home video.
Many people will be put off by Scorcese's return to his violent roots.
But "The Departed" proves he still has the ability to shock and pull no
punches by showing violence for what it is -- dirty,
ugly, un-sanitized. I don't care that Scorcese can only do
this kind of picture. He's good at it and should stick to what he does
best. A good Scorcese film lacks vulnerable emotion, that is, you don't
cry for anyone. A good Scorcese picture runs on three emotions:
raw anger, getting ahead and getting even. I don't want Scorcese to do
melodramas or historical pictures filled with romance.
** I believe "The
Departed" has enough going for it that it may become the first out-of-the-box
commercial hit for Scorcese. He has never, the best I recall, directed a
film that has opened #1 at the box office. He has a shot here. The
intriguing question then might be: Can Scorcese handle commercial
success? You get the feeling nearly everyone in this cast was underpaid
just to be directed by him. I just hope "The Departed" puts an end to
Scorcese's "experiments" of the last decade which nearly buried him. I'm
thinking now of "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator," two films with
mega-budgets and overblown praise. "The Departed" looks like it cost
pennies to make but is better than both of those films combined.
** I think Scorcese
owes the extension of his career to Leonardo DiCaprio, who stuck by him and
kept mainstream audiences interested. After "Casino," he felt done to
me. He got the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. People then started
rooting for him to get an Oscar for sentimental reasons, instead of
merit. "The Departed" gives Scorcese his most recognizable mainstream
cast in ages. And I find it incredible that this film marks the first
time that Jack Nicholson, our man from "Easy Rider" to the present day, has
worked w/the director from New York.
** (BTW, the anti-New York bias continues in
Hollywood. The last New York-based director to win an Oscar was Woody
Allen, for "Annie Hall" in 1977. New York directors get nominated, but
are shut out by the clannish L.A. crowd. I hate this.)
-koose.
----- Original
Message -----
From: susan olson
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: susan olson
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Fw:
[MOPO] Scorcese's "The Departed"
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 13:41:12
-0500
Great thank you, You
have motivated me to get out and see this movie!
susan
----- Original
Message -----
From: David Kusumoto
Sent: Saturday,
October 07, 2006 12:43 PM
Subject: Re:
[MOPO] Scorcese's "The Departed"
** Hi Shelley -- I
have not seen INFERNAL AFFAIRS, and in a way, I'm kind of glad because
people who've seen the Hong-Kong original have commented negatively about THE
DEPARTED. But I now plan to see INFERNAL AFFAIRS and will
compare.
** The main gripe
I've read from reviewers of both films, is that it takes Scorcese 30 minutes
longer to tell the same story about two moles trying to rat each other out,
and unless you follow closely, you can get lost. Fans, just remember
this going in -- one of the moles is Matt Damon, a squeaky-clean looking kid
who's been "groomed-for-crime-since-childhood" -- by Irish mobster Jack
Nicholson. Matt Damon infiltrates the Boston police force. The
other main mole is an honest cop with a long boyhood rap sheet (Leonardo
DiCaprio) -- who grew up on the same bad streets of Boston. As a
condition of joining the force, he must go to prison on purpose so that when
he gets out -- he can fake psychopathic behavior well enough to infiltrate
Nicholson's gang. DiCaprio comes out so scary that you're not sure if
he's really a good guy.
** The riveting
thing is that we soon learn no one is trustworthy. The paranoia level
for the audience goes through the roof about an hour into the film. Some
critics have said Nicholson chews up scenery in the same foul way that Bette
Davis romped through "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?," making "The Departed"
unnecessarily longer.
** Well you know
what people say. Anything that's good in a picture never feels
long. And Nicholson is great, Boston accent and all. He is the
devil incarnate yet doesn't blow Scorcese's great team of younger actors off
the screen. The film's only weak actor is the woman psychiatrist.
However, even though she's an annoyance, and I won't give away the ending --
her character is one of many keys that enable a mainstream audience to
finally walk out of a Scorcese picture with satisfaction. I don't mean a
happy ending, which is so not Scorcese. But you get an ending that
settles scores, so to speak. I would've preferred a stronger female lead
in that role, the type of woman you see in Scorcese's previous pictures.
When you see it, you'll know what I mean.
** It's the day
after and I'm still washing the blood off of me.
-koose.
----- Original
Message -----
From: Shelly
Whitworth-King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Shelly
Whitworth-King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: Scorcese's "The
Departed"
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 12:21:16 +0000
Hi Koose
Have
you seen INFERNAL AFFAIRS, the film that this is 'based' on (although, not a
remake)? Just wondering! I thought it was excellent.
Am looking forward
to THE DEPARTED.
Thanks for your impressions.
Shelly
----Original Message
Follows----
From: David Kusumoto
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: David Kusumoto
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: [MOPO] Scorcese's "The
Departed"
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 00:51:05 -0700
** Before people start
falling over themselves proclaiming Martin Scorcese's new film, "The Departed"
as being his among his best, it isn't. But when they say it's his
best film since "Goodfellas" and "Casino," it's true. After
spending more than 10 years trying to "art" it up doing hoity-toity stuff
that's unfamiliar to his palate, it's clear Scorcese will be to crime dramas
what Alfred Hitchcock was to thrillers. And like Hitchcock, he may
never win an Oscar. So what.
** "The Departed" rockets off
the screen during its first 30 minutes, then does a baffling stall for another
30, before zooming to a blood-and-gore riveting finish during its last
90. Because of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, i.e.,
Scorcese's best films -- you might say "The Departed" falls short of
greatness. But if you didn't know "The Departed" was directed by
Scorcese -- you "might" also say it's one of the best pictures released so far
in 2006, with many more potentially great films to be released before Dec.
31.
** People are talking about the stellar turns by Jack
Nicholson, Matt Damon and Alec Baldwin, but this picture belongs to Leonardo
DiCaprio -- and, in my mind, stolen -- by a surprisingly spectacular Mark
Wahlberg, in a secondary role I hope people won't forget. The
writing and editing during the film's last 90 minutes are vintage
Scorcese.
** Since this isn't a review -- what follows is an
impression. I had almost forgotten what Scorcese violence is like
on the big screen. This, you may remember, was one of the
major raps against "Goodfellas" when it lost the Best Picture Oscar to the
politically correct "Dances with Wolves" in 1990 -- and "Taxi Driver" when it
lost the top prize to "Rocky" in 1976. In 1995, "Casino" got mixed
reviews, with many noting that it was "the same old Scorcese."
**
Well "Casino" has become more fondly remembered over time because of what
Scorcese has directed since. It still holds up, while the films
he's done since "Casino" have not. The body count and gore in "The
Departed" is comparable to "Goodfellas," "Casino" and "Taxi
Driver." It's so gruesome that even the most ardent Scorcese fans
must be warned in advance that what they're about to see on the big screen, 11
years after "Casino" -- that is, the stylish violence they "thought" they
adored on the little screen (and I still believe MOST people, judging by box
office receipts, first saw "Goodfellas" and "Casino" on video, not in
theaters) -- could still jolt them when they see "The Departed."
**
There's an "in-your-face, matter-of-fact-brutal-truth" feeling to the violent
images in "The Departed," and when you leave the theater -- (hopefully
satisfied, which is unusual for most Scorcese films) -- those of you who've
followed his career may resign yourself to the fact that really, after 35
years, urban crime dramas are what Scorcese does best. Hitchcock's
legend is similarly based on a single genre, and he was better than many other
directors who have won Oscars. "The Departed" feels effortless because
the guy behind the camera knows the landscape of rats, moles, guns and cops
better than anyone.
** You almost get the feeling that "The Departed"
works for the very reason that it's not aiming for the fences. Nothing
fancy here, very few camera tricks, just fabulous cinematic story telling,
especially its convoluted final 90 minutes. Don't bring the
kids.
-koose.
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