Martin, Jack, Leo and Matt...oh my

I am not Irish, I don't like the band U2 and I have never read anything by James Joyce. However, I am really looking forward to this new movie directed by Martin Scorsese about the Irish mafia called The Departed.

The storyline is about two cops, one good, one bad who have infiltrated Boston's Irish mafia. The head of the mafia is played by Jack Nicholson.

For me, any movie directed by Martin Scorsese is an event. But for some reason, this specific movie looks absolutely incredible. A great cast including Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg. I kind of feel like Scorsese has been trying to hard with his last couple of movies The Aviator and Gangs of New York. Trying to hard? Trying for an Academy Award. With all due respect to Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, Scorsese is the best director never to win a Best Director Academy Award.

Apparently, this new film The Departed harkens back to his great films like Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and Goodfellas.

Top 5 Martin Scorsese films
1. Goodfellas
2. Taxi Driver
3. The King Of Comedy
4. After Hours
5. The Color Of Money

The Departed is a not-very-faithful remake of the Honk Kong film Infernal Affairs. Ironically, Infernal Affairs is part of a three movie cycle that is similar to Taxi Driver. So it all makes sense.

To help promote the release of The Departed, Time Magazine interviewed Scorsese and the three main actors. The interview is quite interesting and I highly recommend it.