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The Irishman. It's coming.


Baboontyme

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18 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

It looks like the film is being released in New York and Los Angeles only on November 1st. 
 

According to the film’s website there won’t be a theatrical release in Texas. The closest theater is in New Orleans on November 15th. 
 

So yeah, it looks like most of us have to wait to watch it on Netflix on Thanksgiving. 

*Correction* The Irishman will be playing in some art house, independent theaters in Texas beginning on November 15th. 

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I've read some backlash...not against the movie, but against the story. I've seen some stuff over the past half decade refuting some of the stuff Sheeran talks about. Now I see some ex Detroit news area television reporter refuting minor details of 80 year old and dying Sheeran's recounting of events. I don't know man. I'm not going to stake my life on Frank's claims. But I did read Brandt's book twice, and I do live here. And I'm quite familiar with the landmarks, and I retraced the steps. By any means this does not prove the story. But as I think I stated on page 1, for an old guy in failing health, to recount these steps and details, in a City and neighborhood which he wasn't familiar....something happened at that house. There is no doubt. And if it happened like Sheeran claimed, it's entirely possible that there were no blood stains on the floorboards. Maybe he was flown in to take care of some other matter and wanted to claim the glory of the JH hit? I guess possible?

I just don't see a use case for this guy to take some other circumstances that found him in Detroit and at this house and repurposing them so that he could claim that he killed his friend Hoffa. It makes little sense. 

At any rate, none of the Debbie Downers are going to take away from the enjoyment of the movie for me. 

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Saw it this afternoon. It was very good but holy shit that was a long time to be sitting in the theater.

The de-aging effects look pretty good but there are times it takes you out of it because the actors still move around like they’re senior citizens. In particular there’s a scene where DeNiro beats up a guy that looks terrible because his kicks and punches look like an 80-year-old.

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Where did you see it? It appears the only showings in Austin are at Drafthouse Ritz and South Lamar for a few days. I'm heading to Dallas this weekend to see the Vikings-Cowboys game so unless they expand the screenings it looks like I'm SOL to see it on the big screen.


I saw it at Alamo South Lamar
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18 hours ago, Blanton said:

Saw it at draft house south Lamar last night. Incredibly underwhelming but a good movie nonetheless. Nothing remotely close to entertaining as departed or goodfellas. 

Yikes. I wasn't expecting as good as Goodfellas and Casino, but I was hoping for better than Departed.

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we saw it last night at ADH S Lamar. its a really, really good film. DeNiro, Pesci, and Pacino all do an amazing job in their own unique ways. The film is very melancholic as noted by a poster up above. The story is intriguing but not a ton of suspense or action or development. the story could have been easily told in 2 hours. i felt there was a lack of connection with Frank but maybe that was intentional. the feel, texture, and visuals are all amazing. the acting is top notch. its an an enjoyable movie but more Mean Streets than Casino/Good Fellas/Departed.

 

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18 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

It’s a melancholic, regret filled reflection on aging that happens to be a mob movie. 
 

The de-aging thing didn’t work for me. De Niro looks like he’s  76 throughout the movie. Pesci looks even older. Pacino reasonably pulls off Hoffa. 

I wonder if the de-aging thing will be less of a deal watching on home screens vs. a large movie screen.

For example, I recall the de-aged Kurt Russell looking sort of weird when I saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in the theater, but it looked less strange when I saw it at home.

Then there is also the psychological effect of *knowing* that you are looking at a de-aged actor and so your brain keys in on every little minor detail that's wrong. 

There were several articles about this in the wake of full CGI characters like Tarkin in Rogue One and then the de-aging process. It was really fascinating.  In the Tarkin example, they somehow found some people who had never seen Star Wars and showed them a few Tarkin scenes from Rogue One and asked if anything seemed "odd."  None of them mentioned Tarkin.... they showed the same scenes to people who had seen Star Wars and they all commented that Tarkin looked odd.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm only halfway through. Not sure how much further I will get tonight. This is fucking excellent. Full stop. You should read the book before you watch the movie. People expecting mob porn aren't gonna get mob porn. But this does an extraordinary job so far of laying out the story that Frank told Brandt, with some minor quibbles. Acting and directing is very very well done. I have to say that I am surprised by how well the big 3 have portrayed their respective roles and I'm even more surprised that I think DeNiro is the furthest off of all of them. And he's doing a pretty good portrayal. I'm loving this.

I could easily see how details in the story would not resonate in the movie like they might have if you did not read the book. Like the Nashville trial, for example, that Jimmy gets "sent to college" for trying to bribe witnesses. How that all played out, etc. Just a small thing.

Anyway.. Wheelhouse as they say. Going to quit tonight only so I have something to look forward to tomorrow night.

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I watched it for a second time last night, it ages well. I would recommend skipping the  last 40-50 minutes on another viewing, but it’s a good film. 

I think the film is Scorsese’s remorseful apology for “glamorizing” the mafia lifestyle. I’d argue Joe Pesci getting beaten to death and buried alive in Casino put a screeching halt to mob glamour, but if Scorsese wants to make another mob film to say he’s sorry we all benefit. 
 

I like the Peggy soul of the movie angle. She can tell Frank and Russ are empty inside, while she has true warmth and love for Hoffa. 

 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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The Peggy thing is the only thing so far that is kind of "made up" for the movie. Frank talked about his girls and how they didn't want much to do with him, and iirc Brandt talks about them in the epilogue, but it certainly wasn't any kind of a theme like he made it in the movie. Not a bad addition, just different.

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My issue with the de-aging, particularly with DeNiro, is we know what he looked like when he was younger. It was distracting at points. That, and he still moved like an old man.

I kept trying to figure out what Pesci actually looks like, now, as he as been out of the public eye for so long.

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4 hours ago, Deej said:

My issue with the de-aging, particularly with DeNiro, is we know what he looked like when he was younger. It was distracting at points. That, and he still moved like an old man.

I kept trying to figure out what Pesci actually looks like, now, as he as been out of the public eye for so long.

This. Scorsese said they recreated the famous Christmas Scene at Robert's Lounge and they looked "very similar" and it was proof of concept. Uh... Robert Deniro was like 50 pounds lighter in Goodfellas. There's de-aging and there's a completely different body type on DeNiro. The old man arms in the store keeper scene is just bad, and shouldn't have made the movie. 

I wasn't thrilled with the Tony Cigars casting. We all love Herc, but why put a ton of make up on him and try to make him look 20-30 years older? Just cast some old fat f*** from The Sopranos. There's plenty of choices. Pacino as Hoffa, and Keitel as Bruno were by far the best casting choices. 

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This movie is beautifully done thusfar.  I'm only an hour into it.  Stunningly accurate as well.  The man who killed Allen Dorfman (the mob insurance guy) married one of Giancana's daughters.  I knew that man as a child.  Wonderful memories.  Pacino is wonderful, good to see him back in form.  

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It was fantastic. I went in totally cold, didn't know anything about the backstory or even that it was being made.  Just saw it listed as a new release on the Netflix app and was like, score. 

The only thing was that I was extremely confused about what their ages were supposed to be at various points.  I seriously thought the truck driver version of DeNiro was supposed to be like 50 years old until the years went on and I realized he had to be much younger back then for the story to make sense. There's something about body movement you just can't fake.

But otherwise, just an excellent picture. 

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Yeah the ages were a little funny, and did they put blue contacts in for DeNiro? Looked like cataracts. But really good if we’re not picking nits.

Has Joe Gallo ever gotten a good movie treatment?

Didn’t recognize Herc. Also thought the singer looked a bit like Silvio but didn’t realize it was in fact Little Stevie.

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Trying to make 5'8" De Niro resemble the strapping 6'4" Sheeran was the biggest challenge & most obvious miss in some scenes. You can only do so much with forced perspective & shoe lifts to simulate the height difference, but the wardrobe and upper body padding (assuming it wasn't just Bobby's 75 year old man boobs) to make him appear more massive didn't always work. But still, the performance was worth it. 

Reading the book now it's amazing how many of the small details they captured. De Niro capturing Frank's stammer, the dipping of the prosciutto bread in the wine, Pacino nailing Hoffa's blend of volatility, arrogance & irrationality was superb.

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Yep, spent about half an hour agonizing over who the hell was playing ___________ and it was Herc.

Anna Paquin -- almost always a distraction.  Would have been happy to have her sullen face somewhere else.

If Jesse Plemons doesn't have something significant to do in a movie he is pretty distracting as well.  I kept waiting for him to be more of an important figure.

I think I liked the pace, but in the end, just got depressed about everyone being old.

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19 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Trying to make 5'8" De Niro resemble the strapping 6'4" Sheeran was the biggest challenge & most obvious miss in some scenes. You can only do so much with forced perspective & shoe lifts to simulate the height difference, but the wardrobe and upper body padding (assuming it wasn't just Bobby's 75 year old man boobs) to make him appear more massive didn't always work. But still, the performance was worth it. 

Reading the book now it's amazing how many of the small details they captured. De Niro capturing Frank's stammer, the dipping of the prosciutto bread in the wine, Pacino nailing Hoffa's blend of volatility, arrogance & irrationality was superb.

 

robert-de-niro-1.jpg?w=2000&h=2701

 

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On 11/27/2019 at 11:49 PM, Baboontyme said:

I'm only halfway through. Not sure how much further I will get tonight. This is fucking excellent. Full stop. You should read the book before you watch the movie. People expecting mob porn aren't gonna get mob porn. But this does an extraordinary job so far of laying out the story that Frank told Brandt, with some minor quibbles. Acting and directing is very very well done. I have to say that I am surprised by how well the big 3 have portrayed their respective roles and I'm even more surprised that I think DeNiro is the furthest off of all of them. And he's doing a pretty good portrayal. I'm loving this.

I could easily see how details in the story would not resonate in the movie like they might have if you did not read the book. Like the Nashville trial, for example, that Jimmy gets "sent to college" for trying to bribe witnesses. How that all played out, etc. Just a small thing.

Anyway.. Wheelhouse as they say. Going to quit tonight only so I have something to look forward to tomorrow night.

I cosign all of this. I thought it stuck to the book material very well. 

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10 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Lovingly made.  Great attention to detail.  Good performances by the leads.  Way too long.

Yep.  The last 30 mins were somewhat brutal.  

I really liked the movie.  I knew almost nothing about the back story.  As a matter of fact, I was surprised that Hoffa had such a beef with the Mafia as I assumed they were one and the same.  I was under the impression that he might have pissed off a certain segment; not the entity as a whole.

Curious about the scene with - crap, forgot his name.  The flamboyant guy that got shot in front of his family.  Why did he insult Russell over the Italian culture pin?  Wasn't this dude Italian as well?  Once the words came out of his mouth, was he saying, "We're family" over and over because he had realized his mistake?

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19 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Yep.  The last 30 mins were somewhat brutal.  

I really liked the movie.  I knew almost nothing about the back story.  As a matter of fact, I was surprised that Hoffa had such a beef with the Mafia as I assumed they were one and the same.  I was under the impression that he might have pissed off a certain segment; not the entity as a whole.

Curious about the scene with - crap, forgot his name.  The flamboyant guy that got shot in front of his family.  Why did he insult Russell over the Italian culture pin?  Wasn't this dude Italian as well?  Once the words came out of his mouth, was he saying, "We're family" over and over because he had realized his mistake?

From an organized crime standpoint, the object of most of Hoffa's ire was Tony Provenzano after the two had a falling out.  The movie doesn't really depict the period when they were allies in the union.

Spoiler

The character whose name you can't recall is Joe "Crazy Joe" Gallo -- one of the many "Young Turks" who rose to power in the 60's and 70's as older Mafia chiefs got older, died, went to prison, etc.  Gallo was the victim of a very high-profile murder in 1972 at Umberto's Clam House, which is depicted in the movie, but many mob historians don't believe Sheeran performed the hit.  (Ironically, Gallo's dad was named Umberto.)  Gallo was killed as a result of in-fighting in the Profaci/Colombo family, but he also basically put a target on his own head in part by being a jackass.  Unlike the old line capos, who valued secrecy, keeping a low profile, and keeping one's mouth shut, Gallo was kind of a precursor to John Gotti, in the sense that he would sometimes cultivate publicity.  He also hung around with black gangsters, who the old line always shunned.  Re: the scene in the movie involving the culture pin, I don't know if Gallo ever insulted Bufalino like that.  I thought that the scene was most likely symbolic about the internal war in the Profaci family around that time.  Gallo was aligned against Joseph Colombo, who started the Italian-American Civil Rights League.  I just figured the scene was supposed to represent Gallo's disdain for Colombo and the League    

  

 

 

 

Edited by Carl Spackler
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3 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

From an organized crime standpoint, the object of most of Hoffa's ire was Tony Provenzano after the two had a falling out.  The movie doesn't really depict the period when they were allies in the union.

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The character whose name you can't recall is Joe "Crazy Joe" Gallo -- one of the many "Young Turks" who rose to power in the 60's and 70's as older Mafia chiefs got older, died, went to prison, etc.  Gallo was the victim of a very high-profile murder in 1972 at Umberto's Clam House, which is depicted in the movie, but many mob historians don't believe Sheeran performed the hit.  (Ironically, Gallo's dad was named Umberto.)  Gallo was killed as a result of in-fighting in the Profaci/Colombo family, but he also basically put a target on his own head in part by being a jackass.  Unlike the old line capos, who valued secrecy, keeping a low profile, and keeping one's mouth shut, Gallo was kind of a precursor to John Gotti, in the sense that he would sometimes cultivate publicity.  He also hung around with black gangsters, who the old line always shunned.  Re: the scene in the movie involving the culture pin, I don't know if Gallo ever insulted Bufalino like that.  I thought that the scene was most likely symbolic about the internal war in the Profaci family around that time.  Gallo was aligned against Joseph Colombo, who started the Italian-American Civil Rights League.  I just figured the scene was supposed to represent Gallo's disdain for Colombo and the League    

  

 

Based off of the book, the confrontation with Gallo was embellished and not at all the motive for the hit. But also there is some fairly compelling evidence that Frank's tale of the hit has some credence. 

 

 

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just finished it and thought it was fantastic.  like best picture fantastic.  the only thing that sort of took me out of it was the scene where deniro beat up the grocery store owner because that was very obviously poorly done.  

thought pacino was incredible.  i've always been a big fan, but i didn't know he still had that in him.

i went in without reading the book or even knowing much of the history behind it.  definitely want to read the book now.

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