The Departed

Dir: Martin Scorsese, 2006 (8.9*)

Best Picture (AA)

Scorsese finally got his due, with an Oscar for Best Director after 8 nominations (for not his best either), he began his speech with "can I get a recount?", a hilarious throwback to the "stolen" election of 2000. This organized crime drama is based on a small and inferior Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. The screenplay’s author, William Monahan (Oscar winner) sent it to Leonardo DiCaprio, who convinced Scorsese to film it, with himself in the lead role of an undercover detective infiltrating a crime family headed by Jack Nicholson, while his inside man, Matt Damon, works on the organized crime task force for the police – so it’s a "double mole" story, complex yet tightly plotted. Mark Wahlberg is excellent, and Oscar nominated, as a detective suspicious of Damon, Martin Sheen is well cast as head of the task force. 4 Oscars