2008 Woodie Awards
Scorsese dishes out Oscar-worthy classic with 'The Departed'
Rudy Ornelas
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Lifestyles
The Oscars are around the corner and the favorite to win best picture is "The Departed" which was released Tuesday, Feb. 13, on DVD. Directed by American film legend Martin Scorsese, this is a classic film, with an all-star cast and unlike previous Scorsese films, is driven by plot rather than character development.
Scorsese, who has directed classics such as "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas," assembled a superb cast for this film based on the Hong Kong thriller "Internal Affairs."
It is the first time since the movie "Casino," that Scorsese has made a mob movie. Watching a Scorsese film is a special kind of experience, and this one is no different, as soon as the film starts rolling, you hear The Rolling Stones jamming out and the words "Boston some years ago," flash across the screen and we've officially started the ride.
Leonardo Dicaprio ("The Aviator") plays a cop who has infiltrated the mob, while Matt Damon ("The Bourne Identity") plays a hood, infiltrating the police department. Both are associated with the mob kingpin played by Jack Nicholson ("Anger Management").
The movie is fast paced, and full of suspense. All the actors really brought their "A" game. Martin Sheen ("Catch Me If You Can"), Alec Baldwin ("Pearl Harbor"), and especially Mark Walberg ("Planet of the Apes") give wonderful supporting roles.
Like most Scorsese films, this one has its share of violence; how else could anyone do a film of this genre? However, he reverted back to his old school ways in actually showing the violence, which might be too much for some viewers. If you notice in some of his recent films such as "Gangs of New York" there was plenty of violence but you never actually saw it, viewers just got the general idea. In this film, the violence is blunt and in your face.
The last 20 minutes of this film are as suspenseful and surprising as any movie ever made. So I won't ruin it. This is not one of Scorsese's best films, but he has so much talent that he could shoot a rock laying in the middle of the road for two hours and that would be better than half of the films we see today. Some of his past films were more deserving of the Oscar, but he was cheated of them and I believe he will finally get it with this film. However, I haven't seen any of the other films that are nominated.
Scorsese, who has directed classics such as "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas," assembled a superb cast for this film based on the Hong Kong thriller "Internal Affairs."
It is the first time since the movie "Casino," that Scorsese has made a mob movie. Watching a Scorsese film is a special kind of experience, and this one is no different, as soon as the film starts rolling, you hear The Rolling Stones jamming out and the words "Boston some years ago," flash across the screen and we've officially started the ride.
Leonardo Dicaprio ("The Aviator") plays a cop who has infiltrated the mob, while Matt Damon ("The Bourne Identity") plays a hood, infiltrating the police department. Both are associated with the mob kingpin played by Jack Nicholson ("Anger Management").
The movie is fast paced, and full of suspense. All the actors really brought their "A" game. Martin Sheen ("Catch Me If You Can"), Alec Baldwin ("Pearl Harbor"), and especially Mark Walberg ("Planet of the Apes") give wonderful supporting roles.
Like most Scorsese films, this one has its share of violence; how else could anyone do a film of this genre? However, he reverted back to his old school ways in actually showing the violence, which might be too much for some viewers. If you notice in some of his recent films such as "Gangs of New York" there was plenty of violence but you never actually saw it, viewers just got the general idea. In this film, the violence is blunt and in your face.
The last 20 minutes of this film are as suspenseful and surprising as any movie ever made. So I won't ruin it. This is not one of Scorsese's best films, but he has so much talent that he could shoot a rock laying in the middle of the road for two hours and that would be better than half of the films we see today. Some of his past films were more deserving of the Oscar, but he was cheated of them and I believe he will finally get it with this film. However, I haven't seen any of the other films that are nominated.
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