The Irishman (Scorsese, De Niro, Pesci and Pacino)

Ardillaun

Scorsese films provoke alternative plot ideas. Perhaps a black and white Raging Bull approach to Hoffa’s life, starring somebody like Domenick Lombardozzi in the main role (and no doubt a multitude of heavyset, middle-aged Hoffa dopplegangers with a full head of hair also deserve to be considered) with the Mafia as a malign force in the background? (Frank Vincent, perfect gangster, we miss you. Has anybody had more impact in multiple epic movies with fewer minutes?) What is needed for the role of Hoffa is somebody with kickass, brutish energy, like Hauk, and getting those restless, darting eyes right. Trade unions and the struggles they had to survive and stay straight in America, where a guy like Henry Ford was no mere neo-Nazi but a figure who inspired Hitler, deserved at least one movie of their own from the great man. The way things are going, we will have to explain to da yute what they were soon.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Scorsese take on a film about another contemporary ethnic crime family, e.g. African-American, Mexican, Chechen, Albanian, Vietnamese. Don’t tell me he’s done one already. I’d like a few more documentaries from him as well. Let’s hope he surprises us.

ISOP

No 1 in the Guardian top FIFTY of 2019

ted1

ISOP wrote: »

No 1 in the Guardian top FIFTY of 2019

Really ? I just turned it off after 80 minutes. Wasn’t it into it.

Yamanoto

An elderly mobster with menace





An elderly mobster with rickets

RobbingBandit

Excellent film Ray Romano steals the scenes he's in Stephen Graham great performance, Pesci Pacini and DeNiro fantastic.

Pity it took this long for this to be made great soundtrack.

Optimalprimerib

Not for me at all I'm afraid. At times I thought I was watching a spoof with the wierd cgi faces. I couldn't take it seriously, and the ****ing length. It felt so self indulgent and overcooked.

Always Tired

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my #1 by a country mile but Irishman 2nd. People who act like Joker was some major cinematic achievement are hilarious.

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

Sardonicat

I'm far from young and I wouldn't even consider watching a Marvel film. I like my film, and TV drama, to be a slow reveal. I've just switched off The Irishman after an hour and fifteen minutes when I realised that my attention had drifted away about 10 minutes ago and I'd no idea what was happening on the screen .I'd been struggling to pay attention after about 50 minutes in. It's boring. I don't give a shyte about the characters. I neither admire or despise them nor do I have mixed feelings. I just don't care.

Maybe I'll come back to it in a day or two. Perhaps I'm not in the right frame of mind. But I was looking forward to sitting back and watching this tonight and I'm very disappointed right now.

Always Tired

Always Tired wrote: »

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my #1 by a country mile but Irishman 2nd. People who act like Joker was some major cinematic achievement are hilarious.

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

This is such a cliché

J Mysterio

Always Tired wrote: »

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my #1 by a country mile but Irishman 2nd. People who act like Joker was some major cinematic achievement are hilarious.

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

Where is the payoff in the Irishman? Not a fan of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood either, I must say. I was tempted to leave the Irishman early a few times but actually stayed hoping for a 'payoff' - it did not come.

py2006

Always Tired wrote: »

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

I have to kind of agree, there is an element of this. Also, there are those who expected it to be like Goodfellas and Casino etc and were disappointed.

Then there are those that just like to hate on movies (that are generally well received), I have noticed that a bit here on Boards with certain movies but I am beginning to think its an Irish thing in general.

Of course, its not a movie for everybody. People under a certain age are NEVER going to like a movie like this.

Sandor Clegane

Always Tired wrote: »

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my #1 by a country mile but Irishman 2nd. People who act like Joker was some major cinematic achievement are hilarious.

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

People who think the irishman was a major cinematic achievement or great film aren't far behind them.

This was a good film, nothing more.

I think a lot are guilty of looking at this through rose tinted glasses.

py2006

The De Niro stuff here looks really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRvbFhknRc

Ardent

py2006 wrote: »

The De Niro stuff here looks really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRvbFhknRc

Would love to see the entire movie given this treatment, looks amazing!

pixelburp

It does a much better approximation of DeNiros younger face, but it's a lot less consistent than the Netflix job. Those deepfakes look great in moments, or stills, but at other points the swapped face "slips" around. Still, we've seen how good Hollywood de-ageing can be in the MCU, it should have been better.

Of course the issue of privacy is a whole other issue; if we think fake news is bad now...

tylercheribini

py2006 wrote: »

The De Niro stuff here looks really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRvbFhknRc

Its standing on the shoulders of the existing,extensive de-aging work so not a fair comparison.

pixelburp

tylercheribini wrote: »

Its standing on the shoulders of the existing,extensive de-aging work so not a fair comparison.

I'm not sure how those deepfakes work exactly, but looking at others, they seem to replace whatever they're aimed at so the preexisting de-ageing is not necessarily a help. You can certainly see where those transplants fall over, when the head turns, or in the eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6vrEtYxDic

Gekko

Finished watching The Irishman

It’s a $200 million vanity project

ardinn

Twas a good film - far too long however, last hr could have been done in 10mins. I felt in some parts the actors forgot the lines actually, deniros mumbling drove me mad at points, especially the phone call to Jo.

I enjoyed it all the same 6.5/10

Sad Professor

I think Scorsese probably held the de-ageing back from being as good as it could have been. And perhaps rightly so as it meant retaining more of the performances. However, I suspect the bigger issue and the reason they went with a slighter older appearance was to avoid making their heads looking any weirder than they already look on those obviously much older bodies. And it's not just their bodies, it's also how they speak. It's bad enough as it is. Making their faces look even younger would have made it worse.

Ardent

At the end of the day the movie should have been shot with younger actors, but it was De Niro's baby so what can you do.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Always Tired wrote: »

I think most people who don't dig the Irishman just can't handle slow burners and should stick to Marvel movies that have all action and snappy one liners. I mean the Irishman isnt boring or bereft of action but I think for especially younger people they are conditioned for everything to be immediate payoff

No. A slow burner done well is a damn fine thing. This wasn’t it. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Marvel film. Was Joker one? I don’t think I qualify as one of the young people either at 35. My in-laws who are in their 70s also didn’t love it.

lawred2

Watched the first hour and a half last night before getting tired.. go back to it later. Enjoying it. It's a good story.

The de-aging thing is fine. No issue with it.

But there was one scene where a supposed to be younger DeNiro gave that shopkeeper a hiding.. it was clearly an old man feebly trying to act that role. Looked quite funny. Probably needed a stand in for that.

Minor thing really.

Finally got to watch this over the Christmas. I really enjoyed it but god, has Joe Pesci aged- nothing CGI could do could change that much- it kindof distracted me a little in the beginning for the early scenes but put it to onside after a while.

Glad I watched it at home. Took a few breaks throughout but I was never bored but yeah, easily 1/2 hour could be shaved off without many problems- but then, it would be more like Goodfellas which wouldn't do either. I liked the way scenes were slowed down somewhat and just went with how the director wanted to present the film to me.

Unlike Casino, Goodfellas and Once Upon a time in America though, I probably won't watch this again- maybe it's the duration, or maybe it's just because I'm tired of all of these gangster movies in that they're not saying anything new anymore- it's all been written about and televised/screenplayed to death (pardon the pun).

py2006

py2006 wrote: »

I have to kind of agree, there is an element of this. Also, there are those who expected it to be like Goodfellas and Casino etc and were disappointed.

Then there are those that just like to hate on movies (that are generally well received), I have noticed that a bit here on Boards with certain movies but I am beginning to think its an Irish thing in general.

Of course, its not a movie for everybody. People under a certain age are NEVER going to like a movie like this.

I hated Fargo when it came out in 1996. 23 years on and I watched it again and loved it. I think some movies mature on you over time. There's stuff I loved in my 20's that I'd never bother with now.

Guy:Incognito

Im half an hour in to this at the minute. One of the articles that comes up when you google de niro deaging the irishman sums it up pretty well, why bother. When hes doing anything other than not moving its quite jarring because its very obviously an elderly man in his mid 70's. Beating up the shop keeper looked faker than poor wrestling.

The scene where he meets Pesci first seems to have a wierd floaty face. Its no Samuel L Jackson in Captain Marvel.

pixelburp

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Im half an hour in to this at the minute. One of the articles that comes up when you google de niro deaging the irishman sums it up pretty well, why bother. When hes doing anything other than not moving its quite jarring because its very obviously an elderly man in his mid 70's. Beating up the shop keeper looked faker than poor wrestling.

The scene where he meets Pesci first seems to have a wierd floaty face. Its no Samuel L Jackson in Captain Marvel.

Funny, cos as good as the FX was with Jackson, that film still suffered from its action belying the actors age. They hid it a lot better through editing and stunt doubles, but at times you could see Sam Jackson was a man in his 70s... at the end of the day you just can't mask the physicality of ones age, and I doubt they'll ever get around that...

Sleeper12

lawred2 wrote:

But there was one scene where a supposed to be younger DeNiro gave that shopkeeper a hiding.. it was clearly an old man feebly trying to act that role. Looked quite funny. Probably needed a stand in for that.

This scene should have ended up on the cutting room floor. I found it shocking that they left it the way it was. Could have reshot it with a body double for the wide angle.

tylercheribini

Sleeper12 wrote: »

This scene should have ended up on the cutting room floor. I found it shocking that they left it the way it was. Could have reshot it with a body double for the wide angle.

Only excuse I can think of is time constraints or was a one take job with window pane being broken etc.

Midlife crisis man

Interesting reading the marmite comments about this film. For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed it. Classic Scorsese style.
The acting was great. De Niro had barely been in a decent film in 20 years, he did a good job, pesci was superb, pacino was pacino, and I'm a big fan of Stephen Graham.

I agree with some of the comments re the length and I especially agree with the comments re the shopkeeper scene. Their bodies looked so old compared to their de-aged looks.

Overall it was a really good film and I'm glad it finally got made