The Irishman

Being used to binging on consecutive episodes of hour-long TV series episodes, I did not find its length to be a problem in any way. I enjoyed it immensely.

@torunn said
The Godfather, especially parts 1 and 2, is a masterpiece. The Irishman is a good film.

I'd put The Irishman on a par with Casino and Goodfellas. It's superior to The Departed and Cape Fear. I think Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are up one level in terms of being seminal works. This is utterly subjective, though.

@divegeester said
I suppose any kind of power is fascinating, but especially so when interwoven with intrigue, murder and iconic history.

I think it is also the alien-but-recognizable moral superstructure that is erected by gangster movies. Science fiction movies often do something similar and, indeed, have more scope for just conjuring up innovative stuff and portraying characters dealing with it.

However, the conventions of C20th U.S. gangsterism are well laid down and have been revisited many times. So perhaps it's not that moral superstructure that fascinates but it is, instead, the way that "honour" and "duty" and "loyalty" are demonstrated and depicted in the alien, upsidedown, good is bad, bad is good world.

Since the iconic The Sopranos, there have been a lot of high-quality TV series and films where it seems just about EVERYONE is bad or deplorable or fatally flawed or powerless or consenting in the face of evil etc.

Well oscarwise The Godfather stays in front....

@ponderable said
Well oscarwise The Godfather stays in front....

Sheridan claimed to have done the killing of Hoffa, but nobody else can be sure of that - it's the impression I have after googling. The calm, balanced Joe Pesci was a nice surprise.