The Aux: The greatness of " The Irishman" is overshadowed by its length

I’ll try and keep this short — unlike this movie. 

“The Irishman”, a bloated slog of a mafia movie, acts as Martin Scorsese's latest addition to his legendary directing career. Despite its egregious runtime, the film’s well-written script is masterfully performed by some of the genre’s greatest actors. “The Irishman” undoubtedly holds a place in Scorsese's pantheon of filmography. 

The movie follows the mob-career of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) as he menverures the potential pitfalls of life as a made man. Frank stands alongside Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) a calm and collected mob boss and hot head union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) as the trio waltz through the mob’s golden age and into it’s extinction. The movie is based off of Charles Brandt’s novel “I heard You Paint Houses.”

The Aux: "Little Women" expands on themes where the book fell short

Greta Gerwig’s interpretation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel “Little Women” revisits the original story applying a modern day lens.

For those that haven’t read the book, the storyline follows the lives of the four March sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy) and is known to be loosely based on the author and her three sisters’ childhood experiences. 

The story is set against the backdrop of the U.S. civil war, with the young women's father off working as a chaplain in the military. Within this context, the four coming-of-age daughters are left in relative poverty but are simultaneously allowed the freedom to explore their interests and proclivities with autonomy and notably without any paternal influence. 

The Aux: Once upon a time in Hollywood offers a hard to follow alternate history

Quintin Tarantino’s ninth film, “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” bent time while retelling the Manson family murders of 1960s starlet Sharon Tate and company. However, the lack of narrative caused the film to fall flat among others in the director’s repertoire. 

The film follows fading western star, Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio) and his stunt man, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as they try to navigate this new-fangled Hollywood. 

The Aux: "Death Stranding" isn't for the average gamer

In a post-apocalyptic United States, everything has been ravaged by a largely unexplained phenomenon called the “Death Stranding,” from a PS4 video game released by Kojima Productions on Nov. 18, 2019.  “Death Stranding” is the first game from Director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their disbandment from Konami in 2015.

The death stranding wiped out cities and almost all life while opening a gate between the worlds of the living and the dead. The ghostly animal-like apparitions that you see in the game called “BTs” haunt forests, mountains. Certain humans called repatriates are able to return to life from a strange underwater space known as the Seam. 

Sam, the main character of the game (portrayed by Norman Redus), is one of these repatriates. He is what people like to call a post apocalyptic delivery man, as that is what you do for most of the game. Thankfully for those who are going to play the game, the gameplay is more straightforward than the story. 

The Aux: A violent "The Joker" tells compelling story

The 2019 film, “Joker’, tells the origin story of one of DC Comics’ most notorious super villains through a dark, psychological thriller revealing the sad truths behind Arthur Fleck’s (Joaquin Phoenix) life and the events that led him to become “The Joker.”

Director Todd Phillips’ exploration of Fleck depicts a man who is rejected from mainstream society because of his mental illness and social ineptitude. He then embarks on a downward spiral of anarchy, which leads him towards a path of destruction and self-demise.

The film made over $1 billion at the box office with a budget of about $70 million.

The Aux: Netflix’s 'Daybreak' is the Gen Z ballad nobody asked for

I wanted this show to be good.

Instead, "Daybreak" disappoints despite the actors’ best efforts and the show's endless onslaught of timely memes.

Released on Netflix in late October, "Daybreak" is a genre blend between a teenage coming-of-age story and "Mad Max" style post-apocalyptic sci-fi, with just a dash of YouTube meme culture. Only teenagers survived a biochemical/nuclear apocalypse, leaving adults as wandering "ghoulies" doomed to crave human flesh and to repeat their last thought. As such, the Gen Z traits and tenets become the mainstream.

The 10-episode series primarily follows protagonist Josh Wheeler (Colin Ford) as he navigates his first sexual relationships, high school cliques, grief and roving cannibals. Despite each episode running just shy of an hour — and despite at least three occasions of being outright disgusted by the show (a defecating pug comes to mind) — I managed to get through it.