The Irishman [CRITERION COLLECTION] (DVD) [2020]

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A nice touch, though, is the addition of archival footage featuring Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa and apparently used as references for the film. Sheeran’s footage (running 6-minutes) comes from recordings author Charles Brandt made for his novel, “I Heard You Paint Houses.” The excerpts showcase Sheeran talking about his alleged involvement in the Hoffa disappearance along with his general methodology behind hits (or “painting houses”). He also shows off his watch (from Hoffa) and his ring (from Russell Bufalino). Filling in the academic angle is a new 21-minute video essay by Farran Smith Nehme called Gangster’s Requiem, which looks at how Scorsese’s style has developed through the years and how all of it ends up applying to this film, usually through referencing some of his other films and deconstructing a handful of sequences. Criterion also includes a 5-minute episode from a New York Times online series, Anatomy of a Scene, which features Scorsese talking over the Frank Sheeran appreciation night sequence, explaining the decisions behind the framing and general flow of the sequence (he also went out of his way to get Harvey Keitel and Pacino in a shot together just because they had never been in a scene together before).

The Irishman [CRITERION COLLECTION] (Blu-ray) [2020]

No one depicts the violent, vicious, and labyrinthian world of organized crime with more precision and gusto than Martin Scorsese. Operatic in scope and brimming with beauty despite the grisly subject matter, his gritty portraits of gangsters and their various milieus remain undisputed masterworks that continually dazzle the senses no matter how many times we've seen them. Though only four of Scorsese's 60-odd films deal specifically with the Italian mafia, the legendary director forever will be known as the genre's most passionate and lyrical chronicler. Things are a bit iffy around the de-aging effects. I won’t get much into the effects, as they’ve been written about ad nauseum, other than to say I had no issue with them, but similar to how they look in the Netflix presentationthere can be a waxiness aroundfacial features when the effects are being applied. It's not always noticeable, but when it is it stands out.

Rate And Review

In all the material is decent, but I guess I was expecting more for such a big title, with maybe more new material from Criterion, and I’m especially surprised there wasn’t anything about the questionable details behind Sheeran’s account of what happened to Hoffa, or anything else he confessed to. Closing Anatomy of a Scene"(HD, 5 minutes) - Scorsese comments about the structure, elements, tone, and subtext of a pivotal sequence in The Irishman for this installment of a popular feature that regularly appears in the The New York Times. And boy have I missed Joe Pesci over the years and don't worry he's still intense as usual. And that's weird considering he is extremely toned down in this movie. If you're looking for a violent Joe Pesci like he was in Goodfellas you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for an intimidating Pesci with a huge presence then you're in the right place.

The Irishman [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [2 Discs] The Irishman [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [2 Discs]

Criterion also includes a 19-minute discussion between Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, the four sitting around a table (used in the film I believe) to discuss the film. At first I thought this would be the same as the In Conversation featurette that is available on Netflix, and while this uses a lot of the same material, it’s a different edit with some alternate material as well (and it runs a few minutes shorter). Nothing mind-blowing is said but it is a bit of blast to see the four just talk about the film and the experience of them all working together for what is probably one last time. It’s also fun listening to them recall what they were expecting from one another, like how Pesci was expecting Pacino to really go off the rails, as he can do, in a few scenes (“blowup” as Pesci puts it) and planning how he was going to work around that. There’s also some discussion around working with the de-aging technology. Table for Four: Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci"(HD, 19 minutes) - This 2019 roundtable discussion unites the four legends, who reminisce about how they met and chat about the genesis of The Irishman, the film's length, tone, and characters, the joys of working together, and the movie's unique technical challenges. Terrific rapport and some great anecdotes distinguish this jovial yet substantive dialogue. Video Essay: "Gangsters' Requiem"(HD, 21 minutes) - Film critic Farran Smith Nehme connects The Irishman to Scorsese's personal experience and his other legendary gangster pictures while examining the director's style, the relationships between the characters, and the movie's underlying themes. Smith dissects several scenes and examines many of the subtle touches that make The Irishman such a textured, nuanced film.Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa(SD, 23 minutes) - Individual archival interviews with Sheeran (interviewed by author Charles Brandt in 1999) and Hoffa (interviewed by legendary journalist David Brinkley for the documentary Inside Jimmy Hoffa) provide an intimate look at these two colorful figures. Sheeran shares details about the life of a hitman and the profession's dos and don'ts, while Hoffa describes himself as an "average, ordinary human being," classifies life as "a jungle," states his definition of ethics, and airs his beefs with U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. When was the last time you saw Al Pacino give a really good performance? Well that's exactly what he does here and it feels so good to see him find his glory days. He is his usual shouty self but shines better when he tones it down and let expressions speak. Expanding on that latter topic is The Evolution of Digital De-Aging, a short 13-minute featurette created by Netflix. Though not all that long I will say it does a decent job getting into how the technology works (starting with these special cameras that also get mentioned a lot in the previous two supplements) and then how they had to properly capture a variety of expressions from the actors to make sure they could replicate their performances as exact as they could. Though I could look past a lot of them there are issues around the effects in the end product, yet despite that I still found it a fascinating look into not only the technology but the art that went behind it. New documentary about the making of the film featuring Scorsese; the lead actors; producers Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, and Irwin Winkler; director of photography Rodrigo Prieto; and others from the cast and crew The presentation may not offer the clear upgrade over streaming one would hope and the special features leave room for improvement, but it’s still a handsome looking edition that Scorsese fans will be happy to snatch up.

The Irishman | Netflix Official Site Watch The Irishman | Netflix Official Site

Criterion has thankfully made this a two-disc set, giving the film the entirety of the first disc. All supplemental material can be found on the second disc. The second disc, like the first one, is dual-layer, so this led me to assume there would actually be a lot of content to be found, but it barely runs over a couple of hours in the end. The film is 3hours and 30 minutes long but it never felt that long honestly. The first 2 hours went by a breeze but the 3rd hour was unapologetically slow. It felt a bit dragged on during the final hour and felt it was skipping ahead at the same time. it wasn't boring in any way but felt it could've been handled better. The CGI de-aging is so good that after a while you get confused how old the lead actors actually are. This is the best de-aging tech I've ever seen honestly.The footage of Hoffa comes from 17-minutes’ worth of material from an episode of NBC’s David Brinkley’s Journal that focused on Hoffa. The footage of Hoffa was clearly replicated for a few sequences in the film (his office is recreated exactly as it is in this footage) and we get to see him give part of a speech and woo his way through the crowds. The episode gets into his popularity amongst workers as well as his legal issues, and also talks a little bit about his relationship with Tony “Pro.” Brinkley even interviews Hoffa about his time in front of the Senate Committee and asks him about what he does with his wealth. This is an especially solid inclusion for the release. Newly edited roundtable conversation among Scorsese and actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, originally recorded in 2019 The main focus for me was absolutely the acting. And why wouldn't it be with a cast like this? Al Pacino and Robert De Niro for the 1st time on screen together since Heat. Joe Pesci and De Niro since Goodfellas. Joe Pesci coming out of retirement and Martin Scorsese directing all these legends on screen together! If this doesn't get you excited for this film then I'm afraid nothing will.

The Irishman on the Blu-ray Review: Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman on the

This becomes the main story thread in hour three, and it features what should rank among Scorsese’s greatest set pieces as Sheeran comes to terms with and carries out Hoffa’s killing. It’s a sequence that’s austere in tone and approach (with one swaggering segue into goofball, semi-improvisatory humor), yet also unbearably tense and emotionally devastating. De Niro expertly sketches the moral bottoming out of an immoral man (his mumbly, halting call with Hoffa’s wife after the deed is done is a particular highlight), and it’s thrilling to see him so engaged. Pacino is no less impressive as the volatile Hoffa , so stubborn in his need to hold onto the presidency of the union that he built from the ground up that he’ll heed no warnings to the contrary about the degree to which his conduct may court disaster or death. Archival interview excerpts with Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran and International Brotherhood of Teamsters trade union leader Jimmy Hoffa

What to know

And then there are the de-aging effects. Much has been written about the controversial choice to use the digital technique to allow De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci to portray younger versions of their characters and thus appear continually throughout the film. Though the technology seamlessly shaves years off the actors, its implementation occasionally takes us out of the story as we marvel at the results and look for betraying chinks in the armor. (I couldn't final any.) Pacino and Pesci fare the best because Hoffa and Bufalino are well into middle age when we meet them. Sheeran, though, is supposed to be just 35 in his earliest scenes (although the film never gets that specific), and De Niro doesn't look anywhere near that young.