Comments on: Movie: The Departed http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/2006/10/15/movie-the-departed/ A journal from John B. Roberts Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:03:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: John Roberts http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/2006/10/15/movie-the-departed/comment-page-1/#comment-4592 John Roberts Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:34:06 +0000 http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/2006/10/15/movie-the-departed/#comment-4592 You always round down = conservative, but probably the right call in the long run. You always round down = conservative, but probably the right call in the long run.

]]> By: Narendra http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/2006/10/15/movie-the-departed/comment-page-1/#comment-4565 Narendra Mon, 16 Oct 2006 03:39:02 +0000 http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/2006/10/15/movie-the-departed/#comment-4565 I was getting ready to review The Departed as well and it got me thinking about what methodology I would use to review anything. After a bunch of thought, I have settled on 4 stars (4 = classic and requires several viewings, 3 = good to great movie, always entertaining, 2 = entertainment or why we go to the movies and even a bad movie might have some redeeming value like absurdity, 1 = just not worth anyone's time). The Departed poses a bit of a problem for me because I have rarely differed in opinion with a movie that is very high on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes and in this case, I had some issues. Although I was pretty much captivated the entire time, I thought that a bunch of the violence took away from some fabulous acting. For a movie that is based on a film out of Hong Kong, I thought the treatment of the Chinese gang was oddly stereotypical, and finally, the sequence at the end sort of just ruined it for me. I didn't need a Hollywood ending, I just thought the writers copped out (no pun intended) and it left me flat. So this should have been a definite 3 stars but it hasn't sat well and part of my scoring is that if a movie sits between any two levels, I need to round down. Result: 2 stars with some great acting. I will undoubtedly cut and paste this for my own blog! I was getting ready to review The Departed as well and it got me thinking about what methodology I would use to review anything. After a bunch of thought, I have settled on 4 stars (4 = classic and requires several viewings, 3 = good to great movie, always entertaining, 2 = entertainment or why we go to the movies and even a bad movie might have some redeeming value like absurdity, 1 = just not worth anyone’s time).

The Departed poses a bit of a problem for me because I have rarely differed in opinion with a movie that is very high on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes and in this case, I had some issues. Although I was pretty much captivated the entire time, I thought that a bunch of the violence took away from some fabulous acting. For a movie that is based on a film out of Hong Kong, I thought the treatment of the Chinese gang was oddly stereotypical, and finally, the sequence at the end sort of just ruined it for me. I didn’t need a Hollywood ending, I just thought the writers copped out (no pun intended) and it left me flat.

So this should have been a definite 3 stars but it hasn’t sat well and part of my scoring is that if a movie sits between any two levels, I need to round down. Result: 2 stars with some great acting.

I will undoubtedly cut and paste this for my own blog!

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