the departed and blood diamond

even if you don't like leo dicaprio, there's a million other reasons to watch these movies. for THE DEPARTED, let me break it down for you: 1) Martin Scorsese - need i say more? the guy FINALLY won an oscar for this movie!!! if you're a movie buff and you know of the history of Scorsese's road to getting the oscar, you know how momentous Sunday night was for him. 2) the cast - leo, jack nicholson, matt damon, mark wahlberg, martin sheen, alec baldwin... 3) the story - yes, this was based on a Chinese movie (infernal affairs), but the way Scorsese executed it was priceless. 4) the writing - william monahan's script was really good. i thought he's set it in New York, but he did one even better. he set it in Boston with the Irish mob. yowza! i can't explain the movie without giving away something, so you better really just watch it. the ending will kill you. ;) as for BLOOD DIAMOND - leo really outdid himself. the south afrikan (that's really how that's spelled) accent was down to the tee. he nailed it. he was, as they say in showbiz, superb. he and jennifer connelly really had chemistry and djimon hounsou was heartbreaking. more than just another movie, it tells of the history behind the conflict diamonds and how we as consumers are paying for something other people have died for in order to get it. really compelling stuff.