The Departed (the let's-get-Marty-tied-with-3 6 Mafia thread)

I don't normally praise USA Today, but there is a great A1 cover story on Jack Nicholson in today's paper talking about his life now but with a lot of good info on things he did for this role. Good stuff.

 

Wife and I saw "The Departed" last night ... I have a feeling it's going to be like other Scorsese movies in that every time you watch it you're going to pick up some detail you missed each time you previously watched it.

Nicholson was outstanding, as were Damon and DiCaprio -- and I still hold a grudge against DiCaprio for "Titanic."

My wife, who'd never seen a Scorsese film, was impressed by the intensity. It's a 150-minute movie, she said, that feels like it's about 90 minutes long.

Easily the best movie we've seen in 2006.

(But then again, we have two kids and don't get out much.)

 

OTR... I feel so much the same way about that guy in Titanic. To me, he's Leo in everything. Same speech pattern, same affectations.

I look forward to seeing if he can win me over.

I did like The Aviator, I must admit.

 

In-laws are in town, watching baby while wife and I are seeing Departed tonight, can't wait. Just read "The Brothers Bulger" by Howie Carr, totally got me in the mood for a drama like this, esp. one set here in Boston. While the movie isn't based on Whitey, I'm sure there are loose influences/connections -- Southie mob, corrupt Feds a la John Connelly, etc etc.

 

intentionally?

 

A novice reviews Scorsese's latest...quick hits....

-It's a roller coaster to say the least. The first half of the movie is superb and moves along at an almost neck-breaking pace. However, the second half careens a bit out of control. It seemed like Scorsese tried to be too cute in tie everything into everything. 'Cute' is a relative term considering the amount of blood spatter in this movie. For me, the love interest was useless. Yes, it added a 'human' element, but I thought it was a reach. You could see that whole situation coming.

-As is the case with Scorsese, violence is showcased rather dramatically. He does some absolutely terrific things with the camera. Terrific. I want to watch it again so I can appreciate the work he did. That being said, I hated the closing shot. I thought it was smug and unnecessary.

-Nicholson does a great job of acting crazy (imagine that), but he controls it a lot better than some of his latest efforts - see 'The Pledge' or 'Anger Management' (uggh). But holy cow, his 70 years of hard living is starting to show.

-Matt Damon is real good in this effort, did a great job being an ass. Leo is good except for when he slips into the Boston accent. Leo can't do accents. Walhberg is fantastic in this movie along with Alec Baldwin. Both guys do a good job playing off one another.

-If I was handing out a grade I'd go with a B+. It's worth the price of admission, but be ready to sit. It never does drag and when it might start, the killing starts up again. And, because of the cast there are spots of great acting. In comparison with some of the dreg that's out there, this film is head and shoulders above the rest.

 

Yeah. He's got some terrific smartass one-liners.

 

Mighty fine film.

It is inferior to Goodfellas, but what isn't?

For the second time in a movie we see someone tell Matt Damon's character to "earn it."

Gimme Shelter reappears for Scorsese, but the Layla moment comes without music in the span of about 40 seconds.

 

holy crap. what a movie.

it fucking rocked.

 

Un. Bee. Leeeeeeevable.

 

Fantastic performances everywhere.

And I thought Leo was tremendous.

 

Ditto. He went head-to-head with Jack and MORE than held his own, thought he was simply the best actor in the film. Jack was great as the Whitey Bulger-ish character. Even Martin Sheen made me forget he was once the President. Wahlberg? Good, but not 100% sure about his performance -- had countless funny one-liners, but he sometimes seemed on the verge of breaking into his quirky I (heart) Huckabee's" character, strange as that sounds -- that is, until the very last scene. Maybe it was just me re: Marky Mark. This movie had more outright laughs than I expected, but Goodfellas had many of those funny moments, too (Pesci: "Here's a wing!"), but the Goodfellas comedy seemed more dark while the Departed comedy seemed more, well, comedic, with more lines calculated to get laughs. All fit nicely under the Scorsese shell, though, so it worked. Great music, as always.