The Departed

Admittedly I don't rush out to see every new film that comes out. I guess the last new movies I saw were Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and World Trade Center. But as soon as I saw the trailer for The Departed, I knew I had to see it.

Still, it took a few weeks for me and The Dude to coordinate our schedules enough to check it out. I assured him he needn't accompany me if it didn't interest him, as I had no problem seeing it alone or with someone else, but he insisted he wanted to see it with me. Finally we went last night (instead of giving out candy to neighborhood kids, 80% of whom were probably dressed as characters from at least two of the aforementioned movies).

OH MY GOD. It was truly the best movie I've seen in years. Now, I don't feel like I know enough about the ins and outs of filmmaking to say whether Martin Scorsese deserves his long-hoped-for Oscar for directing this, but the movie definitely deserves some recognition from the Hollywood award-giving peeps.

Perhaps most surprising was the acting job done by Leonardo DiCaprio. I've never exactly considered him a bad actor, but I admit I didn't expect very much from him here. I figured the substance would come from some of the other big-name actors in this film, and Leo would provide some eye candy (since I disagree with most of the citizens of the free world who think Matt Damon is hot). Indeed, I was wrong. Leo did a great job. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if anyone deserves any sort of acting award nomination for this, it's him.

Plus, as a proud Irish-Italian-American I can hardly resist a movie made by a couple of guineas about the Irish mob.