comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

Why not? The average age of the MySpace user is increasingly older - I'm 30, and most of my friends have a page. It's next-to-nothing cheap advertising, so it doesn't make sense not to have one.

Plus, Leo iz teh HoTt.

comment #2

JD says ...

It's nice to see that, among The Departed's "friends," are “iim n0t l!ke 0th@ nigg@$” and "I Love My Boyfriends Dick." Is it just me or does this MySpace promotion cross some kind of invisible credibilty line? I mean, this is an official page promoting a Martin Scorsese picture! Not very classy.

comment #3

D.Z. says ...

If Altman can work with Lohan, then I guess Marty can join the MySpace crowd.

comment #4

Chris Thilk says ...

Two words:
Leonardo
DiCaprio

comment #5

lesterg says ...

I've got to agree with JD.

While not quite as offensive as WTC's MySpace page (which, as we all remember, "l0oks pimp") it's sad seeing Marty in the company of films like "Step Up".

comment #6

MathewM says ...

It's advertising. Why don't you numbnuts understand that movies cost a lot of money to make and require X-number of butts in theater seats to turn a profit. MySpace is lame but more power to them if it helps the movie open.

comment #7

JD says ...

There's no demonstrable proof that this MySpace page is going to help the box office performance of The Departed more than it hurts it. And what exactly are you saying, MathewM? Are there no boundaries to what a studio should do to sell a movie? All marketing has negative and positive consequences. This particular marketing choice undermines the film's status as a prestige picture and brings its overall integrity down a few notches. Isn't that irresponsible marketing?

comment #8

Noel Murray says ...

Guys, *Criterion* has a MySpace page. It's not all that unusual. Anybody who'd think less of THE DEPARTED because it's being sold on MySpace is someone who was inclined to think poorly of THE DEPARTED in the first place.

comment #9

Winter Gladstone says ...

An important, prestigious film such as this, where Leonardo Di Caprio and Matt Damon deliver powerful, gritty, expository dialogue at one another, should only be seen in the safe confines of a fine art museum, where guards wear white gloves, surrounded by jars of Grey Poupon.

comment #10

MathewM says ...

Re JD:

How is advertising on MySpace going to hurt? It's free for crissakes. You act like advertising on MySpace is the same as endorsing child pornography....well you might have a point there.

Anyway if you are serious, lighten up. If you're going to cast Marky Mark in your movie then MySpace is the place to promote it. 'nuff said.

comment #11

JD says ...

In the black-and-white, art or trash, binary bubble where people like Winter Gladstone reside, there are only two options: art galleries and the likes of “iim n0t l!ke 0th@ nigg@$” and "I Love My Boyfriends Dick." Of course, in the real world, there are other options. Not every piece of entertainment is the same. This is a Scorsese film, not "Flavor of Love." And, as you may have noticed Noel, Criterion doesn't attract people like “iim n0t l!ke 0th@ nigg@$” and "I Love My Boyfriends Dick" to their MySpace page. The same issues don't apply.

comment #12

Winter Gladstone says ...

No, JD... you're mistaken... Really, I'm not like them otha niggas, and I love my boyfriend's dick, okay? So, I don't just see the world in black and white. But I find it funny that a large number of people past the age of 30 flip out like crazy people over Myspace, based on, pretty much, bullshit that they don't understand. Quite frankly, it is pure curmudgeonism (is that word?"). 106 MILLION PEOPLE ARE ON MYSPACE. I think if you are promoting a movie, a fairly prudent thing to do would be to set up a FREE ACCOUNT where there are 106 MILLION PEOPLE. And the idea that somehow this crappy-looking stale genre pic is TOO GOOD for Myspace, is absurd to me. I love Martin Scorsese as much as the next guy, but he hasn't made anything remotely vital in a long time. It happens. People get old, they become kind of irrelevant, we honor them for the work they did in the past. If he slips up and makess something relevant, hey... I'll be happy, but I'm not holding my breath. If he does, hit me up at my Myspace URL... www.myspace.com/knockindaboots.

comment #13

Daniel Fienberg says ...

You know what I find weird?

I find it weird that The Departed isn't screening in Toronto.

What's up with THAT??????

comment #14

JD says ...

Winter, I'm totally pro-MySpace and I'm in my 20s, not my 30s. But I think your falsely idealist attitude attitude toward MySpace completely misses the fact that The Departed simply doesn't fit in there and this is simply a cynical attempt to exploit the grassroots aspects of MySpace for giant, corporate, Warner Bros. greed. And I'm totally excited about the movie.

As for the argument that Scorsese hasn't made anything vital in a long time, that says more about the viewer than Scorsese. If The Aviator is so terrible, why did it get almost unanimously rave reviews? Why do so many hardcore Scorsese fanatics such as myself rank it as one of his very best films? The fact is, most people who admire Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and Raging Bull admire them because they indulge their macho fantasies, not because of their cinematic sophistication. In other words, they don't understand these movies. I say this because that cinematic sophistication is more potent in films like Casino (which is 10 times more complex and challenging than the go-down-easy conventionalism of Goodfellas), Kundun, and The Aviator than ever before, but most people are way too literal-minded to grasp this. The Aviator is a wildly complex, nuanced epic that is repeatedly mis-judged by those who have difficulty comprehending cinematic ambivalence or irony. If one more person complains about the "happy ending"...

And why do people expect The Departed to play at Toronto? The Aviator didn't play there. Gangs of New York didn't play there. Bringing Out the Dead didn't play there. Kundun didn't play there. Casino didn't play there. And they all came out in the fall. No Direction Home only played there because it was a comparably modest Scorsese film. This idea that Toronto is a place where studios unveil their forthcoming blockbusters is simply untrue. It's a screening ground for foreign language films, Canadian films, indie films, and a few modest Hollywood films. Go there some time. It's not what you think it is.

comment #15

Winter Gladstone says ...

Um, JD...

The Aviator is more cinematically sophisticated than Raging Bull? RAGING MOTHERFUCKIN' BULL?!? (Notice the indulgence in macho fantasy wording)

Sadly, this is where our fun little discussion has to end. I think we judge movies in fundamentally different ways, my friend. It would just be all Sunnis and Shias at this point.

But, hey, glad you aren't drinking the hater-ade on Myspace! It's the shiznit!

comment #16

Dan Revill says ...

I'm on myspace...I added The Departed...I should put it in my top friends next to Borat.

comment #17

JD says ...

You don't have to like The Aviator more than Raging Bull to understand that 25 additional years of filmmaking has broadened Scorsese's talent. Raging Bull is a much more showy, "look how cool this shot is" kind of movie -- and I've always appreciated it for that -- but The Aviator is working on 2 or 3 additional levels. It's a way more subtle film. I happen to think Raging Bull is a better film...made by a less sophisticated filmmaker. You might dispute that this is possible, Winter, but I think it is. Look at John Huston. He may never have made a better film than his debut (The Maltese Falcon), but his talents as a filmmaker developed a great deal over the years.