It's been a rough week, this time. Last week I had a class that really didn't go the way it was supposed to, though at present I'm not allowed to say anything more than that much as I'd like to tell you everything. There hasn't been a lot of movie-watching, and I've been struggling to find material to write about (the post I made earlier this week was something that had been in my draft folder for a while). Still, I have been able to watch a few things so I guess I can tell you about those.
I saw Kathryn Bigelow's The Weight of Water. It's one I would probably rank alongside Strange Days as a beautifully crafted piece that I'm not sure I fully understood. It started to make more sense near the end but a lot of it was still very strange and puzzling. I also saw Corner Gas: The Movie, which was pretty hilarious. It's not exactly the most diverse range of movie options, I know, but it's something. I had been wondering about doing Kathryn Bigelow's The Loveless for my Origin of an Auteur Blogathon, but I'll have to see if I can find it before I make a final decision.
I did make an attempt to watch the remake of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 after I found it on Netflix, but that didn't go over very well. From the small portion I saw it had almost no resemblance to the Carpenter film, and in most respects it just was not a very well executed film at all. It's not one I would recommend and it's a waste of time. Just watch the original, it's much simpler and far more interesting in most respects. That version from the 1970's even included a strong black protagonist and a secretary who practically has to become a cop by the end.
I also made another attempt to watch The Departed, only to get anxious and turn it off about 18 minutes in. I'm still not sure I understand what it is everyone sees in that movie, since that experience did very little to help improve my opinion on it. If anything, it gave me one more thing to criticize: everyone's horrible Boston accents. None of them were particularly convincing and obviously fake. To be honest, the bad accents were also really irritating, which is probably a bad sign considering we were expected to follow these characters throughout the rest of the movie. Though that small segment made slightly more sense this time, I still stand by everything I've said about this movie before.
The strange thing is that since then I've felt this overwhelming hostility towards The Departed, and I keep feeling this drive to find other better cop movies. I've actually made a few lists already as a way of venting frustrations though I've made a point of not advertising them to avoid offending people who actually liked it. In case you're actually curious to see what I've come up with, here is the list I posted on letterbox but for extreme fans of The Departed it might not be easy to stomach. I even made a top ten list of films. If anyone is curious, here is what I came up with for the top ten cop films that are better than The Departed:
10. Hot Pursuit
9. The Gauntlet
8. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
7. Die Hard
6. The Heat
5. Hot Fuzz
4. S.W.A.T.
3. Fargo
2. Blue Steel
1. End of Watch
(you may now begin posting your angry rants in the comments)
This week's episode of Killjoys was certainly an interesting one. Our heroes encountered a derelict spaceship and attempted to salvage it. They boarded only to quickly realize something horrible has happened, something that became especially clear with all the bodies that were found and the one survivor that wasn't quite in his right mind. Turns out the ship was conducting medical research before it was destroyed by a solar flare that caused the computer to turn what would have been a great medicinal breakthrough into a torture weapon, forcing the crew into endless interrogations. The only thing that didn't seem to make much sense was when Dutch got abducted by the aforementioned survivor and locked in a torture chamber even though based on previous episodes she should have been able to easily overpower him. Still, she at least got herself out of that mess and ended up saving the day so I won't complain.
Stuff From Other Bloggers
- Jack Smith reviews Nightcrawler, though he is wrong about everything.
- Terrence Towles Canote has an entire rant about Twitter's Death Wish
I'm not angry, man. You and I have had conversations about your trouble with some Scorsese movies before. But I hardly think the Boston accents are bad. Over-the-top maybe, but that's just something else I find fun about it. Don't forget. Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg are both Boston born and raised. Anyway, good post. I don't understand why The Departed makes you anxious, but, anyway... And Fargo is definitely better than The Departed. I won't argue that.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what it is that The Departed is doing to you, but to each his own. Personally, I think it's a great movie and that none of those on your list are better, except Fargo and possibly End of Watch. Full disclosure, I haven't seen The Gauntlet. Not even sure I've heard of it. and
ReplyDeleteAnd what? I think you might have cut yourself off there.
DeleteAnyway, The Gauntlet is basically the same plot as Hot Pursuit except without the homoerotic undertones. If you've seen the latter you should know what to expect from the former, but it's still a fairly enjoyable movie.
I was done - "and" is just a massive typo. Not sure how that got past me.
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