Listomania Sunday: Best Remakes

This past week in my Best Picture Quest I saw The Departed which was a remake of the Japanese movie Infernal Affairs so I decided this weeks list would be the Best Remakes. After spending all of October doing horror movie lists I decided that I will not include any horror movies on this list so that leaves off The Thing (1982), The Fly(1986), and Dawn of the Dead (2004).

1.  The Departed (2006)- A remake of Infernal Affairs a Japanese cop drama.  It is the best remake. It improves on almost every aspect of the original. 
2.  Oceans 11 (2001)  -Although the original wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be the remake had a star studded cast and a much happier ending.    
3.  The Italian Job (2003)- A major upgrade from the original with lots of action and some awesome car chases.
4.  The Magnificent Seven (1960) - Another remake of a Japanese film. This one a remake of The Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. One his best and most love movies seemed blasphemous to remake it into a Western but it worked and shows that a good story works in different settings.
5.  The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)- The only one that should be allowed to remake a Hitchcock film is Hitchcock.  12 years after The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) he decided to remake it with much more money, talent, and locations.  The addition of James Stewart and Doris where major upgrades but the loss of Peter Lorre as the villain was a downgrade. 

The Departed

Martin Scorcese finally won a Best Picture and Best Director with the gritty, violent, and foul mouthed The Departed based on the Japanese film Infernal Affairs. Having lost Best Director 3 times to  actors (1980 Robert Redford, 1990 Kevin Costner, and 2004 Clint Eastwood) he finally won the rematch between him and Clint Eastwood who was nominated for Letter from Iwo Jima.

The Departed is about two cops on opposite sides of the Irish mob in South Boston.  Headed by the ruthless Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) the mob is relentlessly hunted down by the police. To get inside information Costello grooms one of his guys (Matt Damon) from an early age to become a state police office.  On the opposite side the cops send one of their agents (Leonardo DiCaprio) undercover as a mob insider.  Each side senses there is a rat in their midst but are unable to figure out who it is. After everyone is double crossed at least once will the truth ever be revealed?

Filled with shoot outs and graphic fight scenes it is one of the edgiest and the most violent films to win Best Picture.  This movie is great for many reasons including the dark twisty tale, the great performances, and intense action.  Plus for me it was cool that it took place in South Boston since I used to work there and heard lots of stories about Whitey Bulger and the Irish mob there.  The use of the Dropkick Murphys song "Shipping up to Boston" was used to maximum effect.  Winning 4 awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing and only one nomination for the acting a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Mark Wahlberg as the foul mouthed agent Dingham.  The biggest question is how did none of the other actors get nominated.  Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon should have been nominated for Best Actor and Jack Nicholson should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor.  All were great performances. 

In my opinion no other movie that year stood a chance to win over this masterpiece and it seemed a forgone conclusion baring any surprise upsets like the previous year.  While Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima was considered the closest competition for Best Picture (it would have been the first foreign language movie to win Best Picture if it had won) for me it was Little Miss Sunshine the quirky comedy that was a distant second.  The movie that I thought was grossly overlooked was Children of Men.  Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay it is a great sci-fi movie that was one of the best movies of the year and should have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Clive Owen.  The most ridiculous nomination was Borat for Best Screenplay which was mostly ad-libbed. 

The other category that got lots of attention this year was for Best Documentary.  The controversial  Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth won.  The movie was an extended version of his power point presentation on global warming.  I found the movie to be very boring and thought Jesus Camp was a much more compelling documentary.  About a controversial religious summer camp the movie follows the kids and manages to not take sides about what is taught in the camp. 

Listomania Sundays: Mafia and Mob Movies

After watching The Godfather for this weeks Best Picture Blog Post I decided to do the best Mafia and Mob movies.

1. The Godfather-the obvious choice. Considered one of the best pictures of all time and the blueprint for tons of mafia movies to follow.

2.  Goodfellas-In similar fashion as The Godfather about a guy who rises to power in an New York Mafia. with great performances.

3.  The Departed-Jack Nichloson is a real bad ass in this movie about Boston Irish Mob. Loosely based on the true story of Whitey Bulger who is still on the FBI most wanted list.

4.  Reservoir Dogs-Ultra violent mob pic from Quentin Tarantino is truly unique and very bloody. With some of the most interesting conversations ever discussed in any movies(ex. The meaning of Like a Virgin and how much to tip).

5.  Millers Crossing-Great movie about an Irish Mob by the Coen Brothers. As with any Coen brothers movies it has great dialogue and crazy situations.

Best Movies that take place in Boston

With three movies that take place in or around Boston The Fighter, The Town, and The Social Network all getting high praises this year and each with a chance for an Oscar Nomination or two I thought it would be fun to give my list of the top 5 movies that take place around Boston. Having gone to school and lived there for 5 years I am kind of partial to movies from there.

1. Good Will Hunting
2. The Departed
3. Mystic River
4. Fever Pitch
5. The Social Network

Other movies that didn't make my list.
Gone Baby Gone, Southie, Blown Away, Legally Blonde.
What are your favorite movies that take place in Boston