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Annie and I watched The Departed tonight.  Astonishingly good movie.

The twists and turns are such that there are times when you don’t know who is who, and what the possible ramifications of a particular situation are.  There were a dozens of moments when we had to stop the DVD and recap who was loyal to whom, who knew what, when they knew it, and who else in the room knew the same thing.  There were situations in the film that were double, double reversed, so you were spun around two or three times.

The last 10 minutes of the movie, in particular, border on the ridiculous, but never quite step over the line.  The last scene — just before it fades to black — is a classic for all time.  (Here it is — don’t click it if you don’t want to see it.)

Trivia — this film has the most instances of the F-word (or its derivatives) for a Best Picture Winner.  It occurs 237 times.  I’d guess Mark Wahlberg says 90% of them.  Seriously.  His entire role consists of saying the F-word in new and inventive ways.

On top of all that, I now have an excuse to dig The Dropkick Murphys.  I’ve loved their name since college, but couldn’t name one of their songs until now.

If I was Irish, I would have heritage like this.  But I’m a New Zealander.  Last I heard, we have no mafia.