Hear he hates Marvel.
Phenomenal from start to finish. Endlessly engrossing and impressive from all angles. The cgi (yes, its good!), the costumes, the production design- no stone is unturned nor slighted. The cast is brilliant, always entertaining, with even the bit players feeling meant to be there- like Marty hand picked them himself. Our main trio of De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci give their all with such ease and (excluding Pacino) capture a certain reserved fire that most Scorsese movies tend to touch upon from their loyal, connected, and stoic male leads. Its akin to Casino and Goodfellas, predictably.... but the narration from De Niro's Frank gives it some crafty gravitas in this tale of a truck driver working his way up the ladder to be associated with Pacino's Hoffa (who is exuberant and a little crazed in a killer performance). Major applause for Thelma Schoomaker for bringing this together. I will probably remember my theatrical experience for this one for quite some time.
Surprised nobody's seen this yet.
I'll be there in a hour.
Seeing on Saturday.
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
Glad I saw this in the theater.
It's definitely quite something. Will need to reflect.
The last hour or so is what really makes it, but it's necessary to see everything that comes before it.
Was thinking this might be Scorsese's least "showy" movie, but I think Silence might still do that. This remains suspenseful as anything he's ever done without the typical rapid cutting and camera movements though.
Friday for me.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
I wonder how many meetings were had to get the title changed to "The Irishman."
You'll be able to see at the end of the month after Thanksgiving leftoversQuoting Dukefrukem (view post)
But I don't like waiting.
Baby's first movie being The Irishman is some huge clout to have later in life.Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
Truer words were never spoken.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
I'm gonna be chewing on this for a while. It took me some time to adjust my expectations to a gangster film in Scorsese's career post-Silence, but The Irishman did a fantastic job of delving into the meticulousness of the gangster lifestyle, the cinematography framed the shootouts in a way that horrifies the audience as if they're across the street from them, and De Niro and Pesci delivered amazing performances full of powerful nuances, all the way up to the film's heartbreaking finish. It's a reflective, captivating film that as effective in informing the audience about the mafia's power as it is in critiquing it.
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
The Pesci/DeNiro conversation in the cafe with no music and just the sounds of coffee cups clinking their dishes may be the best exchange of acting this year.
Hahah I wondered about this as well, specially since Scorsese basically still gave it the I Heard You Paint Houses title card - it's way more prominent in the actual movie than The Irishman.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Just came back from this. Tomorrow is going to be a long day at work but I don't really care - it was worth seeing it on theaters.
Ok, now my collected thoughts - this is just a beautiful work of art. The running time is controversial on its own merit, but it's justified because it's a story focused on how choices made in the past write the future, and the epicness of the whole thing reflects the weary journey of the main character. Frank Sheeran beating up the grocery store owner comes back to haunt him during the third act of the movie, and there are plenty of instances of very specific stuff (like the "more than a little concerned" line) paying off a couple of hours after it's set up. Superficially, the movie is similar to Goodfellas and Casino with the voice overs and dark mobster-related comedy, but it's different because it's completely focused on Frank Sheeran. Hoffa, Buffalino and the rest of the players are clearly seen through his point of view.
Besides that, the movie works at a meta level. De Niro has played mobsters through the years in The Godfather Part II and Once Upon a Time in America, but he has never yet looked so decrepit and remorseful. The scene where they drink grape juice with Pesci in the joint is almost a broad satire of their status as mobster superstars. I don't think I can provide a full review of this film yet because it's so rich and layered - suffice it to say that we're all very lucky to be living on the same universe and timeline as an artist such as Martin Scorsese.
Seeing it tonight in a theater!!
[+] closer to next rating / [-] closer to previous rating
- Dark (S3) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Fall (Mann, 2022) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Ms. Marvel (S1) ✦½ [+]
- Dark (S2) ✦✦✦✦
- Moon Knight (S1) ✦✦½ [-]
- Get Carter (Hodges, 1971) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Black Bird (S1) ✦✦✦✦
- Better Call Saul (S6) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Halo (S1) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Slow Horses (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- H4Z4RD (Govaerts, 2022/BE) ✦✦½ [-]
- Gangs of London (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- We Own This City (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) ✦✦ [+]
I probably shouldn't have watched this when I was so tired, but I couldn't make head nor tails out of it. It struck me as 2 or 3 great performances wrapped in Scorsese's worst habits (a la "Casino") and a confirmation of every lame criticism people make about him as a filmmaker.
I'm curious what everyone else thought the movie was about. Not its plot, but its story and themes.
Just finished. I'd say it's about the friction between 1. basic notions of right vs. wrong (Paquin) and 2. the moral constructs/codes of honor that govern people's lives (in this case, mostly wise guys and politicians).Quoting Irish (view post)
Great movie. Wouldn't have minded an extra half hour or more.
Rewatching this at home.
In the first ten minutes, my dog started chewing her chewtoy, had to check if I had the ingredients for my thanksgiving dish, and received a text.
Just like it was meant to be seen.
Thought this was an excellent take, btw: https://letterboxd.com/ryansfilmlog/...ishman-2019/1/
I found this shockingly dull, like The Aviator even more drained of purpose crossed with Once Upon a Time in America.
I liked it. Some random more negative thoughts:
1) the emotional payoff came, but it felt rather subdued. The movie feels like business sometimes. I didn't feel sadness, Sheeran chose this lifestyle, he felt too monotone to me to register as a fully human being. Ha, maybe because he literally wasn't. See #3.
2) It actually felt long, like it repeated itself. Sheeran meets new folks, kills some more new folks and rinse repeat. I dunno, didn't feel like it build towards something super satisfying. Perhaps that's actually in line with what the movie is about as conveyed in the link that Irish shared.
3) de-aging was distracting. First shot of de-aged De Niro driving a truck took me out of the movie immediately. I sort of got used to it afterwards, but you can tell something ain't right. De Niro's face just looks too implacably stoic all the time, with that lower lip of his locked firmly in one position.
[+] closer to next rating / [-] closer to previous rating
- Dark (S3) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Fall (Mann, 2022) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Ms. Marvel (S1) ✦½ [+]
- Dark (S2) ✦✦✦✦
- Moon Knight (S1) ✦✦½ [-]
- Get Carter (Hodges, 1971) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Black Bird (S1) ✦✦✦✦
- Better Call Saul (S6) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Halo (S1) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Slow Horses (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- H4Z4RD (Govaerts, 2022/BE) ✦✦½ [-]
- Gangs of London (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- We Own This City (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) ✦✦ [+]
For me, at least, the first shot of young De Niro was indeed jarring and uncomfortable (it reminded me of The Polar Express) and made me afraid the entire film was going to feel like that, but as soon as his scene with Pesci started, I completely forgot it was there and started focusing only on following the story. Afterwards I wondered if they deliberately left the clumsiest CGI for the beginning.