By Trey Alessio
CREDIT: The Tracking Board
On February 22, a power-move sent a ripple down stream and could potentially cause a major wave in the future of the film industry.
It was reported that Martin Scorsese’s long-in-development project, “The Irishman,” was picked up by Netfix from Paramount Pictures. This move comes after a big announcement that Brad Grey left as the studio’s CEO.
But why could this be so important? Name another Netflix release with the prestige of a director such as Martin Scorsese. You can’t. Sure, the stream-platform has produced dumbass Adam Sandler comedies like “The Ridiculous 6” and “The Do-Over” as well as some critically-acclaimed originals such as “Beasts of No Nation” and “The Fundamentals of Caring,” but none have the ceiling that “The Irishman” has.
My movie idol Martin Scorsese is widely recognized as one of the greatest directors of all-time. He has smash-hits like “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “GoodFellas,” “Cape Fear,” “Casino,” “The Aviator,” “The Departed,” “Shutter Island,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” and the list goes on and on. Why is “The Irishman” turning the heads of Scorsese-junkies like me? Well, the Academy-award winning director will be reuniting Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino—three of the most icons actors of their time. Can you tell how pumped I am yet? And yes, I’m aware there might be some Benjamin Buttoning that has to take place. I don’t care. My anticipation is still at an all-time high.
It was reported that Martin Scorsese’s long-in-development project, “The Irishman,” was picked up by Netfix from Paramount Pictures. This move comes after a big announcement that Brad Grey left as the studio’s CEO.
But why could this be so important? Name another Netflix release with the prestige of a director such as Martin Scorsese. You can’t. Sure, the stream-platform has produced dumbass Adam Sandler comedies like “The Ridiculous 6” and “The Do-Over” as well as some critically-acclaimed originals such as “Beasts of No Nation” and “The Fundamentals of Caring,” but none have the ceiling that “The Irishman” has.
My movie idol Martin Scorsese is widely recognized as one of the greatest directors of all-time. He has smash-hits like “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “GoodFellas,” “Cape Fear,” “Casino,” “The Aviator,” “The Departed,” “Shutter Island,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” and the list goes on and on. Why is “The Irishman” turning the heads of Scorsese-junkies like me? Well, the Academy-award winning director will be reuniting Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino—three of the most icons actors of their time. Can you tell how pumped I am yet? And yes, I’m aware there might be some Benjamin Buttoning that has to take place. I don’t care. My anticipation is still at an all-time high.
CREDIT: Amazon
“The Irishman” will be based off a book entitled “I Heard You Paint Houses,” which details the life of Frank Sheeran. Sheeran was a big-dick, hot-shot Teamsters official with ties to the Bufalino mob family. (Spoiler alert…kind of…I mean, it’s a true story for God’s sake) Right before Sheeran’s death in 2003, he admitted to killing fellow Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa, whose body has never been found since.
Can you imagine? We’ve got Scorsese—the master of crime dramas—with De Niro, Pesci and Pacino—the ultimate gangster actors—plus this epic story with an outstanding premise. This is bound to be a classic.
But the fact that “The Irishman” has the potential to be a hit isn’t what’s really important. It’s the fact that a movie of this caliber is coming to a stream-only platform like Netflix. Think about it this way: could you imagine not seeing “GoodFellas” in theaters when it first came out? It’s going to be kind of weird for me when “The Irishman” finally drops. Sure, it’ll be nice to chill on my couch and watch this gangster flick at my own luxury, but a part of me wants to experience something like this in the theaters. Despite my movie-experience preferences, I think if “The Irishman” is successful on Netfix, we’ll see more and more big-time movies come to stream-only platforms.
Can you imagine? We’ve got Scorsese—the master of crime dramas—with De Niro, Pesci and Pacino—the ultimate gangster actors—plus this epic story with an outstanding premise. This is bound to be a classic.
But the fact that “The Irishman” has the potential to be a hit isn’t what’s really important. It’s the fact that a movie of this caliber is coming to a stream-only platform like Netflix. Think about it this way: could you imagine not seeing “GoodFellas” in theaters when it first came out? It’s going to be kind of weird for me when “The Irishman” finally drops. Sure, it’ll be nice to chill on my couch and watch this gangster flick at my own luxury, but a part of me wants to experience something like this in the theaters. Despite my movie-experience preferences, I think if “The Irishman” is successful on Netfix, we’ll see more and more big-time movies come to stream-only platforms.
I could see “The Irishman” and the impact it could have on the movie industry playing out the same way I can see Drake’s upcoming playlist project, “More Life,” shifting the music culture from albums to broader playlists. Could this be the death of movie theaters? Could this be the death of DVDs? It’s hard to say, but if Scorsese’s upcoming gangster film does numbers and gets critical acclaim, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more and more franchise movies make this same move.
An official start date hasn’t been set for “The Irishman,” but it’s tentatively slated for 2018. The film was first announced back in 2008, which is believable because Scorsese’s latest movie, “Silence,” took about three decades to come to fruition. But hopefully it’ll be worth the wait. “Silence” got an 84% of Rotten Tomatoes, so the formula for this long-awaited gangster movie has been set. (A dope story + time + a great cast = a classic movie.)
Only time will tell if “The Irishman” will even be successful or if it will truly make a wave in the stream-game, but it definitely has all the makings to do so.
An official start date hasn’t been set for “The Irishman,” but it’s tentatively slated for 2018. The film was first announced back in 2008, which is believable because Scorsese’s latest movie, “Silence,” took about three decades to come to fruition. But hopefully it’ll be worth the wait. “Silence” got an 84% of Rotten Tomatoes, so the formula for this long-awaited gangster movie has been set. (A dope story + time + a great cast = a classic movie.)
Only time will tell if “The Irishman” will even be successful or if it will truly make a wave in the stream-game, but it definitely has all the makings to do so.
CREDIT: NJ.com