I wasn't expecting "The Irishman" to so closely parallel the recent Don Cherry kerfuffle. 
The Irishman is pretty great, by the way. Definitely in the same league as Goodfella and Casino, sharing the same thematic concerns as two movies but arguably deeper.
The one question mark I have with The Irishman is the Pacino performance. Often powerful but maybe a shade too broad and histrionic, especially compared to the restraint of everyone else?
Let's put this to the people. What do we think of Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa?
On the question of Pacino's performance, I now think this is the right analysis: it's integral to the plot that Hoffa (loud, explicit, public) carries himself differently than the mafia guys (sneaky, cunning, quiet, elliptical in their dialogue).
To put it another way, The Irishman is about a gang of method actors, one of whom (Pacino) starts to revert to an older form of histrionic, theatrical performing. So the gang has to kill him.
