THE IRISHMAN

As one of my favorite wits (Terence Winch) said before either of us even saw this move: there should be a warning saying "No Irishman was harmed in the making of this movie" and I got the joke, because "the Irishman" of the title is played by Robert DiNiro. And the Jimmy Hoffa character, played by Al Pacino, is constantly making derogatory remarks about Italians! Al Pacino pretending to be an Italian-hating non-Italian and DiNiro pretending to be an Irishman! That's only two things that bugged me about this film.

There are some classic Scorcese (director Martin) moves (including casting Italians to play Irish) like the opening extended dolly shot and mobster jargon and theme, with some new tricks thrown in like CGI used to make the main characters look younger and older than the actors playing them are, and jumping back and forth in time as if in an attempt to wow us with this gimmick. But like most gimmicks it only partially works (mainly in the old age scenes).

There's some good acting (Joe Pesci at his best, for instance) but to what end? To spend three hours watching soulless men joust for power while they kill people without care or feeling or remorse. I have friends who loved this movie, but not me.