Bears, Bowling, and Bullets to the Brain

This is gonna be quick. I promise.

Last night was Monday night so it meant bowling!!! Before that, however, I had to endure three quarters of my Super Bowl Bears getting the crapped kicked out of them by the lowly Arizona Cardinals. I got myself ready for bowling and head out. We changed our location because the one on Sierra Highway can go ahead and kiss my left. . . arm and I figured that we should try the one way out in East Palmdale. I listened to the game on the radio on the way there and lo and behold, what do I hear? The Bears have erased a 23-3 deficit and have just run back a punt for a TD that puts them up 24-23. It's incredible! I then listen as Cardinals kicker Neal Rackers misses a gimme (for him, an All-Pro kicker) 40-yard field goal and the Bears win. 6-0. Wow. The best part of it was the tirade that Dennis Green, the Cardinals head coach, went on after the game. (Beware - he uses profanity) Here it is, in all of its YOUTUBE goodness. . . Just click on the arrow to play it right here!



On to bowling. Chris and I bowled eight games in the FANTASTIC lanes out on Palmdale Boulevard. This place is incredible. It's evey adjective the opposite of the crappy one in Lancaster. We've found a new home on Monday nights! Anyway, I bowled pretty good. My average was 148 and my high game was 191, although I could have done better on that one. I left only two open frames but they were both (9 -) and I should have spared both of them. My game would have then been 210, I think, which would have been my new high. Dangit. What could have been. . .

I had class today and then headed to the 1350 showing of THE DEPARTED. I had to do a movie review for THE EXAMINER and of course, as you may remember, this was my most anticipated movie of the rest o' the year! I have not seen a movie since JACKASS, which was two weeks ago. I've been busy, give me a break. I went by my lonesome (not as bad as people make it out to be) and sat down to enjoy the Scorsese goodness. . . Instead of posting my weird grading scale (which, in my opinion now, can be thrown out - it was lame), I'm gonna give you my review that I wrote for the paper. This is an exclusive!!! Let me know what you think! You see, I'm a whore for accolades. I need them cuz after my editor has his way with it, I'll be sullen and downtrodden. . . But I'm getting used to it and preparing for it, so I'm a winner either way! So, without further ado, allow me to present my review of THE DEPARTED:

ALL-STAR CAST CARRIES ‘DEPARTED’

BY JUSTIN GOTT – STAFF WRITER

“I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”

Speaking in a dialogue filled with aphorisms like that, Frank Costello, the leader of the Irish Mafia in not-so-long-ago Boston, controls everything. An eccentric, aging man, Costello is played by Jack Nicholson, who is also kooky and getting up there in years. One could think that a movie featuring “the man, the myth, the legend” simply known as Jack, essentially playing a violent version of himself, would be dominated by an over-the-top performance that could ultimately distract from the film’s flow. That almost happens in Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed,” but brilliant performances by both Matt Damon and Leonardo Dicaprio save Scorsese’s return to the Mob genre.

‘The Departed,’ based on a 2002 Hong Kong thriller called ‘Infernal Affairs,’ is being heralded as Scorsese’s best film since his masterpiece ‘Goodfellas.’ I can see critics getting attached to a film like ‘The Departed’ since it features such a strong cast and it showcases Marty in the genre that everyone knows he does so well. But from someone who thought both of his last films (‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘The Aviator’) were fantastic, I think that ‘The Departed’ is a small step down for Scorsese.

That is not to say that the film is not good. ‘The Departed’ is taut and intense. Let’s just say that my fingernails took a toll while I watched the action unfold! There are several scenes that leave your heart racing and your stomach tight. This film is anything but boring. Even at a running time of over 150 minutes, ‘The Departed’ is never tedious.

The film monitors closely the lives of two young men who have joined the Massachusetts State Police. These “Staties” are both trying to make names for themselves and, unbeknownst to each other, are dealing with the same issue.

Billy Costigan (Dicaprio) is the sole good guy from a bad family and is trying to prove it by having a respectable profession. Instead, it is his street credentials and family name that lead his superiors (brilliantly portrayed by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg) to ask him to go undercover into Costello’s regime.

Colin Sullivan (Damon) grew up with the assistance of father-like figure Costello. We see Costello buying young Colin groceries and supplying him with fatherly advice, that is if you consider “We can become cops or criminals. But when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?” fatherly advice. When Sullivan graduates from the academy and begins to work his way up the ladder of the unit that is specifically tracking down Costello, good old dad is right there waiting for son to tip him off to what the police is doing next.

Matt Damon is fantastic as the “double-crossing cop”. I would go so far as to say that this is his best performance yet. Damon is a reliable actor who always gives us likeable, yet constricted characters. However, it is the dislike we feel towards his character that makes his performance so great. Clean-shaven, baby-faced Sullivan is so conscience-less that I found myself rooting for him to fail and groaning aloud when he succeeded. His quiet confidence turns into unabridged arrogance and Damon pulls it off brilliantly.

Dicaprio is Scorsese’s new Robert De Niro, as this is Leo’s third straight performance under his direction. I have no issues with their continued pairing, because I feel they bring the best out of each other. Dicaprio gives a painful performance in the heroic role. Scorsese recently told “Entertainment Weekly” that Dicaprio has a “face (that) is a battlefield of moral conflicts” and that countenance is on full display throughout ‘The Departed.’

And what about Jack? Nicholson is everything you would expect and nothing more. His presence gives more credibility to the other actors’ performances because of the rumored improvisation that Nicholson frequently resorted to. Sometimes too over-the-top, Jack does just enough to hang with the young guns opposite him.

Scorsese’s return to the gangster genre is bloody (a Scorsese trademark), fast-moving (the first hour is cut back and forth between the two main characters’ lives), and realistically heart-breaking.

Although it is a remake, I do not find the need to compare it to the original film. This is Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan’s vision. The Boston setting is perfect and all of the accents are, for the most part, on key.

In ‘The Departed,’ liars run amok, violence is widespread, and priests should not be trusted with adolescent boys. That sounds curiously similar to the real world and it is that cynically-driven realism, plus several powerhouse performances that makes this film an overall success. (Grade: B)

So what did you think???

Thanks in advance everybody!!!

- - - "If you want her to make the meal, you gotta let her buy the groceries."
- - - From last nights's STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (great episode by the way!)

JUSTIN