Sounds like the best choice. Regardless of the stellar reviews it’s getting I highly doubt this type of flick could ever hope to get close to recovering that much cost. If it can do well in the end of the year awards and Oscars Netflix will probably consider it worth it.
Final trailer. I’m really looking forward to seeing it in a theater later this week.
Now live on Netflix!
I’m taking a break after about 30 minutes. The de-aging is really distracting because a) it more or less doesn’t work and b) they still move like 75 year olds. It’s just weird. I stopped at a part where “young” Robert DeNiro is beating a guy up and moving like C3P0 he’s so stiff. I’ll probably go back later. I don’t know.
I just finished this and I thought is was fantastic. A triumph!
Yes, there were some minor issues with the de-aging. The movement of the aging actors just doesn’t match their young features and this immediately gives you that “Uncanny Valley” feeling that pulls you out of the movie. All in all though I thought it worked really well.
I thought it was a great story, beautifully directed and with amazing actors all working at the top of their game. I really got the feeling that they knew this was their swan song and everyone nailed their performances. It was superb to see De Niro, Pacino and Pesci acting at a level where they had been in their prime. Really great stuff and one of my favorite movies of the decade. I could happily just watch it all over again.
I’m watching this, and it seems quite good.
I sincerely hope Joe Pesci wins another Oscar for this.
He has the best ever Oscar winner speech. (Best Supporting Actor for Goodfellas)
Finished watching it, and it really was well done.
I stopped at 2 and a half hours. I’ll probably go back to it later, if only because I’ve invested so much time already. I swear 90 minutes of the film are Frank going back and forth between Hoffa and the mob trying to calm down both sides over “The Little Guy” incident. 90 fucking minutes of elderly asshole tough guys with ruffled feathers passing notes in the hallway. So far this is easily the most boring Scorsese film I’ve seen.
Interesting. So far reactions are polarized, which is a good sign. Something that people either love or hate is usually a fascinating piece.
You probably shouldn’t bother watching the rest of it, you aren’t gonna like it.
I haven’t watched it yet, but Ruth is and likes it, which is surprising. She normally refuses to watch anything Mob-related. She described Goodfellas as “2 hours of Italians yelling at each other”.
Watched the first half of it today, will finish it tomorrow. Liking it so far, and it’s nice Joe Pesci in action again.
The digital de-aging was initially somewhat distracting and uncanny. It’s certainly notable and not as seamless as Sam Jackson’s treatment in Captain Marvel. While the skin has been digitally smoothed, the eye section gives it a bit away. And as Erik noted above, the stiffness of De Niro’s true age is evident in some scenes, e.g. Frank roughing up the shop keeper who has pushed his daughter. WW2-era Frank almost looks like something taken from a cutscene in a Battlefield game. (That part, fortunately, is only super-brief though.)
That said, an hour in or so, I had gotten used to it.
Watched a bit of it last night. Will probably watch more tonight, if I don’t just pass out from alcohol and turkey.
I like it. While I see the issue with the de-aging stuff, I just ignore it. Because Pesci, DeNiro and Pacino.
Yeah, this is where I’m at.
Not just the actors. It’s those little cuts to clips and the subtitle introductions to new characters. You go in expecting a Scorsese mafia film and get it you in spades. As with Goodfellas I also love the way the cast list on wikipedia has links to the actual people and their grisly fates so you combine it a bit with a mob history lesson.
I loved how they integrated those little text layovers to show you what’s in store for a character as soon as they get introduced.
EDIT: Oh, I may have misread your post @playingwithknives and now I realize that’s what you were talking about in your post. I like that too!
My favorite was “well-liked by everybody, died of natural causes in 2001.” I also liked the scene where one of the wives suddenly realizes she is in a Scorsese picture as she’s about to turn on the ignition of her car.
A worthy follow-up to Scorsese’s other fact-based mob pictures, very different in tone and style but true to the themes he found interesting in the subject. De Niro was quite good, as was Pesci, who quite successfully plays against type. Pacino doesn’t derail the movie, but he does seem to give up on being specifically Hoffa about halfway through and instead just does Pacino instead. (Fortunately Pacino is able to supply what Scorsese wants out of his Hoffa, namely a ball of energy who has absolute confidence in everything he says.)
The de-aging didn’t really bother me, even though it wasn’t 100% realistic; I was more bothered by the digital blood in one shot and the fact that, as people have noted, the actors’ physical movements are sometimes stiff for their supposed age. Speaking of which, there’s a little “conversation with…” short also up on Netflix where Marty and the three main actors talk about the movie, and the fact that they’re not so spry these days is one of the things they discuss.
I thought the de-aging effects were nicely supported by the film’s framing device, which relies heavily on memory, kind of like when you think back on your parents in your mind and they become an uneasy mix of how they were and how you saw them as an adult. Seeing an uncanny face grafted onto a sturdy mid-70s actor’s trunk and stilted movement mostly felt of a piece with the film’s somber tone.
How Scorsese handled time and the reflected on impermanence of everything was incredibly touching, especially knowing we’ll never see this configuration of talent on screen together again. It also felt like a farewell to a particular tradition of movie making. Some of the scenes near the end made me tear up a little. I adored this. The new Hollywood is now old Hollywood. :(
Overall, I enjoyed it. The de-aging didn’t bother me once I got used to it. There is a fun bit in the after-show where they had to tell Pacino he is supposed to be 49, not 70s in the scene where he jumps out of the chair.
This movie felt like the group of musicians who finally do that one album together, and it was enjoyable watching them all act. My main complaint is no matter who he plays, Pacino is still Pacino. I had a hard time getting used to him as Hoffa.
I at least thought the story was plausible. The Hoffa disappearance is rare high-profile crime we will never know what happened. At this point, everyone involved is dead. I like the rumors of him being buried in New Jersey. If he got any sort of watery grave, it would be in the middle of Lake Erie.