Page 66 - Sonoma County Gazette - January 2020

The Irishman
by Diane McCurdy
There has been a major shift of historical proportion in the film industry.
The Golden Globe Awards are this Sunday. For Best Picture
Comedy I predict that “Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood” will win. Their only competition is “Knives Out”. For Best Picture Drama I predict “The Irishman” will win. There is no competition. For Best Actress Drama, Renee Zellweger will win for her performance in “Judy” and Joaquin Phoenix will win for his performance in “Joker”. For supporting actress, Jennifer Lopez will win for “Hustlers” and for supporting actor, Al Pacino “The Irishman or Brad Pitt “Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood” will win. My friend from high school, Sam Rockwell is nominated for the best actor in a limited series for his performance in “Fosse/Verdon”. Let’s hope he wins.
There Are Four Movies You Should See in Theaters This Month.
Bryan Stevenson (Jordan), a young lawyer, creates the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned and women and children. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillan (Foxx), a young man who is sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. It opens on January 10th.
2. “1917” At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, Blake’s own brother among them. It also opens on January 10th.
Cable companies are not only providing the platforms for making films available to the public they are actually producing the films
themselves. One of the most anticipated of these is The Irishman which features not only
an Academy Award winning director but an A-list, Oscar winning cast as well. It was released in
theaters last month and two weeks later it was available for streaming on Netflix.
Martin Scorsese’s grand mob saga takes us down many familiar paths but he has also forged some new paths too. The scene opens with Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), the titular Irishman, misappropriating slabs of meat and the story carefully details his slippery slide from petty grifter to preferred “hit man”. His initial entry into the underworld is facilitated by Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci).
1. “Just Mercy” starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B Jordan.
Sheeran speaks Italian having been
in Italy during World War II. This
facility ingratiates him to Bufalino.
We are shown in flashback how he is
given a military directive to murder
German captives which supposedly
serves to hone his icy distancing from
his victims. Not only does Sheeran
become a confidant of Bufalino he
also buddies up with Jimmy Hoffa
(Al Pacino). Pacino is in full scenery
chewing mode. When Hoffa comes
out of jail and attempts to regain his position that is now held by a more Mafia embedded union boss, it becomes obvious that he must be eliminated and the job falls to Sheeran. All the while, Sheeran’s personal life evolves as he baptizes three daughters and exchanges one wife for another.
3. “Dolittle”. After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr) hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the Queen falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail
Some of the story is told as Sheeran, an old man, reflects on his life from a retirement home. It has always been easy but tedious to age an actor but in some early scenes the actors have been digitally de-aged which was a costly addition to an already bloated 150 million dollar budget. There has also been discussion surrounding the portrayal of one of Sheeran’s daughters, Peggy,
by Anna Paquin. She only utters 7 words but nonetheless it is an exquisite performance. She doesn’t have to say anything. She knows her father is a killer and bitterness shows in her face. Although all the major players have Italian surnames, Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Romano in a little ironic twist it is true that the protagonist De Niro is indeed half Irish!
on an epic adventure to a mythical island
in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures. This is perfect for the whole family. Opens January 17th.
4. “Bad Boys For Life” Finally the
much-anticipated return of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Set around a modern, highly specialized police unit that collides with the old school Bad
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Inspired by actual events, the basic plot is taken from a memoir entitled, I Heard You Paint Houses. It presents a vast canvas of Americana, of corruption, of ambition, of the abuse of power. It is conceived in the manner of The Godfather which another reviewer has called “Hollywood’s version of Shakespeare”. The film is 3 and 1/2 hours long. Scorsese has been in the news lately because of his criticism of the super-hero, comic book movies that clean up at the box office but in his words do not show the mark of the auteur and are “inhospitable to art”. The Irishman is art.
66 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/20