BEFORE: Oscar nominations are out today, and boy, did I pick the right weekend to watch "The Irishman"! It got 10 nominations, second only to "Joker", which is on my schedule for later this week! De Niro's in both films, so he's also probably having a very good week. As for other nominations, my track record isn't very good, but that's to be expected. Of course "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" got some technical nominations, and "Avengers: Endgame" got nominated for Visual Effects, and my viewed films did very well in the Animated Feature category, where I've seen 3 out of 5. (Aaarrgh, if I had kept one last slot open for "Klaus", it could have been 4 out of 5...)
I'm planning to watch "Marriage Story" in February, as part of the romance chain (my definition of "romance" includes relationship issues such as divorce and breaking up, which seems only fair.) But that's about it, I'm tracking all of the other films and I'll have to figure out how to get to some of them later this year, after the awards telecast. So I'm going "all in" on "The Irishman" and "Joker", it seems. More on this later.
I'll also get back to Robert De Niro in a couple days, but for now, Best Supporting Actor nominee Al Pacino carries over from "The Irishman". I wish I could squeeze a couple more Pacino films in here, like those two HBO biopics about Phil Spector and Dr. Kevorkian, but there just isn't room - January only has so many days. Today's film was an unplanned detour that allowed me to move "The Irishman" up on the schedule. But Pacino's also in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", so I could have another chance to pick up those other films later this year - maybe.
THE PLOT: A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of them takes his last assignment - to kill his comrade.
AFTER: The mash-ups keep right on coming, for 2 days I'll be at the intersection of crime and comedy, then it's on to something else. This one at least feels like an original idea, where a man gets out of prison after a long stint, and tries to get right back into some action, only he has no idea (at first) that his ex-partner has been tasked with taking him out. The audience is in on the scheme from close to the beginning, since we get to see when his "best friend" Doc is holding a gun behind his back.
At first Val does the things you might think a man would want to do, after 28 years in the joint - he wants to get a drink, he wants to get laid, he wants to eat a steak, he wants to dance with a woman (not necessarily in that order, but hey, priorities). After that it's time to start thinking about some new goals - only he's had a lot of time to think in prison, and he figured out that if someone was still holding a grudge for the way that last job went down, he wouldn't have Val killed in prison, he'd wait until just after he got out to take him down, to impart the maximum amount of suffering. It's a little too convenient that Val would catch on to the situation at hand, but really it's the only way to advance the plot at this point. If Doc tried to kill him, he might succeed, and then the movie's over. And if he failed, then you'd have to explain how and why he failed, or you set up one of those "comedy of errors" scenarios, and nobody wants that.
Instead the two men decide to deal with the situation like adults, and if they can't work something out with the old boss, then they're at least going to have a night to remember, before Doc has to kill Val in the morning. Time to track down their old getaway driver, Hirsch, even if this means springing him from the nursing home. Hirsch also has emphysema and has had something removed from his body, only he doesn't remember what, or he never asked. That's a little odd. They also coincidentally happen to know Hirsch's daughter, she's an E.R. nurse and Val has a little incident after taking too many Viagra. Ah, this is what passed for comedy in 2012...
Then we get into car theft and more whoring during this wild night, but we're usually willing to forgive certain criminals their misdeeds if they're charming or funny, right? And Pacino and Walken are definitely that - throw grumpy Alan Arkin into the mix and we're all down for some laughs. Hey, let's go take down those drug-dealing rapists, won't that be fun? Then we can buy some new suits and eat our third diner meal in an 8-hour period!
Another head-scratcher is the lack of resolution in the ending, but on the upside, you can choose whatever ending you want, because some writer couldn't be bothered. Comedy or tragedy, it's up to you - I suggest comedy. I can't really call a NITPICK POINT without giving away a plot point, but here goes. (SPOILER ALERT) They shouldn't really have buried that person themselves in the cemetery, even if there was a piece of grave-digging equipment handy, and they had the keys or maybe hotwired it. For one thing, there was no casket involved - now how's that going to look?
Also starring Christopher Walken (last seen in "The Rundown"), Alan Arkin (last seen in "Rendition"), Julianna Margulies (last seen in "Snakes on a Plane"), Mark Margolis (last seen in "Defiance"), Katheryn Winnick (last seen in "A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III"), Vanessa Ferlito (last seen in "Death Proof"), Addison Timlin, Lucy Punch (last seen in "The Meddler"), Bill Burr (last seen in "Daddy's Home 2"), Courtney Galiano.
RATING: 6 out of 10 parole violations
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