All Things Al

This Sunday are the 92nd Academy Awards, and amongst the nominees are Bronx-boy Al Pacino  for Best Supporting Actor in The Irishman.

I saw The Irishman right after it premiered on Netflix and it reminded me a brilliant quote from Blackadder: "The Teutonic reputation for brutality is well-founded: their operas last three or four days." 

The Irishman is a longggg movie and, worst of all, it feels like a longggg movie. It's not bad but it's not great -- despite it's director, despite its cast, despite its operatic subject matter. I don't think Al is a favorite to win (looks like Brad Pitt's gonna get it) but Al just might pull it off since it's his first nomination in almost 30 years and a great actor like him needs to have more than only one Oscar.

Of course the big deal about The Irishman is that it pairs Pacino with his fellow NYC acting legend Robert De Niro. Honestly, although they share lots of screen time together, most of their scenes are forgettable -- including the one where they're sitting around in a hotel room in their pajamas (tres bizarre). For my money, less is more, and the absolute best Pacino/De Niro pairing is from 1995's Heat. Although they only have one big scene together -- until the climatic finale --- the tension, the dramatic build, the high stakes, the raw humanity, the brutal honestly that these titanic talents emote in their scene is powerful.

In fact, Heat is a better movie than The Irishman -- there, I said it.  

Believe it or not, I've written a lot about Al on this blog over the years so, if you want to know Mr NYC's thoughts on all things Al, click here.

You can also ready my admittedly Dershowitz-like argument as to why Heat is a great NYC movie -- despite its most definite Los Angeles setting.

Good luck Al!

P.S. Here's the best scene, by far, from The Irishman.