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BY A CORRESPONDENT
"The Departed," the Martin Scorsese-directed gangster
movie won the 12th Annual Critics Choice award for the
best picture of the year. Martin Scorsese won the prize
for the best director. Coming barely a fortnight to the
annual Oscar award nominations 2007, the Critics Choice
awards gives a window to the hopefuls of the annual
Oscar awards 2007. The Critics Choice awards were
presented at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium at
California. The Oscar awards will be presented at the
Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, while the nominations and
nominees to the Oscar run-up will be announced on
January 23, 2007. The nominations will be announced at
the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.
Scorsese's "Departed" was also nominated for Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor, Jack
Nicholson, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Writer William
Monahan and Best Composer Howard Shore.
The Departed is a novel gangland movie. The Departed's
script revolves around the Boston police's war with the
underground. The police depute one of their bright
cadets to the gangland to be their spy. Meanwhile, the
gang leader sends one of his own hardened criminals into
the police force to infiltrate it and gather information
for the mafia. However, the story takes a twist once it
becomes evident to both the cops and gangsters that
there is a mole in the middle. Meanwhile, each of the
agents in "Departed" become deeply consumed by their
double lives and reach a situation where one has to
expose the other to survive. Martin Scorsese tells the
story of the gang war with the government in a touching
way.
Some of the prominent actors in Departed are Leonardo
DiCaprio, who appears as the undercover officer Billy
Costigan and Matt Damon who acts as Colin Sullivan, the
criminal in uniform. Other major "Departed" actors
include Jack Nicholson (Frank Costello), Mark Wahlberg (Dignam),
Martin Sheen (Oliver Queenan), Ray Winstone, (Mr.
French), Vera Farmiga, (Madolyn), Anthony Anderson
(Brown), Alec Baldwin, (Ellerby), Kevin Corrigan (Cousin
Sean), James Badge Dale (Barrigan).
The following is the list of Critics Choice award
winners - Oscar frontrunners - announced on Friday,
January 12.
Best Picture: The Departed
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress: Helen Mirren - The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Best Acting Ensemble: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Director: Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Best Writer: Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Animated Feature: Cars
Best Young Actor: Paul Dano - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Young Actress: Abigail Breslin - Little Miss
Sunshine
Best Comedy Movie: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America
for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Best Family Film (live action): Charlotte's Web
Best Picture Made for Television: Elizabeth I
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Best Foreign Language Film: Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Song: "Listen", Beyonce - Dreamgirls
Best Soundtrack: Dreamgirls
Best Composer: Phillip Glass - The Illusionist
This is the first time ever a Martin Scorsese movie wins
two prestigious awards, one including the director.
Scorcese joked: “It’s (Departed) the first I tried to
make that has a plot.”
Till now, "Dreamgirls" was supposed to be the front
runner in the race for Oscar awards 2007. Sure enough, "Dreamgirls"
won four awards- two for supporting actors and two for
music. However, the double victory by "Departed"
slightly dims the Oscar prospects of "Dreamgirls."
Still, "Dreamgirls" carries with it a lot of popular
support which the Oscar jury will find hard to ignore.
Dreamgirls won best supporting actor for Eddie Murphy,
best supporting actress for Jennifer Hudson, best song
for "Listen," performed by Beyonce Knowles, and best
soundtrack.
The Departed is a remake of a "Wu jian dao" (Infernal
Affairs), a Hong Kong made in 2002. The story is written
by William Monahan, based on the previous screenplay by
Felix Chong and Siu Fai Mak. The lead role is played by
Leonardo DiCaprio, who has acted in blockbuster movies
like Titanic and Aviator. His first movie was Critters
in 1991, though he is known best for his performance in
the 1997 movie Titanic. DiCaprio played Jack Dawson to
the hilt and Titanic went on to become the top-grossing
movie ever. The movie received 11 Oscar awards that
year. Prior to "The Departed," Leonardo Dicaprio has
worked with Martin Scorsese earlier in "Gangs of New
York" and "Aviator," to movies which brought him wide
acclaim. His upcoming 2007 movie is "Blink." Aviator won
five 2004 Oscars awards.
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