[Gangster Cinema] Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman'

I was interested in this movie until I heard about the DeNiro/ Pesci coming out sub-plot romance.

 

Awesome - old guys getting another gig, all the cool gangsters.......

Must see !

DD

 

Did you read the book?

 

Really? I don't call unlubricated bareback action between two men in their 70's in the back of a 1970's Lincoln "romance"..... but to each their own.
Although it was cool that they used that scene to explain what DeNiro mean't when he said he "liked to paint houses".

 

Rave reviews coming out...

"Al Pacino for best actor"
"On the Waterfront meets The Godfather", etc.

 

I didnt enjoy the film, but I'm not a big mafia movie fan.

 

I loved it and have watched it 1.5 times so far. It has a heavy Cohen Brothers/Fargo feel to it and even references Fargo with the chipper shredder. Most of the jokes land. Some of them were a bit corny, like the guy with an ear reduction surgery, but the scene where De Niro discusses the wisdom of going to the bathroom first and then fires like 12 shots and only hits with 3 was awesome.

 

loved it, didn't notice the CGI at all really

 

I thought it was good. Only downside was noticing the deaging effects on Deniro because of earlier movies such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.

 

Regarding Italians playing Irish gangsters

A&E did a movie in 2001, The Big Heist about the Luthansa Heist. I saw it before ever seeing Goodfellas. Donald Sutherland plays Jimmy in full Irish accent.

It changes your perspective on the character

 

Yeah, it's like FaceApp made a movie, but after about 5 minutes you forget about it.......pardon me, fuggetaboutit.

 

What a brilliant movie. Damn shame the way movies are going and stuff like this is going by the wayside because it doesn’t fit into a “cinematic universe”.

 

I liked it enough. Not as good as Wolf of Wall Street, but good. These types of films are becoming a unique experience of their own which heightens the experience of seeing old school film work and screen play in progress.
I could feel Franks care for Jimmy, but at the same time, i didn't ever feel chemistry or connection between them. They showed more family time with Frank and his daughters lack of relationship with Russell than Jimmy connecting with Frank and gaining true trust. The lack of relationship building with Frank and Jimmy is what kept the film from being up there with his very best imo.

 

I’m not disagreeing with you necessarily but I’ve read reviews describing Frank as lacking any self direction or inner life and always just following orders. One writer compares him to Adolph Eichmann. He alienates his family and friends, only showing a bit of remorse when he’s dying. I felt like the Joe Pesci scenes were strong in that way. It became obvious that he was manipulating Frank more and more (give me your sunglasses, here’s a special ring, etc). It didn’t seem like Frank struggled with killing Jimmy very much. He considered it during breakfast and went on with his day.

Anyway I think part of why this movie is so good is that his character is ambiguous. How much of a transformation does he have at the end?

 

Loved it.

 

I thought it was a sequel to The Piano since it had Anna Paquin and Harvey Keitel.

Good movie. I liked it and thought it was mostly really well done. Anna Paquin has few lines, but I think in most of the scenes she was in she stole them. That's impressive from someone acting with Deniro, Pacino and Pesci. I think Scorsese wanted it that way. That's also very impressive.

The only drawback I have with it is that it wasn't something especially new and groundbreaking. I don't know that's really a drawback. Not every movie can be groundbreaking. But I think I was expecting that going in which is more my fault than the film's.

 

This was not worth the hype! Maybe Scorsese should’ve focused on his own film before he started trashing others. I know people will love it because of the actors paired with Scorsese is almost too good to be true, but it clearly shows they are all aging.

Even with the actors flaws, they are the sole reason this movie was bearable. The writing, production, soundtrack were all forgettable. The humour didn’t hit home, except for the first part and the ears.

The length of scenes, amount of random talk, lack of action and sincere emotion from DeNiro’s character at times, but also personally felt the story went too much into Hoffa, that it should’ve been much shorter. 2-2,5 hours max.

It’s an okay / solid movie, but not a classic by any standard and maybe it just was made too late. Scorsese is a legend, which probably will get him some awards, but to me this piece showed his arrogance as there were serious production flaws and lack of emotion, feeling on how to keep the audience intrigued and connected to the main character in particular.

Too many relationships w/ the main character are underdeveloped and that shouldn’t happen in a 3,5 hour movie. Given the focus on DeNiro’s character and how isolated it was made to be, there should’ve been more focus on what life does to him internally as well as between him and his family, but also mob friends.

Occasionally showing a conversation or interaction is not enough, especially when you present a facade - everything is okay for the most part - and are trying to tell the story from a character’s POV, which the audience should get to empathise, understand and get to know.

All in all it was underwhelming as it left a lot to be desired, it didn’t deliver enough on connecting with DeNiro nor Pacino or Pesci for that matter. The relationship with one daughter was well played, but a good soundtrack would’ve gone a long way as well as showing some struggle / inner conflict to connect more and understand DeNiro’s thoughts, life, his world.

 

terrific film, definitely a 9/10. Even kept my wife interested in it for three hours, not every gangster movie can do that. The period film locations and sets were sumptuous, and I think it's groundbreaking in the sense of epic scope and being told from the perspective of DeNiro's character nearing his own death. Great film.