as much as I was laughing, I was also admiring the filminess of it all, if you can take my meaning

No, totally! And not to diss either Spaced or Shaun, which I think were both approaching this level of marrying parody with serious filmmaking, but this is the one where it completely gelled throughout the entire thing.

The relationship between Pegg and Frost in this one just about killed me -- it's played so perfectly on all the levels it can be. On the one hand, the fact that it's clearly a love story automatically makes it a parody of every 1980s homoerotic buddy cop relationship. But by not making any jokes about it (they never trip over each other in a fight scene and accidentally almost kiss, there's no gratuitous "these guys are SO STRAIGHT!" scene where they pick up girls together, etc) it's also a sincerely told love/friendship story on its own terms. It's funny when he goes to buy the peace lily, but it's also very genuinely sweet.

Seriously! All those things and more! I loved that it wasn't just a hilarious mystery, but also that it was a proper mystery, with real-not-only-played-for-laughs action sequences. It was real emotional drama mixed with making fun of exactly that same emotional drama, and that's why I don't really relate it to SOTD--which I loved--because they were going for something different than just mockity hilariousness. They made you care about the characters, about their struggles, and then gave you some fantastic action scenes and car chases to boot. And they didn't shy away from the graphic, either, which was *also* hilarious while being sufficiently disturbing.

Also, my office mate cannot stop saying "Yarp."

A very good thing when housebound? Watching the extended releases of the Lord of the Rings movies. Epic adventure, gorgeous art direction, and cute fellows. So good for what ails one!

My dad and I went to see The Departed at the bargain theater this afternoon. I liked it, but it definitely wasn't as good as Goodfellas (the only mob Scorcese movie I've seen). Dad hated the ending, but as I explained to him, you don't go to a Scorcese movie for a happy ending.

DiCaprio really gave a powerful performance as the good cop on the edge undercover, and Damon was convincingly slimy.as Costello's rat in the force. I didn't see how Wahlberg got the only Oscar nom out of the group, though.

I liked it, but it definitely wasn't as good as Goodfellas (the only mob Scorcese movie I've seen).

Very few movies are, IMO, mob or otherwise.

Interesting article on film noir over at Slate: [link]

A very good thing when housebound? Watching the extended releases of the Lord of the Rings movies. Epic adventure, gorgeous art direction, and cute fellows. So good for what ails one!

Hey, that's what we did all weekend, Robin! It's funny, I've seen the movies so many times, but I haven't seen the extended editions as often so it's still kind of fresh for me. Also, Emmett hadn't seen it in about a year so he was having a renewal of love for the whole thing. He had a running dialogue of grump at Denethor for his poor parenting skills. "He's not crazy! He's stupid! Don't do it Faramir!"

Speaking of Faramir, we went to see 300 yesterday for a birthday celebration. I can't really take David Wenham seriously after Van Helsing but I liked 300 much, much more than I expected to. And oy, the abs!

We've been trying to find a babysitter so we can go see the 300. DH is very interested in it. Mmm...sexy hoplites.

I was just reading a political blog comment on the various Dept. of Justice scandals going on right now, and their reference to the Patriot Act reminded me of a line in The Departed that got a big laugh from the audience. During the video stakeout of Costello's microchip sale to the Chinese, Alec Baldwin's cop says, referring to all the now-legal surveillance techniques, "I love the Patriot Act!"

Baldwin can't do a decent Baaahston accent to save his life, but that line was pitch-perfect, as well as hilarious.