Film and Episodic Content Discussion Thread

Wife and I pressed stop 2/3 through it. We couldn't be stupefied any further. We actually don't know how it ends nor do we care. I walked out of one of the Transformers movies too, and many others, one film from Robert Altman comes to mind. Like bad wine, sometimes it's best to pour down the drain.

 

^ This.

He had already turned senile by the time he received his Oscar for The Departed, which was an unashamed almost scene by scene remake of Infernal Affairs. The Departed was a caricature of Infernal Affairs.

LOL 1/3 toned down too. It was amusing to watch though. Wife and I looked at each other wondering about its accolades with a "meh". The fact is, not many good films lately. Would rather go low-brow, to be cutified by Baby Yoda, or go tits-and-sorcery with the Witcher you if know what I mean.

 

I laughed when Sheen died with a splat in front of De Craprio in the Departed. In the equivalent scene in Infernal Affairs, I cried.

The scene was too obvious Scorsese senility. I'm still not sure if it was meant to be humorous or if it was just badly done. Infernal Affairs had guts. And WTF was Jack Nicholson cast? The Academy should have the ability to award reverse Oscars.

 

His Drug War for example also deals with the line between cops and criminals but it's far more excessively complex with its use of double, triple, or quadruple imposterism and paranoia of the double, triple, and quadriple-cross in its storytelling, PRC acceptable politics (automatic death penalty to all drug dealers and taking drugs makes you instantly wig out), and visuals.

There, fixed it.

 

Dude, I've seen it. It's my Amazon library. I agree it's a better or perhaps more polished film. Ultimately I think they are just different in style. It's like arguing Coppola vs Scorsese, and in different budgets in different decades and in different maturity in terms of film production.

 

I just mentioned that Infernal Affairs, being the source for The Departed was a much better film than The Departed. And then you come along with a Drive By: "Oh, Jonnie To, who produced and directed Drug War in his sleep, pees all over Andy Lau's vanity project."

I mean WTF? That's just rude.

I mean you could have said: if you like Infernal Affairs or that genre, check out Jonnie To's film + exposition on specific points that will interest readers.

 

Context. I didn't do a drive by shitting on anyone referring to Taxi Driver or Good Fellas as good films by saying Coppola walks all over Scorsese in his sleep. There was no bad faith on my part toward another member.

You made that statement. I didn't. I simply said the film tows the PRC line to remind viewers of its politics: drug dealers get death penalty, drugs make you instantly wig out and drive your car into the lobby of a restaurant* (or whatever, I don't remember exactly), and drug dealers will always lose in the end. PRC censors aren't gonna let a film where so many cops are killed slide by without a subtle (actually not so subtle) message of the exaggerated dangers and consequence of drugs. Heck, the film is in Mandarin, not Cantonese - which does actually make is a bit easier for me to understand without always having to read the subtitles - this is 2012 now where PRC much more firmly has influence in HK.

I won't ruin much more for people who want to see it.

*This does not happen in real life. I have known many habitual long time drug users. They know how to use their drugs "safely".

Andy Lau's film was just totally different. He played the same character of Marky Mark (or did I get it reversed). He knew right from wrong, maybe even tried to do right despite being between a rock and a hard place, but in the end, wrong was just was wrong with horrible consequences, and he just created hell and mental anguish for himself, possibly for eternity. Infernal Affairs was a tragic morality play with Buddhist trappings (human states are in the mind and from ones actions).

 

Not snark at all, but custom. You know how things roll here. No one gives a shit about what John Atkinson, Jude, The Pope, or the Dalai Lama has to say. What you say matters more here on SBAF. The other voices can be heard elsewhere.

You have to understand, I see things through a different lens, especially in light of the political situation. It all started after the HK handover where I started to notice these little things. That movie Hero with Jet Li pissed me off, but Zhang Yimou's always been a full fledged member of commie. Hero is like if Luke decided to sacrifice himself at the end because Palpatine mind-tricked Luke into thinking the Empire did a better job at managing the galaxy than the Republic. It's a crock of shit.

Being in the biz and having worked for an organization that helped spread Hollywood films worldwide, I'm well aware of the censoring aspects, even from script development, of the PRC.

As for Drug War, too many occasions where I felt it was a public service message from the PRC on "don't do drugs". The Captain character sort of comes off as the shining example of what the ultimate PRC human should be. Note that I said PRC human, not PRC hero, because hero would be unrealistic, and the commies are smart enough to know that.

P.S. Just waiting to see in what ways Mulan will be a mouthpiece for the commies. Heck, already has with Liu Yifei (Mulan actress) voicing support for HK police to beat up demonstrators. Word of mouth has it that commies dressed up as HK police to help with the beatings. Totally believable if you ask me, because that's the kind of shit the PRC would do.