Movie Review: "Killers of the Flower Moon"

Since I first became aware of this movie in the Spring, and since I read David Grann's  book (see comments on that HERE) in July, I have been eagerly anticipating seeing the Martin Scorsese epic, "Killers of the Flower Moon."  So much so, that Linda and I took in a 9:30 AM showing of the movie on opening day yesterday.  We were not disappointed.

Not only do you get Scorsese directing, but you get performances by Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and an amazing performance by native American actress Lily Gladstone.  You get a sweeping story of greed, murder, and genocide in Oklahoma in the years following World War I.   And you get a movie with some absolutely stunning and breathtaking visuals, such as...

• A pull away overhead scene at the beginning of the movie of the working oil fields on the Osage land as DiCaprio drives into town from the train station.
• Scenes of chaos and rowdiness on the streets of Fairfax, OK as oil workers and Osage natives intermingle along the dirt streets with both horses and automobiles.
• An Osage wedding ceremony.
• An amazing final scene that I just don't quite know how to describe.

What you don't get, and this might surprise you considering the Scorsese/De Niro track record, is a lot of violent, bloody shoot-ups, although you do see people getting killed.  This is not "Goodfellas Goes to Oklahoma."

The story is told with the marriage of Ernest and Mollie (DiCaprio and Gladstone) as the centerpiece, and the manipulation of Di Niro's William Hale, as he pulls the strings and sets into motion his insidious plot to obtain the oil rights, rightfully owned by the Osage Indians, through marriage and murder.  (It would be too easy and almost cheap to characterize De Niro as a Godfather-like figure, so I won't do it.  Even though I just did.)   The movie is, in fact, at times leisurely and slow paced, not at all what I expected, but that didn't mean the the 3 hour and 26 minute run time dragged by at an interminable pace.  I didn't think that there was any wasted moments in the movie. 

You also don't get a police procedural movie here.  Bureau of Investigation agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons) doesn't show up until about the two hour mark and is almost a minor character.  I might have preferred seeing more of the detective work that went into the solving of the crimes, but that's just me, and it is a minor quibble considering the scope of the entire movie.

As the movie was drawing to a conclusion, I was expecting that we would get a "whatever-became-of" coda to the film with printed words on title cards before the credits began.  Well, Scorsese gave us a coda, alright, but it was done differently than anything that I have ever seen in a movie.  I'll give no spoiler here, but it was terrific.

Here is what I am expecting to see come Oscar time.  Nominations for....

• Best Picture
• Scorsese for both Directing and Screenplay (along with writing partner Eric Roth)
• Acting nominations for De Niro, DiCaprio, and Gladstone
• Rodrigo Prieto for Cinematography 

And there will probably be others.

A word about Martin Scorsese.   I don't have to list all of his great movies, do I?  If you like movies, you know who Martin Scorsese is.  On a podcast I listened to this week, critic Oliver Jones mentioned that Scorsese will turn 81 years old next month.  We have no reason to suspect that he is not in good health, but still, at age 81, who knows how many great movies he has left in him, so take the opportunity to seek out this one and enjoy and appreciate it to the fullest.

DiCaprio, Gladstone, and De Niro with Scorsese

Perhaps the best review came form Linda late last night when she said "I can't stop thinking about that movie."

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

 

Old Movie Time - "Mean Streets" (1973)

In his ranking of Gangster Movies, Washington DC film critic Jason Fraley listed Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" at Number 16 on his list.  This prompted me to seek out this now forty-seven year old movie, which, surprisingly given my affinity for mob movies, I had never seen.   

The storyline of this one follows a couple of young trying-to-be-up-and-coming-wiseguys in New York City's Little Italy.  Harvey Keitel plays Charlie, whose uncle is a capo of sorts in the neighborhood, and Robert De Niro plays Johnny, a punk wannabe who can't keep up with his payments to the neighborhood sharks and who's constantly flying off the handle and getting into fights with the other punks in the neighborhood.  Charlie spends most of his time trying to cover for his buddy Johnny Boy at the possible expense of his own standing in the neighborhood hierarchy.  It all comes to a predictable conclusion on the "mean streets" of Little Italy.  

In and of itself, "Mean Streets" is a somewhat predictable gangster story.  If it was the only such movie that Scorsese made, it probably would not be as highly remembered or regarded today, but what makes it an important movie is what it foreshadowed.  In 1973, the 31 year old Scorsese had a few directing credits to his name, mostly shorts and documentaries, and the 30 year old De Niro had only one significant role to his name ("Bang The Drum Slowly").  "Mean Streets" was the first time that these two collaborated on a motion picture, and it was the beginning of one of more significant director/actor combos ever.  The two of them would go on to make nine other  feature films together over the next forty-three years, and they're probably not done yet.  This movie had everything that we came to know as trade marks of a Scorsese flick.....a freeze frame shot where the character's name gets  superimposed on the screen to identify him to the audience....a scene consisting of an extended  single take tracking shot (this one was a fight among the various hoods in a bar's  back room that circled a pool table)....extended swatches of dialog with De Niro going back and forth one-on-one with other characters in his NYC/Italian/Wiseguy dialect....and, most significantly, a sound track of period rock-n-roll music (Motown, Rolling Stones, etc) that blared almost constantly throughout the movie.  All of the things that Scorsese did, and did better, in movies like "Casino", "Goodfellas", and "The Irishman", were seen for the first time in "Mean Streets", and THAT makes this a movie worth watching.

In a vacuum, The Grandstander would give "Mean Streets" Two and One-Half Stars, but because it represents and presages what was to come from the Director and the Actor, it gets Three Stars.

A couple of more words on the casting.  Keitel was 34 years old when he did this movie, and he, too, would appear in many other Scorsese films, most recently, "The Irishman."  About the only Scorsese touch missing from this movie was Joe Pesci!  Another character in this one was actor David Proval as Tony.  Many years later, Proval would go on to additional screen Mob fame as Richie Aprile in "The Sopranos."  

De Niro and Keitel

A much younger De Niro and Scorsese

The Oscar Nominations

Some personal observations in the wake of the announcement of the Academy Award nominations earlier this week.

• The hue and cry from the general movie going public was the "snub" of Greta Gerwig, who did not receive a nomination for Best Director for "Little Women."  Personally, I am not remotely qualified to judge all of the movies and directors out there, but "Little Women" was one of the best movies that I saw last year, and I would have loved to see Ms. Gerwig snag a nomination, if not the Oscar itself.  Whether sexual politics were involved in the nominations is an argument that I will let others fight.
• I have seen four of the nine Best Picture nominees: "Ford v Ferrari", "The Irishman", "Little Women", and "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood."  All are worthy nominees.  Of these four, my personal favorite was "Once....", and it would get my vote, although I would be delighted if "Little Women" grabbed the top prize.
• My thoughts on the five Best Picture noms I have not seen:
• "Jojo Rabbit" - A story where Hitler is played as comic imaginary friend, does not appeal to me, although enough people whose opinions I respect say don't let that turn me away from this one.  I may need to see this one.
• "Joker" - Everything that I have heard about this one tells me that it is just not my kind of movie.  Doubt that I will see this.
• "Marriage Story" - The story of a marriage falling apart.  A custody battle for the kid.  Oh, yeah, THAT'S something I want to see.  I am also told that it is writer/director Noah Baumbach's own personal story, so I want pay to see his self-therapy?  Mrs. Grandstander watched this and she said it was "okay", but she also said that she knows that I wouldn't like it.  I don't care how good the acting is, and I am sure that it is, I don't want to sit through her people's misery.
• "1917" - I am not drawn to this one, although I am intrigued by the idea of how it was shot in a series of long continuous takes.   I will probably check this out at some point.
• "Parasite" -  I am also not drawn to a foreign language film with subtitles, but, again, enough folks whose opinions I value say that this is really a good one, so I may try to catch the one.
• A big surprise was the lack of love shown by the Academy for "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."  Its only nomination was for Tom Hanks for Best Supporting Actor.
• Speaking of Best Supporting Actor, that is the category that can best  be described as a true All-Star Ballot: Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Brad Pitt.  All have Oscars on their resumes (although's Pitt's is as a producer, not an actor).  The front runner for this one appears to be Pitt, and I hope that he does get the win.  
• No love for Robert De Niro for "The Irishman"????
• Scarlett Johansson get nominated for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.  When this has happened in the past, the actor usually snares the Supporting award.
• "The Irishman" garnered ten nominations, and it will be interesting how the Academy will treat this one since it is a Netflix production.  Will be there anti-Netflix, anti-Movies-made-primarily-for-streaming-services bias?  That will be an interesting storyline to follow.  (This applies to "Marriage Story"  and "The Two Popes" as well.)
• My guess is that the Best Director winner will be between two of Hollywood's darlings, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.  Two factors will tilt it towards Tarantino, I think.  One, the anti-Netfix factor against Scorsese, and two, Tarantino's movie as almost a love letter toward Hollywood, and Hollywood loves to honor itself, so QT finally gets his Best Director Oscar.
• The Best Actor/Actress categories seem to be fait accomplis  for Joaquin Phoenix ("Joker") and Renee Zellweger ("Judy").   Nominated for a fourth time, I would love to see Saoirse Ronan win her first Oscar, but it will be hard to top Zellweger's performance.
• The Academy could make up for Gerwig's Best Director snub by awarding her the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, although Steven Zallian could get this one as a way to honor "The Irishman".
• The Original Screenplay award could go to Tarantino if he doesn't get the Director Oscar for "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood."  That has happened for him in the past ("Pulp Fiction" and "Django Unchained").
• Every year there is a movie that gets a ton of nominations in different categories but ends up getting shut out on Oscar night.  What will be that movie this year?  I fear that it could be "Little Women."

The Grandstander will put forth some official predictions as the night of the awards draws nearer.  In the meantime, a couple of plugs for my favorite movies of the year....

"The Irishman"

So Mrs. Grandstander and I decided upon a Saturday Night at the Movies date night this weekend, and settled in to watch perhaps the most anticipated movie of 2019, Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman", and what can I tell you, it did not disappoint.

This is an epic of a movie.  Three and one-half hours long and and all-star "mob movie" cast of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.  It is the story of the rise of Frank Sheeran (De Niro), the Irishman of the title, within both the Mob in Philadelphia and the Teamsters Union of the 1960's, and how he became a favorite of both mob leader Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and teamsters head man Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).  It has all the trademarks of Scorsese - the long single take that takes us through the halls of a nursing home (and a few other such takes elsewhere in the film), the sound track featuring period music, the voice over narration of the main protagonist, and the freeze frame shots of characters that tell us "whatever became of" them.  "The Irishman" is reminiscent of all great Scorsese movies, and it is just as good, and perhaps better, than all of them.

The main thrust of the movie is the story of "what the hell happened to Jimmy Hoffa, anyway?"  Scorsese and screenwriter Steven Zallian posit their theory on how Hoffa came to his end, and I won't spoil it for you.  There are so many great scenes in this movie.  One of my favorites involved a meeting between Hoffa and mobster Tony Provenzano (played by Stephen Graham, who played Al Capone in "Boardwalk Empire") wherein Tony Pro is late for his meeting - an unforgivable sin with Hoffa - and most of the meeting is the back-and-forth between the two of them as to why you should never be late for a meeting, per Hoffa, and who-gives-a-shit-I'm-here-now, per Tony Pro.  Fantastic.

The three stars are great. No surprise with De Niro, who's always great. Pesci plays a very different type of mobster, not the bombastic, fly off the handle type you are used to seeing him as, but quiet and perhaps even more chilling.  And Al Pacino will probably get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa.  

I really, really liked the movie, but I wish that I could have seen it in a movie theater.  As I wrote about earlier in the month, this is a Netflix production that was released to a few theaters in selected cities for a three week period so as to qualify for the Academy Awards and then pulled and sent straight to the streaming service.  I would like to have had the experience of seeing it on a big screen with a crowd of people in a theater, but this is the wave of the future, so I guess that there is no point shouting at the clouds about it.  And with its three and one-half hour length, I was able to hit PAUSE for both a bathroom break and a break to get myself a dish of ice cream, so there is that.

About that length.  At first, I was put off at the thought of it.  Hey, a good movie should be no more than two ours, tops, amiright?  After watching "The Irishman", though, I can't think of any part or parts of it that were superfluous or that could have been done away with to tighten it up.

One final thing.  The movie is based on a book by  Charles Brandt called "I Heard You Paint Houses".  You can guess what "painting houses" is a euphemism for.  Anyway, both the opening title and the closing credits did not say "The Irishman", rather they said "I Heard You Paint Houses".  Wonder what was up with that? 

"The Irishman" gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Martin Scorsese, Marvel Movies, and Changing Paradigms

Martin Scorsese, undoubtedly one of the great movie directors of this or any other generation, is much in the news these days for a couple of reasons.  One, is the release of his new film, "The Irishman", a three and one half hour epic centering around the death of Jimmy Hoffa.  The movie stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci and is one of the most highly anticipated films of the year.

The second reason revolves around a comment made by Scorsese in a recent interview.  When asked about the popularity and preponderance of movies based on Marvel comic books, he responded by saying that they weren't for him.  I've tried them, he said, but "they are not really cinema."  This created a firestorm of response from both the creators of and fans of the comic book flicks, and the controversy was exacerbated when fellow filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola  and Steven Spielberg jumped in and agreed with Scorsese.  "Not really cinema" they agreed while looking down their noses. 

Normally, I would tend to brush off these comments and say something like "Let Scorsese yell at the clouds.  He's earned a right to his opinion" and go on my way.  However, I feel the need to opine on this, and it revolves around the production and distribution plan for "The Irishman."

The movie was produced by Netflix, and if you haven't been paying attention, this streaming service has gotten heavily into the production of top shelf feature films over the past few years as programming for its subscription service, which is fine.  Netflix also thinks that these films should qualify for Academy Awards. (Something that Spielberg, I believe, has lobbied heavily against.)  In order to qualify, films must be shown in actual  movie theaters, or "cinemas", if you will, in either New York or Los Angeles, during the calendar year.  So, Netflix, presumably with Scorsese's blessing, began a very limited release of "The Irishman" last week and it will expand a bit this week (not even sure if it will be on a theater screen in Pittsburgh)  and then it will be pulled from movie theaters, I believe, in the third week of November. After that, the only way you will be able to see "The Irishman" will be via streaming on Netflix.

So, while Scorsese may sneer at popular films like the Marvel comic book franchise, he is okay knowing that most people will only see his latest masterpiece on their home TVs, laptops, iPads, or four inch telephone screens?  Where is the cinematic value in that?  Maybe this is the way of the future for full length motion pictures, and if so, give the 76 year old Scorsese credit for recognizing and embracing this new paradigm, but don't do so and then look down on other popular movies and labeling them as so much mindless trash.  The truth of the matter is that while Marvel movies may never win Oscars or make Ten Best lists, the hundreds of millions of dollars that they rake in at the box office allow the doors of actual, honest-to-God movie theaters to remain open and in business, and that is no small thing, and auteurs like Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg should be glad of that.

Full disclosure:  I am not a Marvel Movies person myself.  Just not my cup of tea, but good for them and the movie going public that does enjoy them. Also, I can't wait to see "The Irishman", even if it will mean becoming a Netflix subscriber once again.  One good thing abut these services, you can cancel them and come back to them at your convenience.  I was going to re-up anyway once Season Three of "The Crown" becomes available.

Movie Review: "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Took myself down to see the newest Martin Scorsese / Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration, "The Wolf of Wall Street", this afternoon.  This movie could also be titled "Goodfellas Go To Wall Street" since there are many similarities to that classic Scorsese movie, including the main character's voice narration of the movie, that same character directly addressing the movie audience at points in the show, a loud and frenetic soundtrack, and an incredible amount of profanity. Oh, and then there is the unbelievable amount of drug use, and, of course, enough sexual activity and nudity to more than justify the movie's R rating.

Definitely not one you want to attend with your parents, and not one that would be a good "first date" movie, either.

All that said, did I like the movie?  Yeah, I did, because, once again, Scorsese has painted a picture of amoral - to put the best face on it - people, better than just about anyone making movies today, and DiCaprio delivers an absolutely kick-ass performance as the title character.  Really, has he ever given a bad performance in anything?  I am guessing that there will be Oscar nominations for both of them.

However, for all of the in-your-face sensory overload that this movie delivers, the very best scene in the movie, in my mind, is a quiet one on Jordan Belfort's (DiCaprio) yacht when Kyle Chandler, as the FBI agent pursuing him, meets face to face with Belfort/DiCaprio.  Great scene.

It's a great cast that includes Jonah Hill (in a Joe Pesci-type role), Rob Reiner, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, and an absolutely gorgeous young (22 years old) actress from Australia named Margot Robbie.  Oh, and famous private eye Bo Dietl, the guy from the Arby's commercials, plays, are you ready for this?, a private eye named Bo Dietl, and he's pretty good in the part! 

Just as a treat for all you Loyal Readers, he is a picture of Ms. Robbie in a scene from the movie, and if you have already seen the movie, you know that this still picture doesn't do her or the scene in question justice!

Short Subjects: NA Strings, Casey at the Bat, Baseball Thoughts, and James Harrison

Selected Short Subjects.....

We had ourselves a real treat this past Monday evening when we attended the North Allegheny Orchestra's Winter Concert. The concert featured the NA 9th grade, 10th grade, and Senior Orchestras and closed with a performance by the NA "Golden Strolling Strings." We have heard for years about the Strolling Strings, but last night was the first time that we had seen them. I said last night that their performance was breathtaking and that it left you speechless, so I will not even try to put into words how terrific it was. Amazing performances by a group of amazingly talented kids.

The North Allegheny School District is to be commended for its promotion and support of The Arts among its students. Too bad that these kids don't get the publicity that the football team gets.

Oh, and special kudos to niece and Goddaughter Monica Pike, ninth grade violinist extraordinaire!!

*****

Yesterday afternoon we also took in the new Martin Scorsese movie, "Hugo." If you are a Scorsese fan, don't go expecting another Raging Bull, Goodfellas, or The Departed. Do expect to see a rather engaging family movie that tells a very cute story about fitting in and what your life's purpose might be. Do expect a loving tribute to the movies, particularly the very earliest days of the movie art. Do expect some amazing visual shots. (Such visuals would be enhanced by seeing the 3D version of this, which we did not, due to the fact that 3D was not available at the dumpy Rave Cinema on McKnight Road.)

This is another movie that had garnered some Oscar buzz and has already been named to many Top Ten lists. It will probably win lots of technical awards, and Scorsese's name might carry it far during the Awards season. Good movie , but I don't put it ahead of "The Descendants."

*****
The Pirates are in the news with the announcement of the trade of the ulcer-inducing Jose Veras to Milwaukee for infielder/outfielder Casey McGehee. On the face of it, I like it. After all, who's going to miss Veras? McGehee has been a pretty good hitter over the years, but the red flag comes up when you see how his numbers have declined over each of the last three seasons, particularly in 2011. Still, he provides insurance, certainly better than anything currently available to them, at third base in the event that Pedro Alvarez' 2011 flame out continues into 2012.

*****
Speaking of the Brewers, Ryan Braun gives us yet another reason to dislike him with the news of his positive test for PED's. It's gonna be a different Brew Crew without Prince Fielder and without Cryin' Ryan for 50 games next year. What a shame.

*****
One more comment on Albert Pujols. If ever a perfect situation existed, it seemed that marriage of Pujols to the baseball-mad city of St. Louis seemed to be it. I naively never imagined that Pujols wold ever leave St. Louis. Another case where, as it always is, it was all about the money. It's the only way that these guys keep score. The ONLY way.

I am guessing that $210 million in St. Louis would have bought Albert a whole lot more than $250 million will buy him in Los Angeles/Anahiem, but, as I say, that's not how these guys keep score.

*****
If Pujols manages to help the Angels win a World Series or two over the next five or six years, perhaps Arte Moreno won't mind paying a 40+ year old Pujols $25 million a season at the end of that contract.

*****
If you had any hope at all of the Pirates keeping Andrew McCutchen or Neil Walker over the long haul, I am guessing that, like me, you have been disabused of that notion after (a) the terms of the recently agreed to CBA, and (b) this latest wave of free agent signings in baseball.

*****
Looks like the NFL has handed down a one game suspension to James Harrison for his illegal hit on Colt McCoy last week. I am going to avoid the talk shows today, because I am sure that the Yinzers of SteelersNation will be up in arms. All I can say is that if James Harrison played for any other NFL team, particularly, Baltimore, Cleveland, or Cincinnati, he would be the most hated man in the city of Pittsburgh. He's a great football player, but he got what he deserved today.