crewless news and notes

Stacey and I caught the The Departed yesterday. Holy shit, what a great movie. The story, about cops and criminals in Boston, is interesting enough, but the things that make it a movie–the acting, sound, music, editing, cinematography–are fantastic. Director Martin Scorsese took a talented cast and crew out to the ballpark, and they hit about two and a half hours worth of home runs.

Since The Departed is the best movie of the year, probably the best movie of the last few years, all the critics love it. Except the ones who don’t. Browsing the ‘net, I’ve noticed complaints. I’ll now list and debunk a few.

“It’s not really about anything.” It’s about cops and criminals in Boston.

“The characters are one-dimensional.” These lucky critics have somehow never seen a movie with truly one-dimensional characters. The characters in The Departed have plenty of dimensions.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” I can’t believe someone who couldn’t understand The Departed could muster enough brain cells to type that sentence. The movie’s plot is twisty, but clear.

“It’s violence for the sake of violence.” I don’t even know what this means. It’s not like there are random insert shots of a slaughterhouse or something. The movie is violent, and the violence always has some effect on the story.

“Actor Jack Nicholson is over-the-top.” What else is new? Fortunately, it’s an over-the-top character, so Nicholson’s acting is just right.

Most of these complaints were compiled by Jim Emerson for his blog. Emerson wasn’t too impressed with The Departed, either, but I’m starting to think Emerson is one of those art-house idiots who can’t appreciate a great movie unless it’s got some subtext or addresses an important “issue” or some shit like that. I like a little subtext myself, but what I really like is a film that kicks me in the ass, and that’s what The Departed does.

I’m mentioning this for two reasons. One, you should go see The Departed in a movie theater. Like right now. Unless you’re one of those art-house idiots or are afraid of movie blood. Two, when I see a really great piece of filmmaking getting pissed on by critics, I don’t feel so bad about those negative Hide and Creep reviews. I mean, if a genius like Scorsese can’t catch a break, what should a non-genius like me expect?