The Irishman

The chemistry between De Niro and Pacino together is GOAT cinema.

Director and producer Martin Scorsese has been bashing superhero films lately, but he’s ironically assembled the Avengers of mob films for his latest outing. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci, and a greatest hits cast of supporting mobsters fill this Mount Rushmore of mobsters film that includes Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, Sebastian Maniscalco, and even Steven Van Zandt.

Little surprise, this the ninth feature film collaboration between De Niro and Scorsese. Big surprise, this is the first time Pacino has been directed by Scorsese. And what a role — Jimmy Hoffa.

Pesci reportedly had to be asked fifty times to come out of unofficial retirement for this film and to play a mob member again, but it was worth it. Scorsese tried to persuade him The Irishman would be "different.”

It is.

The Irishman is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, by Steven Azillian, and that's the actual title that displays on the film. Scorsese takes his time telling this story — with a runtime one minute shy of three and a half hours — which allows him to become a different director as well as milk great performances out of his actors. I could watch one scene of De Niro and Pesci breaking bread, sipping vino and talking in Italian again and again. And the chemistry between De Niro and Pacino together is GOAT cinema.

De Niro and most cast members appear as young as twentysomething and as old as 80 in this film with the help of Industrial Light and Magic. If you stare at it, you’ll see the imperfections (mostly in Pacino), but it’s surprisingly not distracting.

The Irishman is one of the best films of the year. I expect most end-of-year lists will have this and Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood in their top two. They share more than just a legendary director; both films are three-hour-plus retro fantasies that take their time to tell a story that pays off with a surprising third act. With both films, I was worried they wouldn’t pay off and deserve their long run time, but the finale moves in, affects you and you get what Scorsese was building to the whole time — masterfully.

The Irishman opens in select theaters (such as the Magnolia in Dallas) on November 15. It streams on Netflix on Thanksgiving Eve.

In a nutshell: An epic gangster film that can sit on the same shelf as Goodfellas.

Award potential: Front runner for Best Picture. Will have nominations in all categories. Scorsese for Best Director. De Niro, Pacino and Pesci will have acting nominations.

Add Best Cinematography, Screenplay, Film Editing, Score, Production Design, and likely frontrunner for Best Visual Effects and you have at least 11 nominations for Oscars. 

Time may push Tarantino's Hollywood film to a win in early February however, it's just too soon to tell. I'm betting there will be controversy over the liberties taken with the controversial book material and screenplay (more on this one than Hollywood), and the Netflix airing will limit the theater experience I saw and cheapen the film somewhat. 

It should clean up in the SAG Best Ensemble category, the SAG equivalent to Best Picture.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks. Go see this on the big screen or I’ll have to break your leg.