I've watched "The Irishman" about 10 times now. It's an absorbing story. It has an excellent script, excellent cinematography, and those patented Scorsese Mafia-type extras. The soundtrack is in the tradition of "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas." Pesci gives the performance of his career as Russell, Pacino is almost as over-the-top as Hoffa as he was in "Scarface" (but better), and Ray Romano and Welker White are very strong in their roles. DeNiro is good as the ageing Sheeran, but his dialog is weak (too much stuttering and phumphering) and the anti-ageing software doesn't work very well. Physically, he's an old man long before he gets old in the movie (as when he stomps on the grocer's hand and when he clambers over rocks to throw away the guns he used to kill Joe Gallo).

The weakest part of the film: It's just too long. "Goodfellas" was a very long movie, but it consisted of many short, very punchy scenes and never seemed long. Too many of the scenes in "The Irishman" go on for far too long, especially Sheeran's testimonial dinner and all the stuff that led up to Hoffa's murder, plus those useless smoking breaks.

"Mean Streets" - 4 stars.
"Goodfellas" - 4 stars.
"Casino" - 3 stars.
"The Irishman" - 2.5 stars.


Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu,
E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu...
E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu
Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.