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Kill the Irishman - DVD

post #1 of 31
7/3/11 at 11:04am
Thread Starter 
I know there's a blu thread about this one, but redbox didn't have a blu version, so I rented the DVD. I suppose this was a direct to disk movie, but it has a great cast and an interesting story. It's a fairly factual film based on the infamous Cleveland Irish gangster, Danny Green, from childhood to his war with the Mafia in the mid 70s. Ray Stevenson, a favorite of mine, played Green with panache and charisma. He had a reputation as being unkillable and the movie played on his self proclaimed legend of being a Celtic Warrior. It's not a great film, but it is entertaining with excellent performances by Stevenson, DiNofrio and Walken. There are a ton of the usual faces playing mafia thugs and Val Kilmer plays a cop (loosely based on a real one) who had a history with Green and acts as a player and narrator.

DVD transfer was excellent on my Oppo BD83SE. I actually didn't miss blu. There's an hour long doc on the disk that encapsules the real story with lots of commentary from family, mobsters, cops which gives a more balanced portrayal of the real dude...which is excellent.

IMDB rates this as 7 out of 10 and I agree with them. It's good to see Stevenson get a meaty (non supporting) role.
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post #2 of 31
7/3/11 at 11:23am
Now, see, what did I tell you about redbox?

I have the BD in a NF pile in my HT...just waiting for me.

Will watch in the next couple of days...
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post #3 of 31
7/3/11 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
I've got NF too, but they are so slow that when I want a movie and don't have one, redbox is more convenient. This week...

Battle LA - not available yet
Kill the Irishman - very long wait
The Dilemma - long wait

Redbox had um and BLA was blu.

The 30 day moritorium and the fact that I've been pushed back on priority is making me rethink NF.
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post #4 of 31
7/3/11 at 11:45pm
Watched KtI tonite.
Excellent...very fine fact-based crime drama.
In spite of being a Mafia junkie, this was a story I did not know.

Be sure to catch the doc in the Special Features section of the BD.
The movie is surprisingly faithful to the history of the downfall of the Mob in Cleveland.

BTW, Ray Stevenson was particularly good.
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post #5 of 31
7/4/11 at 12:15am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post

BTW, Ray Stevenson was particularly good.

He's been around awhile, but doesn't have a particularly impressive dossier. I noticed him in King Arthur as a throwaway knight (redshirt), but then he landed Titus Pullo in the Rome series and nailed it. If you haven't seen that series, Pullo and Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) are two of the most engaging characters ever...hard as nails, but Pullo had humor and a touch of innocence that was quite charming. Danny Green was Titus Pullo with brains.
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post #6 of 31
7/4/11 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Temple View Post

Danny Green was Titus Pullo with brains.

He certainly was an interesting character.
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Spoiler  
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
It isn't too surprising how his career ended.
The man had a great amount of luck....and it finally ran out.
But I think if the Cleveland Mafia wasn't so freakin' incompetent, he could have never rose to such heights.
Killing someone isn't THAT hard.

If he was located in NY, I doubt he would have lasted so long.
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post #7 of 31
7/4/11 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post

Now, see, what did I tell you about redbox?

I have the BD in a NF pile in my HT...just waiting for me.

Will watch in the next couple of days...

Yeah, I have the BD of Kill the Irishman in my queue. It looks interesting.

I am ambivalent about Redbox, It has been excellent the few times I decided to spend a buck fifty on instant gratification and get a Redbox BD rental. Most of the time, though, BB works better the overwhelming majority of the time, though. Redbox passes over far too many BDs for me to consider them as a regular source.
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post #8 of 31
7/4/11 at 3:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

Yeah, I have the BD of Kill the Irishman in my queue. It looks interesting.

I am ambivalent about Redbox, It has been excellent the few times I decided to spend a buck fifty on instant gratification and get a Redbox BD rental. Most of the time, though, BB works better the overwhelming majority of the time, though. Redbox passes over far too many BDs for me to consider them as a regular source.

I've got 3 redboxes and 2 BBs within 1/2 mile of my house. Haven't tried the BB kiosks yet...I'm afraid they'll be gone tomorrow and I'll be on the hook from the bankruptcy court .
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post #9 of 31
7/4/11 at 3:59pm
Just watched this on DVD from RedBoX .
very cool ! I liked the way the movie is shot it really looked as if it WAS filmed in the 70's . they nailed the look of the time to a Tee & it really had that feel of a B stock film back in the day ... the acting was very good ,Vincent D. & Stevenson , did very well ..
Val Kilmer was little weak I M H O . Christopher Walken was superb as always.
I was surprised it was as good as it was ..
seeing how it was a 4Th of July left-overs in the ReDBoX this morning L O L .... It was a Blind rent for me ,I had never heard about it before I rented it ...

ReDBoX is a real convenience thing for me , It's nice to have a outlet that you cruse by & get a flix only as needed , I do find the Blu-Ray selection lacking BigTime !
ditched NF seems I never watched the films till days after they came & never got what I really wanted in a timely matter .
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post #10 of 31
7/4/11 at 4:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Temple View Post

I've got 3 redboxes and 2 BBs within 1/2 mile of my house. Haven't tried the BB kiosks yet...I'm afraid they'll be gone tomorrow and I'll be on the hook from the bankruptcy court .

I've never seen a BB kiosk in OKC but we still have many BB stores, one of which is 3 minutes away from me. Further, the old BB's bankruptcy is irrelevant to the current operation. Dish Network acquired all of BB's assets, made new deals with the studios for discs, and is not on the hook for the massive debts incurred by its predecessor. As a result, things at BB have been back to normal for a while now. So far, at least, it appears that Dish is determined to maintain BB's business. God knows they can afford to do it.
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post #11 of 31
7/4/11 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I've never seen a BB kiosk in OKC but we still have many BB stores, one of which is 3 minutes away from me. Further, the old BB's bankruptcy is irrelevant to the current operation. Dish Network acquired all of BB's assets, made new deals with the studios for discs, and is not on the hook for the massive debts incurred by its predecessor. As a result, things at BB have been back to normal for a while now. So far, at least, it appears that Dish is determined to maintain BB's business. God knows they can afford to do it.

BBs got a deal with Safeway out here...don't know if this chain is in the MW.
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post #12 of 31
7/4/11 at 5:43pm
Have never tried BB or redbox.
The nearest are 10 miles away; my mailbox is 10 ft. from my driveway.

Using the 5 at a time plan, I always have movies to watch.
The turnaround for me is only 3 days.
No complaints on service or availability...it simply works for my situation.
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post #13 of 31
7/5/11 at 9:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post
Have never tried BB or redbox.
The nearest are 10 miles away; my mailbox is 10 ft. from my driveway.

Using the 5 at a time plan, I always have movies to watch.
The turnaround for me is only 3 days.
No complaints on service or availability...it simply works for my situation.
Is this a sequel or prequel to WHITE IRISH DRINKERS?
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post #14 of 31
7/5/11 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cinema13 View Post

Is this a sequel or prequel to WHITE IRISH DRINKERS?

After reading the synoposis, I would have to say no.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1550524/


This is Kill the Irishman:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1416801/
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post #15 of 31
7/5/11 at 12:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cinema13 View Post

Is this a sequel or prequel to WHITE IRISH DRINKERS?

No, it's a sequel to Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
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post #16 of 31
7/5/11 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Temple View Post

No, it's a sequel to Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

I was thinking vampiric leprechauns.
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post #17 of 31
7/5/11 at 7:30pm
Yeah, "I'm gonna suck the gold right out of your fillings!"
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post #18 of 31
7/6/11 at 7:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post
Have never tried BB or redbox.
The nearest are 10 miles away; my mailbox is 10 ft. from my driveway.

Using the 5 at a time plan, I always have movies to watch.
The turnaround for me is only 3 days.
No complaints on service or availability...it simply works for my situation.
NF's turnaround time for discs is in a class by itself. BB has always been significantly slower. If that were my only consideration I would still be an NF subscriber. Unfortunately, though, BB offers far more movie and TV titles on BD than NF. That coupled with my ability to get movies from my neighborhood BB makes BB a better choice for me than NF.

To get back on topic briefly, I am looking forward to seeing the Kill the Irishman BD. First, though, I'm going to watch the new BD edition of Das boot, which are Nos. 1 and 2 in my BB queue.
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post #19 of 31
7/7/11 at 12:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I'm going to watch the new BD edition of Das boot, which are Nos. 1 and 2 in my BB queue.

NF has a release date of 7/12.
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post #20 of 31
8/6/11 at 7:05am
Watched this on BD last night. Fantastic acting and production!

Cleveland - who knew?
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post #21 of 31
8/6/11 at 10:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliens View Post
Watched this on BD last night. Fantastic acting and production!

Cleveland - who knew?
I would love to see Kill the Irishman, too. Unfortunately BB shows the BD as being Unavailable so there's no telling when, if ever, I might get to see it.
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post #22 of 31
8/6/11 at 11:08am
The same with Redbox....
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post #23 of 31
8/6/11 at 2:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post
I would love to see Kill the Irishman, too. Unfortunately BB shows the BD as being Unavailable so there's no telling when, if ever, I might get to see it.
You should go out of your way to find it.
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post #24 of 31
8/6/11 at 3:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post
I would love to see Kill the Irishman, too. Unfortunately BB shows the BD as being Unavailable so there's no telling when, if ever, I might get to see it.
I'm not sure how much of a buyer you are, and a blind one at that, but KTI has a repeat viewing factor. With the special features included, its 2 hours and 45 minutes of great entertainment; and history as well. The director also did a great job of interspersing real news footage in the movie. KTI also had great looking explosions And there were plenty.

I too quickly jumped over the special features because it looked like a director commentary. However, when I looked to post this morning, I saw I was mistaken. I rushed to the mailbox to retrieve it before it got picked up and will watch the 1-hour SF tomorrow night.
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post #25 of 31
8/6/11 at 3:19pm
Thread Starter 
I'd seen most of the special feature on American Gangsters. It was interesting, but the real Danny Greene came across (as in reality) as kind of a shallow character. Just a thug with issues and a few smarts that was lucky for awhile, then not. The film however, made you identify and sympathize, largely due to script and wonderful acting job by Stevenson. The guy can do the "manly man" thing. He's got a deep well of charisma.
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post #26 of 31
8/6/11 at 3:21pm
Just rented this last week on a whim. A very enjoyable movie. I highly recommend it.
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post #27 of 31
8/6/11 at 7:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Temple View Post

I'd seen most of the special feature on American Gangsters. It was interesting, but the real Danny Greene came across (as in reality) as kind of a shallow character. Just a thug with issues and a few smarts that was lucky for awhile, then not.

Agreed.
Exactly my impressions.

Watching the featurette, it is hard not to laugh at certain points.
However, it IS fascinating, nonetheless....
What comes across is DG was fortunate and incredibly lucky, in that his enemies were considerably less bright than himself.
In fact, the Italian Mob in Cleveland may have been the lamest outfit ever.
The proof is in the fact Greene managed to stay alive for so damn long.
If the Cleveland Mafia was competent in ANY way, DG wouldn't have been able to graduate from stealing newspapers....
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post #28 of 31
8/7/11 at 4:48am
Quote:


I liked the way the movie is shot it really looked as if it WAS filmed in the 70's . they nailed the look of the time to a Tee & it really had that feel of a B stock film back in the day

They did a good job of showing what Cleveland looked like in the 70's. My only issue is where he was killed, they totally wiffed on that. I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland & know the exact intersection & parking lot of his demise. It's a well off area about a half hour from Cleveland & not another gritty back drop within the city as depicted in the movie.
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post #29 of 31
6/2/13 at 9:10pm
Thanks to Blockbuster's lackluster current service, my wife and I finally got around to seeing this movie this weekend, and we were both pleasantly surprised. Mob movies aren't a genre that we frequently rent, but this one was both fascinating and engaging.

They did a great job of invoking the era - how cool was it seeing actual TV footage of Brian Ross covering the real-life events cut into the movie? I also thought the actors did fine jobs, especially Ray Stevenson, who sounded quite a bit like Liam Neeson. His portrayal effectively portrayed the charisma, bravado, and hubris needed for the title character. After seeing this movie, I'm not sure why he isn't getting more high-profile roles; I'd like to see him cast as an irreverent anti-hero in a large budget action movie someday.

The bonus documentary was also worth watching, as it helped point out the facts that were incorporated in the story.

Definitely worth a rental, and since the movie has dropped to under $8 on Amazon, I'll end up buying it.

Scott
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post #30 of 31
6/2/13 at 11:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by srw1000 View Post

I also thought the actors did fine jobs, especially Ray Stevenson, who sounded quite a bit like Liam Neeson. His portrayal effectively portrayed the charisma, bravado, and hubris needed for the title character. After seeing this movie, I'm not sure why he isn't getting more high-profile roles
As a matter of fact, he did play The Big Bad on Dexter last season and was excellent.smile.gif
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