The 1980 biographical sports film Raging Bull transcends both genre descriptors often attached to it. Yes, it tells the true story of Jake Lamotta, an Italian-American boxer who hit his peak in the 1940’s and 50’s. So technically it is biographical and about sports, yet neither of these words leap to mind when trying to summarise the experience it...

More than 30 celebrities will join the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in celebrating NIAF’s 45th Anniversary Gala virtually and honoring Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Saturday, October 31, 2020. Dr. Fauci will be presented NIAF’s 2020 Leonardo da Vinci Award for Leadersh...

The movie that changed my life turns 30 years old this month. It was a cool September evening in 1990 when two carloads of high school friends and I went to the Showcase Cinema in Revere for opening night of Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.” The theater was kind of a dump back then and most of the screens were still in mono, but we preferred the plac...

Known as The Raging Bull, or “the Bronx Bull for his aggressive fighting style, Giacobbe LaMotta grew up in the Bronx where he honed his boxing skills. The son of Sicilian immigrant Giuseppe LaMotta and Elizabeth LaMotta, Asa child, he was encouraged by his father to fight other neighborhood children as adult spectators would throw change into the...

The old friend shows up every night, big and brawny as ever. He’s on a Brooklyn family’s seventh-floor balcony in Windsor Terrace, and above the Portofino Ristorante in Forest Hills, and bellowing out of a truck rolling slowly up and down the empty canyons of Manhattan’s avenues, right on time to — with the crash of a cymbal — start spreadin’ the n...

Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are offering fans the opportunity to win a walk-on role in their upcoming film "Killers of the Flower Moon" if they donate funds through the "All in Challenge," which supports DiCaprio's "America's Food Fund," "Meals on Wheels" and "No Kid Hungry." "Bob (De Niro) and I are going to be starring in a film called '...

Acclaimed actor Robert De Niro is receiving a Life Achievement Award at this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards. The award is given annually to someone who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession." De Niro has been starring in films for more than 50 years. Gabrielle Carteris, president of the trade union SAG-AFTRA, called De Niro "one of...

Joe Pesci is known for volatile, explosive performances in such films as Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” and “Casino,” along with more antic, comic turns in the “Lethal Weapon” and “Home Alone” movies and “My Cousin Vinny.” So, the still menace of Pesci’s performance in Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” playing Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino as a m...

“We got together early on,” Al Pacino said, gesturing at Robert De Niro. “And we shared something, which was a big thing at the time.” The two men were sitting in a hotel suite in New York, trying to sum up 50 years of friendship and the weird, singular bond that comes from being two of the most heralded actors of their generation. The balcony door...

Have you seen The Irishman? You know, the new Scorsese movie about the mafia? The three-and-a-half hour one? Neither have I. But I did check out Netflix's big-budget marketing stunt for the movie, and I have to admit it was kiiinda awesome. It's not Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, but honestly? It's not far off. As previously reported, Netflix has "de-ag...