The Irishman by Scorsese (1 Viewer)

[The Military Workshop]

Only 3 days to go until on Netflix. Has been on limited release in some cinemas.

Good cast including De Nero, Pesci, Pacino, Keitel, Ray Romano.

Centres around mafia and Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Over 3 hours and US$159 million to make. Apparently quite a bit of the budget spent on special effects to make actors look younger.

Anybody seen it yet ?

 

[marco55]

It comes on Netflix over here Wednesday night.I can't stand DeNiro anymore but he is a good actor.I have to believe it will be good movie with all the A class actors. I really want to see Pesci as he makes a good gangster.^&grin
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

this is an all star cast...
anxious to see it...

 

[nysoldiers]

Pretty typical Scorsese, so if you like mobster movies with their breed of violence and coercion you will like this movie.
The big three....DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci work well together and still radiate their threatening personas.
Frankly, for this genre Godfather 1 and 2 are hard to ever beat when it comes to the story, direction and cast of characters.
Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed all get honorable mention as will this film. IMO

 

[lancer]

Saw this today and liked it but I have a few problems with it. One is the age of the principal actors, notably Deniro. Much of the movie is told in flashback and the makeup used to make Deniro look younger doesn't quite work, making him look stiff and sort of surreal. Pesci looked much better and stole the show, for my money. Pacino chewed the scenery, as usual, and I found his version of Hoffa much inferior to Jack Nicholson's. All that said, I liked the movie, slow burn that it was. -- Al

 

[BHogan]

I'm looking forward to watching this. I'll share my thoughts after I've seen it, but I suspect I'll echo what others have said.

Brendan

 

[The Military Workshop]

Saving it for the weekend.

 

[tdubel]

I read the book that this movie is based on, it was a great read. The Hoffa mystery unfortunately is much like the Kennedy conspiracy, there are a few plausible outcomes supported by facts and it depends on what you believe! I found this book after having read a myriad of them including the FBI released facts as fairly close to what I think happened. The issue for me is who actually did it, I think the facts, methodology and day's events are pretty accurate (IMO), but did the "Irishman" actually do it or relay the story. Anyhow, again, the book was a great read and I look forward to the movie.

Tom

 

[marco55]

I just saw the movie and thought it was pretty good. Pesci and DeNiro came across to me as older guys trying to play younger guys even with the CGI making them look younger.Pacino was pretty good IMO.Of course the story material was of great interest to me which made the movie enjoyable.
Mark......

 

[The Military Workshop]

Not one of Scorseses best, but better than his previous film, the woeful Silence.

Somebody needs to conduct an investigation as to where the US$170 million budget went. Scorsese is a genius for getting that kind of budget.

Am a Scorsese / mafia type movie fan but did not do much for me at all. Did not ask my wife what she thought as her glare said it all.

 

[jazzeum]

I just finished watching it and I thought it was brilliant. It’s not so much a movie about Hoffa but really about Frank Sheeran, friendship, friendships betrayed, remembrance and loss, all kinds of loss. As Sheeran succumbs to old age what does he have left but his memories of big events and no one remembers them except him and the Hoffa family. In the scenes as he ages and has to leave his home, he’s become a person like the rest of us.

The acting was superb but Joe Pesci — who hasn’t acted for many, many years was brilliant. The scenes with him and DeNiro are amazing. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t get a nomination or even an Oscar.

I’ve seen the other two movies about Hoffa, the ones with Nicholson and Stallone. All three are very good but different in their own way.

 

[lancer]

I just finished watching it and I thought it was brilliant. It’s not so much a movie about Hoffa but really about Frank Sheeran, friendship, friendships betrayed, remembrance and loss, all kinds of loss. As Sheeran succumbs to old age what does he have left but his memories of big events and no one remembers them except him and the Hoffa family. In the scenes as he ages and has to leave his home, he’s become a person like the rest of us.

The acting was superb but Joe Pesci — who hasn’t acted for many, many years was brilliant. The scenes with him and DeNiro are amazing. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t get a nomination or even an Oscar.

I’ve seen the other two movies about Hoffa, the ones with Nicholson and Stallone. All three are very good but different in their own way.

As the movie closed, and the camera left Sheeran in his room, alone and forgotten, all I could think of was the same type ending from The Godfather III, with Corleone sitting alone and forgotten in his courtyard. I thought Pesci was fantastic but thought Pacino somewhat awkward. I also liked the Stallone and Nicholson Hoffa movies for different reasons but mainly for the lead actors. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

Not one of Scorseses best, but better than his previous film, the woeful Silence.

Somebody needs to conduct an investigation as to where the US$170 million budget went. Scorsese is a genius for getting that kind of budget.

Am a Scorsese / mafia type movie fan but did not do much for me at all. Did not ask my wife what she thought as her glare said it all.

Ok, thanks for this, I thought it was just me...…………….not a fan of this movie...…..3.5 hours long and it felt like 7 hours, it just droned on and on and on. As Marco said, it was weird to see two old actors trying to play young guys, just weird, they looked young through the CGI, but moved like old men, the scene where DeNiro was throwing a beating on the shop owner after the guy pushed his daughter was painful, looked like an old man trying to return soup at a deli.

How many hot fudge sundaes did Pacino eat in this movie, he must have gained 100 pounds during the shooting...……………"you people, that's an insult, I want an apology"...………..

Everyone was raving about this movie, I'm more of a Goodfellas/Casino/Godfather type, the scene about the fish in the car was comical, I will say that. Also, Sebastian Maniscalco was in this? I missed him and was going to rewatch it, but no thanks...……...as the saying goes, different strokes for different folks, this one was a bust for me.

 

[jazzeum]

As the movie closed, and the camera left Sheeran in his room, alone and forgotten, all I could think of was the same type ending from The Godfather III, with Corleone sitting alone and forgotten in his courtyard. I thought Pesci was fantastic but thought Pacino somewhat awkward. I also liked the Stallone and Nicholson Hoffa movies for different reasons but mainly for the lead actors. -- Al

In this review in the New Yorker, the reviewer noted the following: “It’s instructive to compare Pacino’s Hoffa with Jack Nicholson’s, in the underrated “Hoffa” (1992). Pacino is leaner and louder, with a wary stare in those haunted orbs; Nicholson is more of a bulldog — foursquare, wasting fewer words, and thus, for my money, providing a more tenacious bite.”

It’s a good review, with allusions to Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/remembrance-of-kills-past-in-the-irishman

 

[jazzeum]

Some background information, for those who may not know some of the backstories, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/movies/the-irishman-true-story.html

While watching the movie, I chuckled when E. Howard Hunt and Umberto’s Clam House are shown, memories from a different time.

Speaking of Hunt, this is a great piece of dialogue from All of the Presidents Men:

Hunt: Howard Hunt here.Woodward: Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Post and--Hunt: Yes, yes, what is it?Woodward: I was just kind of wondering why your name and phone number were in the address books of two of the men arrested at Watergate?Hunt: Good God!

 

[The Military Workshop]

George,
it reminds me of the well known story, in Oz, of Kerry Packer who sold his TV station to Alan Bond for A$1 billion and three years later bought it back for $250 million. Packer later quipped, "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I've had mine".

Scorsese has had his Bond deal but with Netflix.

I note Paramount dropped out when budget hit proposed US$100 million. Others also dropped out until Netflix got in.

Seems Scorsese may have got a fee of $10-15 million. You then have to wonder what he got for his mates De Niro, Pacino, Pesci and smaller roles by Keitel, Romano etc. $10 million each for the big three ? A few million for the Keitel name etc.

i am just glad I watched it for free. Here's hoping his Teddy Roosevelt movie (with De Caprio) gets made.

 

[lancer]

In this review in the New Yorker, the reviewer noted the following: “It’s instructive to compare Pacino’s Hoffa with Jack Nicholson’s, in the underrated “Hoffa” (1992). Pacino is leaner and louder, with a wary stare in those haunted orbs; Nicholson is more of a bulldog — foursquare, wasting fewer words, and thus, for my money, providing a more tenacious bite.”

It’s a good review, with allusions to Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/remembrance-of-kills-past-in-the-irishman

Good review. Thanks for posting. I also really like Once Upon a Time in America. It is one of those shows that I will sit and watch whenever I come across it. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

George,
it reminds me of the well known story, in Oz, of Kerry Packer who sold his TV station to Alan Bond for A$1 billion and three years later bought it back for $250 million. Packer later quipped, "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I've had mine".

Scorsese has had his Bond deal but with Netflix.

I note Paramount dropped out when budget hit proposed US$100 million. Others also dropped out until Netflix got in.

Seems Scorsese may have got a fee of $10-15 million. You then have to wonder what he got for his mates De Niro, Pacino, Pesci and smaller roles by Keitel, Romano etc. $10 million each for the big three ? A few million for the Keitel name etc.

i am just glad I watched it for free. Here's hoping his Teddy Roosevelt movie (with De Caprio) gets made.

I've probably seen Goodfellas 100 times, Casino 50 times (my girlfriend was an extra in that one, you can see her in the background in several of the casino shots, each time in a different outfit, it's pretty comical, she was also an extra in that God awful movie Celtic Pride, they shot the nightclub scene at a popular joint called the Roxy, she's dancing in one scene, then two seconds later you see her behind Damon Wayons having a drink, how she moved that fast, who knows...………….), I might give this one a second watch if I am bored and have 3.5 hours to kill, although I doubt it.

Again, people are raving about this movie, not my cup of tea, maybe it's above my intellect.

 

[Warrior]

My cousin, who went to Penn/Ivy leaguer, watched it yesterday and sent me this text, this nails it for me, ie, he said it much better than I could have...........

That was good, but not great. I definitely wouldn't have lasted seeing it in the theater.

It's weird watching a movie - much less a Scorsese movie - with long passages with no music. Maybe that was why I found the movie very cold. Someone said elegiac, and that might work, too, but there was no menace, no emotion, no rising and falling. It just seemed like a series of scenes - too many because Sheeran claimed to be everywhere doing everything - stitched together. I also didn't like the double narrative with the nursing home and the car trip, and really didn't get how he got from never wanting to discuss what he did to spilling his guts in a book.

It also lacked iconic scenes like Scorsese's best films. There's not a moment or a scene or even a line that I'll take with me. The acting was good - especially Pesci and Keitl, but was all kind of muted within a range. The only one who brought any real blood to his role was, of course, Pacino. But, his midwestern accent kind of came and went and was distracting in its changeability.

The problem for me is I went in thinking Goodfellas, The Departed, Casino and this was what I saw, which as a movie viewer is the kiss of death, not the way you should go into any movie, but it is what it is.

I'm glad I saw it. I don't think I'll ever watch it again.​

 

[Combat]

My cousin, who went to Penn/Ivy leaguer, watched it yesterday and sent me this text, this nails it for me, ie, he said it much better than I could have...........

That was good, but not great. I definitely wouldn't have lasted seeing it in the theater.

It's weird watching a movie - much less a Scorsese movie - with long passages with no music. Maybe that was why I found the movie very cold. Someone said elegiac, and that might work, too, but there was no menace, no emotion, no rising and falling. It just seemed like a series of scenes - too many because Sheeran claimed to be everywhere doing everything - stitched together. I also didn't like the double narrative with the nursing home and the car trip, and really didn't get how he got from never wanting to discuss what he did to spilling his guts in a book.

It also lacked iconic scenes like Scorsese's best films. There's not a moment or a scene or even a line that I'll take with me. The acting was good - especially Pesci and Keitl, but was all kind of muted within a range. The only one who brought any real blood to his role was, of course, Pacino. But, his midwestern accent kind of came and went and was distracting in its changeability.

The problem for me is I went in thinking Goodfellas, The Departed, Casino and this was what I saw, which as a movie viewer is the kiss of death, not the way you should go into any movie, but it is what it is.

I'm glad I saw it. I don't think I'll ever watch it again.​

I agree. The scope of this movie is so vast that there is little or no character development even at nearly 4 hours. Figures just come and go into the narrative. It is more a homage to the gangster epic than an epic itself. I thought Pacino was a particularly bad choice for Hoffa. Jack Nicholson was vastly superior in that role. The storyline with the daughter was particularly weird. When all is said and done, this is another nostalgia trip down memory road for older folks who watched the great gangster epics of the 70s. It's like going to a Van Halen concert in 2019. The songs are familiar but the artists are fat, over-the-hill has beens trying to recreate the glory days for people who don't want to grow up.