Sometimes it’s worth an Oscar
There have been a lot of Best Picture Oscars awarded. Well, not a lot; one per best picture, since no movie has ever won twice. And to be fair, some of them should never have won one. All part of the game. This weekend I rented the most recent winner, and my vote is in favour. The Departed is simply great.
Here is a plot that uses the Russian doll model perfectly. So many subplots, all part of the greater. Very Gestalt. The kid from the Titanic (Leo) has matured into a real actor. Marky-Mark has evolved from his underwear career. Jack Nicholson is a constant; insanely constant. In fact, if you removed all the other actors, he’d probably carry the story on his back. Insane.
Set in Boston (a city I’d like to visit some day), dealing with the way that good and evil are wrestling all the time. Good plot stock. Now add in the meat mentioned earlier, some fine potatoes and you have a fine pot of stew (albeit with wanna-be Irish). No CGI to mention. Lots of fighting in the meeting room (that’s one I could appreciate in the workplace, if only for entertainment value; beats backstabbing all hollow). Multiple cell phones. So many cell phones that I now think the statistics on their use has probably been skewed by Hollywood…
The movie ran so long that I returned it late; best reason I can think of. Too many of our lates are due to it being lost in the basement or adopted by the dog. If you want to spend an afternoon on the edge of your chair, bring this one home.
