the Irishman was directed by
Martin Scorsese and stars Robert DeNiro JoePesci Al Pacino Jesse Plemons and
Ray Romano and is the story of a hitman for the mob who recalls his possible involvement
with the murder of Jimmy Hoffa, I finally got a chance to see this movie it's
been in LA and New York theaters I guess since the 1st of November it's gonna
be at Netflix pretty soon but it finally came to Cleveland I got to see it in
early showing it's a Scorsese film with De Niro Pesci and Pacino it's
mesmerizing it's three and a half hours long and that runtime is going to be
discussed frequently because that's really fucking long and although there are
some scenes that drag a little bit early on I would say the movie felt more
like it was 2 hours 45 minutes maybe there's a good 45 minutes just lost in
translation because the film is constantly riveting because of the talent on
screen because of the talent behind the camera this movie moves way faster than
any three-and-a-half-hour movie with a lot of talking than I've ever seen in the fact that's something I loved about it this is a movie that likes to meditate
on its characters, it really likes to ponder how they're feeling it allows them
to sit and not say anything for extended periods of time the movie has
sequences that are just filled with silence and moments that really feel tense
as a result, a lot of films have forgotten to just let their characters think on
screen it's almost like the film has become radio the thing in radio is that you
don't want any dead air you don't want any silence because then people are
looking at the radio like it's fucking broken and a lot of movies have become
that now like we're not allowed to just have people thinking or coming up with
ideas or planning that's always really fascinating when you have a bunch of actors
like these guys on the screen watching them figure things out watching them scheme
how to get their way into a situation or how to one-up the other person it's a fascinating movie as a story because the story of Jimmy Hoffa is pretty
well-known for a lot of people from a certain generation and now it's kind of
become mythic so the movie automatically has a mystique to it because of this the story surrounding these events but
it's also fascinating in that you're looking
at these actors and so there's that added benefit to anyone who's a film buff
or anyone who appreciates film at all you're going to look at this movie and
see the talent on screen and automatically there's going to be some attachment
to it so the movie has that writing for it and I tried my best to keep that out
of my mind and actually, just focus on the filmmaking and because of how great
everyone in this movie is and because of how well directed and edited
especially Felmy Schumacher Jesus Christ what an editor because of all of that
these list legends disappeared and I found myself watching these characters
Robert De Niro is the best that he has been in years as is AlPacino and
obviously, Joe Pesci, who doesn't really work that much anymore he's basically
retired at this point they all give excellent performances and it's so great to
see actors of this caliber in such a good movie because some of them have been
in some real crap as of the past few years and so it's just wonderful to see
that when you have the right person behind the screen and everyone's really
present and ready to make a great movie that these guys can still knock it out
of the park, the movie will no doubt be compared to Good fellas because it's
also a mob film many of the cast members from that film are in this movie and
of course, it's the same director so those comparisons are apt and I guess it's
fair but it's different in one very specific way Good fellas tome was always
about excess those guys in that movie they lived like kings they were
surrounded by money and women and power and all the food that could ever want
and nobody could touch him and the movie was very fast-paced in that way it was
like this adrenaline-fuelled insanity but this film is different and I wouldn't
use the word slower it's more of a subtle dissection of its characters this the movie wants to know what's on the mind of everyone there and it's not trying to
be too flashy with elaborate cuts and camerawork it's the type of movie that
someone would make who is trying to be a little older and a little wiser and I
gotta say out of the five guys who exploded out of the 70s Brian De Palma
Steven Spielberg George Lucas Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese he has
retained the most vitality in his filmography he's rarely had a misstep there's
an energy a voice and in a rich to his movies that he's never lost all these
years later he's still making films that are
this investing and this exciting
to watch even though so much of it really is just guys kind of hanging out and
talking sure there are your sudden bursts of Scorsese bloody violence that you
come to expect and some of his films but a lot of the movie is really quite intimidation
especially from Joe Pesci who's fucking masterful in this movie you get the sense
that if you crossed him in just the wrong way he'd kill everyone on your family
and wouldn't blink an eye but no the wouldn't just blink an eye he'd eat
dinner afterward and then take a shower and go to bed like he's that cold in
this movie this is a perfect role for Pacino especially in his first collaboration
with Scorsese because he gets to play this big larger-than-life figure who
yells and likes to be really in fat and that's something that ALPA Chino is
really good at he can be over the top but it's the type of over-the-top that I
want you to know when I see Nicholas Cage fucking lose his mind in a movie it
excites me when I see Al Pacino scream and slam a table and point his finger at
everyone in the room cursing at all of them that's what I want to see that
makes me very happy and DeNiro shows a considerable amount of restraint in the
role to the point where his lines really don't feel scripted they roll out of
his mouth as if he's just walked onto the set and he's improving with all the
actors, it's obviously scripted but he has such a way of reading his lines that
they never feel that way his presence is just fucking dynamic in every scene
and yet he's never asking for the attention with this role the de-aging was
something I was concerned about as well because I was afraid it was going to be
distracting but after a few scenes I didn't even notice it anymore it was really
phenomenal and there's actually a point where they reach a certain age for
their characters where I couldn't tell like I was like are they are how
they are now in real life or have they blended it a little bit like it's that
seamless it's really impressive work the film also has a lot on its mind
especially towards its final moments which
I won't ruin for you if you haven't
seen it yet but there's a lot of discussions that can be had just from the final
shot alone especially when you think about things that happened earlier in the
movie relating to a similar moment and it really makes your brain just go
through all these different ideas because you can look at this final the moment that we have in the movie is like a lot of different ways surprisingly
and there's a lot that can be said from just this one image so one of my
favorite final shots I've seen in a long time and a Paquin is in the film as an
older version of De Niro's daughter we see her a lot more often when she's
younger and she has more screen time there the character but Anna Paquin as an
older version of this character doesn't have a lot of screen time but she
becomes very integral to De Niro's arc and since we didn't have quite enough
with her character, I thought that arc didn't have the strength of the impact
that it could have had that's pretty much my only real glaring issue with a movie I will say this though this movie has a 20-minute sequence that's maybe
the most suspenseful sequence I've seen in a movie all year there's just this
really long and detailed build-up and it's exactly what I've been begging more directors
to do you know like there's the big difference between like the big action a scene or the big drama scene and then this really long sequence that just has
this build up and pay off with a bunch of scenes interwoven that all just feel
like this big moment that could be its own little short film, there's about a 20
25 minute part of this movie that just was white-knuckled I may give the
Irishman and this movie really made me happy I felt like I was watching a
real film and I haven't felt that way too much this year safe for parasite and
a lighthouse and I really did love dr. sleep and you should see it's not making
enough money I loved it if you can get to a theater that has it try to see it
on the big screen, I really do think it's worth it guys thank you so much as
always for look forward to more reviews very soon and if you like this you can
comments write here and get stuck mine eyes
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