not gonna take part in a flame war past my first post.

To talk about the departed a bit

I noticed there is no "based on" credit in the brick... i thought it was a pretty stright update of infernal affairs. any fans of IA who can clarify this?

quote:

What do you mean by foreign films anyways

Which is why I put the word in ALL CAPS and single quotes. I don't believe in 'foreign' as an appellation but I use it in the sense that the normal American would. All films are foreign films from a certain perspective.

My favorite national cinemas are Polish, Russian, Chinese (HK) and Japanese. I've seen several Iranian and Israeli films, as well as most of an Afghan production... I'm not sure what you mean by 'Arabic.' Arabic-language? Anyway, I'm not being judgmental - 'The Departed' trailer looked pretty bad, and isn't that the purpose of a trailer? To allow some evaluation before the final product hits theatres?

Irish gangster pic that takes place in the Boston area directed by a legend starring big Jack? Count me in what can I say I have a soul.

I love how people can just dismiss the work of some of our greatest directors with glancing blows like "the script was pedestrian" or "has only made masturbatory progress ever since" It just blows my mind that neophyte blowhards can be so sure of themselves from the depths of their own ignorance.

Cry me a river, Scorcese is a badass and Eastwood bagged your mamma.

quote:

the work of some of our greatest directors

Clint Eastwood is one of 'our' greatest directors? I take issue with that. Great actor in Leone's pics. Not a fantastic director.

What other criticism do you expect me to offer? If a film has a poor script, some absurd 'plot twists,' annoying use of music, and acting ranging from moderate to terrible, you expect praise just because it's made by a name director?

By your logic, no film can be bad, since the people criticizing it are not well-known directors. Absurd.

Enough with the flaming people - keep it clean here.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Sorry Chris.

It's simply easy to point out flaws as all films are human endevours and will by nature have certain drawbacks. To dismiss a body of work in a cold demaning matter when someone has no body of work to speak of is just depressing to witness.

And I would love it if the only prominant critics were themselves filmmakers, that would be ideal. I remember reading an article Ebert wrote on a John Ford movie about the deep meaning of the use of composition and such and thinking to myself, damn what a genius Ford was and how could anyone possibly live up to that standard. But then I saw an interview with Ford where he explained his technique for framing as "I just move the camera until it looks good."

So sorry agin to dismiss your opinions but I have to question your qualifications to comment reasonably on someones life work, and not as a "named director" but as someone who shows a lack of respect to fellow writers and filmmakers.

So you basically have issues with any film reviews...

When they are insulting or they don't at least try to find the good in a directors intent. Like the whole thing with that critic walking out of Clerks 2.

Hey man I got a bit worked up into a lather on this one and you're more than reasonable in your opinions and I respect that, I just got on the chip about your choice of words.

I've been in Film school for too long (I'm a senior) and I'm so tired of the bashing that goes on inside the film classes. It seems more people point out what they don't like instead of enjoying the work of others.

Anyone else experience this?

That's a good way to put it REDking. There is very little appreciation of other's work. Tearing down is far far far more common here than any actual excitement or positive reinforcement. I would like this site to be more positive in it's discussions. And you might fairly point the finger at me for this, but i would like us to be excited about films rather than disgusted by them.

I have nothing against some well-meaning critique and honest discussion of movies (be they our own, or hollywood's) and I would be saddened to find that we no longer felt safe voicing our opinions on said movies, but there's something else going on a lot of the time.

What I do not want to see happening is complete dismissal of others and their opinions, superiority, elitism, irrational stubbornness, and bad attitudes. Evan, I hate to point fingers, but this is what you're being accused of every time I check the forums, and I'm inclined to say those accusations (whether you feel they are true or not) are somewhat valid. If you find your tone being mistaken online, perhaps you should word your conversations more carefully. You're not the only one of course, and I think all the others know who they are when I say this.

quote:

Originally posted by REDking:

And I would love it if the only prominant critics were themselves filmmakers, that would be ideal.

Unsilent Passings...

Guess Who I am.

quote:

And I would love it if the only prominant critics were themselves filmmakers

I can't believe you actually posted this... how ridiculous. Film criticism is obviously related to filmmaking, but demanding an overlap is patently absurd. We should also be careful to note the general difference between film criticism and film reviewing.

Neither requires you to be a filmmaker.

I'll say it nicer than Evan, even though I agree. You can't get too insular otherwise you'll never grow as an artist. Critics in all their ****tiness have a place in our work.

FF, Francious Truffaut was a critic who became a filmmaker he published his first movie critiques in "Les Cahiers du Cinema".

Good call, he was a pretty brutal critic and finally someone said , if you know so much why don't you make a movie, Truffaut said ok and made the 400 blows, one of the most influential movies of all time!

Fair enough Kabuta its a good argument.

But I still believe critics are mostly hacks who decided to take cinema theory classes instead of production because they were lazy or afraid. But I'm often wrong.

But the intitial thrust of these posts was to point out that no one here is qualified in any way to dismiss an entire body of work and as new filmmakers ourselves we should at least have an ounce of respect.

Personally I would be more apt to listen openly Scorsesse's opinions on a particular film than say Gene Siskel. Some how that dosn't seem ridiculous.

I have a feeling that Evan would consider Gene Siskel a valuable critic. More of a reviewer. And I'd agree. But I don't want to speak for him.

I think you meant "wouldn't consider..."

But once a "critic" goes beyond a simple rehashing of the plot he or she becomes a critic, good or bad.

A reviewer would be "an individual who provides a general survey of something"

And a critic "a person who judges or evaluates"

And we all would be "splitting hairs"

when the film comes out on dvd and if it is on dvd somebody tell me so that I can see it and review for a dvd review. I wanted to wait to review this film because I got sort of confused with the locations. So if somebody can tell me if it is out on dvd I would like to review the film.

GO LOOK FOR YOURSELF! This thread is 6 months old. It's not that hard to find the departed on imdb and go to DVD info. There's been soo many people bringing up old threads for no reason. The date on the them does serve a purpose, it's not just to look pretty. And so I'm not a total d-bag, yes it is out on DVD.

Yeah, it came out on DVD several weeks ago. And it would have been a lot quicker and easier to just run a search on Amazon than to post here and wait for someone to respond.

It's okay to dig up an old thread if you have something worthwhile to contribute to it, but for this? Give me a break.