Pacino & De Niro: Do You Still Care?

[Mitch Henessey]

AMC continued their Thanksgiving tradition yesterday, as they televised The Godfather films. I tried to watch The Godfather Part II, but as always, the fucking commercials drove me nuts. I own all three films on DVD, so I decided to watch The Godfather Part II for the 10,000th time, when I popped the disc into my DVD player, and as usual, I couldn't get enough of it. Pacino is just great in that film, and Robert De Niro delivers a remarkable performance. I watched this film a few times yesterday, then I went on a trip down memory lane, as I relived the glory days of Pacino and De Niro. I couldn't get enough of Raging Bull, Scarface (Yeah, I know, this film will always receive the overrated tag, but I still love it), Taxi Driver, and Scent Of A Woman.

I enjoyed this trip down memory lane, but reliving the glory days yesterday did feel kind of bittersweet. Pacino and De Niro are legends in the world of cinema, and their legacies will never die, but both of these men have had their fair share of stinkers over the years:

De Niro:

Showtime
Meet The Fockers
Little Fockers
Righteous Kill
Limitless

Pacino

88 Minutes (one of the worst films I've ever seen in my entire life)
Righteous Kill
Two For The Money
Gigli

These are just some of the stinkers from Pacino and De Niro's recent film history, and it doesn't look like anything will improve in the future.

Pacino and De Niro are legends, and both of these men might be remembered as the top two actors of all time, but do you still care about De Niro and Pacino? Do you want to invest time in them? Are you willing to take a chances on their possible shit films?

I will always love Pacino and De Niro, but you can't just ignore their track record of recent shit films. Both of these men were praised as Gods in the 70's and 80's, and both men did have a nice little run in the early and mid 90's. Also, I don't care what the critics say, The Devil's Advocate was a solid film, and Pacino's performance was one of the highlights in that film. And Meet The Parents was a very enjoyable comedy.

But still, both of these legends have had a horrible track record of bad films in the later stages of their careers, and as of right now, it just feels like Pacino and De Niro are living off of name value. Both of these men can still draw some moviegoers to theaters, because people will still pay their money to see De Niro and Pacino on-screen. At times, I want to give up on Pacino and De Niro, but I do take a chance on some of their films every now and then. De Niro surprised me in Killer Elite, but Pacino can be worse most of the time, and I will never forget the horrible piece of garbage known as 88 Minutes. But Pacino and De Niro can always provide some good nostalgia, and I haven't given up on them just yet. It's unlikely, but Pacino and De Niro can still have that one redeeming surprise one day, because the talent is still there, and I just want to see one "he's still got it!" performance. It might not happen, but I can always hope for the best, and I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Larry]

I love both of these guys but I have to completely disagree with your list of stinkers here. Righteous Kill IS the "They've still got It" movie you were talking about, it was great. I'd be interested in hearing some actual analysis on why it supposedly sucked so bad. 88 Minutes was also a great movie as was Two for the Money, how you call them stinkers I will never know. I also think Showtime was a great buddy cop movie with DeNiro and Eddie Murphy, I don't get for one second how they were bad. Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, and Limitless I have yet to see but I thought limitless looked great, and the Focker movies looked pretty funny too.


do you still care about De Niro and Pacino?
Absolutely. I like the majority of their collected works and always find myself enjoying them in their different roles.

Do you want to invest time in them?

Being a big fan of them I am always willing to sit down and see what either man has to offer in any of their movies. I look forward to watching them.


Are you willing to take a chances on their possible shit films?
Most definitely. I personally have yet to really see a shit film from either man, of course I am sure there are some out there, but I haven't seen them.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I still care about them and I would like to see them pull out some good movies before the end of their careers but I will not be taking chances on any of them until I hear it get mega praise and I can rent it or watch on Netflix. I've always been a big fan of both De Niro and Pacino and I respect the hell out of them for the amazing movies that they have been in back in the day, but a mix of their movies that they're so well known setting a high bar for them and their recent movies being pretty shitty I've kind of accepted the fact that we wont be getting any more memorable movies from them. So what I've decided to do is not focus on crappy movies of theirs and instead just focus on their best work and remember them for that, if they stopped right now I think their legacies would be better off as they have achieved so much.

 

[jmt225]

I care enough to the extent where if a movie looks pretty good, them being in it would give me extra initiative to check it out. However, they are no longer the type of stars where I will watch a movie just because they star in it. Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ryan Gosling... today, these are pretty much the only actors who hold that kind of high praise with me. Of course, if Pacino and De Niro still gave performances and starred in the kind of movies they used to in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, then they would also be on that list. Unfortunately though, both De Niro and Pacino have done mostly nothing but absolute rubbish since the 00's began, and I just lost all interest in their careers. I still respect the hell out of both of them and remain optimistic that they'll eventually give us a few more amazing performances before their careers are over, but yeah... for now, they don't have that "it" factor, as they say.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I love both of these guys but I have to completely disagree with your list of stinkers here. Righteous Kill IS the "They've still got It" movie you were talking about, it was great. I'd be interested in hearing some actual analysis on why it supposedly sucked so bad.

Righteous Kill was supposed to be the big on-screen reunion of Pacino and De Niro, but the nostalgia factor of seeing these two on-screen together does wear off pretty quickly. Righteous Kill is one of the most dull and tedious cop dramas I've ever seen, the story was filled with tired and overused clichés, the screenplay was just horrible, and the big twist was a HUGE letdown. They try to trick you into believing De Niro as the "dirty cop" in this film, but Pacino is the actual bad guy in the end? Pacino being revealed as the true dirty cop was such a disappointing and corny surprise. It's SO painfully obvious Pacino is the real bad guy here, and I just couldn't get into the big mystery throughout the film.

Pacino and De Niro actually tried to save this one, but they couldn't. Seeing these two in the same film again is the ONLY real positive attribute Righteous Kill has. The majority of the supporting cast (excluding Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) is decent enough, but this is still an awful film.

88 Minutes was also a great movie

No. It really wasn't.

88 Minutes is one of the easiest choices for a worst film of the year award (2008) ever, and I really can't understand your it's a "great movie" praise. This was an incredibly bland, inept, and dull physiological thriller, this film didn't offer any real suspense, and the story doesn't build too much momentum. Also, Neal McDonough was horrible as usual here. His performance was pretty bad, and I could never buy into his sick, twisted, and creepy serial murder character. This man is a terrible actor, and he does drag this film down most of the time. And I usually try to stand up for Pacino's performances, but he didn't help this film at all. Pacino was nothing more than a big name in this film, because he delivered an incredibly lazy performance here, and it looked like he just didn't care at all.

The acting in this film is pretty bad, and the story and screenplay is just atrocious in every way.

as was Two for the Money, how you call them stinkers I will never know.

Pacino was enjoyable in Two For The Money, but his performance is probably the lone highlight in this film. Matthew McConaughey wasn't bad here, this film does give the audience a nice in-depth look at the sports gambling world, and this film does have an intriguing premise, but Two For The Money just gets worse as time progresses. The plot becomes very confusing, and the story turns into a mess. Two For The Money could've been something special, but everything eventually turns into a disappointing mess, and the name value of Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey (I guess you could throw in Rene Russo and Jeremy Piven also) probably saved this one from the $5 bin at Wal-Mart.

I also think Showtime was a great buddy cop movie with DeNiro and Eddie Murphy, I don't get for one second how they were bad.

Showtime tries to be this buddy cop comedy with the odd couple (Murphy and De Niro), and this film isn't too bad in the very early stages. But as time progresses, Showtime becomes a joke within joke. This films tries poke fun at odd couple cop partnerships, but eventually, Showtime becomes the type of film it's trying to make fun of. And I don't know about you, but I just can't laugh, when I watch this film. I always give Showtime a try, if I can catch it on HBO or Cinemax, but this film doesn't do anything for me on the humor side of things. I can't laugh, when I watch this film, and Eddie Murphy is so unbelievably annoying here. He tries way too hard in this film, and his character makes me want to throw a brick through my TV screen.

Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, and Limitless I have yet to see but I thought limitless looked great, and the Focker movies looked pretty funny too.

Meet The Parents was very good, but I hate both of the Focker films. These films might please fans of the series, but Meet The Fockers and Little Fockers were two of the worst comedies I've ever seen. And I thought Limitless was mediocre at best. This film had an intriguing premise, but overall, this film is one huge disappointment.

 

[Larry]

Well, thank you for taking your time to go further in depth with your reasoning there for not liking those other movies. I can't say I agree wholeheartedly but I do see your arguments. The thing I notice most prevalent is that you see good concepts in these movies, good acting from DeNiro and Pacino, but that you feel they fall flat as they move forward which may very well be true. I guess for me that is something I may have overlooked in those films because they all hooked me at the beginning and so as they go on I am just watching and waiting to see how everything pans out which is where I get the enjoyment whether it's executed really well or somewhat poorly. I just like the journey in the story period, and don't mind overlooking some of the things that might turn me away for my own enjoyment.