The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

The Departed is a movie that is good to the point of almost being boring. Sure, it is entertaining enough, and has a couple of good performances, and of course it is competently made...but is also easily in Scorsese's bottom 5 movies. And as good as his filmograhy is, that doesn't get it even on a list of top 100 neo noirs in my book.



It's honestly a movie that feels like it should be destined to be forgotten about, not really good enough or interesting enough on any level to stick out enough to be remembered fifty years from now. Sort of like Mystic River, only not stupid and bad.

The Departed < Infernal Affairs

I wrote this in a past HoF:

The Departed (2006)
On the positive side, the story hooked me quickly with it's interesting plot and the characters kept me invested. I never got bored. And DiCaprio was great in this and the rest of the actors up to par too. The shooting locations were great.

On the negative side I couldn't help but feel that Martin Scorsese was emulating Quentin Tarantino's style of film making. The scenes were short and fast edited, the dialogue overly colorful to the point of me not believing cops would be talking this way...I thought the ending sucked. It was like the writer's ran out of ideas and just used a form of deus ex machina to end the movie...It was like boom, boom, boom and all the character arcs were wrapped up.

Some notes about the list so far...

• The points gap between these two entries (4 and 3) are among the biggest so far. As I said before, most of it so far has been pretty tight with lots of ties and 1 or 2 points gaps. But as expected, as we go further, the spread gets bigger.
• The Departed has one of the highest IMDb scores of the countdown so far at 8.5, behind The Dark Knight (9.0) and The Silence of the Lambs (8.6)
• Speaking of Scorsese, this is his second entry on the countdown, after Shutter Island at #86. Does he have any more "neo-noir" in him?

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I expect at least one more Scorsese to show up.

Pale Flower was my #4. Shinoda is a master.

I really like The Departed, but Nicholson chews the scenery, sometimes.

To usurp an earlier pronouncement, Taxi Driver is a legit, bonafide, Top Twenty-Five Neo Noir. The Departed is just....popular.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I've just skimmed over them, so I'm not vouching for them, but here are two more articles that argue about or mention The Departed noir leanings:

Is “The Departed” a Member of the Noir Genre Essay

Film experts debate whether 'The Departed' stays true to late 20th century Boston

I know there are always disagreements about what is or isn't noir/neo-noir, but like I said in the opening post:

Another issue I had with The Departed was its dialogue. There were some awful lines. Mostly by Nicholson.
“This ain’t reality TV!!”

Baldwin has some bad ones too. Marky Mark had some, but seemed to know and had fun with it and spun that into an Oscar nomination.

I wouldn’t rank it on the bottom half of Scorsese, more like firmly in the middle.

At first glance I thought, "Oh well, one for two. Not too shabby." But then Pale Flower started ringing a bell and when I read the synopsis I realized I had indeed watched both. It's been awhile since I had a chance to enjoy Asian noir (thanks to TCM). I remember liking PF. Lean and concise.

I think I share the same opinion of others here about The Departed. Not sorry I watched it (It's a Scorsese gangster flick after all) but at the time I remember thinking he maybe should have stuck with Italian gangsters. I actually preferred something like Black Mass or The Town to TD. It was too ... I don't know ... cerebral maybe?

27 of 48 seen.

Still only 4 entries accounted for on my ballot

#1 The French Connection (#58)
#4 In the Heat of the Night (#98)
#18 One False Move (#73)
#24 Point Blank (#72)

Pale Flower is very good, but it didn't make my ballot.

I watched The Departed once years ago and barely remember it. I remember enjoying it though.

If I had finished my list in time to submit, Alphaville would have been about No.15, possibly higher.

I haven't posted in days because I haven't really had anything to say about any of the reveals, but I figured I'd do an update anyway so you guys know I'm still alive haha.

I've seen The Dark Knight, True Romance, Alphaville, Thelma & Louise, and Pale Flower, but the only one that was on my shortlist was True Romance, and it was a very early cut.

I wish I liked Alphaville more than I did, but I tried rewatching it a little while ago and just turned it off. I saw Pale Flower for the first time just a couple years ago, and while I liked the idea of it, I found the score so abrasive, that disliking it is really the only thing I remember about the film now (other than the gambling den).

I've been meaning to watch Lost Highway for ages now, but keep forgetting. Will this be the last reminder I need, or will it once again slip out of my memory?

Seen: 23/48

My List: 5
05. Blue Ruin (2013) - #82
06. Mother (2009) - #67
08. Strange Days (1995) - #65
10. The Man from Nowhere (2010) - #87
15. Infernal Affairs (2002) - #91
25. The Chaser (2008) - DNP 1-pointer

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I'm struggling to recall any movies I enjoy as popcorn flicks. I even hate actual popcorn in real life. Can't even stand the smell of recently popped stuff.
Maybe a different descriptor to sell it?

It's the smell of cooking butter. Hot buttered popcorn in a theater makes me gag it smells so bad. Yet I do like air popped white popcorn, no butter! But with fresh ground black pepper.

So anything that smells better than popcorn?


Rotting hot dogs?

It's an A #1 smoked brisket movie!

The Departed is much more of a popcorn movie than Thelma & Louise. Though nothing wrong with popcorn movies, but I prefer beer and pizza movies

The length is what has kept me from it thus far... Maybe since I have tomorrow off...