The Irishman (Netflix)

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Watched it late last night with the girlfriend and at first I thought it was good, and then when thinking on it more today I am firmly in the camp of great and phenomenal. There were some small awkward parts because of the ages but otherwise I absolutely loved it. Fastest three-and-a-half hour movie ever. Only felt like two hours.

Pesci was simply fantastic. All three were honestly but man what Pesci did and that last 20 minutes, were just...yea.
 

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2013
Messages
10,651
Reaction score
14,885
Location
Massachusetts
Watched it tonight. I’m not really a big fan of mob movies, so won’t bother trying to rate or critique it. I will say that I was curious how the digital “de-aging” technology used would work. For the most part, well. There a few scenes where I can’t quite say exactly why, but the “younger” faces of deNiro or Pacino looked a bit uncanny valley to me. But mostly it worked pretty well.
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Watched it tonight. I’m not really a big fan of mob movies, so won’t bother trying to rate or critique it. I will say that I was curious how the digital “de-aging” technology used would work. For the most part, well. There a few scenes where I can’t quite say exactly why, but the “younger” faces of deNiro or Pacino looked a bit uncanny valley to me. But mostly it worked pretty well.



The scene where he beat up the corner market guy was a bit comical for me in a bad way. Me just nitpicking but I could definitely see DeNiro's age there. He was moving so slow and the kicks just didn't look real. But it is what it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Introversion

Auteur

Redacted
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 17, 2019
Messages
553
Reaction score
42
Location
Denver
My wife and I watched it on Wednesday. I went into it without high expectations. I've seen pretty much all the mafia movies I ever want to see and this, I anticipated, would be just more of the same. In a way, it was. And less.

In most mob movies, the characters are fairly young, and when you're young, you don't have a fully developed sense of right-and-wrong or sense of consequence. You also have raging hormones. All those traits combined lead to some interesting situations. You can feel some empathy for the characters--even when they do horrible things.

But it the Irishman, these are older people doing horrible things, which make them just plain bad people. There are no likeable characters. The plot is kind of sickening, especially given the current state of affairs in the U.S. and around the world.

Personally, I got tired of watching it after maybe the halfway point but made it through. Afterwards, I felt as if I wasted 3-1/2 hours.

Maybe I'm judging the film relative to other Scorsese/De Niro movies, such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and several others. The thing those movies all had was you felt empathy for some of the characters and even liked and laughed at them. The Irishman had very little of that. It was just bad people doing bad things and for the most part, you didn't care about them.

JMO. :)
 

kujo_jotaro

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 10, 2019
Messages
251
Reaction score
133
Definitely lacked the kind of previous energy of Scorsese films, but at least for the parts where they are older it worked well. On the whole though I would have liked if they'd made this film 20 years ago, because a lot of it was set when they were supposed to be younger and in their pomp, but they still looked 60-plus at best.
 

MythMonger

Willing to Learn
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
507
Location
Raleigh NC
but the “younger” faces of deNiro or Pacino looked a bit uncanny valley to me.

The deaging process of the actors was really offputting to me. There were a couple of points when the young de Niro looked like he was wearing a mask of de Niro. Trying to guess the age of de Niro's character in particular, at any point in the movie except when he was very old, was a huge distraction for me. I finally just relied on the age of his children to try and date the scenes.

Also, whatever happened to using actors of different ages to show a character's life. That's exactly how de Niro got to be a big name in Godfather 2. And don't tell me that Marlon Brando couldn't have pulled off playing a young Don Corleone.

Where are the young de Niros?

And don't get me started on the lack of leading women.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,450
Reaction score
25,476
Location
Snow Cave
I haven't seen it yet, partly because I find the length off-putting. Those who've seen it, is there a relatively natural place to break it into two parts?

Maryn, who gets squirmy
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,724
Reaction score
9,709
Location
USA
We also were put off by the length. It's on our list, thought.

We watched "Time Trap" instead (97 minutes) and chortled all the way through in a "Land of the Lost" throwback kind of way.
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,478
Reaction score
268
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
A bunch of old white men - each of whom are horrible people, with NO redeeming qualities? PASS.
 
Last edited:

screenscope

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
681
Reaction score
78
Location
Sydney, Australia
I pretended it was a mini-series and watched it in four parts. I loved everything about it and the scenes between De Niro and Pacino were acting master classes.
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
I pretended it was a mini-series and watched it in four parts. I loved everything about it and the scenes between De Niro and Pacino were acting master classes.


I did greatly enjoy Pesci in this too
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Absolutely!



BIG SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE



SECOND WARNING FOR SPOILERS





LAST WARNING FOR SPOILERS





Those scenes leading up to Pacino's death were SO tense for me. When DeNero says how he gets the backseat and the drive there and checking the house, and picking up Pacino. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time trying to figure out if he'd do it or not (I don't know anything about Pacino's character so had no idea what his outcome would ultimately be) and then it just...happened. No over edits, just bam and done. Out the door. And then Pesci thinking over it in prison only to say "fuck him". Loved it.
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,577
Reaction score
6,398
Location
west coast, canada
If they wanted to see three of the big names of gangster movies together on the screen, they should have written an original script, rather than going for the 'based on a true story' thing.
I'd rather have seen the story of three old gangsters chosen to dispose of Hoffa's body
and how they go about it. A comedy/drama.
 

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
11,629
Reaction score
4,103
Location
CBUS
The scene where he beat up the corner market guy was a bit comical for me in a bad way. Me just nitpicking but I could definitely see DeNiro's age there. He was moving so slow and the kicks just didn't look real. But it is what it is.

I can't recall if it's the Golden Globes or some other award show, but somehow that stupid, stiff, lame and tame scene where Bobby D. beats a guy up and stomps on him got a Best Action nomination whereas nothing from John Wick: Parabellum made the cut. That's crazy.

The deaging process of the actors was really off putting to me. There were a couple of points when the young de Niro looked like he was wearing a mask of de Niro. Trying to guess the age of de Niro's character in particular, at any point in the movie except when he was very old, was a huge distraction for me. I finally just relied on the age of his children to try and date the scenes.

Also, whatever happened to using actors of different ages to show a character's life. That's exactly how de Niro got to be a big name in Godfather 2. And don't tell me that Marlon Brando couldn't have pulled off playing a young Don Corleone.

Where are the young de Niros?

And don't get me started on the lack of leading women.

Martin Scorsese is one of our greatest directors. Period.

But he has never given a shit about how women are depicted in his movies. As much as I liked Good Fellas, Raging Bull, Casino, or Taxi Driver, the parts played by Lorraine Bracco, Cathy Moriarty, Sharon Stone and Jodie Foster are all supporting parts. They're there to get the male leads some female companionship, but mostly they are there for the male gaze. Women should never gravitate to a Scorsese movie in search of strong, supportive, independent, proud women. It's the same reason as a Black male, I don't go to his flicks looking for a strong Black character because there are none.

As far as The Irishman goes, I'm into Day #3 of trying to get through this beast. It's a long goddamn movie and if it was Scorsese, DeNiro, Pesci, Pacino and Keitel all saddled up for one last slow ride, I wouldn't give this movie the time of fucking day.

But early on I had problems. There's a scene (and this is not a spoiler) where Pesci and DeNiro are working under the hood of a truck and I COULD NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF THEM. Their de-aged faces looked so plastic and so fake and so immobile they reminded me of a first-generation version of Madden football. It was just weird. I thought I was drunk or high and it was messin' with my mind.

So I turned it off and watched 6 Underground instead because even Michael Bay can make a more realistic-looking flick with some disposable trash like that than Scorsese did with The Irishman.
 
Last edited:

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,450
Reaction score
25,476
Location
Snow Cave
I watched it over two nights.

I was willing to blow off the second night and abandon it, that's how compelling it was for me. And I'm someone who likes Scorsese's movies in general. But I found every single character unpleasant company, which tells you how terrific the actors' portrayals were. My biggest pleasure, what little there was, was in Look who that is! on the first night.

Maryn, discriminating viewer
 

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
11,629
Reaction score
4,103
Location
CBUS
I finished The Irishman last night and Lord, does my back hurt.

Final verdict: Second-tier Scorsese. I'd put it on the shelf between The Departed, Casino and The Wolf of Wall Street, but nowhere near Raging Bull, Good Fellas or Taxi Driver.

I'd watch it again, but a couple of birthdays would have to pass before I ever felt the need.

I didn't like any of the characters but then they worked very hard to be unlikable. It's tough spending three and a half-hours with complete scumbags and total assholes.

This is pure Oscar bait. How you gonna blow off The Irishman when Joe Motherfuckin' Pesci comes out of retirement, Al Pacino actually makes his eye-bugging, screaming and ranting scene-chewing work for him and Robert DeNiro puts more energy and effort in this thing than he has in at least a decade or so.

Oh, and Martin Scorsese is making them noises. You know, those "this might be my last movie" noise. That is pure catnip for the old White guys who still make up the bulk of Academy Award voters. It doesn't deserve a Best Picture nod, but I can definitely see the Academy splitting the difference and making Scorsese the Best Director while not giving Best Picture to The Irishman.

Which is fine by me. No skin off my ass.
 
Last edited: