Susan Hated Literature

Dir: Martin Scorsese
Writ: William Monahan based on previous screenplay by Siu Fai Mak & Felix Chong

• Leonardo DiCaprio - Billy Costigan
• Matt Damon - Colin Sullivan
• Jack Nicholson - Frank Costello
• Mark Wahlberg - Dignam
• Martin Sheen - Oliver Queenan
• Ray Winstone - Mr. French
• [Alec Baldwin - Ellerby

It took me a while, but I finally managed to go see this film last night, and now I want to go again, because it really is fantastic. Bloody, violent, full of no-good nastiness and general scumbaggery. But wonderful to watch all the same.

The film begins “some years ago” where we see a young Colin Sullivan being approached by local bad-guy-boss Costello and groomed to join the police force and become a mole. Billy Costigan also joins the police force, but he is sent out as an undercover cop to infiltrate Costello’s gang. Sullivan meanwhile has succeeded in rising through the force and is now doing the exact opposite, infiltrating the police for Costello’s benefit.

Thematically the film is mainly concerned with betrayal and family and loyalty. Both DiCaprio and Damon are playing the character of a rat, but in very different ways, and I’d have to say that DiCaprio plays it better. Or maybe just got the better role. Damon is great as the cocky, upwardly mobile cop, but it is DiCaprio’s character who has more emotion and development to explore.

All the acting is top-notch, though on occasion I thought Nicholson went a little over the top. It could be argued that his character is over the top, so we’ll let it go. It is two and half hours of a great film, you won’t notice the time passing at all.

IMDb | Scathing reviews for Bitchy People | Scanners | Random Burblings

Tags: 9 Stars, Alec Baldwin, based on previous film, betrayal, Boston, crime, Felix Chong, gunfights, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, loyalty, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese, Martin Sheen, Matt Damon, police, Ray Winstone, Siu Fai Mak, The Departed, undercover cops, violence, William Monahan

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Dir: Martin Scorsese
* Leonardo Di Caprio - Howard Hughes
* Cate Blanchett - Katherine Hepburn
* Kate Beckinsale - Ava Gardner
* Alec Baldwin - Juan Trippe

Not being a huge fan of DiCaprio’s I wasn’t really sure why I wanted to see this film, the trailers weren’t anything special, but I suppose all the talk about how good this film was made me more inclined to watch it.

Not knowing anything much about Howard Hughes I am not in a position to offer a verdict on how well it portrayed him, or how accurate it was. However, DiCaprio does a fantastic job. First off he plays the dashing playboy, directing films and flying planes as fast as possible. We see his romances, and Blanchett is fantastic as Hepburn, his battles to keep shoting, or kepp flying, or to keep his business (TWA) out of Pan-Am hands. But it is later in the film where he really shines, when Hughes becomes a recluse and, lets put it bluntly, a bit of a wierdo. Even better is his courtroom battle, when he comes back from insanity to challenge the crooked senator and keep his planes in the air.

There are quite a few stunning visuals in this film, and the plane crash that Hughes suffers is fantastically awful (I’m wondering how Flight of the Phoenix will compare, its trailer was showing before The Aviator). And yet beneath the glossy surface we only catch glimpses of the man that was Howard Hughes, and although the audience may think we have a better understanding of him, it is hard to really get to know him.

Surprisingly good

Tags: 8 Stars, Alec Baldwin, biography, biopic, Cate Blanchett, Howard Hughes, Kate Beckinsale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, The Aviator

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