The film has a $90 million production budget, so you can't really compare it with those films except for Master and Commander.

There were a lot of obstacles to overcome for the film, but I think it has done it. The overall reviews are simply too strong (way better than Collateral, a film I was keeping a comparison eye on). It's not about the RT rating, but metacritic scores. Those 100 and 90 scores mean the film will be mentioned time and time again in the award season. And now I think it can survive with even a $60m total gross, just like M&C, another male-centered film, did when its gross didn't come close to match its $150 million budget.

The critic chart is updated, and comparison starts to take shape.

Jeffrey Wells' blog:



Check the http address, and you'll know what film he is referring to.

Yeah I guess things have been quiet about her and that film of late. I saw the preview a couple of weeks back and it didnt look like anything special.

Running with Scissors?

PEACE, Mike.

Yes. Its in the URL.

Yes, I know, I just wanted to clarify that it was referring to that film, since people in the link were guessing other films too. Thought maybe it might have referred to another film some how.

PEACE, Mike.

They were just having fun.

Not at all surprised, it really didn't look very good. And having talked to several people who've read the book, it's a LOT darker then the trailer makes it out to be. I didn't realize that the protagonist was gay, or *SPOILERS* how he's molested while he's 12-13 by one of the people in the house, who proceeds to become obsessed with him, giving him blowjobs every day*.

Yea, I heard about this earlier.... it sounds pretty dark. I was skeptical on how it would fit with the film, which is marketed as more of a comedy... I never seriously considered it for awards. I haven't and won't. That said, it still looks brilliant.

Massive update!

The Queen rolls on.

The Departed locks it's BP nomination upi!

Infamous got a bad review.

Little Children scored it's first 100.

Last King continues to roll, but Whitaker is out of the running to win, I think.

The Departed is down to 88.

OH MY GOD IT'S JUST LIKE KING KONG NOW JUST WATCH AS IT DROPS TO 80 AND DISSAPOINTS AT THE BOX OFFICE

:swing:

[url=http://nyobserver.com/20061009/20061009_Sara_Vilkomerson_culture_newsstory2.asp]NY Observer on NYFF[url]. Not much meat overall except for a few sentences:

No, It´s not

95% with 66 reviews

It's 4th bad review popped up at RT. The Departed also now has ten 100's at MC.

The Last King of Scotland received it's first 100 at MC.

Are you slightly dissapointed too? After all the Toronto buzz, I thought reviews were going to be stronger for this (I'm already cringing at something I said about it vs. The Queen a few pages back ). Yeah, Whitaker isn't going to win that Oscar, I actually think at this point Leo is the frontrunner.

O'Toole's buzz quieted. Whitaker turns out to be more of a supporting player, but a lead character, in a movie that isn't getting the raves like The Departed and the Queen. I'm still excited as Hell for it, though! I like these Syriana, Munich, The Last King of Scotland, The Constant Gardener, Hotel Rwanda, and Catch a Fire type films. I could see Leo winning. Depends what else comes up. Best Actor is wide open. O'Toole would have to be the favorite, but that begs the question, would AMPAS vote for old people for their top 2 acting prizes? (O'Toole and Mirren) It doesn't seem likely.

Yeah, as much great word has been said about Leo, it's not nearly as loud as Jamie Foxx or Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Then again I'd say that Sean Penn and Mystic River is a pretty good comparison, actually come to think of it Mystic River in general shares many of the things that The Departed has going for it. If Return of the King hadn't come out, it would have won that year. That's probably why at this point I think The Departed has a very good chance at a win, at this point I think Dreamgirls or a HUGE surprise is the only thing that could stop it as long as it doesn't bomb.

Yeah, I still reallly want to see The Last King of Scotland too. Maybe if it catches on with audiences to the tune of 20-25 million I'll feel better about it's chances, that's what really needs to happen at this point. Yeah, I think that Peter O'Toole is such an obvious "due" actor that they may actually skip him, to show that they don't just give out awards to people because they deserve them. And as crazy as I may sound, I just know that Mirren won't win for The Queen. It could score 100% on RT and it still wouldn't get past 40 million (and I think it'll need to go to 1500+ theaters to get 30 million for that matter).

Funny you should mention the brilliant Mystic River. Everytime I see somebody say The Departed isn't academy friendly, I think of all it has in common with Mystic River. (Even Boston!) There is no way this thing doesn't get a nomination, and as of now, it should be considered the frontrunner to win it all.

Whitaker is said to be excellent in Last King, so it's worth going to just to see the performance. He seems very menacing.

I added a new column to the Metacritic end of the chart.

3-star review on The Queen from James Berardinelli.

He's a really versatile actor, have you ever seen Jim Jarmusch's (directed Broken Flowers) Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai? If not, you really need to man, it'll give you an idea of just how good he can be.

Oh man, couldn't agree more. An extremely underrated film with Whitaker's best performance (well, I obviously aven't seen The Last King of Scotland). Superb superb movie. Surprisingly it is a small cult film among all my friends as well.

If DiCaprio actually ends up winning this, maybe we could really see a sweep by The Departed which would be beyond awesome.

Wins for Picture, Director, Actor, Sup. Actor, Screenplay and the technicals!

The Departed back to 95% and 8.3/10 at RT.