April 21, 2008
When I first saw The Departed I thought it was far too much fun to ever win a Best Picture Oscar. Best Picture winners are often many things -- moving, tough to watch, socially relevant, about an hour too long -- but rarely are they the types of movies you want to throw in your DVD player and watch five times in a row. It turns out I was wrong, for not only did The Departed win the big prize, but it also brought Martin Scorsese the first Best Director Oscar of his career. It's an award that was long overdue, and one he certainly earned for creating one of the most stylishly entertaining crime films of the new millennium.