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Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman to premiere at New York film festival

A problem I've had with Scorsese for a long time is in evidence here again. Right from Taxi Driver, really, his films excuse cunts for their cuntish behavior, his films elicit a misplaced sympathy for total cunts. Same in Goodfellas, same in Casino. And he's at it again here. I executed prisoners in the war and they gave me a medal for it, this is no different. There are hints, tiny hints, such as the reaction from de niro in the nursing home when he's asked about his victims and lack of empathy and his response is a puzzled 'but I only knew one of them'. And the confusion and bewilderment at his failure as a father is potentially a good theme, but it isn't really taken anywhere. In the end, the glamour overpowers any hints of this kind, as they always seem to with Scorsese. I don't come away from this film with any sense of a better understanding of the world. Never have from Scorsese. All surface, only pretend depth.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
That is Goodfellas. As is this.

I watched it. It is professionally done. I really don't know why he bothered, though. Performances are fine. The 'youthing down' doesn't work, but that doesn't matter. But we've all been here many, many times before now.
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True. But I can’t help loving Scorsese’s mob movies. I’d be happy to watch a few more. I’m watching The Irishman tonight.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
A problem I've had with Scorsese for a long time is in evidence here again. Right from Taxi Driver, really, his films excuse cunts for their cuntish behavior, his films elicit a misplaced sympathy for total cunts. Same in Goodfellas, same in Casino. And he's at it again here. I executed prisoners in the war and they gave me a medal for it, this is no different. There are hints, tiny hints, such as the reaction from de niro in the nursing home when he's asked about his victims and lack of empathy and his response is a puzzled 'but I only knew one of them'. And the confusion and bewilderment at his failure as a father is potentially a good theme, but it isn't really taken anywhere. In the end, the glamour overpowers any hints of this kind, as they always seem to with Scorsese. I don't come away from this film with any sense of a better understanding of the world. Never have from Scorsese. All surface, only pretend depth.
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Can’t argue with that. Interesting stories though. As long as you don’t pay for any of the media and are aware that yes, they are all self aggrandising psychopaths then it’s car crash entertainment. Dave Courntey’s biography was a good read (got it from the library). I went into my local Waterstones in Birkenhead and noticed it wasn’t on the shelves. The security guard told me it was because people kept stealing it. If you know about when he was a bouncer on Jerry Sadowitz’s show ‘The People vs Jerry Sadowitz’ and what happened when they were in Liverpool it makes perfect sense.
 
Quite enjoyed it, it's more of the same really. Prefer the Sopranos view of the mafia thing. De Niro is good as a bewildered dummy psychopath but they are all unlikable characters, apart from the daughters. De aging was not quite believable.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
A problem I've had with Scorsese for a long time is in evidence here again. Right from Taxi Driver, really, his films excuse cunts for their cuntish behavior, his films elicit a misplaced sympathy for total cunts. Same in Goodfellas, same in Casino. And he's at it again here. I executed prisoners in the war and they gave me a medal for it, this is no different. There are hints, tiny hints, such as the reaction from de niro in the nursing home when he's asked about his victims and lack of empathy and his response is a puzzled 'but I only knew one of them'. And the confusion and bewilderment at his failure as a father is potentially a good theme, but it isn't really taken anywhere. In the end, the glamour overpowers any hints of this kind, as they always seem to with Scorsese. I don't come away from this film with any sense of a better understanding of the world. Never have from Scorsese. All surface, only pretend depth.
Click to expand...

Similarly, Goodfellas and TWOWS are exactly the same film. The structure is identical.

W/C man
Finds scam
Gradually increasing wealth
Gradually increasing cuntitude
Accompanying dangers mount
Crash
Abandon everything - back to Sq.1
 
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I rewatched the Godfather trilogy last weekend after finishing the book again.

The first two are absolute masterpieces. The third, not so much.

Does anyone know much about Sicily- it seems the mafia is (or was) a real part of the fabric of society there.
I might see if there's a book on the subject
 
Orang Utan said:
just worked it out - The Wolf Of Wall Street. Though I remain confused. People are very lazy at typing these days. It seems one day we will type all of our words using initials and no one will understand each other.
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VLOM, agreed. PAMA. It's a SF and I CBBTTI.
 
watched the first hour+.

- about the beginning: my father, one of my aunts, and the wife of one of my uncles passed in places like that, so it's familiar. but the steadicam* while it looks good, is too hamhanded of a reference to goodfellas anymore
- i didn't recognize harvey keitel
- great little turn from the guy who plays whispers di tullio, and even more from ray romano. more of him in future please
- bo dietl, who plays the guy deniro meets in the sauna in chicago and who helps him blow up the cabs and who fills the watermelon with liquor, is a first-grade right-wing cunt in real life, and i don't think he was doing too much acting in the movie. his wiki entry scratches the surface
- i didn't need the fairy joke, however "characteristic of the times" it may have been
- the "hunt" sheeran meets in florida is e. howard hunt :bigeyes:
- the music over the aerial shot when sheeran returns to miami for the teamsers convention is the theme from the Jackie Gleason show, a major variety show, filmed in Miami Beach. irish types like me would recognize it because gleason was irish from brooklyn who made it very big and the parents and i watched it every sunday in the 60s because in an unspoken way we were supposed to

*fun fact 2: the steadicam was invented by a guy from around phila.
 
petee said:
- the music over the aerial shot when sheeran returns to miami for the teamsers convention is the theme from the Jackie Gleason show, a major variety show, filmed in Miami Beach. irish types like me would recognize it because gleason was irish from brooklyn who made it very big and the parents and i watched it every sunday in the 60s because in an unspoken way we were supposed to
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I remember the Jackie Gleason show. I loved Frank Fontaine...as Crazy Guggenheim. He had a voice like butter.
Beautiful singer.


Was reading about him just now. Never realised he died so young. Only 58.
 
D'wards said:
I rewatched the Godfather trilogy last weekend after finishing the book again.

The first two are absolute masterpieces. The third, not so much.

Does anyone know much about Sicily- it seems the mafia is (or was) a real part of the fabric of society there.
I might see if there's a book on the subject
Click to expand...
The third one is based on an interesting set of events though. Roberto Calvi (God’s banker) and the death of Pope John Paul 1. If you enjoy a conspiracy tale or two. It’s a bit JFK.
 
Lupa said:
I remember the Jackie Gleason show. I loved Frank Fontaine...as Crazy Guggenheim. He had a voice like butter.
Beautiful singer.


Was reading about him just now. Never realised he died so young. Only 58.
Click to expand...


"hello, mr denneheeee" :D

second tranche:
- the reporter announcing the cuban missile crisis is a young Roger Mudd, one of the few reliable voices on network television
- movie begins to drag a bit
- the reporter announcing gallo's killing sounds like john johnson, one of the team at WABC that was put together to "look like new york", including geraldo rivera, and roseann scamardella, model for roseann roseannadanna on SNL
- hoffa in fact put his life on the line when he was a young organizer and it's good to see him portrayed as having some regard for the members' interests. as a left-communist sympathizer i am contractually obligated to point out that in the end he became only another negotiator with capital
 
Did anyone else think Harvey Keitel looked like Heseltine.

Anyway. This was the last gangster movie. There won't be another.
 
Watched about an hour of it so far. Can't get my head around the constant switching backward and forward in time but with really fucking old actors, de niro sat with his young wife and children when he looks about 75, people calling him kid, it's just weird.

Probably will watch rest but so far it's not looking like a classic. It's a bit like a film made by AI that has only every been shown Scorsese films
 
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