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agentnico · 4 years

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The Irishman (2019) Review

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

Plot: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran is a man with a lot on his mind. The former labor union high official and hitman, learned to kill serving in Italy during the Second World War. He now looks back on his life and the hits that defined his mob career, maintaining connections with the Bufalino crime family. In particular, the part he claims to have played in the disappearance of his life-long friend, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who mysteriously vanished in late July 1975 at the age of 62.

Netflix has released arguably it’s biggest motion picture to-date, both financially and artistically, costing over $140 million (oh my!) and starring the likes of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino and being directed by none other than Martin Scorsese himself. Getting back into the mobster genre, Scorsese has a lot of fun bringing together this acting legends, and the film is at its best when it allows these stars to simply sit together in a room and talk. In fact, some of the best moments within the film come from scenes shared between De Niro and Joe Pesci (returning from retirement for this role no less!) as they chew on the dialogue and scenery and it really just makes you think that these actors won’t live forever, and how lucky we are to see them still do what they do best now and in such a fantastic way. Joe Pesci especially does something new by not being the desperado he usually is in his other films, and rather playing the sharp-witted quiet sensible guy and he’s absolutely electric on-screen. Al Pacino is at his most Al Pacino-est, and appearances by Harvey Keitel and Ray Romano are more than welcome. The latter especially impressed me, having to stand up side by side with these legends and managing to still bring his A-game. What makes The Irishman work is its stars. This is some of the year’s best acting work and so I expect a few of these fellas taking over the Oscars ceremony.

There’s also the element of using new de-aging technology to make the likes of De Niro and Pesci look younger (and consequently even older and more ancient) and I must say that generally it does work and is an impressive feat. There are a couple of shots where the CGI on their faces is obvious (a quick flashback with De Niro’s Frank during his soldier days really stands out) and then there is also the fact that they can de-age these actors’ faces all they want, but they can’t change the fact that the way their bodies move is the way 70 year old men’s bodies move. And this can lead to some scenes looking a bit dodgy/awkward and takes you out a little from the experience of movie magic.

The Irishman has been critically acclaimed by both critics and fans, and has already won Best Film at the 2019 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, however I might disappoint some by saying that I think this film is a tad over-rated and and overwhelming. It’s a bit too much, spanning over 3 hours with some scenes that could definitely have been cut, and then there is also the fact that this movie cannot help but live in the shadow of the likes of The Godfather and Scorsese’s own Goodfellas. Yes, I feel like I might get a lot of hate for that last statement, but heck, I’m a maverick. Yeah, I’m unstoppable! Come at me, bro! I can say whatever I want, this is the internet, the place for cat memes and endless news reports from The Guardian about Boris Johnson being, well, Boris Johnson. That’s a whole different conversation, let’s not get into that. Getting back on track, The Irishman has a lot to offer in terms of enjoyment, and it is obviously filmed immaculately due to Scorsese being a master of his craft, but I cannot lie, after hearing all the critical ravings I kind of expected something more better, memorable and unique. Instead we’ve gotten yet another fairly decent mob-flick on our hands that is boosted by some fantastic acting work. Alright, that’s it, Nico out!

Overall score: 6/10

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capitanmorgancyberzine · 4 years

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THE IRISHMAN press conference

London Film Festival 2019

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London Film Festival Director Tricia Tuttle presents The Irishman’s Director Martin Scorsese with producers Emma Tillinger and Jane Rosenthal. And the actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

Il film è incentrato sulla memoria e stilisticamente offre all’occhio del osservatore una quantità innumerevole di elementi visivi accattivanti. Questa opera fa dispiegare lo sguardo in modo drammatico sugli avvenimenti che storicamente si susseguono, inoltre allo stesso tempo ci fa fluttuare come in una sorta di distillazione del tempo e del luogo in cui è ambientato. L’uso degli effetti speciali è straordinario e come per quasi tutti i film di Scorsese ci troviamo di fronte a un capolavoro di genere.

The film is focused on memory and stylistically offers the eye of the observer an innumerable amount of captivating visual elements. This work makes the viewer's gaze unfold dramatically on the events that historically follow one another, and at the same time makes us float as if in a sort of distillation of the time and place where it is set. The use of special effects is extraordinary and like almost all Scorsese's films we are faced with a genre masterpiece.

Regia: Martin Scorsese

Interpreti: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Romano Bobby Cannavale Anna Paquin, Stephen Grahm, Harvey Keitel

Paese: USA

Anno: 2019

Durata: 209′

di seguito l’intervista ==>

Why did it take so long? You've known each other for decades. I know this project it has been in your mind for a while...

Bob De Niro: Yeah... he said, I just read it, it just had come out, I got to read that book... That was about three years earlier.. Marty was starting to show me ..

Martin Scorsese:

Some special work that Bob and I'm involved in for twenty somewhat years. that we were trying to get another project film, based on... Hollywood in the 70s 80s.. that developed into something else, about something else. We never quite settled on the project. The last time we worked together was in 1995: 'Casino'. So from that point on we would check on each other what we were doing, whether I could fit into his plan or vice versa. Ultimately we did, I think, in the winter of Frankie Machine... We decided we had to do something... maybe in 2010, no, 2008.. We thought this might be a project with possibilities... I was really looking for something that would enrich more or less where we had gone in the 70s and the 80s and early 90s.. to just replicate or trying to do the beginning of our careers wouldn't be anything enriching. So, you were about to direct the 'Good Shepard' - Eric ... was writing that... And Eric, knowing that we were trying to do something called 'Frankie Machine' about a hitman who retired... Eric gave you a book called 'I heard you paint houses' by Charles Bran for research

MS:

Jean Gabin film like 'Touches pas gris be'??? Matfields too low (Toulaux) Le deuxiËme circle...pictures like that... Gabin character...

By the time you're doing 'Casino', I felt that presence was similar

Bob:

And then I survived to read this book that I 've been always wanted to read called 'I heard you paint houses'. I read it just as research character . When I had read it I got together with Marty and said: you gotta look at this ... So that was it.

MS:

You had the story about (on the telephone) Brad Brit?? right?

Lady:

So you were ready to comit to making Frankie Machine, financed by Paramount, we were all on call together to get the green light and in the middle of this conversation Bob said: Well, this other book that we are thinking about, maybe we could combine these two movies . And Brad said: So you want to take a go with it and turn it into a development project?... That was 2007 ... Then we brought Steve Zillion on and Steve delivered (Steven, Marty and Bob worked together and did option 'I heard you paint houses' and Frankie Machine went away and Steve delivered the script in 2009..

MS:

The point is that we were trying to find something that we could ride /write with (I don't know how you define ride/write... it's ambiguous... kind of we felt comfortable in a way.. something we could not articulate and once he described this character to me, I felt that he had a good sense of it so I said: this is maybe where we could really try to explore and see what we could come up with, that it might really be of value ultimately or as a creative point which is what he cared getting out.. to impress the cast ... so we took a chance... Steve pulled together a wonderful script, and it took a number of years...

Bob:

Steve wrote the script which is terrific, wonderful as Marty says, and it was a matter of getting everybody's schedules to line up. Marty was doing ... coming over here.. I don't know when you was doing Euro.. 2009/ 2010.. We would talk about what we were going to do, if there was availability, you wanted to do 'Silence'... I said to Marty I wanted to make sure he was okay if we would just let it out there.. usually I am very superstitious about that it usually doesn't happen... I felt maybe in this case since we got no backers, no people really interested in the idea that we were doing it with Al and Joe... if they were okay with mentioning that they were on board.. So we did that and then we had a reading of the script..

Lady:

the reading of the script January right before you left to go to 'Silence'. That was this one opportunity to get everyone together, and we taped the reading 2012... I thought that that would be all we would have of the Irishman, since it would be difficult to get financing. Then when everybody heard it , there was a new energy, but Marty and Emma went back to shoot 'Silence', so we had another delay.. A good one.

Al Pacino:

I've known Marty and Bob for very long time..Anthony called me about it, it sounded really interesting...The opportunity to work with them was very important for me. For years we always spoke together, Marty and I, about different things.. and of course Bob and I worked together we had known each other since we were young actors

MS:

The first meeting we had about this, we talked about it in a hotel in LA

AP:

That's right! The hotel! It's all coming back to me now...

MS:

After all the discussions he looked at me and said, is this gonna happen, because... the complications and schedules and then of course, no real enthusiasm to say the least about financing, really made it something that is a nice dream and you said: that maybe the reading was going to be the only time you've heard it or seen it... we knew that from the beginning

AP:

I think that reading was very well orchestrated 09.06.72

Very effective...

MS:

Bob arranged it so there were the right kind of people there

Yeah, they got excited about it but still didn't raise the money

I remember, it was you, Al, Bob, ... Bobby Carneval, pauly Herman??? Joe pesci, Stefanie...

AL:

You can feel it that there was a live wire there.. I always thought it wouldn't happen...

Bob:

I got a call from Al...is it gonna happen..?

don't worry, they'll work it out...

Lady:

Thank goddness you did, because there were these fantastic time sugressions?? ..

Journalist:

Hello, Catherine Dreyer from Free Cinema... I just saw the film ', of course mind blowing.. one of those old epic things that make you like it to be in the cinema and watching it.. So thank you so much already for that. The question is... this is obviously a Netflix production, it's coming out very shortly after running in the cinemas. It seems to be a very good collaboration between TV / internet companies with the film industry.. Will we have at some point to redefine perhaps what is cinema?

MS:

...I think it's not just an evolving sort of thing, it's a revolution, even bigger a revolution that sound was for cinema, it's the revolution of cinema itself. A new technology, bringing things that are unimaginable... is it something extraordinarily good for narrative films, or stories told in motion pictures... it opens up the original conception of what a film is and where it's to be seen has now changed so radically that we may have to say, okay, this is a certain kind of film, it's made here... there might be a virtual reality films that have holograms, all sorts of things that are coming that we don't even know... Something that should always be protected as much as possible and that I think will always be there, is a comunal experience. I think that's best in the theater... Now, homes have become theaters, too... It's a major change... just keep an open mind... there is no doubt that seeing film with an audience is.... there is a problem though.. you have to make the film.. we ran out of room in a sense... there was no room for us to make this picture... for many different reasons, ultimately there was financial issue, too in terms of the CGI that we did and the reason why, the CGI is kind of complicated...because at a certain point if I made the film earlier they could have played younger and then at a certain point we missed that, and then they said, use younger actors who play them younger, and I said, well, what's the point of that... I want to find a CGI... let's see what they experiment, open it up... I mean CGI to that extend is really an evolution of make up... you'll accept certain make up, you know that she is not that old, she's not that young. You accept that as a norm. I mean you accept the illusion so to speak. Taking that and having the backing of a company that says, you have no interference, you can make this picture as you want, the trade off is its streams with the attribule distribution prior to that. That's the chance we take on this particular project. What streaming means and how that's going to define a new form of cinema, I'm not sure. I thought for a while maybe long form TV cinema- it's not! It simply isn't. It's a different viewing experience. You're going to get three episodes, two, four-ten... one one week, second episode the second week... that's not ... it's a different kind of thing, so there's got to be still what has to be protected is the singular experience... experiencing a picture, ideally with an audience... But there's room for so many others now, and so many other ways. There's gonna be cross overs... Value..? the value of a film that's like a theme park film for example, where the theme is becoming amusement parks... that's a different experience, it's not cinema, it's something else.. and it shouldn't be rated ?? by it.. That's a big issue.. We need the theater (audience?) to step up to that, to allow to show films that are narrative films. A narrative film could be one long take for three hours, too, you know. It doesn't have to be a conventional 120 minute film.

What Marty said, it will be in theaters and even when it goes on plate-work??? it still will continue to be in theaters, so audiences have their choice of whether we're going to watch it in theater and have an amazing cinema comunity experience or whether they want to watch it on the platform. Roma, for example, is still in theater around the world. So the audience has the choice of how they want to use something...

LADY:

Cinema has reached a point where changing has the option of having streaming as it were in this case...???

Journalist from AUSTRALIA:

Sergio Leone's 'Once upon a time in America', started de Niro, a film had small similar to this one,... do you think there are any references to that film here?... It's a long film, not as action packed as your early gangster films, I think they are very different to this.

But how is it different to your early gangster films?

MARTY:

Well, this underworld milieu... I guess the similarity is that it's very long and Bobby de Niro is in it.... I guess the two of us made a movie, when we were trying to get the finances, I know how to do this... I know how to follow it through.. I just went with that..

What did you feel looking at yourselves younger for the first time when you're looking back at the movie. Was it a bit crazy?

MS:

How does it relate to them? Well, back in 1973 we're 29, 30 years old, now we're much older and so we hope that maybe the... over time... that something has evolved, maybe deepened to a certain extend of our life... in a back it can be conveyed in a story, performances, in the way a film is put together, that would be some sort of an advancement, rather then just replicating what we have done in the past

New technology and all that... does it open a brand new world for everyone?

AP:

Considering everything is crazy. It was crazy. I don't know quite what you mean though, I'm sorry... what were you saying?

AP:

I don't feel that way, personally... this is a technique that is barely on? It's what they have said, it's a form of make up.. It could change things... But I don't think you feel that way -- as an actor -- I think you feel that as an actor, you're playing a role,... a role that more then likely hopefully you're suited for... so when you do that... it doesn't matter what you look like.. It is sort of true in a way... because, when I saw the film.. he showed it to me without anything... I just went with it and I didn't think anymore that.... this was a story... it was handled / delivered in such a way, alectorially, visually, costumage.. everything. And also the acting. I think that was what was taking me up... the story... I wasn't thinking about anything else after a while, I mean I didn't even think about when we first started.. Of course it was me ... I wasn't thinking about the wines, our faces or anything... this was accepting these people.. they existed, too, this is another thing. This was an interesting thing... because it's a story about real things that happened. people really lived.. Maybe that had something to do with my reaction. This whole thing can be innovative, of course, but at the same time it tells a story... I'm a little more concerned about that...

As I say, I did see the film without any work... and it was fine.. as a matter of fact, I'm the only one who felt that way

MS:

I think it is really good that we have that potential, it is stating what it's stating: the old days... some actor that we all knew and love and they put grey hair on him, we say, oh, he got older, but you accept it, because this is in the story

Bob:

I always joked that my career will be extended another thirty years... No, it's a whole industry... where / how it will evolve... I was just thinking about copyrights... likeness, and who gets it long after we're all gone, families and stuff like that. We even have that now in some way, using famous actors from years ago, commercial... to represent that product... I don't know, I'm just happy we're at the beginning stages of really being ... God knows where it goes... what excited me about it was that pablo helman was doing this thing and wanted to make it state of the art, the best it could be to date. That was an ambition for this movie, which was ambitious always... it fit the whole enterprise

MS:

It's also how you move... these are the little things

AP:

You're walking along looking... pretty and then you got to get up... (grimace)... hey, man, what are you doing, you're 39! 25.22.23

Question from German Journalist :

What was the biggest challenge for each one of you on this movie (directing - acting

MS:

Making (movies?) is a big challenge.. in terms of realm... the guys are performing.. so I cannot speak for them, but for me it's cutting through all the issues of how you perceive a story, the sweep of a story, what's essential, what isn't essential, making those editing choices right there, on the set. First of all even before set, before shooting begins, make those editing choices, and in shooting even top around those editing choices because it's very complex.. in terms of technology... and staying on point, staying on what's essential to the story. Those are the characters, particularly Frank's character, and eliminating everything else around that was getting in the way. And this I think was a 108 day shoot. So this is one thing. And then the editing, too. So it's wrangling the picture, in a way.. always threatening to run a little bit out of control, but grabbing it again, and using Frank Sharon as the anchor. The whole picture took finally to wind up with him alone. That's what all film is about. That's just general of how you make a movie. Otherwise you sometimes make a movie you don't know what you're going to do when you get there on the set... I tried that once, it didn't work... for me it didn't work... I usually like planning and fighting my way through the whole process.. until we get, the best we can, to the end... resolve with the character...

BN:

Yeah, I mean, certain things.. like Marty, every so often, I would come in to narrate pieces that Marty figured that had to voice over to give information or whatever... That's a novel part of making a movie...

MS:

You went into the audio tracks... the voice stories and setting and then we'd go... tell me something

Interesting... and then try to find time to shoot it.. in the film, like give it to Emma and tell her to find some production time, please

Emma:

I'd say yes

So was that your biggest challenge...

Emma:

.. helping Marty realize everything?... yeah...

(laughter)

We want all of them to have the time...time to create and the environment, a quite / safe space for them to do. You wanna wrab that at all... it's a challenge, but we are phenomenal partners, the best, we carved out that time in stakes, I hope

Why do you think we are constantly pulled back into talking about films about pain and trauma as in the Irishman, there's a lot on the macro level with the asasination section, but it really does go into personal individual pain

MS:

I think pain is an important story to everybody, pain, suffering... that idea what makes an interesting story... what do you think?

Bob:

Well I think, this was a simple story. It was about a guy who was caught between two people... powerful people.. One of them disappeared - we never knew what happened really to this day - the other one was also -- Joe Galler (?).. for him.. you still don't know who did that to him... it had that to hang on someway... this political, this grand story with these historical (if you want) type of characters... a simple story

MS:

... and not so far - in terms of that - of what we were talking about these guys.. and on the other level you have JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King... all this going on.. and nobody knows really what happened there... I always say, would it make any difference now if we knew exactly who, when, how, and where..

... the dark course of it take over (???)... that are always present... these guys are right in the middle of it, in a way... they just walk by a TV and there is missles coming from Cuba... and that's your afternoon lunch... when we say a simple story is because the rest is so complicated

For me in many ways this is about reflection. I was wondering as you have amazing careers... do you guys ever sit back and reflect or do you always look to what's the next project

And I was wondering... do you think you could have made this ...now, cause you have lived and are still alive ..so that now that you're in a kind of position to understand better the texture of this narrative

MS:

you mean, if we had made this film earlier it would have been different

Yeah

MS:

Absolutely, I mean... I don't think we got together and said, let's make a movie and reflect... as I say, it's intuitive

#london film festival #londonfilmfestival #LFF

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jillmckenzie1 · 4 years

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The Man Who Painted Houses

What is cinema? Is cinema only cinema when you’re watching it in a movie theater? While their methods have changed throughout the years, ultimately a sculpture remains a sculpture and a painting stays a painting. Most of the arts have resolutely remained themselves, but cinema has a kind of protean quality, whether its worshipers choose to admit it or not.

Consider that the first movie theater opened June 19, 1905, in Pittsburgh. 96 seats were dragged into an empty store located on Smithfield Street, and when it opened, admission was a nickel. At their height, theaters bore the more grandiose nickname of movie palaces. Women in glittering gowns and men in sharp suits took their seats and, as the lights dimmed, they prepared themselves to watch what the Chinese called “electric shadows.”

These days, cinema is different. It’s in yet another moment of change. While over 1.3 billion movie tickets were sold in 2018, theater attendance has been dropping steadily. Why? Some people say that the quality of films has dropped and that they were better in the good old days.* Others opine that the theatrical experience has become too expensive, and they choose to view movies through streaming services at home or on mobile devices.

If cinema is a religion, Martin Scorsese is one of its high priests. One of the duties of priests is to provide a degree of continuity to the religion, to keep it moving forward in the face of change. As much of a cinematic purist as Scorsese is, he recognizes the necessity of change. That’s why he partnered with Netflix, and that’s why he embraced technology utilized within the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it was all to bring his latest film, The Irishman, to glorious life.

We’re introduced to Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), reaching the end of the road. It’s all come to a room in a nursing home, a wheelchair, and a reflection on his legacy. What did it all mean? Was it worth it? Did he have any kind of impact whatsoever on the course of human events? Oh yeah, you could say that—and Frank decides his story needs to be told.

It all begins in 1950s Philadelphia, where Frank drives trucks for a meat packing plant. Why does he start selling sides of beef to gangster “Skinny Razor” DiTullio (Bobby Cannavale)? Is it for a side hustle? Is he attracted to the thuggish glamour of the mob guys? Whatever his reasons, more and more beef ends up in Mafia-owned restaurants, and more and more of Frank’s time is spent doing small favors for them.

In its way, the law catches up to Frank, and his company accuses him of theft. Union lawyer Bill Bufalino (Ray Romano) gets him off, mostly because Frank refuses to name names. That gets the attention of Bill’s cousin Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), a quiet and deliberate man who happens to be a Mafia kingpin.

As time passes, Frank’s star rises in the underworld. As a soldier in World War II, Frank learned to kill, and he puts those skills to use as a hitman. He makes the acquaintance of Angelo Bruno (Harvey Keitel), a crime boss known for his conciliatory nature. Perhaps most importantly, Frank becomes close with Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), and Hoffa’s raging egomania gradually forces Frank to make some very difficult decisions.

I know for a fact that The Irishman is a masterpiece. Is it Scorsese’s best film? Well, that’s where things get tricky. Considering that the vast majority of Scorsese’s work has been made at such an astoundingly high level, I’m not sure that it really matters. What does matter is that, at three and a half hours, Scorsese hasn’t simply made another gangster movie.** Instead, he’s made a film that’s an elegy of mob movies, a summation of his own films, and an examination of how crime and “legitimate” business intersects to affect the tide of history.

Maybe in the preceding paragraph, you saw the sentence mentioning that the film is three and a half hours, and you were tempted to give the whole thing a hard pass. Don’t, because Scorsese’s pacing is mostly excellent. It may not move as fast as The Wolf of Wall Street, but Scorsese is a master of setting up and paying off moments of humor, tension, and tragedy. I specifically point to the last hour, which features some of the strongest direction of Scorsese’s career. He delivers a mythic tragedy, showing us the consequences of violence and how it can reverberate through life like ripples in a pond.

Odds are if you’ve heard anything about The Irishman, it’s the de-aging technology used on the cast. We’re following people through decades of time, and CGI has gotten to the point where it can nearly equal the skillful application of makeup and hairpieces. Initially, it’s a little weird, and there were a few times I thought De Niro looked like a character in a video game cutscene. Give it time, and you’ll get used to it.

Steven Zaillian wrote the screenplay. He’s been a screenwriter for over three decades, and he knows how to write in Scorsese’s voice while upending some of the more obvious clichés found in mob movies. De Niro’s Frank serves as our narrator, and he proves to be a wildly unreliable narrator at that. He behaves almost like an innocent bystander to his entire life, and even when he recounts murders committed, they’re treated like random events that just happened to him. Zaillian and Scorsese cover very deep themes, yet they always remember that humor is one of the deepest aspects of human behavior. The film is absolutely crammed full of moments of dry humor. Watch for the fish conversation in the car, and you’ll see what I mean.

The cast is an embarrassment of riches, even when they don’t always get to do much. Harvey Keitel is always a welcome sight, and in his limited scenes, he brings a quiet menace to the role of Angelo Bruno. Speaking of limited scenes, let’s take a moment to talk about Anna Paquin’s performance as Peggy, Frank’s daughter. Within the entirety of the film, she probably has less than six lines. Is this due to institutional sexism in a male-heavy film? No, because Scorsese has a track record of providing women with strong roles. Paquin gives such a strong performance that dialogue, by and large, would be wasted. She tells you everything you need to know about the resentment and growing horror she feels toward her father through facial expressions and the positioning of her body.

Most of us came to know Joe Pesci from his role as the psychopathic mobster Tommy DeVito. He proves yet again that he’s not a one-trick pony with his skillful performance as Russell Bufalino. Pesci is perpetually quiet, courtly, hyperaware. Al Pacino plays his opposite, but this isn’t just another shouty performance. His Jimmy Hoffa is passionate, witty, and congenitally unable to keep his mouth shut. It’s the best work Pacino has done in years, and I wish he’d gotten a chance to work with Scorsese sooner.

Then there’s Robert De Niro. Take a look at his filmography, and you’ll first notice that he’s delivered some of the greatest performances in the history of acting. You’ll also see long stretches of mediocre movies with the occasional quality film thrown in for variety. After his supporting role in Joker earlier this year, I hoped De Niro would continue his streak of good work. Hoo boy, does he ever. As Frank Sheeran, he’s the quiet rock that the rest of the cast revolves around, content to let louder men like Jimmy Hoffa take the spotlight. He pretends to be less intelligent than he actually is, and there are more than a few moments where he gets out of a jam by acting a little slow. His eyes tell us that he’s not missing anything while revealing very little about Frank’s inner life. We’re never quite sure if Frank is a sociopath from the beginning or if he’s repressed his emotions over time. One thing that’s for certain, Frank doesn’t know himself.

The great blessing and tragedy of humans are that time moves on, whether we like it or not. Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci are in their twilight. The days of the movie palaces have almost come to an end. Cinema will endure, though. It will transform into something, a form that may make it unrecognizable to its original adherents. You might watch The Irishman on your TV, iPad, or smartphone. That viewing experience might not be what was originally intended. Look closer and regardless of the screen size and shape, you’ll see a rarity in cinema—a masterpiece.

*Song of the South, a wildly racist Disney movie, was also the highest-grossing film of 1946 and made over $300 million by 1986. That alone proves the good old days were never that good.

**A number of crime reporters have claimed that the real Frank Sheeran made everything up. It’s irrelevant, considering that The Irishman is a story, not the definitive story. If you’re interested in learning the facts of this sprawling epic, this article is an excellent place to start.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/the-man-who-painted-houses/

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