| Author |
 Topic  |
|
benj clews 
"...."
|
 Posted - 10/08/2006 : 22:32:10
|
| Not a bad film, but am I right in thinking this film features the most "deaths by headshot" in any film ever? |
|
|
Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
|
Posted - 10/08/2006 : 23:25:38
|
| Didn't notice it. Certainly didn't bother me. I'm guessing that shooting someone in the head is the quickest way to ensure a quick kill. You don't want to just wound a person, and then they go snitching everything. Right? You'll notice that when Leonardo DiCaprio just wants to *wound* a guy, he shoots him in the leg. |
 |
|
|
benj clews
"...."
|
Posted - 10/09/2006 : 01:38:11
|
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Didn't notice it. Certainly didn't bother me. I'm guessing that shooting someone in the head is the quickest way to ensure a quick kill. You don't want to just wound a person, and then they go snitching everything. Right? You'll notice that when Leonardo DiCaprio just wants to *wound* a guy, he shoots him in the leg.
Didn't bother me (well, not in the gore sense anyway)- I just kinda' started to get a bit bored of seeing people shot in the head (unbelievable as that may sound) and the blood splatter out the back. Perhaps it's Scorcese going for realistic mob-style killings, but I did start to wish for a straightforward old-fashioned shot to the chest  |
|
|
|
BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
|
Posted - 10/09/2006 : 08:21:31
|
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Didn't notice it. Certainly didn't bother me. I'm guessing that shooting someone in the head is the quickest way to ensure a quick kill. You don't want to just wound a person, and then they go snitching everything. Right? You'll notice that when Leonardo DiCaprio just wants to *wound* a guy, he shoots him in the leg.
Didn't bother me (well, not in the gore sense anyway)- I just kinda' started to get a bit bored of seeing people shot in the head (unbelievable as that may sound) and the blood splatter out the back. Perhaps it's Scorcese going for realistic mob-style killings, but I did start to wish for a straightforward old-fasioned shot to the chest
This is an assumption on my part, but knowing Scorsese's attention to detail and belief in the power of iconography, I'm guessing he wanted to send out some multi-messages. First of all, The Head is very significant in mob culture. Second, it's a well-documented signature-killing. And, following in the socially complex footsteps of Peckinpah, he wanted to provide some redress to comparitively sanitized comic-book violence. As I say, it's just a guess. 
|
|
|
|
Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
|
Posted - 10/09/2006 : 08:57:49
|
...and to entertain the masses.  |
|
|
|
MguyXXV 
"X marks the spot"
|
Posted - 10/15/2006 : 04:25:20
|
| Brilliant film. Scorsese's timing is impeccable. |
|
|
|
GHcool
"Forever a curious character."
|
Posted - 10/15/2006 : 04:33:08
|
I just saw it. I thought the entire cast was excellent. The performances made the movie for me. It didn't seem very Scorsese-ish though. Its a cops and robbers kind of movie and it seemed to me like it could have been directed by anyone competant and didn't require a master filmmaker. It didn't explore the psyche of these people in the way that Goodfellas did, but as a popcorn thriller, it worked.
I didn't really like how the sound and picture were cut though. It felt a little choppy, but it was clearly the style Scorsese was going for. Like the music would cut out suddenly or it was competing with the dialogue. Sometimes picture edits would bump together like a jump cut. Did anyone else notice this? |
|
|
|
Downtown 
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
|
Posted - 10/15/2006 : 12:47:03
|
While this film is a work of fiction, Jack's character Costello is directly based on South Boston's infamous James "Whitey" Bulger (who was last spotted in your neck of the woods, btw). Of the many things Whitey is known for, probably the most noteworthy (aside from his insatiable sexual perversions) was his brutality. Scorcese does enjoy exagerating violence, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if there really were a whole lotta brains splattered all over Southie during the reign of the man that inspired one of the main characters in this film.
|
|
|
|
redPen
"Because I said so!"
|
Posted - 10/18/2006 : 09:12:44
|
Benj, I had the exact same thought whilst viewing. I thought "My God, look at all the Hollywood brains someone's gonna have to mop up!"
Dream cast (even Jack Nicholson didn't just pull a "playing Nicholson yet again"!) and one of the true directing artists. Film even reunited Mark Wahlberg and Leo DiCaprio WITHOUT a "coach in the shower" scene! Yay!
 |
|
|
|
demonic
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 10/24/2006 : 15:08:45
|
*spoilers*
Have to agree about the headshots Benj - mainly because of the audience response when I watched it last night in a totally packed cinema and how much laughter there was. The hard boiled cop dialogue, particularly in the interplay between Baldwin, Wahlberg et al, was very funny I thought. And Jack is genius and consistently entertaining; arms drenched in blood, doing little rat impressions - the man can do no wrong. All that rightly amused the audience, but I was surprised at how every splattered brain got whoops of amusement too. Partly a nervous reaction I'm sure, but the excess of dead bodies piling up at the end did have a ring of the fantastical about it. It occurred to me later than the black cop character didn't have to be there at all in the end , and following Infernal Affairs more closely would have been as well served by Billy taking Colin down in the elevator without having to explain himself to a third party, and his death coming as a bigger shock as he, and the audience, would be more relaxed. Of course, if you know the original it's not really a shock anyway!
Much like GHCool this didn't have the mark of a Scorcese film though, other than it was very well done. The sped up editing techniques didn't seem characteristic at all; even a little too gimmicky. Quite often the style reminded me more of Michael Mann.
Some questions for everyone - didn't you expect the girlfriend to give Colin up eventually, rather than Dignam turn up for revenge? The envelope Billy gave her obviously had all the details that Colin was the rat and she could have handed him in - quite a nice turn around, seeing Billy knew he might not survive. That particular strand was left unresolved for me.
Did Billy ultimately know that she was Colin's girlfriend? I thought not, but my girlfriend pointed out that when he gave her the envelope it was in the corridor of her (and his) apartment. He knew the address because he also sent the incriminating CD to Colin there. Surely he'd make the connection?
Also, any takers on her baby actually being Billy's and not Colin's? |
|
|
|
Stalean
"Back...OMG"
|
Posted - 10/24/2006 : 20:39:50
|
SPOILER WARNING
The majority of the characters you are talking about were State Troopers. They are trained in the academy to take aimed headshots. Why would they use any other method to kill someone. This is also the portrayed method of killing by organized crime. It ties together well with what Costello tells Colin:
�When I was your age, they would say we could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this: When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?�
- Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)
I thought everyone did a fantastic bit of acting in this film. Especially, Leo and Jack. I felt the knots in Billy's (Leo's) stomachache just by watching his expressions.
IMO, I think the letter that Billy sent to Madolyn told her to contact Dignam to let him know Colin was the plant, and why else would she give Colin up if the baby wasn't Billy's? And, didn't she say that she had the lease on her old apartment for 3 more weeks, I'm not sure which apartment he gave her the envelope.
I would really like to see it again. It was very good.
|
Edited by - Stalean on 10/25/2006 01:08:39 |
|
|
|
demonic
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 10/24/2006 : 22:46:35
|
quote:
IMO, I think the letter that Billy sent to Madolyn told her to contact Digman to let him know Colin was the plant
I wondered that myself, but then would she really want or expect Dignam to spread Colin's blood and brains all over their shared apartment? Wouldn't it have been better to have him arrested? I guess she wouldn't know the result of contacting Dignam, but she surely wouldn't want him dead.
quote:
and why else would she give Colin up if the baby wasn't Billy's?
Because he's a nasty piece of work and deserves to go to prison, regardless of the baby. Billy is dead after all.
quote:
And, didn't she say that she had the lease on her old apartment for 3 more weeks, I'm not sure which apartment he gave her the envelope.
Yes, I wasn't sure about that, but remembering seeing Billy visit her old apartment it seemed more like an old house with windows rather than in an apartment block. Does anyone remember when he visited her at home if she opened the door to the street or to an apartment block corridor?
|
|
|
|
thefoxboy
"Four your eyes only."
|
Posted - 10/24/2006 : 23:10:31
|
I thought the movie was great. One thing that I thought was corny was the rat on the rail at the end of movie. Leo's acting was excellent.
I agree with StaLean about the headshots, at the start of the movie they are even explaining the effect of a bullet hitting the skull. |
|
|
|
Stalean
"Back...OMG"
|
Posted - 10/25/2006 : 00:08:09
|
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
quote:
IMO, I think the letter that Billy sent to Madolyn told her to contact Dignam to let him know Colin was the plant
I wondered that myself, but then would she really want or expect Dignam to spread Colin's blood and brains all over their shared apartment? Wouldn't it have been better to have him arrested? I guess she wouldn't know the result of contacting Dignam, but she surely wouldn't want him dead.
That may be the case, but I rather doubt that Madolyn was still living with Colin by that time, regardless of her wishes. It's all very interesting to speculate on different aspects of the film and to talk about it in the fourum. Others may remember things that I missed or didn't register at the time, and sometimes, we can piece it all together. |
Edited by - Stalean on 10/25/2006 01:11:18 |
|
|
|
Airbolt
"teil mann, teil maschine"
|
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 00:55:46
|
Instant classic in my opinion. Powerful acting by Leo as a man constantly looking over his shoulder. Nicholson is such a powerful prescence that the carpet-chewing is almost excusable. Surprise for me was this is the first Mark Wahlberg performance where i forgot he was Mark Wahlberg.
It got easier as the film went on but initially Di Caprio and Matt Damon in their Buzz Cuts looked too similar |
|
|
|
Airbolt
"teil mann, teil maschine"
|
Posted - 11/01/2006 : 00:57:51
|
SPOILER
BTW - Do you think she kept the Baby? |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
The Departed
