The On Golden Pond of Mob Movies

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2019)

Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci together again for the first and most likely final time, it is more than likely their swan song as far as mob movies go anyway and what better way to bow out than the 3 and a half hour epic The Irishman? - which tells the story of Jimmy Hoffa and ostensibly answers one of the greatest mysterious of the 20th century - what happened to him - it is familiar ground for Scorsese with mobsters portrayed as devoted family men who are religious and fiercely protective of their families but who also spend their days ruthlessly killing people, but the story is is told well, is riveting to watch and of course the acting is phenomenal, aided by marvelous movie magic that deages the actors, some may think a 3 1/2 hour film is to long but it flew by for me, and being able to watch De Niro, Pacino and Pesci together was a gift, and if it is to be the final bow for them it was a in a movie worthy of their gifts, because the Irishman should be the odds on favorite to sweep the Oscars, but does it finally solve the mystery of what happened to Jimmy Hoffa? - well it is as good of an explanation as any and as Occam's razor holds, when there are multiple theories to explain a mystery, the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.