Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, one of last year’s best films in The Irishman joins the Criterion Collection family. It’s easily the highlight this week, but even if the slate wasn’t on the thinner side, it would take the cake. It’s just that good, even if that’s no real surprise after the mark it left on 2019. Read on for more…
Joey’s Top Pick
The Irishman (on Criterion)
The year 2019 had several cinematic highlights, but this movie from Martin Scorsese is certainly high up among them. The Irishman is many things, but at its core, it’s Scorsese telling an American epic story as only he can. Of course, that would include great new performances from Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci (who has rarely been better). Plus, he finally collaborated with Al Pacino, and boy did sparks fly. Aside from the potential that the de-aging effects work will look worse as the years go by, this is an instant classic. As an addition to the Criterion Collection, it’s a perfect pick. Netflix is doing a wonderful thing partnering with Criterion to put some of their best work out as physical media. This is just another great example of it.
Recommended Viewing
QT8: Quentin Tarantino: The First Eight: Special Collectors Edition
A documentary about, you guessed it, Quentin Tarantino‘s films, this is nirvana for his fans. It’s really quite enjoyable, provided you dig on Tarantino. If not, it probably won’t turn you around. However, if you worship at the QT alter, it’s going to be a really fun watch. Basically, it’s close to a fan flick, but the doc has some really interesting bits of behind the scenes information contained within. If that sounds good to you, pick it up and revisit a master storyteller’s career so far!
Also Available This Week
American Trial: The Eric Garner Story
Ava
Better Call Saul: Season Five (TV)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Complete Series (TV)
Pretending I’m A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story
Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
Criterion Corner
The Irishman
To reiterate, from The Criterion Collection: “Martin Scorsese’s cinematic mastery is on full display in this sweeping crime saga, which serves as an elegiac summation of his six-decade career. Left behind by the world, former hit man and union truck driver Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) looks back from a nursing home on his life’s journey through the ranks of organized crime: from his involvement with Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) to his association with Teamsters union head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) to the rift that forced him to choose between the two. An intimate story of loyalty and betrayal writ large across the epic canvas of mid-twentieth-century American history, The Irishman (based on the real-life Sheeran’s confessions, as told to writer Charles Brandt for the book I Heard You Paint Houses) is a uniquely reflective late-career triumph that balances its director’s virtuoso set pieces with a profoundly personal rumination on aging, mortality, and the decisions and regrets that shape a life.”
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