The Irishman (I Heard You Paint Houses)

First Hit: An in-depth introspective and a sliver of a story into the mob world’s connection to Jimmy Hoffa.

This was a historical storytelling film of the life of “The Irishman” Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro). Accordingly, the movie begins and ends with Frank sitting in an old folks home telling the story of his life.

The young Frank starts his tale when he has just returned from his WWII stint in Italy, and is now a truck driver delivering meat. He finds that he can skim some of the carcasses off and sell them for extra side money. In doing so, he slowly begins to sell to mobsters who appreciate a good deal. A chance meeting, followed by a more formal introduction with rising mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) begins a lifelong friendship. Russell gets Frank odd jobs including painting houses (which is a mob euphemism for murder) as needed by the mob.

When the trucking company catches Frank as he arrives at a store that purchased the meat with an empty truck, wants to convict him for theft. What happened to the meat? Frank sold it to gangsters but acts as if he’s no idea what happened to the beef in the truck. It is one of the few amusing scenes in the film.

Frank knows the value of keeping his mouth shut, and this trait along with his support of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters run by Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) gets him a new job as Hoffa’s chief bodyguard.

The movie generously uses CGI to move these characters back and forth through at least 50 years of life, from young men in their 20s and 30s to old men in their 70s and 80s. For the most part, it works well.

We follow these three gentlemen through their lives, including mob family wars for power.

We watch them fight with the government about expanding to Cuba and the Castro regime. We watch them struggle with John F. Kennedy’s election and subsequent assassination. We see how Bobby Kennedy tried to bust up the unions and Hoffa in particular because of how Jimmy loaned the mob millions of dollars, interest-free, in union pension funds. In fact, the film makes a point of indicating that mob-controlled union pension funds built Las Vegas.

There are softer moments in the film like how Frank’s daughter Peggy (Anna Paquin as the older Peggy) visibly disliked Russell but liked Hoffa. The story also has a few tender scenes with Frank and his second wife, Irene (Stephanie Kurtzuba).

The scenes are shot with an authentic and matter of fact feel to them, not splashy. One-shot that stuck with me was when Russell takes Frank to a small airport to get on a plane to meet Hoffa in Detroit; the camera looks out the tiny private plane window to see Bufalino sitting in the Lincoln. Russell will wait in the car until Sheeran returns after meeting Hoffa. There was something about this shot that brought the craft of making even the small things to the forefront.

De Niro was excellent as the Irishman turned mob strong arm and Bufalino confidant. The scenes with the priest towards the end were powerful. De Niro skillfully expressed his character's refusal to deeply go into making amends. Pesci is terrific as mobster Bufalino. The scene which he and Frank are just getting to know each other, speaking Italian with Russell, and asking him how he learned to speak Italian is very engaging. Pacino as Hoffa was convincing. I’ve no idea who Hoffa is privately, but the way Pacino portrayed him here made it feel real. Paquin as Peggy is perfect. She knew deep inside who her father was and what he did, and her way of keeping her distance and her looks of disapproval are excellent. Harvey Keitel is sublime in his brief scenes as mobster kingpin, Angelo Bruno. Steven Zaillian wrote a strong and in-depth screenplay from the book “I Heard You Paint Houses.” Martin Scorsese showed his strength in using actors he knows and trusts to bring another compelling Italian mob film story to the screen.

Overall: Although very informational, it was a long film.

Joker

First Hit: Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is powerfully twisted in overt and subtle ways.

Arthur Fleck (Phoenix, aka Joker) works as a clown. Living with his mom Penny (Frances Conroy) in a dark Gotham low rent slum apartment, he’s very thoughtful of his mother’s inability to take care of herself. He has a semi-secret wish to become a standup comedian and bring smiles and joy to everyone.

While watching his favorite program, The Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) Show, he fantasizes about appearing on the show and becoming famous.

In an opening scene, Fleck standing and dancing in front of a going out of business shoe store twirling a sign to entice people to visit the store. He’s got his clown outfit on, face painted, and seems to enjoy what he’s doing. This is the first sign of the subtle way Phoenix shares the depth of his character. There is a glint in the facial expressions that give the audience a notion that all is not right with him. He gets mugged by some kids who take his sign and, in the chase, ends up being beaten.

He gets reprimanded by the company (HaHa) he works for because the sign was broken, and the shoe company wants it back.

Beaten by the young thugs, a fellow clown employee, Randall (Glenn Fleshler), gives Fleck a gun for protection.

We learn that Fleck has an inappropriate behavior of laughing at the wrong times when he’s feeling tense. He carries a card that he hands people stating his illness.

The film digs a little into his mental state with scheduled visits to a city-run social worker who can and does, prescribe a litany of drugs. The social worker, at one of their meetings, tells him the city is stopping this program, and he won’t be able to get his drugs through them any longer. He plows into a dialogue about how the social worker never listens to him, askes him the same questions each and every meeting. Here again, the audience knows he’s right, but we also are seeing ways that he’s slipping through the cracks.

This is one of the points of the film. Society in this story is one of the struggles between the haves and have-nots. Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), father of the young Bruce Wayne, and a wealthy man believes that people that don’t have anything need to pull themselves up from their bootstraps. He’s also running for mayor. It is here and in other places this film touches on today and our current societal state of affairs where the top 1% of the people own 90% of the wealth.

This point runs through this film. The story is filled with moments that reflect how society has become lawless, and there is an uncaring towards our fellow man.

A turning point in the film is when Fleck, after being fired for bringing a gun to a clown gig in a children’s ward of a hospital, he starts laughing while watching a tense encounter between three young drunk well-to-do businessmen who are harassing a young woman on a subway train.

His inappropriate laughing causes the men to start picking on him, and during the resulting fight, he shoots and kills all three. Poignantly this attack becomes a rallying cry for the poor and disenfranchised in Gotham. All they see are the headlines that a man with a clown face (mask or makeup) stood up to three of the “haves” and now there is a slow movement of people having protest marches and rioting with many of the participants wearing clown masks.

This story is complicated, just like Fleck is complex. Being hunted by the police for the killings, learning about his past through his mother, then through records at a mental hospital, and being off his medication creates a man who is acting out of anger, loss, and desperation.

When Murray shows and then posts on social media, a hilarious video of him attempting to do a standup routine, he becomes a laughingstock across the country. However, the viralness of the post, Murray decides to have Fleck on his program.

The depth and complexity of the film, the character, and the way it puts a realness to the “Joker” (DC Comics’ character) was profound. It’s almost a perfect layup to Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” with Christian Bale being Bruce Wayne. The scenes and sets in this film are wonderfully shot. The mental hospital, the social worker’s office, Flecks apartment, and the street scenes all carried the sense of a troubled world.

Phoenix absolutely became this character. The overt and subtle shifts in his eyes and mouth said so much throughout the film. As someone who was disregarded by society, he ended up being the man of the moment. He kept me on the edge of wondering what he will in each scene. De Niro was oddly a curious character and excellent as an aging talk show host. He, partially, reminded me of his role as Rupert Pupkin, a wanna be talk show host, in “The King of Comedy.” Zazie Beetz, as Sophie Dumond, Fleck’s neighbor, and short-term lover was outstanding. The way she saw Fleck as someone who could relate to her was powerfully displayed when they went out, and she saw his comedy routine. Conroy, as Arthur’s mother, was good in this subtle, yet pivotal role. Cullen as Wayne was a perfect reflection of a have’s arrogance. Fleshler, as a manipulative friend and co-worker of Fleck, was excellent in this protective backstabbing role. Todd Phillips and Scott Silver wrote a power-packed script and screenplay. Phillips directed this story with absolute clarity of delivering the story he wanted to make.

Overall: I fell into this story from the very beginning, and it worked.

The Comedian

First Hit:  A good story and look into the life of an older comedian whose had his day.

Being about the same age as the character Jackie Burke (Robert De Niro) it was an interesting story, look, and life of an older comedian. Jackie was once a television star and part of the issue is that people see him as this television character and not as himself, an insult comic that is just getting by.

Burke is a sarcastic man in both his communication with everyone he interacts with. Although he's not asked to perform when he goes into a comedy clubs, he is known, gets an occasional shout-out, and carefully watches the younger comedians to see what works, what's  funny.

One night, while performing in a small club owned by Jimmie “J.J.” Walker (yes Mr. Goodtimes), he’s harassed by a couple in the audience. She’s filming him as her husband shoots barbs at Burke. The husband gets under Burke’s skin so much that Jackie ends up hitting the husband with the microphone. The couple sues and also posts the fight they filmed on YouTube. While in court, Jackie refuses to apologize in an appropriate way and the judge gives him jail time. After getting out he starts community work at a homeless shelter which is where he meets Harmony Schitz (Leslie Mann).

She’s also doing community work at the same homeless shelter. They hit it off and spend time together by going to a comedy club, she joins him at a family wedding at the invitation of his brother Jimmy (Danny DeVito) and his wife Florence (Patti LuPone), and then he joins her at a dinner with her father Mac (Harvey Keitel).

In each of the interactions he does a routine, and each one is insult based which goes over in some audiences and not so much in others. He gets an opportunity to be part of the dais of a roast for a 90+ year old May Conner (Cloris Leachman) who ends up dying during his part of the roast.

His agent Miller (Edie Falco) tries to get him gigs, but it is hard because of his age, type of comedy he does and his past history. To juxtapose his past with his more successful peers, the storyline has him visiting the Friars Club in NYC where he talks with Charles Grodin, Billy Crystal, Brett Butler, and Gilbert Gottfried to name a few.

However, despite the star power and interactions with these comedians, the jabs aren't very funny. As it turns out, the funniest and most popular parts of his life are the mistakes he makes which are video taped and posted online.

I thought the jokes that Jackie had were good and De Niro’s delivery was very strong, it just isn’t the type of humor I'm attracted to. However there were moments of out loud laughter. I did like the film's more serious turn when Jackie finds himself wanting to spend more time with Harmony.

De Niro was solid as the old-time comedian and his comedic act was really good. I just didn’t connect with the jokes. Mann was superb. I loved her intensity and skittishness. She was one of the very best parts of the film. Keitel was strong as Mann’s controlling father. LuPone was really perfect as the sister-in-law who doesn’t like Burke. DeVito was wonderful as Jackie’s brother. Leachman was interesting as the 90+ year old honored comedienne. Falco as Jackie’s manager was very good. I liked her realistic engagement and devotion to Burke. The team of Art Linson, Jeffery Ross, Richard LaGravenese and Lewis Friedman wrote a good script that reflected the time of Jackie’s fame very well. I especially liked Harmony’s role and lines. Taylor Hackford did a great job of directing the main characters, but the script didn't use the other great comedians very effectively.

Overall:  Although I didn’t really like the humor in this film, I did think it was well done.

Hands of Stone

First Hit:  Having watched a few of Roberto Duran’s bouts, it was interesting to know more about the man who had “Hands of Stone”.

If you don’t like boxing, you probably won’t like this film as there are a fair number of boxing sequences in this film and it is not easy to watch people getting punched.

Duran (Edgar Ramirez) is first shown as a boy attempting to keep himself and his family fed. He runs the streets and steals from the Americans by taking guava's from the trees in the canal zone. Like most other Panamanians, he is resentful of U.S. presence in the canal zone.

Although the Panamanian and U.S. governments’ agreed to U.S. ownership of the canal zone, there is widespread resentment. This is important because when he fights in the U.S. he’s battling both the U.S. government's oppressive nature to Panamanians and his opponent.

In the case of the flamboyant USA Gold Medalist Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) he created a massive dislike and even insulted his wife Juanita (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) as a part of his strategy to get under Leonard’s skin. Teaching him how to be a great boxer and to fully use his given talents is Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro). Because of previous entanglements with the mob who had a lot of control over boxing, he trained Duran for free.

This film explores Duran’s relationship with Felicidad Iglesias (Ana de Armas) who ended up marrying him. The film also explores his hunger to fight and what happens when he wins more than he ever thought he would. This film tells a story.

Ramirez was very good as Duran and made his journey believable. De Niro was fantastic as Roberto’s father figure as well as trainer. Raymond was strong as Ray Leonard. His movement around the ring and engaging personality were mirrors of the very public character he was playing.   Armas was wonderful as Duran’s tested wife. How she continued to show up to him was great. Smollett-Bell was good as Leonard's wife. John Turturro was good in a small role as the mob heavy putting pressure on Arcel. Ellen Barkin was very good as Stephanie Arcel, Ray’s wife. Pedro Perez did a wonderful job as Duran’s lifelong trainer. Ruben Blades is perfectly pushy as the money man behind Duran. Jonathan Jakubowicz wrote and directed this film. I thought that the script was very good and brought out an interesting story. The direction of the scenes was especially strong in the ring.

Overall:  If you like or interested in boxing in the late 1970s and early 1980s this is definitely worth seeing.

Joy

First Hit:  Wonderful story about a woman who learned to understand her creative inventive power and used it to change her life and the world around her.

This is the story about Joy Mangano. Yes, dramatic license was taken in presenting this story, however the essence and path of the story is true.

Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) married the wrong guy Tony (Edgar Ramirez), who lives in her basement because he cannot afford to live anywhere else. Her mom Terry (Virginia Madsen), lives in her house and spends all her time watching soap operas from her bed.

Her Dad Rudy (Robert DeNiro), helps to pay the mortgage because when he’s not living with a girlfriend he’s living in her house as well. Then, like bookends, also living in her house are her two children who require her time and attention and her grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd).

Mimi keeps pushing her to get back to the creative person she was as a child so that she can become the true successful matriarch of the family. Joy's life is filled with one problem after another. She addresses and deals with them in a robotic way so that she can take just one more step. Resignation is the sign she carries in her eyes and in her spirit.

Finally, the creative inventive person she was when she was young perks back to the surface when she cuts herself cleaning up wine and broken glass with a mop. This event pushes her to invent a mop which revolutionizes the mop and cleaning.

The rest of the film is about the difficulties of getting the product sold. She sells the head of QVC Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper) that this mop can be a success on his network. He takes the chance, it fails, but her perseverance gets her another opportunity. The interaction between Lawrence and Cooper is magnetic. They work so well together.

Another one of my favorite scenes is preceded by her admitting defeat and then with all being lost, she digs into the paperwork and agreements and shows up in Texas (think showdown on main street) with someone who claims he owns a patent on her product. The dialogue in the hotel room – perfect.

This film is about perseverance, belief, and the ability to find one’s inner strength to explore what might be next.

Lawrence gives another top-notch performance. It will be considered for possible selection in the Oscar race. De Niro is strong as the flighty unfocused father. Isabella Rossellini’s performance as Trudy, De Niro’s latest girlfriend, was inspired. Madsen was funny and oddly interesting as the soap opera watching mom. Ladd was sweet as the solid motivating family matriarch grandmother. Ramirez was great as the ex-husband who supports his former wife’s plans. Cooper was fantastic. He fully embraced the role as guide, cheerleader and occasional heavy. Dascha Polanco was outstanding as Joy’s supportive friend Jackie. David O. Russell wrote and directed this team of actors with originality, focus, and clarity.

Overall:  I loved the inspiration that emanates from this film.