EVERY MAN JACK

 well, not everyman.

Sometimes Jack Nicholson has been a bit over-the-top in his portrayals of the 'ordinary joker'. He has a habit of hamming it up a bit. Not that I haven't enjoyed even his hammiest moments like in The Shining and The Witches of Eastwick and his superb craftsmanship in Chinatown and Carnal Knowledge but to me, the best films he has been in were these two:

One from his early career Five Easy Pieces by Bob Rafaelson - one of my top 10 ever best films,
and one of his most recent, The Departed by Matin Scorcese which I saw again tonight on TV which is becoming one of the best films I have ever seen.

The Departed just gets better and better on re-watching. Scorcese of course is a great director and chooses strong stories and brilliant writers but the cast in this film is very strong. Damon, DiCaprio, Sheen, Famiglia, Wahlberg,  and of course Nicholson and others gives it depth. Scorcese uses music well and in this film his love of The Rolling Stones is evident in the tracks used along with an inspired use of 'Comfortably Numb' the Pink Floyd track from The Wall - this one with Van Morrison singing. I noted that this was used in one of the later Sopranos episodes which is a sort of homage to Scorcese.

COMFORTABLY NUMB

I was in heaven ( or Limbo) while watching this this evening. A perfect ending to a great day.