The Irishman (Netflix 2018)

[TriedandTested]

In the end watched the whole thing and I did enjoy it overall, though it felt more like a testimonial football match for much loved retired players than a movie with hungry actors in their prime.

As the actors aged in the story eventually it's like 'there they are!' the real actors come out again as they get closer to their age and get much more credible and suited to their roles.

That grocery store scene was indeed one of the funniest parts of the movie that really exposed how old De Niro is - not the 40 something year old hot head he's supposed to be at that time. No wonder they shot it from such a distant angle.

Joe Pesci was great as always but looked like he aged from about 100 to 150 in the movie, even his nose is heavily wrinkled, quite distracting on screen.

The little girl who had to play scenes with them looked like she was genuinely creeped out by how they are, Pacino doesn't have that charisma anymore to charm women or girls and his scenes with her were just as creepy as Pesci's which were actually supposed to be creepy.

The whole movie emanates an old people smell as we see Scorsese's usual lineup of character actors looking every bit the 30 years older since Goodfellas, etc.

I've no doubt that the coked up auteur Scorsese that directed the masterpieces Raging Bull and Goodfellas would likely be quite critical of old Scorsese and the Irishman, but that's kind of the point the movie makes - everyone gets old and everyone dies, if you live long enough, along the way you lose part of yourself and what you used to be.

You need to post more on these forums. Perfect!

 

[VincentHanna]

In the end watched the whole thing and I did enjoy it overall, though it felt more like a testimonial football match for much loved retired players than a movie with hungry actors in their prime.

As the actors aged in the story eventually it's like 'there they are!' the real actors come out again as they get closer to their age and get much more credible and suited to their roles.

That grocery store scene was indeed one of the funniest parts of the movie that really exposed how old De Niro is - not the 40 something year old hot head he's supposed to be at that time. No wonder they shot it from such a distant angle.

Joe Pesci was great as always but looked like he aged from about 100 to 150 in the movie, even his nose is heavily wrinkled, quite distracting on screen.

The little girl who had to play scenes with them looked like she was genuinely creeped out by how they are, Pacino doesn't have that charisma anymore to charm women or girls and his scenes with her were just as creepy as Pesci's which were actually supposed to be creepy.

The whole movie emanates an old people smell as we see Scorsese's usual lineup of character actors looking every bit the 30 years older since Goodfellas, etc.

I've no doubt that the coked up auteur Scorsese that directed the masterpieces Raging Bull and Goodfellas would likely be quite critical of old Scorsese and the Irishman, but that's kind of the point the movie makes - everyone gets old and everyone dies, if you live long enough, along the way you lose part of yourself and what you used to be.

I watched it on my laptop on a long haul plane flight and agree with most of what you said.

A solid enough film, but with little.emotional punch. I didn't get much of an impression about De Niro's motives other than doing whatever people wanted of him to provide for his family. His home life and relationships were glossed over more than even most other movies in the gangster genre.

I know his relationship with his daughter was supposed to be strained, but there wasn't really ever a relationship to begin with.

Like you said, the grocery store scene showed the biggest flaw of the movie - geriatric men having their faces de-aged is all very well, but when they move like old men when they are supposed to be in their 30's and 40's it looks really obvious and weird.

It was about 30 minutes too long...and who the hell was 'The Irishman' narrating to in the old people home anyway? I assumed it was going to be Anna pacquin for a lot of the movie but it wasn't clear at all...was is the priest?

 

[PC777]

Thanks for the kind comments, I thought people might be interested in a real ex-mafia member's opinion of it and its supposed lack of accuracy.

Fascinating to me that this guy arguably has more or equal charisma and presence than any actor that ever played a mobster. I'd love to see a prime Scorsese movie about this guy's life. He speaks softly but everything he says carries weight, I highly recommend any interview he's ever been in.

He actually makes even prime De Niro look like a bit of a hack with his more gangsterish moments, it turns out high level mafia members can have almost politician levels of smoothness in terms of verbal skills.

 

[cu3ed]

I watched it on my laptop on a long haul plane flight and agree with most of what you said.

A solid enough film, but with little.emotional punch. I didn't get much of an impression about De Niro's motives other than doing whatever people wanted of him to provide for his family. His home life and relationships were glossed over more than even most other movies in the gangster genre.

I know his relationship with his daughter was supposed to be strained, but there wasn't really ever a relationship to begin with.

Like you said, the grocery store scene showed the biggest flaw of the movie - geriatric men having their faces de-aged is all very well, but when they move like old men when they are supposed to be in their 30's and 40's it looks really obvious and weird.

It was about 30 minutes too long...and who the hell was 'The Irishman' narrating to in the old people home anyway? I assumed it was going to be Anna pacquin for a lot of the movie but it wasn't clear at all...was is the priest?

Think it's the private investigator who years later was putting the book together he is talking to.
And yea, the old man part was weird. Why couldn't they just get a younger body double even just for that one scene.

 

[Minusorange]

He actually makes even prime De Niro look like a bit of a hack with his more gangsterish moments, it turns out high level mafia members can have almost politician levels of smoothness in terms of verbal skills.

Even the enforcers doing the killing come across as smooth despite having proper "from the street" accents

 

[Unisol Magic]

Thanks for the kind comments, I thought people might be interested in a real ex-mafia member's opinion of it and its supposed lack of accuracy.

Fascinating to me that this guy arguably has more or equal charisma and presence than any actor that ever played a mobster. I'd love to see a prime Scorsese movie about this guy's life. He speaks softly but everything he says carries weight, I highly recommend any interview he's ever been in.

He actually makes even prime De Niro look like a bit of a hack with his more gangsterish moments, it turns out high level mafia members can have almost politician levels of smoothness in terms of verbal skills.

Love watching his interviews on YouTube

Very cool guy

 

[PC777]

Even the enforcers doing the killing come across as smooth despite having proper "from the street" accents

That was a great interview and a new channel for me to sub to.

Interesting that John Alite isn't even Italian, he's Albanian, but there was that Mafia Iceman killer with an Eastern European name as well. Seems they don't mind outsourcing some of the dirtier work.

Also seems as if he would have been somewhat of a baby faced killer like Pablo Escobar's main hitman was, somehow makes it more chilling.

Crazy to think he's basically a mass murderer that seems seems perfectly reasonable and even likeable for much of the interview.

 

[Merlin5]

Yay, I've got Netflix now courtesy of my nephew. That means I can finally watch Breaking Bad! I'm not sure I've seen Goodfellas all the way through so will watch that too.

Anyway, I came home from my gig last night, started The Irishman at 12.45am, nodded off briefly a couple of times (not through boredom), replayed the bits I missed, and finished it about 5.20am!
I agree with many comments here though, that it was a bit of a paper thin story, that De Niro kicking that shopkeeper's head in looked a bit geriatric, and young De Niro's eyes looked plain weird. I didn't realise it was CGI, thought it was just makeup.

Not a classic like godfather, it doesn't have the same gravitas if that's the right word. But I really enjoyed it and I'm sure I'd watch it again if it ever comes on national tv.

And if you're going to have an all star cast of established tough guys, then one thing was missing for me. Walken!

 

[jsmoke]

De Niros's got that one indifferent expression permanently etched onto his face.

I'm pretty much done with mob movies now. The golden era is over.

 

[Merlin5]

De Niros's got that one indifferent expression permanently etched onto his face.

I'm pretty much done with mob movies now. The golden era is over.

This expression sums up De Niro for me.

 

[Gerard]

How the de-aging was done.