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Author Topic: Departed, The (2006) Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-20-2006 03:16 PM                     Last night, I watched The Departed again at the Carmike 8 in Lawton, to check out the show in its digital cinema version. I had seen the movie previously in 35mm DTS at the same theater before its conversion to Christie/AIX D-Cinema systems. In doing some searching after noticing some soft details in the 35mm version, I found The Departed was indeed a 2K digital intermediate treated film. The movie was originally shot in spherical Super35, which isn't as sharp in native resolution as anamorphic 'scope. The 35mm release prints were getting no more actual detail than their D-Cinema counterparts. I think an anamorphic photographed 35mm movie not put through a 2K DI would have considerably more detail in its release prints. Did anyone else notice some of the blood splatter effects looking a little CGI-ish? Certain characters getting shot in the head or chest had blood spouting out in a somewhat cartoonish way. It would be pretty difficult to handle that effect using a "practical" technique. There isn't any of that more realistic looking "red mist." The practical behind-the-head exit wound splatter still works though. Sorry to sound morbid. But then this is a Scorsese mob flick. I just found the cartoony stuff a bit distracting, almost Monty Python-esque. How did the D-cinema version look? Pretty good. The video stream was JPEG2000 at 2048 X 858 pixels. I didn't think it looked any sharper than the 35mm version. However, the digital projected version had an absolutely steady image. The film version wasn't jumping all over the place, but a little side weave and other slight movement was present. A high quality, well maintained film projector showing a print with no damange can achieve much of the same thing, but you don't get that in most multiplex environments. The digital version seemed more evenly bright across the frame. On the downside, I had this wierd feeling that I was watching something more like a DVD. Granted, this show is running around 25 times the bitrate of a DVD. One think I really liked: no CAP code chicken pox. My understanding is these digital cinema systems use some sort of nearly invisible watermarking much different from CRAP code. The LPCM 5.1 audio was also a noticeable improvement above DTS. However, I think the better capability of this audio track did more to expose flaws in the original dialog recordings. When Dignam (Mark Whalberg) and Queenan (Martin Sheen) first interview Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) there is a slightly fuzzy, sibilant quality to their voices. Some of the other dialog didn't sound like it was recorded too well either, compared to other elements of the audio track. In another scene, which may be an error in how this LPCM 5.1 track was encoded, Alec Baldwin is talking to a bunch of agents conducting surveillance over a meeting of bad guys near the docks. His speech echoed kind of wierdly in the surrounds. I don't remember hearing that in the DTS track. Overall, The Departed has a surprisingly subdued mix. The movie trailers preceeding the feature were a bit louder and more dynamic (but not shrill like those horribly overdriven optical tracks on many 35mm movie trailers). A pretty cool Christie Projection trailer played before the movie. It's not as blood pumping as the best THX and Dolby Digital snipes, but still cool to watch. I don't think the Carmike theater has any of those Texas Instruments DLP snipes yet (although they do play on the small LCD TV screens at the concessions counter).  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 11-25-2006 10:02 AM                     Definately a must watch in the theatre. I'm thinking of seeing it again either tonight or tomorrow. I agree with most of people about this film. Scorcese is an amazing director and this film didn't fail to please.  |  IP: Logged Kyle Anderson Film Handler Posts: 86 From: Tyler, TX, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 11-26-2006 12:13 AM                     We picked up the DLP trailer a couple weeks back; people like it, and so do I! (especially with >9kW sound behind it)  |  IP: Logged Christian Appelt Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 505 From: Frankfurt, Germany Registered: Dec 2001 posted 02-05-2007 08:47 AM                     ***************************************************************** AUTHOR FAILED TO DENOTE SPOILERS AHEAD IN HIS REVIEW ***************************************************************** THEATRE: CineStar Metropolis #1, Frankfurt, Germany DATE: Feb. 4, 7:30 PM PRESENTATION: trailers and pre-show ads out of framing and with some dirt. Main feature in perfect condition, framing, sound & focus OK. Screen image slightly shifted to the right creating a black shadow on the left and image on the masking on the right. Washed-out contrast, not sure whether this was on account of the inferior print or a problem with the anamorphic lens. An entertaining movie, well-acted and with a surprise ending. The audience was very quiet and concentrated, some were really shocked when DiCaprio was killed. Not because he was, but because it happened almost casual, one killing of many before and after it. They hired Nicholson to play what he plays best, so I guess it would be unfair to blame him for a predictable performance. You don't criticize John Wayne for playing his usual character because that's what made him a star. Might have been interesting to have had another less typecast actor in the role. Not a Scorsese classic, but a solid piece of filmmaking, except for the uninspired style of cinematography. It has been argued that this style underlines the realism of the story, but since Scorsese always ends up doing opera-like movies on a big canvas, I do not think more dramatic photography would have hurt. Oh, and of course the movie was f***ed up by the usual inferior dupe/release printing for the German market, every long shot lacked detail, even the closeups looked soft. Super-35 plus DI plus shitty printing - but hey, since the run a trailer campaign around here with the tag line CINEMA - THE PLACE FOR WHICH MOVIES ARE MADE (in German: Kino - dafür werden Filme gemacht), so the major distributors can keep turning out grainy, out-of-focus, unsteady mass prints. ( [ 02-05-2007, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-05-2007 09:47 AM                     quote: Christian Appelt some were really shocked when... How do you say **SPOILERS AHEAD** in German? [ 02-05-2007, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]  |  IP: Logged Robin Dorking Film Handler Posts: 10 From: Westcliff on sea , Essex, UK Registered: May 2000 posted 02-06-2007 11:13 AM                     I don't know why everybody raves about this film. It's not an original idea. The film that it was based on is 1000% better! Since Goodfellas, Scorsese has gone down hill in my opinion. Just think of Gangs of New York  |  IP: Logged Christian Appelt Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 505 From: Frankfurt, Germany Registered: Dec 2001 posted 02-06-2007 02:07 PM                     quote: John Wilson How do you say **SPOILERS AHEAD** in German? Thanks for editing my message!  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 02-06-2007 09:26 PM                        I really didn't like Matt in this one... Leo is growing on me, I enjoyed his performance but I wish there was a better ending. Slow pacing but oh well still a decent movie overall. out of 5  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-07-2007 12:29 PM                     Jen, if you want a better ending, check out INFERNAL AFFAIRS.  |  IP: Logged Edwin Sheldon Film Handler Posts: 95 From: Mobile, AL, USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 02-08-2007 01:23 PM                     Infernal Affairs' ending was indeed much better than The Departed's.  |  IP: Logged Gerard S. Cohen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 975 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 02-09-2007 04:51 PM                     What I liked most in this film was the glorious rendition of the aria "Chi mi frena en tal momento" (What restrains me in this moment) which Edgardo sings in the sextet from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammamoor." [Scorsese's use was not the first--Paul muni whistled it in Howard Hawks' "Scarface.] This aria, heard also on the cellphome which connects the double agents, applies to many taught moments of action where the characters face death. While we don't hear the lyrics, they include: Chi mi frena, in tal momento? Chi tronco del ire il corso Il suo duolo, il suospavento Son la prova d'un rimorso!... Ma qual rosa inaridita Ella sta fra morte e vita! Io son vinto...son cammosso T'amo, ingrata, t'amo ancor! But the passion and the mob this time are not of the Italian Mafia, but the Boston Irish gang. And the emotion is not so much jealousy over a woman as a drive for power, control, and "rep." Though I recognize the tight action, skillful editing and dramatic acting, I did not like this film. I am not a fan of counter-spy plots of double agents, nor of barroom violence and shoot-em-up gunplay. So I didn't care much for the back-and-forth good-guys/bad guys search for the mole, though I noted the "cute" presence of the rat scampering across the bottom of the credits at the film's end. At the Cinemart in Forest Hills. No pre-feature adverts. or trailers (Thankfully.) Two or more reels had a fixed vertical emulsion scratch a bit left of center, and the surround was heard from only one speaker, rear right.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-04-2007 04:08 AM                        I just watched this movie on the spectacular DVD format which is way better than 35mm film and that has been scientifically proven by Stephen Hawking and Bill Cosby. The only way this movie could look better is if it were shot on DVD in the first place instead of wimpy film. Maybe on The Departed 2: The Returned (soon in production starring Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch). Anyway you're probably wondering what I thought of this move, right? I 100% guarantee that you are, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. Well it was entertaining, but it's not something that lends itself to multiple viewings. In fact I don't think I'll ever have any desire to watch it again. All of the cell phones in the movie pissed me off. I felt like I was watching a commercial about how cell phones make the world work. Alec Baldwin also pissed me off. I was not warned that he was in this. What a piece of shit actor he is. How dare he. That old guy from that lame president show was also in here, not sure why. Matt Damon didn't have to act too much. You know that scene where he "couldn't get it up"? Well many of my spies tell me that happens all the time to the real Matt Damon. So that scene was just natural for him. No wonder he didn't win an Oscar. The story wasn't tremendously interesting and I got sick of hearing song after song after song... especially during the beginning. And why use the shitty Van Morrison version of "Comfortably Numb"? It was wretched. No wonder Van Morrison didn't win the Oscar for best song. Best movie of the year? Possibly, but that really isn't saying much.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-04-2007 04:43 AM                        I think it is a pretty mediocre film. Just celebrated a little because of all the famous actors and the once fabulous, but long spent, but still famous director, and because there haven't been really all that many (if any) really interesting and remarkable movies recently, so they just needed something that they could somehow celebrate as a "masterpiece". I am really tired of watching pampered Hollywood stars play "tough guys" from the "mean streets". There wasn't really much acting in that film, actually, more a lot of parading around. Good thing it didn't have De Niro and/or Pacino in it. Then I would have puked. Scorsese was once a director of revolutionary vision and style who created some real classics of American cinema by fusing nouvelle vague elements with contemporary and socially relevant themes, and a few other still very good and entertaining movies, but now he seems tired and empty, even a parody of himself in some elements (such as the use of Italian opera, once a highly original and stylish idea in "Raging Bull", now just lame). A shame.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-04-2007 05:04 AM                     I have to agree with Micheal. I honestly don't see what all the fuss was about. I personally though The Prestige, just as an example, was one of many better movies this year, both from a technical standpoint and from an audience enjoyment standpoint.  |  IP: Logged Rob Ferreira Film Handler Posts: 25 From: Conway, NH, USA Registered: Oct 2005 posted 03-04-2007 06:48 PM                        The Departed was the best movie of 2006, without a doubt - which could be why the Academy gave it the best picture Oscar. Everything about this movie (except for a few very noticeable continuity gaffes) was great - the script, acting, and cinematography was excellent. Despite several what several of you detractors believe, I think that having this big of "name" cast helped the movie along. Although I have never been a fan of Alec Baldwin, I think his part in this movie was great. Mark Wahlberg is my favorite actor, because almost every movie he has every made is just that great. (Aside from the unspeakable Planet of the Apes remake.) DiCaprio is one of the best actors of this generation, and he proves once again why he is a (now) three-time Oscar nominee. The ending was perfect, and I don't see for one second how people found the film hard to follow. For those who didn't like it, I suggest giving it another look on DVD now that it's available. ***** out of *****  |  IP: Logged

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