The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)

[soundchaser]

Joke or not, that's one of the most straightforward and enjoyable Kickstarter pitch videos on the website.

[Roger Ryan]

Joke or not, that's one of the most straightforward and enjoyable Kickstarter pitch videos on the website.

After actually watching the video (should have done that first), the whole thing is clearly a gag...although one that I think the organizer will follow through on (he'll just skip the part where he transfers the Blu-ray file to 35mm and back to a digital file).

[Roscoe]

Ralphie Wiggum said it best -- "The rat symbolizes obviousness!"

I say leave it there. If Scorsese wants something so ridiculously obvious that even The Simpsons can mock it with Ralphie Wiggum, then fine -- leave it right where it is.

[mfunk9786]

That doesn't sound like something Ralph Wiggum would say.

[Big Ben]

Now questioning why Roscoe watched a later season Simpsons episode because Ralph very much said it in a Departed parody.

[swo17]

mfunk's point still stands

[Roscoe]

As does Ralphie's.

[swo17]

Someone needs to do a Kickstarter to go back in time and make The Simpsons end after "Homer's Enemy"

[Roscoe]

Now questioning why Roscoe watched a later season Simpsons episode because Ralph very much said it in a Departed parody.

Never actually seen the entire broadcast -- the clip is often mentioned in discussions of the movie.

[mfunk9786]

Ralph Wiggum is a dim kid, you see - he wouldn't be able to pick up on... ah, nevermind

[Roscoe]

Ralph Wiggum is a dim kid, you see - he wouldn't be able to pick up on... ah, nevermind

Yup. Ralphie's a dim kid. And even he sees how obvious -- ah, nevermind....

[colinr0380]

This also seems particularly silly in a world where George Lucas exists and has messed with not only the Star Wars films but his fantastic original THX-1138 by adding in extra CGI stuff to 'enhance' the world whilst simultaneously undermining the original philosophy and stark minimalist aesthetic underpinning the work itself. There's currently no original version of that film in circulation.

(Another connection being that Donald Pleasance's character, on his abortive attempt to escape the underground city by going to the end of the subway line, sees a rat in the original version of the scene while in the 2004 director's cut it has been replaced by a mutated sci-fi creature of some sort. The rat seemed enough in itself for that moment!)

[hearthesilence]

Jonas Mekas's rarely screened behind-the-scenes film is showing TONIGHT at Anthology Film Archives as part of their ongoing tribute to Mekas.

[flyonthewall2983]

And now available to watch for free on Vimeo

[flyonthewall2983]

I must have mentioned it here before but did anyone else notice that the scene where Costigan storms out of therapy, and it leads to him and Madolyn exchange numbers looking an awful lot like a scene from Top Gun? Specifically the scene where you hear the first notes of “Take My Breath Away”? I saw this opening night and recognized the shot immediately. It was kind of a small highlight for me. It’s not as crucial to the story as some of the many other references here but it really sticks out to me as a side-by-side thing.

[hearthesilence]

Ayo Edebiri remembers when her father refused an offer to let their house be used in The Departed:

“Use my house. So you can get the deed to my house. You see a working immigrant man with a house. And you want to steal the house. You want to come inside the house. Take my keys. Take the deed. And take my family. Nice try.”

The production crew insisted that wasn’t the case and tried to reassure him that they would use the house for just a few days and he would be compensated for it.

“You pay me money, so in court you can say you paid for my house,” Edebiri recalled her father saying.

The location scouts even promised him that Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio would arrive in 30 minutes.

“Yeah, and we’ll have a Black president,” her father quipped.