Thus far, the wife and I have seen two of the Academy Award's Best Picture nominees.
If you haven't yet seen it, don't bother to rent Babel. In spite of good acting, the plot is poorly constructed, at times forced, and overall boring. It reminded me a lot of the previous year's winner, Crash, which came across as artificially construed. To the ladies, Brad Pitt is not hot in this movie. I can attest to this for, if my wife could leave me for any man, it would be Brad Pitt. Although it is of no importance, I must brag that I have family--though not bloodline-and friendly ties to a branch of Pitt's family. They are close enough in relation that their name is "Pitt," and they refer to the famous one as "Cousin Brad." Still, don't waste your time on this movie. If you like Brad Pitt, then see something else (other than his other mistake, Kalifornia).
The other nominated film that we saw was Martin Scorsese's The Departed. My recommendation is that you watch it. It's quite good. What makes this recommendation even more sincere is the fact that have long-been a Leonardo DiCaprio hater. I've always thought that his talent was overrated. He was not great in Titanic, and Titanic was NOT a great movie (in spite of its box office draw and its excessive awards. However, in more recent years I've seen him mature as an actor. I thought that he was rather good in Catch Me If You Can and as Howard Hughes in The Aviator.
Don't think that I am admitting a wrongful assessment of DiCaprio's acting. He was rather poor in all movies preceding Catch Me If You Can. He might have been great in Titanic, had not the director been poor and the script (written by that very same poor director) been sub-literate. I am not admitting that I was wrong. To the contrary, I am acknowledging that DiCaprio has risen to my standards. If only Keanu Reeves could do the same. He's the one, you'll remember, who nearly ruined the otherwise brilliant The Matrix. Thank God that the movie was saved because the charactor "Neo" (Reeves) was supposed to be an idiot. Consequently, the sequels sucked because once "Neo" wasn't an idiot, Keanu Reeves could not adequately portray him.
Stay tuned, as I plan to watch the other "Best Picture" nominees, as well as The King of Scotland, which at least one trusted friend has argued should have been nominated.
I saw The Departed about a month ago.I did not like it. In a word I thought it was lousy.
ReplyDeleteI almost have to second-guess my assessment, since I generally respect your critical assessments.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it wasn't Best Picture material, but we watched it right after "Babel." For God's sake, I probably would have raved about "Saw III" under those circumstances.
Thanks for the heads-up on "Babel." I had it on my list just for its historical value. I'll opt for something else.
ReplyDeleteAs for "The Departed", it was the ending that soured me. I kept waiting for a twist in the plot. I believe Scorsese was brought in to specifically finish the picture. Even though we who watched it together did not like it, we managed to talk about, at length, the following day. Maybe, that is what a movie is suppose to do.
Fact: The F-word is used in The Departed 237 times in total - the highest total for a Best Picture Oscar Winner.
ReplyDeleteFact: The running time of The Departed has a running time of 151 minutes.
For you math nerds out there that comes out to ~1.6 F-bombs / minute throughout the course of the film. My question is, how is this in any way necessary, dramatic, or realistic? I am not opposed to cursing in films for the expressed purpose of any of the aforementioned purposes, but I must implore, "What's the point?" in this case.
Also, just thought I would mention that this film is merely a remake of a 2002 film from Hong Kong called Internal Affairs.
1.6 F-bombs per minute is probably pretty accurate given the nature of the characters. Hell, between just me and my buddies Murdock and PA, we drop about 1.6 F-Bombs every thirty seconds on any given round of golf.
ReplyDeleteAs for it being a remake of a Hong Kong film, I wonder what's your point?