Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)
Alex Garland's Civil War (2024)

7/28/2015

The Departed (2006) - Scorsese's Boston-set wildcat of a capital letter Movie


 

+ Best Boston Movie of the Year + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Comeback Actor of the Year: Matt Damon + Best Remake of the Year + Best Ensemble of the Year: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson, Alex Baldwin, Kevin Corrigan, James Badge Dale

Jack Nicholson lurks in the background behind the young leading men on this poster for Martin Scorsese's The Departed


QUICK REVIEW:

In Boston, Massachusetts, it isn't Italian Americans who control the city's criminal underbelly. Frank Costello does; an Irish crime king who has a guy on the inside of the city's police department, but who also has an 'infestation problem' of his own. In Boston you just have to deal with your problems...

Master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Casino (1995)) does it again with The Departed; creates a unique crime blast of a movie. The Departed is a remake of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs (2002), a very successful Hong Kong movie which got 2 sequels, written by William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven (2005)), who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay.
The movie offers juicy parts for an exciting ensemble cast that all bring their very best to the film. - And for once, at this stage in his career, Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting (1997)) also has a fully fledged part. - His star was back on the rise, after about 5 years of more or less dubious movies, with his performance in Departed.
The film features a cool music side; both lots of great source music and a great score by Howard Shore (Doubt (2008)). The Oscar-winning editing, by Scorsese regular Thelma Schoonmaker (Goodfellas (1990)), and Michael Ballhaus' (Air Force One (1997)) cinematography are unmatched. SPOILER Martin Sheen's (Apocalypse Now (1979)) death scene is very exciting, and the film's ending, in which nearly everyone 'departs', is great.
I only withhold the 6th from Departed because the characters, and especially Jack Nicholson's (The Shining (1980)) Frank Costello, seem at times exaggerated in an almost circus-like way. It is truly a great movie nevertheless.

Related posts:

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess  

Martin Scorsese: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - One helluva movie!  
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Hugo (2011) - Scorsese's critically acclaimed, magical 3D family adventure/financial disaster 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Boardwalk Empire - 1st season (2010) - Luxurious 1920's ensemble gangster treats  
The Aviator (2004) - The grand American biopic 

Casino (1995) - Scorsese's sumptuous Vegas gangster tale has the wingspan of a Greek tragedy   
The Age of Innocence (1993) or, Stayin' IN the Pants
Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance   




Martin Scorsese directing The Departed



Watch the totally kick-ass trailer for the movie here

Cost: 90 mil. $
Box office: 289.8 mil. $
= Big hit
[The Departed was shot on locations in Boston with interior scenes shot in New York. The film was highly anticipated and became one of Scorsese's biggest hits to date, both commercially and critically: Departed broke Scorsese's decades-long Oscar jinx and earned both Best Picture, Director as well as Adapted Screenplay and Editing Oscars. Mark Wahlberg (Ted 2 (2015)) was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Many have commented that Scorsese won for a lesser film than he has previously been nominated for. He has himself said that he won for Departed because it is his first movie "with a plot." It opened #1 in North America with 26.8 mil. $ and grossed 132.3 mil. $ there (46 % of the total gross).]

What do you think of The Departed?
Any thoughts on Scorsese and Co.'s Oscar wins for the film?

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