This could be two separate posts, but why bother?
First, the short one. Markos had a great post on Daily Kos yesterday about 2008 presidential stuff and why he’s not ready to commit. I agree with 99.9% of what he he says here. It’s definitely worth reading.
I saw The Departed yesterday. If you haven’t seen it and want to be untouched by my opinions when you do, navigate away now. If you want to read what I have to say, highlight the big empty block below.
It totally sucked in almost every way. It was a huge disappointment. I’m gonna write what I think and then try to get some real info for explanations. It was poorly shot and edited. It looked like a romantic comedy an awful lot of the time. The writing was barely good enough to keep me in the theater. I almost left after an hour. LIMP is the big word for this movie. Scorsese used to be about attitude and rock n roll. This movie needed some viagra. It had no cajones whatsoever. It spent to much time on the love story, the violence was weak, the structure was a mess. Now, the acting was okay. It was the most convincing Leo has every been – I almost liked him in this.
Part of the problem may be the new context for crime movies. They have to compete with The Sopranos and The Wire on cable. So the intricate plots and intense characters that HBO takes a season to draw make Scorsese’s 150 minute movie seem thin. But, it’s not just that. This movie was weak. I’m having a hard time believing it’s the same guy who made Goodfellas and Casino. Hell, this movie makes The Aviator looked like gold-plated brass knuckles. Anyway. I hated it, that’s the bottom line.
IMDB yields no revelations. The DOP was Michael Ballhaus, who’s shot several of Scorsese’s best, including Goodfellas. He’s used the same editor (editress?) since 1980, so that tells nothing. All I’ve got it the choice of writer – William Monahan, screenwriter of gems such as Kingdom of Heaven and … oh, that’s it. Well, he is working on some big things, like Jurassic Park 4.
Sorry, I hated this movie, at least 50% because it’s Martin Scorsese, and I don’t think he’s ever made a movie this bad, at least Bringing Out the Dead is cool to look at. And, I’d say I was really looking forward to his Teddy Roosevelt project, but who’s playing TR. You got it, lil Leo DeCaprio. Fuck that guy, too.
Hey, wanna see a movie with balls? GO HERE.
See you soon.