As much as I love Little Miss Sunshine, I'm hoping The Departed walks away with Best Picture. It's one of those rare movies that gets better every time I think about it.

Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed, it's a win win situation. Either way for me it's my favorite winner since Gladiator.

I'm probably leaning towards cheering for Departed though, just because of the Scorsese factor, as well as the fact that I think if this year is looked back upon decades in the future, The Departed would be a more memorable and 'epic' choice. It and Gladiator and ROTK would be the most memorable and definitive BP winners of this decade.

Funny enough though if I had to guess which movie had the edge, I'd say LMS does at this point... guilds are too strong.

Fucking BRILLIANT.

A

... pretty much loved it.

Not sure as to why Wahlberg got a nomination, though... (?) Eh.

Hideously Bland without any characters of interest. The major difference between this and Goodfellas/Casino is that in those movies Scorcese added weight and a slightly unbeleivable air of presense to every character all the while coupling it with a seemlessly flowing story structure. The Departed is just a boring story about boring people none of whom I could invest any attachment to. Quality flares up in parts but on a whole its just another step on the downward spiral of quality in Scorcese movies.

C

Bland and boring....?

Alec Baldwin was hilarious in some scenes, the main 4 acting wise was amazing, Vera also had some good stuff. What was boring?

I think we saw the same movie.

Watched it a second time, the only thing that didn't hold up as well was the ending, for which I finally have switched to the side of 'It was a bit excessive'. I think I would've preferred it if Damon gets his death due, while Leo disappears, leaving Boston. Wahlberg's performance was a little less stunning this time, Jack's was much more impressive, he really was robbed of a nomination, I would've gaven the Oscar to him actually... I didn't realize before how astounding he is in here.

I think it'll remain at about the #5 spot on my 06 list, barring Letters or Pan's Labryinth knocks it down a notch.

My favorite movie of the year winning Best Picture. Doesn't happen too often.

Congratulations!

Nicholson was being Nicholson though and he practically phoned his lines in which is probably why he didn't get nominated.. Wahlberg stole the movie and it ruled..

I'd have awarded Nicholson Best Sup. Actor.

Bland and boring? Ok then. I guess Schindler's List was a happy romp in the park. I guess FOTR was a boring period piece. I guess Rocky was a film that lacked character developement. Please, spare me with your hilarious assessment of the film.

Me too.

Easily, in fact.

I'll assume thats directed towards me.

Personally all the characters just reminded me of the people i used to be involved with in a less then savory part of my life 3 years ago, simple yet vicious creatures with nothing of interest to their characters. I don't find thugs and jobbers very entertaining never have never will and since I came pretty close to becoming one of them before cleaning myself up I found the character motivations to be completely listless and primal nothing more then that.

In film they must be invested with something extra, something larger then life to strike a cord, I didn't need to watch a movie and think yup i recognize that person, i knew that type a while ago.

The actings are all-around terrific, especially Jack. The lines are vintage Scorsese. However, how the story unfolded isn't as engaging as Infernal Affairs. It could be because I already knew the basic plot and was doing a lot of comparisons instead of getting taken in by the wonderful idea behind the script. The uniqueness is gone. I feel no sequence came close to the intensity that the opening cat-and-mouse chase scene in Infernal Affairs achieved. Similarly, didn't feel the same intensity with the segment where two guys almost found out about each other. In addition, thought it took a little too long to get into the meat of the story. Didn't quite like the idea of combining two female characters into one either, although it was handled reasonably well. And making that one change to the ending isn't necessary. Overall, I'd probably enjoy it more if I had seen this first. B-.

I loved IA, but I thought The Departed was an improvement in almost all aspects and that TAHNKS to the longer running time which developed the characters much better.

The first 30-40 minutes were just plain boring and uninteresting (maybe because i was extremely tired, dont know) but half way through the movie it picked up and it was fantastic! Great performances all around.

A-

Both movies were great but I think Infernal Affairs was a bit better. It came across as a better action movie.

fuckin masterpiece

A.

Strangely it didn't improve for me on the 2nd viewing, but on the 3rd. It truly is exhilarating. Leo and Jack also give the 2 best performances of 06, male or female.

My only issue from calling it an all out masterpiece is still the ending. The characters dieing is fitting with the title and with reasoning(Leo=Had documents and tapes to put others in jail, Damon=karma), but I didn't like the loud in your face way Scorsese did it, with the heads and all. Could've been more tasteful.

The Departed was not a tasteful film, nor was it a film that hid it's violent, bombastic streak. I think the scorched earth ending was what the film had been building up to the whole time, and having Damon get shot off screen would have really lessened the effect.

Exactly. Seeing his character getting dispatched offscreen or in a lesser tone wouldn't have been good at all, because his character, even moreso than Nicholson's deserved a violent death. The other two before it with Leo and Sheen was just for shock value and Scorsese pulled that off brilliantly. I remember listening to the loud gasps in my theater when Leo was shot in the head. The film is aggressively violent, but it has to be.

My favorite part of seeing it in theaters was to hear the audible gasps from everyone when DiCaprio gets capped.

Oh yea, I remember the gasps from everyone. People gasped when Damon was killed too even though it wasn't surprising.

I guess I should've rephrased, it was mostly the elevator scene section of the ending that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. It was shock factor, I think I could've handled it better if the 3 straight bullets through heads didn't seem excessive. I think that with the way Scorsese created his film cinematically perfect, he could've done the character more justice than that.