I went to see Gone Baby Gone tonight and I did not expect it to be so awesome. It's simply one of the best Boston movies to date - on par with, if not better than, Good Will Hunting and The Departed - and better than Mystic River. Casey Affleck does his best to hold his own against stalwarts like Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. Michelle Monaghan is wasted while Amy Ryan simply steals the scene - as a character we love to hate and also sympathize with at the same time. I don't remember when I last saw a character like that in a movie and Amy Ryan did a perfect 10 job of portraying that character. Ed Harris does much better job than his usual fill-in-the-gaps roles. Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman - 'nuff said. If I was gay (no offence to gay community) or if I was a woman, I would have had a crush on him.

I am sure the movie is going to get some Oscar nods although I have my doubts the Academy voters will vote so overwhelming with this "regional" movie.

 

I don't know what are your taste for good movies or is it simply you're in Boston and the movie takes place in Boston. I'll definetly see the movie and come back to hunt you if it's a piece of crap.

Marley, if I liked the movie just because it was a Boston movie, I'd have recommended Fever Pitch too.... In spite of being a Red Sox fan and a Drew Barrymore fan, Fever Pitch was a complete letdown for me.

Did you like The Departed? or The Mystic River? Gone Baby Gone has elements of both - and is better than those two. Do watch the movie and let me know how you feel.

P.S. being a Boston resident, I am more "attached" to the movie but I would have loved this story even though it was not Boston based.

 

"The Departed" is the copy of the Hong Kong flick "Infernal Affairs", I prefer the HK since the whole concept of the morris code was not there with the departed. Compared both side to side, departed didn't impress me too much except it had many heavy hitters.

I'll definelty see this Gone Baby Gone.

mr bob marley...departed is based on whitey bulger..it cant be a copy of other movies..

esniper

Didn't you see the Academy Award, they repeated said that  it's a copy of HK movies by Andie Lau. Even Martin Scorses thanked him in his speech. It's an exact copy of Infernal Affairs, although the HK version goes upto 3 series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infernal_Affairs

http://www.miramax.com/infernalaffairs/

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/infernal_affairs.htm

it might look like infernal affairs (may be its a copy)...but that movie is based on whitey bulger...(the boston version)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_Bulger

 

Dude, get your fact straight.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-10-11-departed-vs-affairs_x.htm

where did you get that info? Wiki?

listen man ....i grew up in boston..i know the stuff...it might be a similar movie but..its kindda based on mr bulger...

"Kind of" What's so special in Jack Nicholson's character in the movie that it's so unique and is based on Mr Bulger? An informant who pretends to be a bad guy. It's so vague that it can be based on anybody story.

Why are you so arrogant dude, just because you live in "Boston" doesn't mean every thing has to revolve around Boston. The departed is not based on a true charater. It's a copy of 2002 Hong Kong's hit movie. The cast, crew and the director says so. Why can't you accept it? Is it that some Chinks make better movies than your Bollyhood directors?

Chill out and take it easy.I'm out.

Thanks dautari,  watch it  for sure now. though heard about it a lot.

No! Departed IS a remake of Internal Affairs.  There is no doubt about it.  Especially when Martin Scorcese himself said so.

Now, espiner, what makes you think it is based on life of Whitey Bulger?  Just because Bulger is a gangster from Boston?  C'mon dude.

Looking forward to Gone Baby Gone to come in DVD.

Thukka!! I should have gone to watch that movie yesterday -- I was doing nothing but staring at the screen of my computer trying to finish things I started. It's one of the movies I wanted to watch, but I didn't realize it was already out in the theater near my house. Oh well! will watch.

Talking about "Departed" and "Internal Affairs", I watched 'em both and both of them are equally entertaining. Calling "Departed" a copy of "Internal Affairs" is like saying Amitabh Bachchan is a copy of Al Pacino. Even Amitabh Bachchan admitted that he was very much inspired by Al Pacino (Godfather released before Amitabh was a superstar), as a viewer you may find a thread of similarity between them. There was more to Amitabh (from 70's) than Al Pacino inspiration. Same with "Departed" and "Internal Affairs". The storyline of the "Departed" was based on "Internal Affairs" but the treatment, screenplay and characterization are different. They took certain elements from the series of Internal Affairs movies (it's a trilogy) and made "Departed". If you like Hongkong style movies, you will love Internal Affairs. If you like Martin Scorsese (MS) movie, you will love Departed. I like both genre and I loved both HK version and MS version. Some part, HK version is awesome and more thrilling than MS version. But, MS version has unbeatable dialog and some crazyass characterizations. Both of them were awesome.

BTW, HK makes awesome movies -- way cooler than Bollywood movies, and often way better than Hollywood movies. Movies like "Kung Fu Hustler" are unthinkable both in Hollywood and Bollywood movie industries.

"Mystic River", I liked the part where it shows how the nature of wife influences the husband. Strong and supporting wife = strong Sean Penn, Weak wife = what's his name ... umm ... Susan Sarandon's Husband. :D

I watched "American Gangster" and was way better than I had thought.

aaah!!! why me?

The movie Departed was a real treat for me too and was American Gangster.I will definately see Gone Baby Gone.Ben Afleck dose a good job in action or thiller movies .American Gangster is a good movie and Denzel Washington is at his best .I do recommend too see this movie if you liked Departed.

Looking forward to watching gone baby gone.

I was little surprised to read that dautari would had a crush on morgan freeman if he was a woman. Why would any straight guy even imagine being a woman and having a crush on an actor? Doesn't make sense. Not trying to be offensive to dautari.

Rato Bhaley, I am just saying the Morgan Freeman has a personality on par with that of Sean Connery. These two are the actors whose mere presence in the scene lifts that scene up to the next level. Their female equivalent among the living actresses is Dame Judi Dench.

There seems to be a debate about the origin of The Departed. I did not know that it was based on Internal Affairs. I am in Boston and it was all over the Boston media that the movie was based on Whitey Bulger's story. I then checked imdb.com and read the trivia section. Yes, it seems The Departed IS the American remake of Internal Affairs but the CHARACTER that Jack Nicholson plays is based on Whitey Bulger.

While, going through the trivia, I came across an interesting fact. The Departed is the movie that has the highest count of the F-word (and its derivations) to win the Best Picture Oscar. The F-word has been spoken 237 times throughout the film.

Somebody mentioned American Gangster and that's another movie on my list. I will probably go next week. I dropped the idea of going to see Om Shanti Om after hearing plethora of negative remarks about the film. Besides I already found the video of the title song on YouTube.

Well, I am still waiting for the reactions of someone who has already seen Gone Baby Gone. I will then know whether I was just moved by the fact that it was a Boston-based movie or it is in fact a good movie.

 

gosh i am so going to see this movie and denzel's american gangster.

How many movies do you guys, particularly Kalankisthan, watch in theater per week?  I have given up on shelling out 10 Washingtons for a movie ticket.  Now I wait for DVD to come out.  Feels good to watch at home (having big screen tv and online Blockbuster helps), can stretch out as much as I want, don't have to buy $6 popcorn and $4 soda-pop, plus DVDs have extra stuff.  Tyei ho, parkhanu parcha paach cha mahina.

Just want to share with you fellows

It's the new trend for Hollyhood to remake  Asian movies and many of them are already in production. Don't be surprised if Robet Dinero stars in one of the Akira Kurosawa's remake. Read this article and it tell which movies are in for remake in Hollyhood. By the way, this is site based on "Boston", the epi center for some of you.

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2005/02/13/go_east/

"Scorsese and DiCaprio are already in negotiations to remake yet another Asian movie, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's 1948 noir "Drunken Angel."

the article says.