Departing Soon at a Theater Near You

October 8, does that mean anything to you? What about October 6? October 3? Scratch your head no more over these dates, for I shall enlighten you. October 8 is Matt's birthday, the 6th is the official opening date for The Departed and the 3rd is the day The Departed is holding its premiere in New York City. Matt, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to say I won't be able to attend, since I have tickets to A Chorus Line that night. You've got to let me know about these things sooner!

In the beginning of his career, director Martin Scorsese teamed up quite a bit with actor Robert De Niro. Ironically, 2007 could see them competing against each other in the Best Director category at the Oscars (Scorsese for The Departed, De Niro for The Good Shepherd). Coincidentally, both their films star Matt Damon. The Departed is (loosely) based on the Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs. It seems a cop is masquerading as a bad guy and a bad guy is masquerading as a cop. How on earth will mob czar Jack Nicholson and head cop Martin Sheen ever tell the difference? And will those loyal fans of the original Hong Kong film ever forgive Hollywood for botching it up with a remake? You can bet a lot is riding on this one.

Matt plays Colin Sullivan, and even though he's supposedly the bad guy, I gotta say I never really think of Matt as bad. I know he's wanted me to think that pretty badly. He kills Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley, for instance, but I thought Law's character was annoyingly arrogant and pretty much deserved to die. Ditto for Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's a thief in the Ocean's movies and an assassin in the Bourne movies, but he's cute as hell so I just forgive him. He "died" briefly in The Brothers Grimm, but this time out, I'm afraid he's not gonna make it to the final credits. If that should happen, I'll just keep reminding myself it's only a movie.

And what a movie it should be with a cast like this: Matt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, why I'm tingling as I type! If one pays attention to the things Mr. Scorsese says from time to time, one would notice he's mentioned he plans to retire after maybe two more pictures, so we should all be grateful we've got this one on the way. And with all the hoopla surrounding this film, one hopes Leonardo will be able to pull off this particular Irish ruffian better than the one he played in Gangs of New York. But at the very least, we know Matt's and Mark Wahlberg's accents will be believable. After all, they both used to pahk their cahs in Hahvahd yahd.