Saw Body of Lies the other day. Wasn’t too bad, actually, held my interest throughout.
for all the dicaprio hype, has he really made a good movie recently?
body of lies was alright, same with blood diamond
departed was really overrated, nicholson really ruined it
aviator was good
gangs of ny was a mess, catch me if you can was alright
don’t think he’s made a good movie outside of aviator in the last 10 years.
everyone talks about how good he was in the aviator…i still haven’t seen that movie. the departed is DEFINATELY overrated…
Regardless of what people actually think of it, The Departed gets so much praise in lieu of the praise that should have gone to Taxi Driver and Raging Bull (and, to a lesser extent, Goodfellas and possibly the Last Temptation of Christ).
i dunno if “to a lesser extent” could be attributed to goodfellas. with the sole exception of the godfather series, i dunno if there is a better mobster film made…
but, that’s not important, the important part is that all of us realise that the departed was simply a “you had a really good career we’ve snubbed for 25 years” award.
That’s bullshit. The Departed is a fantastic movie in its own right, and got just the praise it deserved. It’s not like Raging Bull or Taxi Driver were under the radar flicks. Yeah Martin Scorcese gets shafted a lot, but people praising The Departed is not overcompensation.
i disagree, but it’s all a matter of opinion. at no point while watching the departed did i feel that same rush i still get from watching goodfellas or taxi driver…what a movie does to me, how it affects me is my main basis for the quality of a film. when i finished watching seven samurai, i wanted to sit through it again. when i finished godfather for the first time, i was silent for about ten minutes in awe. the departed never touched me like that. in fact, i found myself saying “is that it?” after all the hype it got…
By “to a lesser extent,” I mean that it took Taxi Driver and Raging Bull a long time before people were showering them with the magnitude of praise they deserved. I think people recognized Goodfellas pretty quickly.
Which is kind of an understatement.
The Departed is fantastic, but (and this is purely personal opinion) it’s not even close to the caliber of a Taxi Driver or a Raging Bull. It’s by no means a lesser Scorcese flick, but at least some of the attention The Departed got was belated attention that people fully realized they should have given to his other undisputed classics upon their release.
gotcha…i took it as the quality of the film…
My friend and I were just talking about him a few days ago one thing we can agree on is that he’s in our top5 being one of the best actors period and for the most part chooses his roles carefully which I respect. How was departed overrated? it’s not on par with the best of it’s genre like heat or la confidential but it’s still one of the best films of recent years and nicholson was perfect in that role he showed a lot of maturity toning himself down how did he “ruin it”? To each his own but if you think blood and especially catch were just alright you don’t have a good grasp of what makes a good actor since you seem to equate the quality of leo’s acting with your personal enjoyment of the film itself. Aviator is the only film he’s made in the past decade:confused: I think you meant aviator was the only good film he’s acted in in the past decade and that’s just pure bullshit.
Anyone see the assassination of jesse james? He didn’t quite pull it off but I definitely noticed brad pitt made a tremendous effort to really bring his A game and show he can do a serious role. If anyone recalls he declined to appear on inside the actors studio because at the time he felt he didn’t have “a sufficient body of work” and although I personally disagree with that I respected him a lot for declining. Look at his first decade; thelma n louise, a river runs through it, true romance, se7en, twelve monkeys, n fightclub and now compare that to his work in the past 10 years you see the difference? He’s really great maybe even the very best at playing extremes but that isn’t a true indicator of a quality actor it takes subtlety and serious roles that require restraint to showcase an actors true worth. With the assassination and his upcoming films the curious case of benjamin button and inglorius bastards it really looks like pitt is maturing into his roles and living up to his own expectations on what it takes to be on john liptons show.
true romance…still pitt’s best role
in response to orochi - yeah brad is ok, but compare him to what viggo has done recently. viggo has impressed me far more than brad has lately. i’m a fan of older brad like seven and twelve monkeys. however, i don’t know how much of that was his raw ability and how much was the directors.
i can’t really talk about leo because i’m not a fan. maybe it’s some bias, but i just don’t like him or his acting much. he’s decent, better than the pure hollywood guys, but nothing that compells me to see his movies.
edit: floyd is easily my fave pitt character…
i thought goodfellows was good but not THAT good…
leo was tight in gangs of new york i dont know why you think that was a mess…he was also good in blood diamond but the movie itself was ok…and i thought he was actually really good in body of lies thats the best i seen him in a while…he was tight in the beach but i dont know if that came out within the past 10 years…
im outi
Roberth
Gangs of New York was good, but it was hurt by a few things. For me, the biggest problems were that it wasn’t tightly scripted, and it just doesn’t get under my skin in the way that Taxi Driver and Raging Bull do. You can tell the difference between movies in which Scorcese knows the main character and the ones in which Scorcese (pardon the cheesy expression) IS the main character in some sense.
ok, so i actually finally have an idea for a story i really want to turn into a script. any suggestions on resources? are any of the script writing programs any good, or should i stick with word? any suggestions would be great.
final draft is expensive but it is the industry standard.
if you just want to fool around/try your hand then word is aight…but if you ever give it to someone in the biz they will probably not read it due to that
that’s exactly what i was looking for, what people in the industry use. i’m new to this whole script writing thing, is there any scripts in particular i should sit down and examine as a jump-off point? i’m mostly interested in writing for television, but i’d write for any media i could.
edit: also, how does a new writer go about getting someone to see his script? i figure it’s a lot of who you know and luck, but what about the people who don’t have either of those?
I would go to the bookstore or library and read a bunch of scripts in book form that they have in the film/tv section just to get a feel of what they are like. Read a couple scripts of movies you have seen, then read a bunch more of stuff you havent seen. Internet is usually a good place for finding scripts you can read as well.
Take note of how they use description and set up scenes. Everyone is different obviously but in script form (as opposed to novel) the general rule is less is more - only describe on the page what will actually be seen.
This is the million dollar question. The first step is definitely to get people you trust to read your stuff, people who will give you feedback, constructive criticism etc.
When you feel like you want to get it into professional hands there are a variety of avenues. One is to try and find an independent producer to read your stuff. They will then be able to take it around to financiers, agents, etc and get you more expsosure. You could also find someone you know who wants to direct and try to make the movie (this doesnt work with tv) or put together financing. Or you could always try to submit directly to an agent or manager. Manager is usually an easier bet than agent (or agent’s assistant) because managers can also wear the producer hat so they have more invested.
awesome, thx for the info. i figure there are about 5 million scripts submitted a day in hollywood, so i don’t hold out a huge hope of selling anything, but i’d like to try.
when i bought chucky 20th anniversary they had a contest to pitch your movie to UA contest, but it expires 10/31 so get writing
i hate dimension/weinstein
delayed fanboys another 3 months again
delayed The Road with Viggo from 11/14 to “2009”