advertisement


The Irishman

There are better magicians than Tommy Cooper, better comedians than Eric Morecambe, better orators than George W Bush and better actors than Robert De Niro. It doesn’t make them any less engaging.
 
There are better magicians than Tommy Cooper, better comedians than Eric Morecambe, better orators than George W Bush and better actors than Robert De Niro. It doesn’t make them any less engaging.
A very fair point. Just watched some of Taxi Driver, he's far better in that. I do think that more naturalistic actors are underrated though; people prefer a bit of scenery chewing.
 
A very fair point. Just watched some of Taxi Driver, he's far better in that. I do think that more naturalistic actors are underrated though; people prefer a bit of scenery chewing.

Agreed, it’s the thing that was mentioned upthread, the very best actors make you forget its acting and De Niro is sometimes more watchable than the film. Without undermining his performances in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull etc with are first class, he is still the only one with a Bananarama song written about him.

:)
 
I’ve just finished watching it. It was too long, I struggled to stay awake for the last 30 minutes. Pesci was excellent, Pacino and De Niro not so.

I really like a Stephen Graham but I don’t know why he gets American parts, surely there are plenty of American actors who could do them. Nice pay day for him I imagine though.

Cheers BB
 
I really enjoyed it.
It was telling a ‘true’ story, so I found I could accept the length of it.
 
There are better magicians than Tommy Cooper, better comedians than Eric Morecambe, better orators than George W Bush and better actors than Robert De Niro. It doesn’t make them any less engaging.

you found george w bush to be engaging?
 
Agreed, it’s the thing that was mentioned upthread, the very best actors make you forget its acting and De Niro is sometimes more watchable than the film. Without undermining his performances in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull etc with are first class, he is still the only one with a Bananarama song written about him.

:)
With DeNiro you always know its acting, a performance which works better in some films than others. An example of an actor I really admire would be Jack Lemon, he can play a wide range of characters & you believe in them.
 
Agreed, it’s the thing that was mentioned upthread, the very best actors make you forget its acting and De Niro is sometimes more watchable than the film. Without undermining his performances in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull etc with are first class, he is still the only one with a Bananarama song written about him.

:)
Pft says Michael Caine

 
The Irishman is great. Learned a lot about Jimmy Hoffa, his links to the Mafia and the power of the Teamsters. The way the Kennedys tried to crack down on Hoffa was covered well. The film implied Hoffa was behind the assassination of John F, unless I got it wrong.

Some of the voice-over sections go on for too long, but the film hangs together well.

I liked De Niro and the rest of the crew, although Harvey Keitel barely checks in, apart from looking at the camera. The film is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses. Must read it at some point.

Jack
 
Finished it up last night. Solid 3.5 stars. Four with better editing. I found a page with the backstory to one of the best scenes -

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/11/chuckie-obrien-fish/

I grew up in the era, and Hoffa became a meme. People would use the disappearance colloquially to describe someone who'd dropped from circulation, or if you wished someone would -- he pulled a Hoffa, or someone should Hoffa that MFer.
-
 
It appears I'm in a minority.

I'm with you on this one. I felt the flashbacks to the earlier years were awkward. Even with all the prosthetics and makeup, trying to make a 76 year old pass for someone in their early thirties was - imo - a bit too much to swallow. Pacino getting fired up a couple of times brought a bit of a spark, and Pesci as the always calm puppetmaster was good, but overall I found it stilted , and not really worth the effort.

Actually fell asleep a couple of times in the first three hours - got to the point where they all were 'in school' and thought sod this, life's too short :)
 


advertisement


Back
Top