The Irishman

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/10/19 at 8:07pm

Does anyone else think The Irishman is way overrated?

We watched it in sections on Netflix . It is overblown and the only decent acting in it is Pacino as,Hoffa. Word is that most of it is totally made up.

Thoughts?

Updated On: 12/10/19 at 08:07 PM

[hork]

Posted: 12/10/19 at 11:39pm

I'd say it's somewhat overrated. I liked it but didn't love it. Actually, Pacino's was my least favorite performance. To me he was just Pacino doing Pacino, which was tiresome thirty years ago but which I now find insufferable. Mostly I was just happy to see DeNiro, Pesci and Keitel in a Scorsese movie again.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/11/19 at 8:59am

Nope, not overrated in the slightest.  Top five Scorsese for me.  Seeing it in installments on Netflix is absolutely the wrong way to view it.  It needs to be seen from start to finish, doing it any other way is a grave disservice to the material, those little details need to accumulate, the tension needs to build the way it does in the cinema (per Scorsese himself: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb59z4/scorsese-says-he-never-even-considered-making-the-irishman-a-tv-series. )

The film's low-key storytelling is a shock, sure -- this isn't the cocaine-fuelled lunacy of GOODFELLAS or WOLF OF WALL STREET or the adrenaline rush of RAGING BULL.  It's a calmer cooler sadder movie about an old man in a wheelchair telling us the story of his life, and it takes some apparently random stops along the way (rather like the smoking stops in the road trip the characters go on, how much clearer can Scorsese make it?) but it pays off.  Maybe not in the traditional mass shoot-out gangster film way, of course...

Not everybody's cup of tea, clearly.  I've seen it twice and will happily give it another go.   

Overrated?  That's PARASITE.  Not THE IRISHMAN.

Updated On: 12/11/19 at 08:59 AM

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/11/19 at 11:17am

Roscoe said: "Overrated? That's PARASITE. Not THE IRISHMAN."

I was 100% with you until that.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 12/11/19 at 7:37pm

Roscoe is one of the better critics.....I know that if he likes a movie or a play then usually I will like it to........Loved The Irishman.....Pesci was wonderful

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/19 at 8:25pm

The film is a masterpiece and an absolute career highlight for Scorsese, Pacino and especially Pesci and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if all 3 of them (deservedly) win Oscars for it.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/12/19 at 9:39am

Pesci might pick up a second Oscar.  The film will not pick up any other Oscars.

We'll see, of course.  I'm personally expecting PARASITE to pick up a lot.  It's just exactly dull enough to do it.

Updated On: 12/12/19 at 09:39 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/19 at 10:43am

It couldn't possibly be more overrated than The Departed.  It was sad to see the Academy pressured into tossing Scorsese a bone for that one.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 12/12/19 at 10:17pm

Thought it was ok on a 1st watch. Thought it was phenomenal on a second watch.

Parasite is a masterpiece. I will take no Parasite slander.

[hork]

Posted: 12/12/19 at 10:37pm

Parasite is okay.

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 12/14/19 at 2:49pm

I've tried 4 times and each time going just a little bit further.

It's more quiet and reflective over guns blazing but I expected bodies to fall like a dropped packet of M&Ms.

Maybe viewing 5 will turn me around but the Netflix '6 ? ' has more body counts and destruction than a normal night out in LA and definitely a script that allows humour over intelligence.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 1:46am

I saw it a couple of times since I worked it when it was at The Belasco. I like it and it was very well done. 

Now, I do think it's worthy of the acclaim it's getting. And, I feel that out of all the Netflix movies nominated for best picture, this one deserves it. However, I know that there are many in the Academy that are outspoke critics against Netflix (most notable would be Stephen Spielberg) and how they operate. Little time in theaters, just enough to qualify to be nominated and then available to stream. That said, could the anti Netflix mindset get in the way of it winning Best Picture as oppose to a nomination only?   

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 10:55am

I think “Marriage Story” is equally deserving of a Best Picture nomination.

[hork]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 11:37am

Agreed. Marriage Story is fantastic.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/24/19 at 9:52am

And having seen THE IRISHMAN for a third time, I can say that it is more egregiously under-rated than over-rated.  This is a masterpiece, folks.  A group of some of America's greatest film-making artists getting together and creating a grand sprawling canvas filled to overflowing with detail that has to be seen more than once to be really caught fully.

Overrated?  Nonsense.  That's PARASITE and, my God, that inane ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.

[bear88]

Posted: 1/11/20 at 5:09am

Some of you are making me feel like I should give the film another chance. But I agree with the OP after my first viewing tonight (saw it all at once).

I feel like I grasped the film's themes, of regret, of aging, of death, of a mafia decidedly unglamorous. But I also felt that Scorsese indulged himself on a thin story with a main character who - despite all the time spent - still feels inadequately sketched. The de-aging special effect didn't entirely work, as the actors didn't seem as lively as I remember them in their younger years. Much time is devoted to the daughter who sees him for what he is, but the actresses who play her have about three lines. I just didn't care. (The other daughter who talks with him looks like his granddaughter.) The most compelling storyline, however invented, is the relationship between Pacino's Hoffa and De Niro, and later in the film, between De Niro and Pesci (who does a good job in the climactic scenes underplaying his character, Russell). Pacino does some scenery chewing, but it's welcome in a movie that often feels lifeless and aimless. For me, the film meanders too much at the start and only takes off when Pacino's Hoffa arrives on screen. And when he's gone, it peters out. This wasn't enough story for 3 1/2 hours.

I didn't hate the film, and there's too much talent on and behind the screen not to be worth the time to see it. But let's be honest. If this was a film by a bunch of unknowns instead of legends, would so many people fuss about it? It's a mob movie that ends in death and, in a bit of a twist, old age. In a strong year for movies, this was one that disappointed me. 

Updated On: 1/11/20 at 05:09 AM

[Impossible2]

Posted: 1/12/20 at 6:42pm

I thought it was one of the most boring films I have ever seen.

Is it technically brilliant...probably, is the acting great...yes, is the directing fantastic...yes...but it'd still rather go through major back surgery without anaesthetic than ever sit through it again.

Parasite was a million times better x

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/13/20 at 1:32am

Another lauded film was Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Overblown and over praised .It is like someone has a knife to your throat threatening to use it. After about 20 minutes we would have told him to slice away. Makes The Irishman seem like GWTW . I liked the Joker. Great movie from start to finish. Phoenix should get the Oscar. Will read about it next day as we have not watched an award show in over 3_years. Cannot take the hot air spewed by the winners.

Did not see 1917. Saw marriage story great idea and entertaining but slow moving .

[Roscoe]

Posted: 1/13/20 at 11:11am

Mileage is gonna vary.  I was far more bored by the hyper-kinetic PARASITE and the Tarantino than I ever was by THE IRISHMAN.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 1/13/20 at 7:21pm

Mr Roxy said: "Another lauded film was Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Overblown and over praised .It is like someone has a knife to your throat threatening to use it. After about 20 minutes we would have told him to slice away. Makes The Irishman seem like GWTW ."

Yup, I hated that too lol