Scorsese's The Irishman

[-JKR-]

The CGI isn't poor, as much as the need to have De Niro there at all times limited it. The early stuff is hilarious, because you clearly have this older dude, trying to move like he isn't and it is very noticeable.

Exactly, it ain't the CGI itself, rather than it's a facelift of someone who's clearly on the older side (no disrespect). That's why it doesn't work as much. But still, it didn't distract me from the story. Thankfully, everything else is strong enough to not make it become a hindrance.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Exactly, it ain't the CGI itself, rather than it's a facelift of someone who's clearly on the older side (no disrespect). That's why it doesn't work as much. But still, it didn't distract me from the story. Thankfully, everything else is strong enough to not make it become a hindrance.

I wish they didn't do it. That they just had two different actors. I get why they did it, especially considering the story and selling point, but it does look rather funny. That said, it's a great film. I know there are a lot of comparison to Goodfellas, Casino and Wolf, but to me this was like those films, but deliberately far more languid and somber. Cut down on the editing, the frantic pace, and the music. This is a movie made by a old man thinking about his morality and the life he has led. The last 30 minutes was depressing as ****.

 

[Filmfreak]

The 50s CGI on De Niro looked very fake to me. The expression, the texture, the eyes. It was like video game stuff. It took me out of the movie at times. But yeah the movement and probably voices too. In general it felt like they were old men from the beginning that only got a bit older until the end.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The 50s CGI on De Niro looked very fake to me. The expression, the texture, the eyes. It was like video game stuff. It took me out of the movie at times. But yeah the movement and probably voices too. In general it felt like they were old men from the beginning that only got a bit older until the end.

The issue there is again they wanted De Niro there. They could have made it look a lot better, if there was a younger stand in. Instead they had to make his face look younger, while still having the same face, head size, etc. of a man in his 70s.

 

[Spider-Fan]

About an hour left in the movie, and I do think that the reverse aging technology doesn't really work because of the body movements. I don't think the CG itself is bad at all. Some scenes better than others. But clearly the body movements are people not of the age they're trying to portray.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Yep I ****ing loved this. It's just great seeing Scorsese make another EPIC gangster film after all these years. Stellar performances across the board from Pacino, Deniro and Pesci and man between this and his role as Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire I almost do keep forgetting that Stephen Gram is a Brit. That guy is pretty damn convincing as an Italian gangster. The de-aging scenes, especially in the beginning were really shoddy though mostly because of the stiff body movements, but no so much the faces IMO. I found it a little overlong too, although I was never bored by it. It definitely could have been trimmed in some places.

9/10

 

[harlequinade]

Eh. It's fine. The last 30 minutes where the ridiculous de-aging on De Niro goes away are wonderful. Pacino is great, Pesci has little to do. But the pacing and the script were not on par with Casino or The Wolf of Wall Street. The only reason I'd ever rewatch this is Pacino

 

[Jekecy]

About 30 minutes in and while the cgi and deaging looks good it’s still old actors moving around like old men with younger cgi faces.

The scene where he "stomps out" that store owner is so hilariously bad. I had to process for a good 5 seconds because I couldn't believe Marty kept that shot of Robert barely grazing the guy with his "kicks".

 

[harlequinade]

It was awful.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Yeah I agree with all of that. It was so noticeable in that scene that I was also surprised that Marty decided to keep it in. They really should have decided to get different actors for those scenes, but I understand why Marty didn't do it. Those aspects are why this movie is far from perfect, but I still really enjoyed it overall.

 

[harlequinade]

Or they should have shot it differently. Not the wide shot, just the shot of the guy who was getting hurt in close up and close up of Peggy being scared

 

[Shift]

I really enjoyed it. The de-aging was distracting for me most of the time. It just didn't look right most of the time, but after awhile i got used to it. It was a wonderful seeing DeNiro and Pesci together on screen again. It's hard to explain seeing how amazing their chemistry is and how well they play off together. Pesci was incredible to see again on screen. And he played his character with such a silent confidence and aged bravado that we haven't seen a lot of. He deserves some serious recognition and awards. I was particularly captivated by the scenes during the celebration where Frank is getting an award. There was so much at play in that part of the movie. the turmoil between Hoffa and then Russell and the respect Frank has for both but also loyalty and friendship. And the tension between Hoffa and Russell, the other italians at the party was great. When Hoffa is dancing with Peggy and Russell and the others are watching and talking amongst themselves. It was just really great.

 

[dark_b]

Bad de-aging or his body language?

body language.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I love the movie overall. Al Pacino completely owns this movie. A little boring in spots, but once Jimmy Hoffa comes into the movie it really picks up. Very similar style to Goodfellas and such

 

[Persona]

What a film. I liked it for the first hour, when the route to Detroit started getting repeated I knew I was probably going to love it, the quiet climax of the film is a wonder of mature storytelling and filmmaking, the extended elegy of the coda is even better, and the final shot drops like a hammer on the genre and context the film inhabits.

MINOR SPOILER


I think of the final shot with the closing door in The Godfather and how this non-closing closing shot inverts that to strip away all mythos and opera, leaving just the truth to sit before you.

 

[Persona]

Anyways, this and Parasite are very easily the best films I have seen this year, with High Life and Crawl in the next tier several steps down.

 

[Lone]

Can’t wait for some guy with a cloud computing account to do a deepfake version of this and make it look better.

The “young” DeNiro scenes were terrible. The middle aged DeNiro looked more like make-up rather than CG. Scorcese ****ed up by not going the body double route.

Maybe if he watched a Marvel movie or two, he might have seen good to great examples of how to do digital de-ageing convincingly.

That aside, I loved this movie. It was great seeing Pesci on screen with DeNiro. Pacino’s performance reminded me of his performance in Heat. No complaints storywise. Everything else aside from the hyped up digital de-ageing was on point IMO. Didn’t feel like 3.5hrs to me.

 

[Schlosser85]

Maybe if he watched a Marvel movie or two, he might have seen good to great examples of how to do digital de-ageing convincingly.

 

[Persona]

I thought the de-aging on the faces was fine, I barely noticed it half the time. If anyone's getting hung up on this as opposed to the litany of things this movie does masterfully, they are selling the movie way too short.

The physicality of the characters is definitely older but as several critics pointed out this works with the unreliable narrator framework. Sheeran is so old when he's telling this story, he can imagine a younger face on himself but he can't remember what it's like to really BE younger. He can remember younger versions of his friends and loved ones, but it is still colored by his perceptions of them when they were older.

 

[dark_b]

i can't stop thinking about Pesci's performance.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I liked this but the de-aging was bad for all the reasons already mentioned and I didn't care for the pacing. While I liked the actors I can't see myself wanting to watch this again any time soon.

 

[Filmfan93]

I really enjoyed this - was happy that Scorsese brought that Goodfellas style and atmosphere.

Pacino and Pesci in particular stole the show for me. Last 30 min were also amazing and quite depressing.

Only bit that prevents me from giving it a straight 10 - the CGI of younger DeNiro. Really took me out of the movie most of the time and his face often looked like a videogame cinematic. I understand what Scorsese was trying to achieve, but it looked quite weird. Pacino's de-aging looked awesome, though.

 

[jmc]

Only Scorsese could make this movie. Brilliant film. De-aging is a little hit and miss at times, but it works more than it doesn't. I suspect this will be a big awards player across all categories.

 

[3rdstone]

Maybe if he watched a Marvel movie or two, he might have seen good to great examples of how to do digital de-ageing convincingly.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Oh noes. How will Scorsese live with himself.