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Last movie you watched......

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Jenny Jobs, Dec 29, 2008.

  1. Severian

    Severian Well-Known Member

    Seems legit.
     
  2. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Shrug. I feel like I know how the awards thing works. I guess we’ll see.
     
  3. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    I finished watching "The Irishman" tonight (split up over two nights) and to be honest, I found it a colossal bore. First off, there's no good reason for this movie to be 3 1/2 hours -- if they condensed it to 2 to 2 1/2 it might have been a tighter story. There were a few scenes that just meandered along with no point that spread the movie out. The movie's concept and plot were fine, but it was just too drawn out to really be interesting. I thought the last 45 minutes could have been condensed into a 10- to 15-minute epilogue to wrap it up. Plus, although I always like a good mob movie, I just saw the usual tropes of the genre that have been done better in other movies.
    Now, I may be just a dumb Marvel movie fan, and if not liking this movie means I don't get real 'cinema,' then so be it. However, I think "Goodfellas" is one of the best movies of all time, I think "Casino" and "The Departed" are very good, and although "Wolf of Wall Street" had its flaws, I found it enjoyable, so I certainly don't have an aversion to Scorsese movies. I just didn't think this one was executed that well.
     
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Watched it straight through - though I admit nodding off here and there and going back to where I fell asleep. It's better than "Hoffa" - the Nicholson film which is also told in flashbacks with much of the same story.
    My main problem was this was a movie without a climax. It built and built and built and what? - the greatest exchanges between DeNiro and Pacino and DeNiro and Pesci are when they say things without saying them. The relationship with the daughter? She never even tells him off.
    It felt like a very well done "victory lap" - more than just an encore of past work - good seeing all three really acting again instead of playing off their stereotype. Best Picture? I'd like to think there is a movie with something more to say this year. Guy gets involved with the Teamsters, guy gets involved with the mob, betrays associates, kills people, goes to jail, alienates his family. The End. (seriously, I don't even think I spoiled anything). And yes, I liked the movie - it's more than just a chance to see DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci with Scorese remind you how good they can be - but it doesn't reinvent the wheel.

    Curious how being on Netflix will impact its Oscar chances. While universally well-reviewed, audience scores aren't as high and it is the kind of movie people will sit down and watch. I'd ask if the Academy would award a film that recieved from pushback from the public, but they went ahead and gave the award to Green Book last year. Honestly, most of the Best Pic nominees the last three years haven't really held up.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2019
  5. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    I finished it. They needed to CGI the arms as well.

    I will say the scene at the end where DeNiro and Pesci are having wine and bread really hit home for me because I grew up watching these two and they will not be with us much longer.

    Pesci is the reason to watch this. He was great. Everything else? Meh.
     
  6. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    The directing was lazy. There was no energy. The only movement was the pan shots, which were overused and added nothing. It seemed a paint by numbers work. It lost me completely when a scene was just the shot going back and forth between DeNiro and Pacino as each talked. The scene's main point seemed to be a reminder to the viewer that this is DeNiro and Pacino acting.
     
    britwrit likes this.
  7. Severian

    Severian Well-Known Member

    The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young: 4/5

    Really enjoyed this documentary about THE hardest ultra marathon in the world. I
    docked it a point because I didn't like the super-secret elitism the race's
    co-founder, Lazarus Lake, gives off throughout the movie.
     
  8. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    I am astounded by some of these takes. @DanOregon : it had no climax? The climax was like 30 minutes long, with Sheeran coming to terms with all the awful shit he did to his family, but if you wanted a singular moment that stood out, I'd argue it was when the FBI guy was interviewing him and told him everyone was dead except Hoffa's family -- and he still wouldn't talk.

    @Scout everything but Pesci was meh? I agree he was the best part, but there was so much to like about the movie IMHO. I haven't seen anyone in any review make note of the fact that Hoffa's wife was played by the same actress who was the drug mule who got Ray Liotta busted at the end of Goodfellas. I don't think I've ever seen her in any other movies.

    @justgladtobehere the directing was lazy...what exactly does that mean? Right from the jump we have DeNiro doing a voiceover as the camera walks through the convalescent home and then it settles on his face and he jumps right in unexpectedly with the narration of the voice over. The camera work when he went into the clamhouse and shot Crazy Joe Gallo was great. It's not MadMax or even The Untouchables. I thought the understated way he just up and popped Hoffa with two shots from behind and then turns and there's no one there (though you imagine the clean-up crew is around) was brilliant. A huge personality whacked in such a pedestrian way -- from behind by his closest friend.
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I appreciate the argument - but I don't know how even a three and a half hour movie can have a 30 minute climax, structurally speaking. And I liked the movie. The "moment" that struck me was the testimonial dinner with the exchanges between all three characters - it really kind of framed the dynamic of the various relationships.
     
  10. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    There were good scenes, but I was about to scream at the number of pan shots.
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I'm sure the response to The Irishman would be a lot different if Goodfellas and Casino didn't exist to compare them to. As it is - it is a fitting bookend to a great career of collaboration. And kind of nice seeing a bunch of 70-year olds playing fully formed characters and not reduced to "I'm old" jokes.
     
  12. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    I, for one, did not really enjoy Casino. It is just too close in both materials and main characters to Goodfellas, so as to be distracting. I've seen it numerous times and think it's poetic cinematic justice that Frank Vincent got to beat Joe Pesci and his brother with a baseball bat and then bury them alive, what with how Pesci did Vincent in Goodfellas. But the Sharon Stone character -- tying her daughter to the bed as she went out partying -- was really disturbing and almost unwatchable. I didn't really find myself watching The Irishman and thinking of Goodfellas at all -- well, except when they blew up all those taxis, similar to what a young Henry did in Goodfellas.
     
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