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But I really had a hard time watching this movie because everyone looked like living CORPSES to me!
Sorry, but the de-aging was simply awful, and was made even more ridiculous when Pesci calls de Niro 'young fella' when he looked over 60 years old!
I almost choked on a cheese doodle.
The de-aging did not work for me either. Frank was supposed to be in his 30s when he was a truck driver, but looked like a 65-year-old and moved like 75-year-old.
I must be the only one who didn't like it. I thought it was slow, boring in places (especially the ending). I watched it over again to see why I thought it lackluster and I felt again, Scorsese could have put more action into it, less draggy dialogue, and less back and forth scenes. The printed dialogue was also not appreciated. JMHO
I second this. Maybe I was expecting too much after reading the rave reviews.
Too long.
I was hoping for a better movie with all these wiseguys.
Had a good cat nap right before the fish in the backseat scene.
Then...
Well you know what happens.
I was surprisingly disappointed. I thought I would enjoy it much more after seeing the rave reviews.
The Irishman isn't a bad movie. It's just not a particularly memorable one. From a technical perspective, I thought it was lacking and unoriginal, which was the probably the biggest surprise to me. The clever edits and scene transitions we saw in Goodfellas were absent in this film. Instead we see Frank board a plane (cut), Frank get into a car (cut), Frank open the glove compartment (cut), Frank drive to a house (cut), Frank get out of the car (cut), Frank at the door of the house (cut), etc. And of course, we get the flashing camera bulbs that Scorsese often uses to transition to different scenes/characters, which is a tired technique IMO.
On a macro level, I thought the movie could have made a more political point about the role/decline of unions in the public sphere since most people under 45 have little idea about what Hoffa/unions are (were) beyond having some notion that they are corrupt and mobbed up.
The CGI couldn't completely disguise the fact that De Niro is really old. This really showed in the scene where Frank is stomping out a guy in front of a store while wearing geriatric footwear. I'm not sure those kicks would have done much damage to a baby.
The acting is world-class as to be expected. The movie is worth watching for this reason alone.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 12-02-2019 at 08:26 AM..
A masterpiece. Scorsese's best movie since Goodfellas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bureaucat
It’s Goodfellas quality good, and that’s high praise.
JMO but I don't think it's his best movie since Goodfellas and I certainly don't think it's Goodfellas quality good.
The Irishman is similar to albums released by musicians well after their primes that are solid albums in their own right but fall well short of their magnum opus. Musicology was a solid album, but it's not Purple Rain. Invincible was an okay album, but it's not Thriller. A Time to Love is a good album, but it doesn't come close to Songs in the Key of Life or Hotter Than July. In each case, these artists created solid, respectable works, but there's this sense that the game has simply passed them by.
The same way a great album will have songs that stand out and stand the test of time (literally everything on Thriller, When Doves Cry, Knocks Me Off My Feet), a great movie will have scenes and dialogue that will stand out, and the Irishman has none IMO. Goodfellas has so many quotable and iconic scenes: "Am I clown? Am I here to amuse you?" or "All my life I wanted to be a gangster" or the scene where De Niro is smirking at the bar at the thought of whacking Morrie. Unfortunately, I can't think of a truly memorable line or scene from the Irishman and it's more than 3 hours long. And there's really not much dramatic tension in this movie since we all know how it ends. Nothing comparable to Tommy grilling Henry at the bar or Jimmy telling Karen to "go inside" and pick out some nice minks.
So it's not that this movie is bad. It just felt like D'Angelo's much anticipated album after nearly 18 years that was good, but sounded much like the last album while not being as sonically good. The Irishman tries to hit many of the same notes as Goodfellas (the 50s music, the humor, etc.), but it doesn't quite get there IMHO.
JMO but I don't think it's his best movie since Goodfellas and I certainly don't think it's Goodfellas quality good.
To clarify: I don't think THE IRISHMAN is as good as GOODFELLAS. But I do think it's Scorsese's best movie since GOODFELLAS.
It's better than CAPE FEAR, which I liked but failed to love.
I shame-facedly confess I've never seen AGE OF INNOCENCE. I just ordered it to correct this egregious error.
THE IRISHMAN is better than CASINO (which is good), KUNDUN (which is good), GANGS OF NEW YORK (which is over-rated and a bit of a mess), THE AVIATOR (which is okay), THE DEPARTED (which is truly great), SHUTTER ISLAND (which is bad, I'm sorry; I excuse Scorsese on this because I thought the novel was horrible), and ... those are all I have seen. I still haven't seen HUGO, WOLF OF WALL STREET, or SILENCE. All of which I'd like to see. Just haven't gotten round to them yet.
So yes, I stand by that: THE IRISHMAN is Scorsese's best movie since GOODFELLAS.
To clarify: I don't think THE IRISHMAN is as good as GOODFELLAS. But I do think it's Scorsese's best movie since GOODFELLAS.
It's better than CAPE FEAR, which I liked but failed to love.
I shame-facedly confess I've never seen AGE OF INNOCENCE. I just ordered it to correct this egregious error.
THE IRISHMAN is better than CASINO (which is good), KUNDUN (which is good), GANGS OF NEW YORK (which is over-rated and a bit of a mess), THE AVIATOR (which is okay), THE DEPARTED (which is truly great), SHUTTER ISLAND (which is bad, I'm sorry; I excuse Scorsese on this because I thought the novel was horrible), and ... those are all I have seen. I still haven't seen HUGO, WOLF OF WALL STREET, or SILENCE. All of which I'd like to see. Just haven't gotten round to them yet.
So yes, I stand by that: THE IRISHMAN is Scorsese's best movie since GOODFELLAS.
I didn't miss what you said. That's why I responded to both of you. I don't think it's Goodfellas quality (what the other poster said) nor do I think it's Scorsese's best film since Goodfellas.
I would put both Gangs of New York and The Departed over this. At least Gangs of New York was somewhat original, and Daniel Day Lewis put out a better and more spirited performance than any of the actors in the Irishman, which is saying a lot.
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