Mr. Movie: Two must-see movies you may have missed
Theaters remain closed. Sadly, it doesn’t appear the governors of Washington and Oregon are going to allow them to open any time soon. The same is going on in other states so the studios have more or less frozen their schedules. Not much is going to happen movie-wise until things change.
What movement we are seeing is studios bagging theater releases and moving their productions onto streaming services. Last week Disney decided to bag a theater opening for the live-action version of “Mulan” and is going to release it onto the Disney+ platform. Unfortunately, to see it you’ll have to buy a Disney package. The release date is in September.
Other big movies have been moved, too. Here’s a few of them:
“Tenet” has moved to September 3
“Wonder Woman 1984” is now October 2
“Candy Man” can be seen October 16
“Black Widow” is now going to be released in theaters on November 6
Whether they’ll actually be released in theaters on those dates remains to be seen. All of them have seen their schedules pushed up more than once. The good news is that some of the films originally planned for November and December are still in place.
The bad news is that others have moved into 2021. Among them is the ninth Fast & Furious flick and “A Quiet Place Part II.”
Whether the movies just mentioned and others are going to stick with theaters is anybody’s guess. For right now, however, there is still some hope that things will thaw out soon.
Since nothing much is happening in movies, this week I’m going to look at a couple of films from last year that ended up doing very short runs in theaters and then they moved to Netflix.
One — “The Irishman” — was my pick as last year’s best movie. The other — “Marriage Story” — was on my best-of-the-year list.
In the case of “The Irishman,” Scorsese’s decision to more or less skip theaters didn’t set well with a lot of Oscar and Golden Globe voters. I think it cost him a best picture award. The best director award was a shoo-in for Sam Mendes who did “1917.” His directing and vision for that movie was so exceptional that no one really had a chance of unseating him.
But Scorsese could have — and should have — had a best picture with “The Irishman.” It didn’t happen and I’ve often wondered if the decision to do Netflix instead of a full theater release is why.
Al Pacino and Joe Pesci got Golden Globe and Oscar nominations but Scorsese’s film hit a gigantic zero in the award-winning category. “Marriage Story” got several award nominations and won Laura Dern an Oscar and a Golden Globe.
While it really didn’t have any kind of chance of winning anything big, I suspect it — too — was looked down up for the Netflix reason. What doesn’t change — however — is that both are great films that can still be seen on Netflix.
“The Irishman”
Martin Scorsese’s movie takes a hypothetical look at what happened to Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa and discloses who might have killed him and why. It’s based on Charles Brandt’s book, “I Hear You Paint Houses.”
Mafia painter Frank Sheeran is where Brandt got his information. Sheeran says that’s the phrase used by a mob boss when they want someone killed. In this case, and as a painter, Sheeran said he killed Hoffa and a bunch of hoodlums.
Sheeran confessed to Brandt that he killed Hoffa. The author then wrote a book and — judging by the length of his 384 page book and the 3 1/2 hour movie — it covers a lot of territory.
A lot of experts are saying Sheeran isn’t telling the truth and this theory of Hoffa’s disappearance is hypothetical. Others believe this to be the truth. To you and me, the movie watcher, it really doesn’t matter.
True or not this is fascinating material.
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star. The movie starts with De Niro — who stars as Sheeran — explaining how he got involved with organized crime doing smaller, but important jobs. As the story progresses, so does Sheeran’s career. He moves through the ranks into tougher assignments and into different kinds of involvement.
One of those tough assignments is working with Jimmy Hoffa. Pacino plays Hoffa.
“The Irishman” tells how Hoffa came to power and details how Hoffa and Sheeran became best pals. Then it moves to how Sheeran killed Hoffa and what happened after. You meet Sheeran’s family, his friends, those he killed and those that were killed during the story and after. As the movie progresses, Scorsese gives you information on the fate of goon after goon.
The casting is pitch perfect for the story. So is Scorsese’s ability to make De Niro, Pacino, Joe Pesci and others look young as young men and older as their lives move forward. Often that technology is horribly done. Here, Scorsese manages to make it look somewhat believable.
De Niro plays Sheeran like a well-trained soldier who is willing to do anything for his bosses. The organization comes first. It sits above family and above everything. Only the organization matters. De Niro’s Sheeran is a man of few words. He’s quiet and dangerous, and is especially so when crossed or ordered to kill. This is true even when ordered to kill a very good, and very close friend. It’s always business. Never anything less.
It’s the kind of character De Niro does best.
Pacino does Hoffa like a loose cannon who is unable to grasp the danger he put himself in by defying the mob. He rants and raves and preaches to anyone within hearing. Pacino’s Hoffa is a natural leader with gunslinger instincts. It’s classic Pacino and Pacino at his best.
Both actors give passionate, power-packed performances.
Their co-stars aren’t far behind. The best of the group is Pesci. It is the best he has ever been as well. Instead of coming off like an angry chipmunk, Pesci plays things low key. He’s the man in control, unreachable by law, untouchable by his enemies.
His academy award and Golden Globe award nominations were deserved.
In my book, De Niro and Pacino — both great actors — have never been better. What surprised me is that neither man got nominated for an academy award and only Pacino and Pesci were noticed by the Hollywood Foreign Press for Golden Globe nominations.
I thought Pesci was the best of the bunch in the supporting actor categories for both organizations but they picked a deserving Brad Pitt for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Part of the reason to see “The Irishman” is Steve Zaillian’s script. Zaillian’s (“Schindler’s List,” “The Gangs of New York”) screenplay helps feed a superb group of acting talent and helps feed a superb director.
From settings to events to dialogue, his script is mind-boggling. Scorsese’s storytelling skills have never been sharper, nor has he ever had — in his long and storied career — a script as good as this one.
He makes the most of the opportunity and patiently tells Sheeran’s tale.
And it’s a tall tale and a long one. Scorsese covers a couple of decades of crime and — in places — some of the history of this country and gives this most fascinating version of Hoffa’s rise and fall, and that of Sheeran, the treatment it deserves.
The flaw is “The Irishman” running a bladder busting 3:29.
While you won’t have this problem, I saw the movie at a screening set for 10 in the morning on a Friday. Usually I get up early and drink at least a pot of coffee by 10. All through the screening I’m thinking, “Martin, Martin, Martin, Gone with the Wind had an intermission. The Ten Commandments had an intermission. Even Ben Hur had an intermission.”
Needless to say, I didn’t make it through the whole film and neither did most of the other critics at the screening. That’s not going to be a problem for you. The lack of some sort of a bathroom break was my only complaint about “The Irishman.” I thought it was — and still think — “The Irishman” was last year’s best movie.
“Marriage Story”
Like “The Irishman,” this one did the briefest of theater runs before ending up on Netflix. It got better treatment by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar nominations and from the Hollywood Foreign Press and the Golden Globes than Scorsese’s movie.
I’m not sure why.
The film is written and directed by Noah Baumbach (“The Squid & the Whale” and who co-wrote “Fantastic Mr. Fox”). The title “Marriage Story” is a bit misleading. Since it’s about a couple getting a divorce, “Divorce Story” might work better.
Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole Barber. They are the perfect couple and in the film’s opening sequences say the most beautiful and loving things about each other. So you are shocked when a few minutes into all this praise, you learn they’re divorcing.
Like a lot of divorces, it gets nasty. Lawyers — the film subtly points out — get involved and what could have been somewhat amicable parting gets more complicated. While all this is happening you keep looping back to the opening sequences.
Don’t these people actually love each other?
The divorce continues, on the movie goes and you get exceptional performances from all involved. In a movie as serious as “Marriage Story” less is more. That’s a good thing because both Driver — who seems like he was in every movie we saw in 2018 and 2019 — and Johansson excel at getting a lot of movie character mileage out of saying nothing.
Pained expressions and some very believable angry exchanges are the order of the day as Charlie and Nicole battle through a settlement. Typical of many divorces, both parents use the child as a weapon against the other. They also bounce between doing the nice and nasty things that soon to be former partners do to each other during a divorce.
And the whole way, you keep thinking, they love each other, why are these people divorcing? They’re throwing away what was once pretty perfect. It’s sad. It seems wrong. Yet — like real life — on the divorce goes.
None of this is ever spoken out loud. It’s just the feeling Baumbach gives you all through the film. Like real life, and like the real experience of anyone can tell you who has done a divorce, it’s brilliantly subtle.
We’ve all heard the old ditty that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. The same philosophy applies to movies. Baumbach is a skilled writer and director. He has created characters that are very real, and has created people we have either been or we have known.
Real people — like real life — can often be as funny as they are dramatic. The same principle applies to life. To keep his movie relatable, Baumbach packs it with a lot of humor. Most of it comes from Laura Dern who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her work as Nicole’s free-spirit, new-agey attorney.
It’s stellar acting. So is the acting of Driver and Johansson who both got Oscar and Golden Globe acting nominations. While I’m not sure about Johansson, I am positive that someday the publicity-shy Driver is going to take home one or two.
He’s incredible in everything.
“Marriage Story” is a long film. It runs 2:17 but those extra minutes are deserved. Baumbach’s films have always been interesting. Few writers can create and manage characters with so many interesting dimensions. He’s also a master of irony and “Marriage Story” is packed with it.
This one is a definite must-see.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Two must-see movies you may have missed."