Scorsese’s wiseguys and wisecracks
THE IRISHMAN
★★★★★
(15, 209 minutes)
Director: Martin Scorsese Stars: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel
THE GOOD LIAR
★★★★✩
(15, 109 minutes)
Director: Bill Condon
Stars: Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Ian Mckellen, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter
MIDWAY
★★✩✩✩
(12A, 138 minutes)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Woody Harrelson
MARTIN SCORSESE may be pushing 80 but, while promoting The Irishman, he sparked outrage among a younger generation by revealing that he didn’t consider the formulaic Marvel “cinematic universe” to be “cinema”. While I can see his point, I wonder whether a similar question hovers overs this gangster epic.
This long-planned film was made for Netflix so the cinema chains that insist on a decent theatrical window won’t be showing it this weekend.and with a running time of three-and-a-half hours, anyone without a superhuman bladder may prefer to wait until it arrives on the home streaming service on November 27.
But while Scorsese doesn’t have his own “cinematic universe”, there’s something a bit Avengers: Endgame about this long-planned project, as the big names from four decades of crime classics – Keitel, De Niro, Pesci, plus Pacino – assemble for an over-long, Cgi-enhanced day of reckoning.
There are wiseguys, wisecracks, sharp suits and even sharper shooters.the Irishman is unmistakably a Scorsese film but it marks a stark change of tone and pace from previous instalments.
In Goodfellas, he used a slick tracking shot to draw us into the Copacabana nightclub and into the seemingly glamorous world of organised crime. But this quietly engrossing saga begins in
2003 with a slower move through a care home, past orderlies and inmates, before landing on an ailing man in his 80s called Frank Sheeran (De Niro) who is telling his life story to an unseen interviewer.
Frank doesn’t do remorse but his story is tinged with regret, telling of a father who alienated his four daughters and of violence rendered even more senseless by the passing of time.
His story is framed by a road trip he made with Pennsylvanian crime boss Russell Bufalino (a quietly chilling Pesci) and their wives in 1975, then flashbacks within flashbacks see him learning the art of murder when tasked with executing prisoners of war in wartime Italy.
Most of the action takes place with Sheeran and Pesci in their 40s, Scorsese using cutting-edge technology to digitally smooth the septuagenarian stars’ wrinkles. On the big screen, De Niro’s fuzzy, youthful face doesn’t always fit his creaky gait. I suspect it will be less distracting on the small screen.
Sheeran begins his life of crime stealing steak for mob restaurants. He quickly gets promoted to “house painter” (mob code for hitman) before being tasked with babysitting Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), leader of the mob-controlled Teamsters union.
While De Niro and Pesci dial down their performances, Pacino turns it up to 11. Hoffa is an ego-maniac who survives through bluster and intimidation but he’s also a brilliant strategist who genuinely cares for his members. It’s Pacino’s best performance in decades.
The pace sags in the middle as Scorsese broadens his story by tying the mob to the attempted Bay Of Pigs invasion of Cuba and the Kennedy assassination. But it jolts back into life as we return to that road trip and Scorsese reveals its fateful destination.
His final day of reckoning comes when we make a devastating return to the care home. But spiritually, these wise guys have been dead for decades.
It’s almost impossible to write about The Good Liar without spoiling the story. But I don’t think I’m giving anything away by revealing that Sir Ian Mckellen delivers yet another acting masterclass.
This tightly coiled thriller begins with Mckellen’s twinkly-eyed charmer Roy Courtnay wooing Betty Mcleish (Helen Mirren), a wealthy widow he met on a dating website.we see behind his amiable facade after he bids farewell with a prissy wave. As her car turns the corner, his stare hardens and a flappy hand turns into a stiff salute.
“Stringfellows!” he barks at a black cab.
There are plenty more twists to come. Some are more believable than others but this is another thoroughly engrossing drama from Gods And Monsters director Bill Condon.
You barely notice the acting in Midway, a loud, Cgi-heavy Second World War film from disaster movie specialist Roland Emmerich. It’s a pretty straightforward retelling of the events following America’s late entry into the war, beginning in December 1941 with Pearl Harbor and culminating in
June 1942’s Battle of Midway.
Here actors play the real heroes of these battles, which Emmerich stages in bombastic style. But as the emphasis is on military tactics and bravery, it’s a dry affair with one-dimensional heroes. Ed Skrein gets the most screen time as cocky dive bomber Dick Best. But he’s hard to like and, thanks to the English actor’s New Yoik accent, even harder to listen to.