Film Noir for the 00's

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2006)

Yes, I dare confirm it. Better than GoodFellas, by far.
A great script full of beautiful, naturalistic dialog and a plot where nothing is unnecessary and nothing is missing. DeCaprio shines, I wasn't able to catch him in a fake moment. Nicholson at his Nicholson persona, nothing new there for me - I prefer him in movies where he awes us with his gift like in About Schmidt - Sheen, Damon and Baldwin delivering solid characters and Whalberg in a knock out performance that I'm willing to bet will get him at least the Oscar nomination if not the win.
Scorsese masterly blends the script with sounds, images and an editing that makes everything lean and fast. Mr. Scorsese has better Mr. Scorsese and I thought that it was impossible for anyone, including himself, to do that.
My bet is that this film will score nominations for Picture, Screenplay, Leading Actor - De Caprio, Supporting Actor -Whalberg and Nicholson, and if the Academy really, really likes him, Scorsese will finally take Oscar home, and sweetly, it will be for one of his best oeuvres.