The Departed | Through the Shattered Lens

Hi there and welcome to the latest, long-delayed edition of Let’s Second Guess The Academy. Previously, we second-guessed the Academy’s choice for best picture of 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002. It seems only fitting that we now jump ahead another 4 years and reconsider the race for best picture of 2006.

The Academy nominated five films for best picture 0f 2006. Those films were Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen. They ultimately named The Departed the best film of 2006. Were they right?

And now, here’s my favorite part of second guessing the Academy. What if none of the five nominated films had been released in 2006? Which other films would you have nominated? Below is a list of some of 2006′s most acclaimed and memorable films. You can vote for up to 10 replacement nominees and write-in votes are allowed.

As always, vote once, vote often, and have fun!

If Spike Lee wasn’t controversial enough on his own, he’s now going to be directing a remake of one of the more rabidly beloved films to come out of South Korea in the 21st Century, Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy.

I have to admit that this is the type of news that always inspires, within this movie lover, mixed feelings. On the one hand, Spike Lee is a far better director that a lot of people want to admit and he has shown the ability to make films within several different genres. On the other hand, you have to wonder why Oldboy needs to be remade in the first place. One need only read Arleigh’s review of the original to see just how highly most viewers thought of the original.

For me, the real question is this — will Spike Lee be truly reimagining the material or will he just be making the same film again, just this time without subtitles?

(I can see the tag line now: “Just as good as the original, now requiring less reading!”)

Will Spike Lee’s remake be a Departed-style remake or a Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-style remake?

Hopefully, if nothing else, this news will at least encourage people (like me) to seek out and watch the original and make up their mind for themselves.