What You'd Expect from Martin Scorsese

I watched "The Departed" last night. Awesome! I don't know if I would have given it an Oscar, but then again, I'm not quite the movie afficionado (afficionada?) that I make myself out to be: I'm sure there was deep social commentary and such going on, but I didn't pick up on that. Besides, I'm not from Boston, I've never been to Boston, and I just wanted to watch a movie. (I might have given the Oscar to "The Prestige" instead, but it wasn't my call. David Bowie was unexpected and fan-bloody-tastic, and Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman were locked in constant struggle to see who could better steal the scene.)

Anyway, as I said, it's what you expect from a Scorsese picture: excellent acting by everyone who could be tackled and strong-armed into a role (seriously, who WASN'T in this movie? Nicholson, Sheen, Wahlberg, Damon, DiCaprio, Bardwin, the list goes on...guess we missed DeNiro, but he's gone soft), gritty realism, lots of violence and blood, and underhanded scoundrels that you know are bad but you can't help liking a little bit.

Nicholson was Nicholson: whether it was great writing, great delivery, great direction, or some fabulous cocktail of all of the above, he was, well, Nicholson (though I secretly expected the creepy looping Joker laugh in his last scene.) My heart broke for Sheen, and the struggle between Damon and DiCaprio was almost as entertaining as Jackman versus Bale in The Prestige, and I was very happy to see Anthony Anderson in a serious role. Also I must agree with other reviewers - surprise knockout performance: Wahlberg. Work it Marky Mark! Feel the vibration!

Nice touch with the rat running across the balcony in the last image - I did catch that!

One thing that stuck with me though: Girlfriend got screwed.
****SPOILER ALERT!****
Yeah she was cheating on Damon with DiCaprio, but in the end, she ends up brokenhearted and pregnant, and both of the potential fathers are dead. That kinda sucks. And did she remind you a little of Barbra Streisand?