The Irishman [CRITERION COLLECTION] (DVD) [2020]

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On the flip side, Pesci plays a diminutive man who tries to remain invisible, and he easily steals the film with an understated, wonderfully nuanced, utterly revelatory performance that's the antithesis of his loudmouth, fast-talking, over-the-top work in both GoodFellas and Casino. Though it’s only six minutes long, “Anatomy of a Scene: The Irishman,” part of a series shepherded by New York Times staff editor Mekado Murphy, is more illuminating, offering a glimpse into the motivations behind the Frank Sheeran “appreciation night” scene. Featurette: "Making The Irishman"(HD, 36 minutes) - Scorsese talks about the film's themes, working with De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci, the de-aging process, and the movie's color palette, among other topics, in this slick, absorbing piece. Though not all that long I will say it does a decent job getting into how the technology works (starting with these special cameras that also get mentioned a lot in the previous two supplements) and then how they had to properly capture a variety of expressions from the actors to make sure they could replicate their performances as exact as they could. All the dialogue is clear, well prioritized, and easy to understand, even when mumbled, and no surface noise creeps into the mix.

The Irishman [CRITERION COLLECTION] (Blu-ray) [2020]

But then looking at the 4K presentation on Netflix, that version shows improvements in detail along with better colours and black levels. Sometimes standard Blu-ray looks pale, flat, and dull when compared to its 4K counterpart, but not so here. Though at times he chews the scenery like a big juicy cigar, Pacino remains refreshingly in check most of the time, filing a finely tuned portrayal of a larger-than-life figure.Amid all the character beats, cold-blooded violence, restaurant and nightclub tête-à-têtes, and prison scenes, Scorsese weaves plenty of history into the film - the Kennedys and Watergate figure prominently and provide time stamps for the drama - and peppers the action with inside info and mafia trivia. Like an aging kingpin and the elderly hitman who's the central figure of this often spellbinding three-and-a-half-hour epic, Scorsese speaks softly but carries a big directorial stick. Would a 4K UHD Dolby Vision disc outclass this Criterion transfer and expose more pronounced differences? Criterion - much to the dismay and disappointment of many film fans - has yet to embrace 4K UHD, but the company has treated Scorsese's epic with the utmost care, producing a top-notch, often breathtaking 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that definitely rivals the 4K Dolby Vision stream. The picture is generally clean and nothing severe really sticks out, yet there are a handful of sequenceslook a little noisy, notably in darker areas.

The Irishman | Netflix Official Site Watch The Irishman | Netflix Official Site

To Sheeran, Hoffa is like a king with his head in the clouds, or a spouse who just won’t listen to reason. Updated daily and in real-time, we track all high-def disc news and release dates, and review the latest disc titles. I won’t get much into the effects, as they’ve been written about ad nauseum, other than to say I had no issue with them, but similar to how they look in the Netflix presentationthere can be a waxiness aroundfacial features when the effects are being applied. Personally, I hope Scorsese, who just turned 78 last week, keeps going and going and going for at least another decade. Brinkley even interviews Hoffa about his time in front of the Senate Committee and asks him about what he does with his wealth.

Rodrigo Prieto’s camera eventually settles on the elderly, wheelchair-bound labor union official and mobster Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro), who’s lost in thought but also ready to talk a blue streak about what he believes to have been a very eventful existence. A beautiful transfer, excellent Dolby Atmos audio, and healthy array of supplements distinguish Criterion's Blu-ray presentation, which is well worth owning until a 4K UHD release comes along. I'm glad to have a physical copy of The Irishman to add to my Scorsese disc collection, and if given the choice between firing up Netflix and popping in this Criterion disc to watch The Irishman in the future, I will definitely opt for the Criterion disc.