I Want My Environment to be a Product of Me

There are very few things I could care less about than the Oscars. I have only watched the ceremony once and that was because Chris Rock was hosting. The show doesn’t appear on my radar mostly because every year, the categories are filled with movies I have never seen, and this year was no different as when the nominations were announced I hadn’t seen any movies in any of the major categories, but I had checked out Click which was actually nominated for something. What is worse is in the rare occurrence I do see a film that is not only nominated, but actually wins Best Picture, I find it to be the biggest waste of my time ever, much like the horrendous Crash last year (see my review: The Closest You Ever Came to Being Black Was Watching the Cosby Show).

Since the nominations, I have checked out one of the most nominated films, The Departed, if only to see how Mark Walberg could get nominated for an Oscar. Keep in mind folks; we are living in a time where both Marky Mark and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air both got nominated for an Oscar in the same year. To put that in perspective, it would be like predicting today that Kevin Federline and Nelly get nominated in 2021. But anyways.

After deviating into a bio flick and chronicling Bob Dylan’s music, Martin Scorcese is back to what he does back, directing a mobster movie. The twist though is the kingpin at the heart of the movie, Jack Nicholson (Batman), has groomed an informant since boyhood to join the Massachusetts State Police force, played by Matt Damon (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). On the other side, the stare police planted their very one cadet, Leonardo DiCaprio (Growing Pains), on the road to crime, having the guy commit crimes to get him some jail time as well as some street cred. Naturally, the two informants come close to crossing paths without each other knowing the true identity of each other although Scorcese takes this a little too far with both boys taking up with the same girl at different parts of the movie.

But the predictability stops there. Once both of the boys are fully imbedded, the movie starts its twist and turns that is doubtfully anyone will come seeing. Yeah, the movie is a little long in part that it takes a while to get to that point, and it seems that no one really knew what would be the best way to end the movie so it take a while to wrap up properly. But it is a thoroughly enjoyable ride as a whole and the acting plays a big role as Nicholson naturally nails his performance as some of the smaller roles played by Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) as the captain and Martin Sheen (The West Wing) also as a Captain and one of only two who know that DiCaprio is undercover.

The other being Marky Mark (of the Funky Bunch) who performance left me wondering how exactly he got a the nomination, he only shows up occasionally to drop expletives (the movie features 237 F Bombs) in the most exaggerated Bostonian accent despite being a native of the city. To think, another of Boston’s sons, Denis Leary passed on the role because it conflicted with Rescue Me. Now that would have made an already good movie better.

The Departed gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.