The Irishman (2019)

[Gemma Violet]

Wow, I'm gobsmacked.  I saw The Irishman over the weekend and came over here expecting to read rave reviews.  I loved it and could easily see it a second time.  (In divided viewings this time, of course.) 😁

[DrSpaceman73]

I enjoyed the movie.  Found it compelling and well done even at 3+ hours

But I found the last half hour pointless.  They could have summed that up in about 10 minutes.  ANd I found the storyline with Frank and his daughter pointless.  Shocking, the daughter knew he was a killer and decided to distance herself. 

A lot I didn't know about Jimmy Hoffa in terms of the details.  I knew who he was and that he disappeared, but little else. 

Not a whole lot different from other mob movies, but still a solid one. 

[Enero]

On 12/2/2019 at 9:39 AM, Constantinople said:

But leaving aside the issue of historical veracity, I fail to see the point of this movie. It didn't cover any ground that hadn't been covered in Goodfellas or Casino (for that matter, I think it was Roger Ebert who said Casino was largely superfluous). One last hurrah for Scorsese-De Niro-Pesci, now with Pacino!, isn't a good enough reason.

Agreed. I watched this over the weekend. I thought it was dreadful. The actors were just channeling mobster roles they’d done when they were younger and in their prime. And thus were not impressive. While Scorsese was tackling a mobster story for the millionth time. The movie was a complete snoozer. 

I cannot believe Scorsese got award nominations for something he’s done a zillion times. It did not show any creative growth or originality from him. But then again he’s Scorsese doing a movie with DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino! Of course he’d be nominated, no matter how undeserving. RME. 

This was truly a waste of three hours for me. 

[Hanahope]

I did enjoy the movie and never felt bored over the 3 1/2 hours (though admittedly, I watched it in two parts).  And I liked getting more info about Jimmy Hoffa than I knew before (which was very little).

That said, I have to agree that, yeah, its another mob movie, with some of the same actors you've seen in several other mob movies with a director of other mob movies.  sure, the CGI to make the actors appear younger was cool, though they still looked 40+ when they were "younger."

 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

16 hours ago, Enero said:

Agreed. I watched this over the weekend. I thought it was dreadful. The actors were just channeling mobster roles they’d done when they were younger and in their prime. And thus were not impressive. While Scorsese was tackling a mobster story for the millionth time. The movie was a complete snoozer. 

I cannot believe Scorsese got award nominations for something he’s done a zillion times. It did not show any creative growth or originality from him. But then again he’s Scorsese doing a movie with DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino! Of course he’d be nominated, no matter how undeserving. RME. 

This was truly a waste of three hours for me. 

And boring AS FUCK.

I already know about Hoffa. And it's not like Scorsese is the first to try and give us more background on him. Jack Nicholson did a movie, Hoffa, about Hoffa, portraying Hoffa! Sure it was 30 years ago, also filled with inaccuracies,

this one had him murdered while he was sitting in his car by Frank Whaley

Don't recall the name of Danny DeVito's character, who played his loyal friend.

[kiddo82]

I'm halfway through and I love it.  It's like taking an Ambien but better.  Just as effective without the hangover in the a.m.  Hoffman LaRoche should market it.

Edited January 30, 2020 by kiddo82

[Was-MArsenault]

Charles 'Chuckie' O'Brien, who called himself Jimmy Hoffa's 'foster son,' dies at 86

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/02/13/chuckie-obrien-jimmy-hoffa-foster-son/4756652002/

[lasu]

I thought this movie was a'ight.  I'm a Scorsese fan, but this really didn't break any new ground.  I will say I didn't get bored in the theater, though I did check my phone a few times to see how much longer there was.  I also had to pace myself on ordering beers or I would have ended up having to take a Lyft home!

But...I hated the de-aging.  It might have been better on the small screen, but I was distracted by it and never got used to it.  It might have worked better on unknown actors, but I know what all of these actors actually looked like when they were younger.  I can totally understand that the goal is to simply make them look younger, not exactly they they themselves did when they were younger.  But all the same, because I know better, it doesn't end up looking like a young Pesci, it ends up looking like Peschi playing an elf on the Polar Express.

[Inquisitionist]

4 hours ago, lasu said:

But...I hated the de-aging.  It might have been better on the small screen,

Believe me, it was distracting and annoying on MY small screen.

[dubbel zout]

Mine, too. I don't think it was all that effective, TBH. Yes, De Niro looked younger, but for a while he looked too old for where the character was supposed to be.

[Shriekingeel]

The most noticeable thing about the movie for me was the generic background music in many scenes. I normally expect Scorsese to fill up action scenes with this or that golden oldie; it just seemed odd. I don’t know if it was because 3 and a half hours of movie would require a whole lot of oldies and create a massive music-rights budget, or if it was simply an artistic choice.  

[VCRTracking]

I think the de-aging works if you look at what the real Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa looked like. DeNiro and Pacino weren't supposed to look like they were in the movie HEAT again they were supposed to look like:

This film reminded me of AMADEUS, which also eschews historical accuracy to tell a more dramatic character story so it doesn't matter ito me if the IRISHMAN is what really happened or not. However whereas in AMADEUS, old Salieri relating his tale was basically just a framing device to tell the main story in flashback, the elderly  Sheeran telling his story is what the movie is about. It involving Hoffa makes it more historic and famous but in the end it could have been about any one the mob wanted killed who was close to Frank. Like probably some of you I thought the killing of Hoffa was going to be the climax and was surprised there was still a lot of movie left. Then I watched it and realized It's about the elegaic tone which we didn't get in Scorsese's previous gangster movies.  The most effecting moment for me was towards the end with DeNiro and Pesci in prison and the latter now so frail, trembling dipping bread in grape juice. We finally see a Pesci mobster live to an old age instead of being whacked early on and it might be the saddest and depressing fate of all. 

 

Maybe its because of a year of this pandemic made me more aware of my mortality and how life is short but I was moved by that final half hour.

Edited July 16, 2021 by VCRTracking

[Inquisitionist]

6 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I think the de-aging works if you look at what the real Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa looked like. DeNiro and Pacino weren't supposed to look like they were in the movie HEAT again they were supposed to look like:

 Do you know what year this photo was taken?

[VCRTracking]

27 minutes ago, Inquisitionist said:

 Do you know what year this photo was taken?

Judging by Sheeran's sideburns early 70s when he was in his early 50s. Heat/Casno era Deniro would have had to put on some weight to play him. Hoffa was in his early 60s by then so he would have been in his 50s in the earlier scenes so Devil's Advocate era Pacino would have also had to gain weight to play him.

[Inquisitionist]

Thanks.  The scenes were DeNiro's Sherran was supposed to be much younger (say, early 30s) were jarring and unconvincing for me.

[VCRTracking]

12 minutes ago, Inquisitionist said:

Thanks.  The scenes were DeNiro's Sherran was supposed to be much younger (say, early 30s) were jarring and unconvincing for me.

Yeah no de-aging technology was going to make DeNiro look in his 30s again. I think of it though like Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence where he was supposed to be playing much younger through most of the story even though he doesn't look like Mr Smith anymore. Theres no attempt with makeup to hide his age. You just have to overlook it.

[Inquisitionist]

7 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

Yeah no de-aging technology was going to make DeNiro look in his 30s again. I think of it though like Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence where he was supposed to be playing much younger through most of the story even though he doesn't look like Mr Smith anymore. Theres no attempt with makeup to hide his age. You just have to overlook it.

When a film makes a big deal of using this technology, I find it hard to overlook!  To each their own.  🙃

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, Inquisitionist said:

When a film makes a big deal of using this technology, I find it hard to overlook!  To each their own.  🙃

"Overlook" is the wrong word because that's impossible. I should have said "You just have to go with it." It's like how Cuba Gooding Jr. looked NOTHING like O.J. Simpson in The People vs O.J. Simpson. You just have to go with it when you watch it!

Edited July 16, 2021 by VCRTracking

[Joimiaroxeu]

Finally watched this on Netflix.

Pacino's accent was laughable to me. What was that, German? Pennsylvania Dutch? Chicago? Guess even Scorsese can't make Al do his job better.

For Hoffa I think I might've gone with Warren Beatty instead but perhaps he doesn't do acting roles anymore.

I still don't understand why JFK and RFK went so hard on Hoffa and the mob. Was it something personal? Whatever, apparently the mob is indeed taking credit for JFK's assassination. So much for the CIA, the Russians/Cubans, or some U.S. military brass who were mad about the humiliating attempted hit on Castro.

"You charge with a gun, with a knife you run."

Joey Gallo was begging to get murked with that mouth of his. But wow, to kill him in front of his wife and kid? Yikes.

Anna Paquin playing Frank's daughter was unexpected. Interesting casting.

In even more interesting casting, the guy who played Tony Pro was a British actor. IMO his Italian accent was way more disciplined than whatever Pacino was trying to do.

So if Hoffa hadn't been so stubborn and arrogant after he got out of prison he'd still be alive? Or at least not mysteriously "disappeared."

Looked like Hoffa knew the jig was up but he thought Frank was going to help him. Not sure why Hoffa's son was brought into it though, unless they wanted to make sure he wouldn't seek revenge later. (Or cooperate with the feds' investigation.)

Weird how Frank's daughter Peggy knew he did the Hoffa hit. She was always fond of Hoffa while she loathed Russ. I wondered if perhaps Russ had messed with her when she was a little girl but she didn't dare tell Frank for fear of what he might do.

Hoffa was simply cremated? Where'd the story about his being dumped in Giants stadium's foundation come from?

Frank outlived them all and took their secrets to the grave crypt. Okay. 🙁

Ditto comments upthread, I think Scorsese could've cut 30 - 45 minutes out without hurting the overall movie. I'm glad I didn't see it in a theater because I probably would've fallen asleep.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Joimiaroxeu