Getting Way Too Excited for The Departed

My anticipation for The Departed is now starting to reach a ridiculous fever pitch.  Not only did David Poland rave about it... twice, but a blog that I discovered last night (InContention.com) has also gone completely gonzo for it:

One of the most artistically ruthless films to be produced in decades, The Departed is a spike of adrenaline straight to the heart of an audience desperately in need of such rambunctious filmmaking. A loose but paradoxically loyal remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, the film is doused with a cast of familiar faces, each performer offering portrayals unique to anything in their respective repertoires. The script, tuned down to deafening perfection by screenwriter William Monahan, is as frenetic as director Martin Scorsese’s visual vernacular. And the atmosphere, molded by Scorsese as if he were twenty years younger, is as saturating and penetrating as one could hope for out of a freewheeling, balls-to-the-wall entry in the cops and robbers genre. This is truly one of the best films of the year.

And if all that wasn't enough, Defamer is reporting that in the film Nicholson's character has a sex scene with two women, but one of them is (wait for it) wearing a strap on.  Says Jack himself:

"I thought it would be more frightening if my character had a sexual component . . . so I called Marty up and said, 'Look, I just thought of what would be an interesting scene of [my character] having wild sex. And in this scene with two girls, one of the girls is wearing a strap-on' . . . This was my idea and improvisational, and Marty went for it."

I'm not sure why, but I'm slightly giddy about this whole situation.

Comments

[davidwag]

Continuation of that phone conversation:

SCORSESE: Sure, Jack, that sounds great.

NICHOLSON: Thanks.

S: One question: how did you come up with that particular scenario?

N: Huh? Oh, I don't know, it just sort of, um, came to me.

(sound effect: Velcro straps coming apart)

S: What was that?

N: Nothing, nothing. I gotta go.

[Burbanked]

Jeff Wells is feeling pretty ga-ga about it, too - http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2006/09/scorsese_is_bac.php

But read cautiously; as usual, he suggests at least one spoiler near the top of the article. There might have been more, but I skimmed the rest to avoid them.