comment #1

Mr. Kockum says ...

Cronenberg is to splatter what Pollock is to painting.

comment #2

berg says ...

the truth is there has never been a fight to the death scene like the one at the end of Eastern Promises

comment #3

Mike Ock says ...

Thanks for spoiling the ending, dick.

comment #4

D.Z. says ...

But can Eastern Promises succeed at being even more slow and boring than The Departed?

comment #5

Ortega says ...

"But can Eastern Promises succeed at being even more slow and boring than The Departed?"

Since when is The Departed boring? Say what you will about it, you can't deny it is damn entertaining. Some people are never satisfied...

comment #6

actionman says ...

fuckin 'A

comment #7

MickTravis says ...

I thought "The Departed" was, in fact, kind of on the dull side. And it felt cheesier on a second viewing. Too long, except for Wahlberg's scenes, and way too much cell phoning and text messaging.

I mean, c'mon, texting in your pocket?

comment #8

storymark says ...

"I mean, c'mon, texting in your pocket?"

Maybe you missed it, but there's an entire generation for whom that is the primary means of communication - and yeah, they text in their pocket a lot.

comment #9

hatchetface says ...

I can't wait to see Eastern Promises. A new Cronenberg is always reason to celebrate, and the trailer looks awesome.

comment #10

insider77 says ...

Probably some people feel bad about the Cronenberg film violence because it's not cartoonish like The Departed. Which, by the way, it's a pretty fun film. But not more fun that Training Day or the Bourne saga.

comment #11

MickTravis says ...

I didn't miss it at all, storymark. But that doesn't necessarily mean it makes for compelling viewing.

"and yeah, they text in their pocket a lot."

How do you know they're texting?

comment #12

vansmith says ...

right, how do you know they're texting, they could be stroking. eastern promise will be good but maybe DVD good... departed was movie theater good, there is a difference...

comment #13

christian says ...

"Maybe you missed it, but there's an entire generation for whom that is the primary means of communication - and yeah, they text in their pocket a lot."

oh good - let's make movies for them as they're so receptive in the theater while they're texting. it got ridiculous in THE DEPARTED towards the end -- lots of close-ups of endless messages etc. even bond replaced his gun with two cell phones. cool. sign up now.

and cronenberg's viseceral violence is beyond scorcese's shock moments. it always resonates.

comment #14

christian says ...

"viseceral" being code for "visceral."

comment #15

Rod32303 says ...

I'd say the violence in "Taxi Driver" and at the end of "Casino" is pretty fucking visceral.

And it's not a CONTEST - both filmmakers are excellent, as both movies allowed to be, too.

comment #16

Rod32303 says ...

...and, if you have a problem with the texting at the end of The Departed, then I'd say you have a problem with Monahan's script, not Scorsese's direction.

comment #17

MilkMan says ...

I never would have though that Cronenberg would evolve the way he has. When A History of Violence came out, I remember reading some reviews where the movie was referred to as "Minor Cronenberg," but it seems to me that his obsession with the body and the many ways we lose control of our bodies, is only getting more and more refined. A History of Violence was as much about the body as Rabid or The Brood or The Fly, but Cronenberg is smart enough to understand that he doesn't need to show the metamorphosis in the same way he used to, the control over one's body is more metaphysical. A History of Violence is, to me at least, one of the best movies on identity and performance ever made. I'm not quite sure what Eastern Promises is about, but it looks like Cronenberg is about to attempt something a little more sociological and less personal, which is fine with me. I will gladly pay ten dollars to see anything he makes. He's not quite as legendary as Ivan Reitman, and he has a long way to go before he masters the art of satire like Jason Reitman, but maybe, just maybe, one day he'll be as good as those two, not to mention Jake Kasdan and Jake Paltrow. But then again, I'm just jealous. My dad worked at Sav-On most of his life.

comment #18

christian says ...

i thought THE DEPARTED was terribly overrated. a bland script and film (all wahlberg's character does is yell in every scene and he gets an oscar nod?). of course, i kept texting people during it so i might have missed the cool bloody shit.

yes, scorcese can be a visceral master. but it's not his focus and for some reason, cronenberg's violence is always bizare and uncomfortable.

comment #19

christian says ...

and i felt the same way about the texting bit in DEATH PROOF; it felt like i had paid money to watch a long scene of a girl texting her boyfriend -- with the same emotional response from me. i could have seen that walking through the grove for free. anyway.

comment #20

MickTravis says ...

I didn't like all the texting in Departed, but I don't have "no texting" rule. If it works, it's fine. And I actually thought it worked just fine in Death-Proof.

What was it, two messages? And Tarantino arranged one of them in a very old DePalma style that let you glimpse beneath the hard, annoying, vinegar-like shell of Poitier's character.

Plus, she wrote "your" for "you are" which gave me another reason to want her to get slammed by Stuntman Mike.

comment #21

bents75 says ...

Well as a member of that generation allow me to add my two cents.

It may not make for compelling viewing to you, but to us it works just as well as watching someone speaking on the phone, and is more realistic.

I see someone in a film making nothing but calls on their cell phone and I wonder why the hell they aren't texting instead.

It's the 21st century. If you actually read what they're texting you might notice something relevant.

And Death Proof? Long Scene? What was that, 3 minutes where she is doing that?

No one has brought up the instant gratification of getting a message across without wasting time actually talking to someone - and yet sitting through one scene in which its being done is difficult?

Who has the ADD now?

comment #22

jeffmcm says ...

DZ: Shut the fuck up, Donnie.

comment #23

christian says ...

"No one has brought up the instant gratification of getting a message across without wasting time actually talking to someone - and yet sitting through one scene in which its being done is difficult?

Who has the ADD now?"

since i don't get gratified by texting and don't consider it a waste of time talking to people, the ADD is all yours. and if texting works in a scene, fine. it didn't in the films i mentioned. xoxo

comment #24

bents75 says ...

I still don't. I didn't say I was unwilling or unable to talk on the phone. That's not an issue of attention, its an issue of if I have something to get across to someone and I don't have time to call them (i.e. I have other things to do) - I send a text and I'm done. And being a normal communicative part of the 21st century, they send a message back and we just conveyed in less than a minute's time what you're still babbling on about.

Not much different then what you're doing now by posting something on this thing called the internet as opposed to writing a letter into some collumn in a magazine only for you to get my reply to it two months later.

comment #25

christian says ...

it's much different as i don't know you personally nor others here. and if you were my real life friend, i'd talk not text. that's just how i roll. i believe these devices make us more insulated and stunt communication. and they fuck up theater movie going today as we can all attest.

comment #26

storymark says ...

"it's much different as i don't know you personally nor others here. and if you were my real life friend, i'd talk not text. that's just how i roll. i believe these devices make us more insulated and stunt communication. and they fuck up theater movie going today as we can all attest."

Totally agree, christian. I hate texting. Once in a while, for a quick message, I can understand. But typing an entire conversation, rather than just talking, is just pointless. That, and I can't stand that kids think it's okay for formal writing to be done with the same short-hand they use for texting.

And how can I tell they're texting? Well, unless they're getting off by touching their outer thigh, I'm pretty sure.

comment #27

lazarus says ...

It worked in The Departed for me because it made sense. Sullivan can't inform Costello vocally most of the time because he's sleeping with the enemy, and the same goes for Costigan and Sheen's character. It's not like they were typing out long messages to each other.

I also don't find it a stretch that Sullivan would be able to hone his pocket-texting skills, especially if he's using the easier character code, considering of the rest of the derring-do he's capable of.

And while we're on the topic of cell phones, the scene where Sullivan calls Costigan and we see the shot of the phone vibrating on the table is one of the most suspenseful of last year. Marty is still the man.

comment #28

austin111 says ...

Amen, Lazarus. Caught The Departed the other night on cable--yet again. It's still a damn fine movie and it only gets better as it goes along. The last 30 minutes or so had an operatic zing. You even hear the opera music when Sullivan is calling Costigan. Perfect set-up for the final denouement, if you ask me. And with all the X's strategically placed, it's evident who's been marked for the big sleep. I don't think Scorsese ever thought this would be the one, though. Not for a minute. But it's a helluva lot better than most of those flicks that have come from cartoon novels. History of Violence was also a fine film. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece either but it's certainly got some great stuff going for it.

comment #29

Goulet says ...

Eastern Promises is fucking awesome, man.

Violent? Um, yeah! I'm a jaded mofo, but the bathhouse fight seriously made me flinch.

comment #30

le corbeau says ...

When an actor figures out a way to be compelling and interesting in text messaging the way, say, Peter Sellers is on a phone in Dr. Strangelove, then we can talk about text messaging in movies.

For now, it's a convenient plot device in thrillers, nothing more.

comment #31

christian says ...

on that we agree, mgmax.

and the fact that companies pay to put their devices in films might have sumthin' to do with the incessant close-ups rather than narrative need?