Oscars Bitches

[GRT]

the whole room clearly don't agree with my sentiment (until they see the original anyway) but we are discussing an issue

you are the only idiot here who's getting personal

don't worry though, it's fun, like messing around with a bully who thinks he's all that

[Keno]

the whole room clearly don't agree with my sentiment (until they see the original anyway) but we are discussing an issue

you are the only idiot here who's getting personal

don't worry though, it's fun, like messing around with a bully who thinks he's all that

lol the post before yours right here was another guy telling you you're a jackass. Ignorance is bliss though, isn't it?

[GRT]

the whole room clearly don't agree with my sentiment (until they see the original anyway) but we are discussing an issue

you are the only idiot here who's getting personal

don't worry though, it's fun, like messing around with a bully who thinks he's all that

lol the post before yours right here was another guy telling you you're a jackass. Ignorance is bliss though, isn't it?

ah didn't see that, posted while i was posting

QQ at all the people calling me idiots, i feel like crap, i should just kill myself QQ

[archibaldcrane]

Again, The Departed was far and away more different from it's source material (Infernal Affairs) than most films adapted from other sources are. It wasn't Naked Lunch, but it sure wasn't Harry Potter either. The most valid criticism you have, as far as "ripping off" it's source, is that the camera angles are extremely similar (which is something you'd expect to change when you reimagine another film), although you for some incomprehensible reason don't fault the director specifically for that, as you should.

It's a vastly different setting, different language, different culture, different dialogue - and not lazily dumped into Boston like most filmmakers would've either - very specifically set there, using Boston-specific language, attitudes, etcetera. The ending is somewhat different - definitely not "Hollywoodized" where DiCaprio wins - still has that same downing shocker.

I don't recall -anyone- screaming that Return of the King "ripped off" J.R. Tolkien's novel. It's an adaptation. Did they "steal" J.R. Tolkien's dialogue? Way, -way- more so than The Departed did to Infernal Affairs, if you want to consider it stealing, but that is just showing ignorance to what an adaptation -is-. As I recall, RotK also won Oscars, including best diretor and picture and adapted screenplay.

If you want to say "I think the only films that should be eligible for Best Picture should be films that originate on the screen, not from books, or plays, or magazine articles, or other films - original screen productions only" then you'd have a case to make there, since those other things aren't "original" and are "ripping off" their source material. But you don't make that case. You pick this specific adaptation and pretend like it's different from every other adaptation, pretend that it fails where others presumably succeed, and the legitimate complaints you do have you don't properly attribute to their source (Scorcese).

It's just...a really...poor argument.

[GRT]

Maybe it's different for you, but for me adapting from books or other media to a movie is far, far more different than adapting from one movie to another (being the same medium)

One example of good adaptation from one to another in the same medium, in the case of movies, would be Ocean's Eleven, in that the plot gets reworked to fit the more modern setting and the focus of the film also shifted from mainly the robbery to being half about the act and half about the wonderful characters each unique and interesting.

I was really hopeful for the great lineup of directing/editing/acting roster of The Departed before it came out, instead I get the whole original film played to me again in English, and I was really disappointed. Also the dialogue really aren't that different, there are extra tids and bits of dialogue all of which are insignificant to the plot, but everything else could be a direct translation between the original and the newer version other than the names of places they'd be. You tell me if that's "adaptation" or "ripping off" because I'm really bebuffled here.

[Xavier]

and yah departed had a different ending, not necessarily a better one unless you are one of those naive little kids who thought the good guys should always win

If The Departed was changed to have a happy ending, I sure as fuck don't wanna watch the original. Shit was depressing as is.

I think my biggest point is that this year wasn't shocking to me. I can't tell if you're saying The Departed sucks because its The Departed or because it was based on Infernal Affairs. If your complaint is that its an adapatation, w/e, they happen.

Last year I was pretty upset because I thought Crash didn't deserve to win, but The Departed was really well done. I think the Best Picture category was really tough this year, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, and the Queen were all really well done, but I think The Departed was the safe choice, just like Crash was the safe choice last year.

The biggest problem the academy awards have is staying relevent to Americans, as Americans move further away from true artistic appreciation to action/popcorn movies, and Hollywood moves further and further to appreciating vision. They have to stay relevent somehow, and I think most "Americans" would argue that The Departed was a movie they saw and loved.

I'm not saying that its a good policy to nominate and have movies win based on popularity, but at a certain point its still about ratings and the Academy loves when movies come out that can appeal to both sides of the equation.

[Tyche]

Just curious, what did you think deserved best picture last year. I thought Brokeback mountain was overrated, Capote and Munich weren't that great. Never seen Good Night, and Good luck though.

[Lbelle]

I don't recall -anyone- screaming that Return of the King "ripped off" J.R. Tolkien's novel. It's an adaptation. Did they "steal" J.R. Tolkien's dialogue? Way, -way- more so than The Departed did to Infernal Affairs, if you want to consider it stealing, but that is just showing ignorance to what an adaptation -is-. As I recall, RotK also won Oscars, including best diretor and picture and adapted screenplay.

ROTK won in every single category it was nominated for that year. Every one of them. Including director, screenplay adaptation, and film. In total, 11 awards.

That was a good Oscars.

[Rafbacca]

On the Whole Departed - IA comparison.

I remember going to see the Departed and when it was over I had a really strong sense of Deja-Vu. I even remarked that I had seen this movie beforehand while watching the movie. I practically ruined the movie for my date explaining what was going to happen next.

Then I started thnking back and remember seeing Infernal Affairs and I was a little upset that no where in the promos or adverts for The departed did they reference the source material.

That is what got me most upset. That I paid to see a remake and nothing new aside from setting and actors was different.

It's a good remake, and I'll take it as it is.

Much like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a good remake. Or the Hills Have Eyes. It just seems to me that ther are no original ideas out of Hollywood. They remake everything. La Femme Nikita anyone?


I just findit funny that one of this countires greatest directors gets an Oscar for a remake.

BTW Don't knock GRT too badly. Watch Infernal Affairs for yourselves, A lot of the story and plot elements are the same. Scenes are eerily similar between the films.

[markasstrick]

I dont see how you can see departed shouldnt have won because it has somewhat the same plot as another movie. Infernal affairs seemed like it was on a cheaper budget or something, and the actors were no where near as departed with jack nickolson and leonardo decaprio. yeah i agree some scenes were very similar, but departed was a better movie, im willing to bet some people in this thread would never have even heard of infernal affairs if not for departed

[Norelco]

I see Lbelle is still spouting on her anti-black sentiments. Blackula? Niglips? You're on notice.

[Lbelle]

I see Lbelle is still spouting on her anti-black sentiments. Blackula? Niglips? You're on notice.

I see Norelco is still a fucking annoying whiner that likes to derail threads.

[Norelco]

I see Lbelle is still spouting on her anti-black sentiments. Blackula? Niglips? You're on notice.

I see Norelco is still a fucking annoying whiner that likes to derail threads.

Why do you hate black people?

[markasstrick]

niglips lol

[Lbelle]

Why do you try to derail almost EVERY thread I post in? Just go away, or send a pm or something. Whatever you do, just stop.

[Norelco]

Why do you try to derail almost EVERY thread I post in? Just go away, or send a pm or something. Whatever you do, just stop.

I only derail the ones in which you blurt out stupid racist comments.

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

Why do you try to derail almost EVERY thread I post in? Just go away, or send a pm or something. Whatever you do, just stop.

I only derail the ones in which you blurt out stupid racist comments.

The Racist Jewish Woman

That could be a sitcom I swear

[archibaldcrane]

You tell me if that's "adaptation" or "ripping off" because I'm really bebuffled here.

Less so than most films that are adapted from books or plays.

[blister1]

Internal Affairs is on alluc.org, pretty good movie even though I rarely watch non action movies via subtitles.

Pretty good turnout for the Oscars, only award that I was peeved at was Whalberg getting shafted for best supporting actor.

[GRT]

I dont see how you can see departed shouldnt have won because it has somewhat the same plot as another movie. Infernal affairs seemed like it was on a cheaper budget or something, and the actors were no where near as departed with jack nickolson and leonardo decaprio. yeah i agree some scenes were very similar, but departed was a better movie, im willing to bet some people in this thread would never have even heard of infernal affairs if not for departed

Well, I pardon you for your lack of knowledge on IA because I too don't do research on every foreign film I watch, but I just happened to like IA so much that I looked into some background info on the movie, and it was also helpful that information was so easy to obtain because the movie was well received as the number one smash hit in Asia this past decade (yep, better than Crouching Tiger, Hero, and all those kungfu gizmo).

The budget for this movie was huge, bigger than any other films out of HK the 5 years prior. The two actors playing the leading roles were probably two of the most well known male actors in Asia... certainly not as well known as Jack and Leo since every person on the planet know em Hollywood yankees right? But they aren't any less experienced or make any less money (throwing it in there since that's how a lot of Americans determine who's good and who's not).

And The Departed doesn't have "somewhat the same plot as another movie," it has the exact same plot as the original, not to mention other "coincidencial" identicals. The only real difference between the two is the ridiculous shifting of focal points and nonsense bumps in the general flow of the plot. I'll list some examples.

1. The story of both movies revolves around the center stage between two parallel characters serving as undercovers in opposing factions, which the original has done perfectly to creating the what you could call the ying-yang in that film. In the newer version, it clearly seems Leo's character is receiving more camera, and the part about how he penetrates into the mafia gets dragged out way too much which in itself serves no purpose to the center point of the story.

2. The original used lookalike younger actors to play the two leading roles while they were in police training school, and the director used that technique of using photo shot scenes to transform their headshots from the younger version to the older version which fade into good background actions to support that change, in which you really get to see how 10 years of undercover has changed the two men: Leo's character gets that battleworn feel of being in with the mobsters so long that he's no longer that fresh new elite graduate from a police academy, and Matt's character seems no longer that mobster kid who's afraid of nothing but a suit behind a desk who's as careful of treading amongst office politices as hiding who he really is even in his family. The newer version has done good enough on the result of the transformation in the original, but has touched little on the transformation itself because of either not using different actors for different age gaps or the shortcomings in both characters acting or acting directions from the director, which result in a very unsatisfying feel for anyone who's watched the original. BTW the original used less than 5 minutes to show this transformation which I personally thought was quite genius.

3. The newer version merged the love interest of both leading actors from two person into one. While this may serve as attractive in a mellow dramaish way for audiences who may not be that into guns and violence, it really fails to deliver a lot of minor yet background-hinting details on both characters' struggles in their pretentious lives. One scene in the original really had me caught: Leo's character runs into his ex-girlfriend who he broke away from because of the nature of his work about 6 years ago, she's with her daughter. He notices that she's wearing a wedding ring, and asks her how's life and stuff, then casually asks how old the little girl is. She said the girl just turned 5, and he says congradulation on such a beautiful daughter she has with her new loving husband. After he walks away, the little girl says to her mom: "You got it wrong mom, I'm already 6 and a half!" It's really a little detail yet so powerful to makes audiences see how his undercover work has made it that he never knew he had a daughter before he died (and the mother daughter being at his funeral scene was quite touching too). I really can't imagine who would really think it was smart to change this into some love triangle thing in The Departed.

The list goes on, how the orignal had intense moments like Leo's character soluting to the police chief's funeral parade from a dark alley, how Matt's wife writing a novel about a fictional character with multiple personalities... but

The BIGGEST wrong doing in the newer version has to be the casting of Jack Nicolson.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jack as much as the next guy, but he really steals the show (in a very bad way) as what's supposed to be a supporting role. The movie is not about the mobster or the police or even their law/crime conflict, but the struggle of being undercover on both sides. Spoiler warning highlight to see original ending Matt's character in the original lived, but that really tells you what is struggle and suffering, because all the rest of the characters who died were heros who have been released from this corrupt world and gone to a better place, and even in this past life still being honored by everyone, while Matt has to continue to pretend being someone he's not while having no one who's really close to him (he killed his only mobster ally who befriends him and helps him kill Leo's character just to hide from the police department who he really is, and his wife leaves him because of an incriminating recording sent to her by Leo's character) So if you think about it, there's really no point in Jack's big role in the new version other than marketing to attract people who loves Jack Nicolson to watch the movie. And I call that marketing strategy a big success because obviously a lot of people loved the movie because of Jack while completely bypassing the whole point of the film.

So that's my short... or long? (lol) insight to why I think the original was far superior than the remake. You have the internet, if you cared you can go see why over 90% of the people who watched both films agree with me (and the other 10% being conservative saying the new one is "different" but not necessarily "better") And don't even give me that "because they saw the original first" crap, I mean if the remake is anything of a competition it wouldn't be nearly as overwhelming as 90%.

Or you can just go watch the original and judge for yourself, which I really think you owe it to yourself to