Jan 23 2007
Favourite Movies of 2006 - #2
The Departed - I already wrote a brief review of The Departed, but I’ll say this: It was the most fun I had watching a movie in a movie theatre this year.
I wrote: “It’s been well over a decade since Martin Scorsese made a worthwhile film. Now, with The Departed, he’s hit a grand-slam home-run right out of the park… It’s great to see Scorsese return to form, to the genre he knows best: crime drama. But this isn’t a retread of old territory like Casino. This is fresh and exciting and fantastic.” It may be Scorsese’s best film.
It’s a shame that people give so much credit to American made movies when there is so much better out there. If you are a fan of ‘foreign’ films, you may wish to view Infernal affairs. It is the original chinese version of The Departed, which scorsese has copied almost scene for scene. The difference betwene the two is that the chinese version manages to capture the machismo without resorting to a single swear word and has lesser blood and guns, while retaining the action. The final scene also makes sense, unlike Scorcese’s. There also exists an alternative ending for the chinese version, which is worth downloading. I am puzzled as to why the Americans allowed a director to steal a film, then give him such a high reward him for it.
Cedric, I wouldn’t give more credit to American-made movies if I didn’t have to, but about 95% of the movies that play in Canadian theatres are American. The few Canadian films that do show up at my local mutliplex receive little advertising (if any at all), and play for a week, two weeks at the most, barely enough time to notice them.
I read a statistic last week that 1% of Canadians watch Canadian-made films. It’s sad but it’s true, and there’s not much that can be done about it when motion picture distribution in North American is controlled by American companies.
I’m sure there would be more non-American films on my list if I’d actually been able to see them. I know there are better films out there, and it pisses me off that I’m not able to see them in a theatre.
As for Scorsese, The Departed may very well be a less inbovative remake, but my first viewing of it in the theatre was still a hell of a lot of fun (I suspect, though, that it won’t hold up well to repeated viewings). Scorsese got the Academy Award for his life’s work, not so much for this film which may not be his best (that was my enthusiasm bubbling over a bit).
I just watched this for the first time last night, lying in bed, playing on a laptop propped on my belly.
I enjoyed it. It’s memorable. At the end there though, man… you exclaim “Holy shit”, then 3 seconds later, “Holy shit!” again, then BANG, another surprise. Almost comical.
The ending is definitely over the top.
I’m curious to see how the original movie, Infernal Affairs, plays. I’ve had it for awhile but I’m in a movie-burnt-out phase at the moment.
Spider-Man 3 comes out tomorrow. I didn’t much care for SM1 or 2. Too much of the video-game feeling to me. But I’ll inevitably see it before it leaves the theatres. It’s going to be huge.
i just wanna watch hot fuzz..really enjoyed shaun of the dead…but i live in a bit of a movie no mans land….watched an older film…my first mister..with albert brooks and some young lady who is now doing other movies…name escapes me…very well done movie..dialouge is great..no explosions though, no spartans….ohh phillip i just watched risky business for a laugh over the weekend..it was still humerous…i continue to be amazed at the pacing of “older” movies…risky business is not old…but the pacing of the movies is so less frenetic than comparable endevours made today…
I appreciate the slower pace of older movies. Look at something like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and compare it with anything Speilberg did in the 80s and 90s (not that I love Speilberg, but he’s an easy example). The same with JAWS. If it were made today, it would DEEP BLUE SEA. I read somewhere that the number of edits per minute in movies today is about 10 greater than what it was in the 70s and 80s.