DannyL

Wild Horses
I watched maybe 40m before I lost interest. I found the Goodfellas Italian macho shit annoying (my bad - it is a Scorsese film after all, what was I expecting). But it also had that kind of glossy flat affect that all Netflix shows do, I didn't find any of the characters at al engaging, perhaps part through being familiar with their faces over the years. But the weird CGI on their faces may have contributed to this? The fact I was looking at De Niro's face wondering all about this all the time, can't have helped. Someone commented that they move like old men, which is true as the Tweet above demonstrates. The most interesting part of me was the mob history with Jimmy Hoffa. But there was nothing else that grabbed hold of me.
 

luka

Well-known member
Danny, I'm fairly sure that is because Scorsese has always been rubbish but for timeline reasons it has only really been possible to grasp that fact very recently.

Watching WOWS and then Goodfellas made this very clear to me, like a revelation from on high
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Yeah, I'm fond of Goodfellas but god only knows what I'd make of it now. I was watching The Irishmen thinking "wow this is rubbish".

The murders really bugged me. No tension or considering the gravity of that act. The montage where he throws loads of guns into the river struck me as so lazy. More guns = lots of murders!

I might have to watch the rest of it to see if i concur with Corpsey.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
The murders really bugged me. No tension or considering the gravity of that act. The montage where he throws loads of guns into the river struck me as so lazy. More guns = lots of murders!

Not defending that montage but the lack of tension/gravity around the murders I saw as a deliberate stylistic choice to emphasise just how cold DeNeiro's character was. Murder isn't thrilling or exciting for him, it's just following orders. I thought the movie would be a lot more violent than it was tbh, there aren't many onscreen killings at all.

All that stuff becomes more vivid after you watch the last 40 minutes or so. He's old, he's almost dying, everyone he ever worked for is dead, his family have abandoned him, and he still doesn't feel sorry for killing people, and can't.

The scene in that tweet is really bad and I dunno how Scorcese thought it was acceptable to leave it in. It takes you out of the story, which generally I found the deaging stuff didn't after I got used to it.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Oh yeah she was awful in it. But I assumed the person she was playing was supposed to be awful, too. Verisimilitude, innit.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
She was playing Katherine Hepburn. It was like the sort impression of Hepburn someone would do as a party turn, but for an entire movie. I mean Blanchett is insufferable anyway, but that was too much.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Maybe that made me really sympathise with Leo's character, cos I wanted to lock her out of my cinema too? (Also I was in my pants, unshaven, and one of the richest men in America.)
 

Leo

Well-known member
been meaning to remark on how brilliant this thread title is. like a seasoned tabloid headline writer who knows how to cut to the bone in just three words. hats off, luka.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
his movies are terribly boring, there's nothing to enjoy. much like oscar movies. the only one i saw of him that was okay was hugo.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
I liked the Irishman more than Goodfellas or Casino. A much more human perspective. The first few acts were meh but then the final act comes and it's fantastic and it gives new meaning to the rest of the film. Which was very good, because that's what's the film is about. How the meaning of your life changes when you're looking back on it, nearing the end. I really felt it and was thinking about it at work all day yesterday. It's a bit of a shame that the Hoffa drama drags out too much, because when the good part starts, you're very ready for the film to end.
 

catalog

Well-known member
I saw it last night, would agree with that assessment, how it wraps up well towards the end. Can't say I preferred it to goodfellas or casino tho, but maybe that will change if I see it more. Part of the problem for me was how de niro looked so padded out as a young man. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. I was thinking it's weird that he chose all these old actors when he could have gone for younger ones, considering how much is being spent on the set design and costumes etc. But I guess he's a bit risk averse, and maybe he just wanted to work with all the old crew again. There was something very swansong about it all. Quite meta things going on I think, particularly how the end is so stretched out and fixated on death (thought it prob went on a bit).

I also watched the departed again recently. It's such a bonkers film, so odd and uneven, but I still like it. Mark whalberg, what the fuck is going on there. And all their accents. Ray Winston's for fucks sake. What a weird film .
 

version

Well-known member
Wolf of Wall Street I don't rate because I think it indulges in the supposed comic genius of Jonah Hill et al. Also I just don't think DiCaprio is that good an actor.

Watching that movie made me want to do drugs, which is a tribute to it's strengths and weaknesses I suppose.
Watched it last night. It does make you want to do drugs. It's completely ridiculous. I dunno how Scorsese has the balls to go on about Marvel stuff not being "cinema" after making a film like that. I did enjoy it though, just like I enjoyed some of the Marvel stuff. Entertaining, but completely hollow.

I thought Leo was good though. Haven't seen a performance like that since del Toro in 'Fear and Loathing... '.

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IdleRich

IdleRich
but then filmmaking should be a collab effort anyway - only really kubrick in that era who was a proper auteur i would say?
I saw an interview with Scorsese once and he said he thought the only true auteur from all those 70s greats who had aimed to achieve that status, the one who had managed to pursue his own idiosyncratic ideas with the least interference was Woody Allen.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
The cunt chest beating at the start of Wolf should be shot and that scene erased from the world until the sun eats the Earth

Scorsese is a draw. Everyone watches his output, even if they think it’s all uncool and surface. They are pop culture artefacts. It isn’t Italian neorealism but so what?

Playing to galleries with Italian Americans, guns, nutters, crime and drugs (sounds like this gaff), contrasted by the the odd serious/moody effort. Everyone’s a hypocrite because we keep watching with the formula well ingrained
 
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