The Big O

My car broke on Thursday, which was very inconvenient since I had a midterm on Thursday and was supposed to drive to Houston Saturday for an interview on Monday. Ironically my interview was postponed on Friday so I had a free weekend. Persian Ex and I were supposed to see this one in Houston but I saw it here. Unfortunately now I 'owe him one'. I hate owing him one, since I'm never sure exactly what that means. LOL

Scorsese has been gunning for an Oscar for decades and IMHO, he deserves one. Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gangs Of New York, The Aviator; he's done some brilliant work. This one forms a tie for his best with Raging Bull. Hang on Martin, I think this time you will feel the Big O.


The Departed

First lets get this out of the way. Yes, there is some violence. Hello, Irish mob film? Hello, Scorsese? You should expect violence. You also shouldn't expect a happy ending, Scorsese doesn't do rainbows and puppies.

Next, the acting. There is some extremely powerful acting throughout, all of which is delivered by DiCaprio and Nicholson. Damon was good, but he got lost in the shadow of the others. Marky Mark was also good, in fact it was one of his best performances on the screen.

I'm going to leave the plot alone since that is half the fun of the film. Basically this is a shell game of loyalty and motivation under circumstances where the lines between right and wrong are just as absent as the delineation between officer of the law and criminal.

Directing is tight and tense, framing of scenes and the creative editing only serve to further punctuate the omnipresent unsettling feeling in the film. The locations and panning give the appropriate dark decay and latent fear one expects in a mob film. Scorsese teases out Nicholson's innate creepy sense of humor at just the right times. Trust me, the packed theatre took full advantage of those times to laugh, they knew there wouldnt be many. When I left the theatre I felt as though I had been on a 2 1/2 hour rollercoaster ride in a thunderstorm while blindfolded. Now, thats entertainment.

I think we have our Brokeback for 2006, which means it will be a crap shoot within the film cast & crew to see who will be getting what award.

My bet will be on DiCaprio and Scorsese.

10/10

The Departed