The Godfather Part II. Raging Bull. Goodfellas. Robert De Niro has worked on so many classic films with fellow actors Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, along with director Martin Scorsese. But this is the first time all four cinema icons have been together working on the same movie, and "The Irishman" definitely feels like a callback to the great crime films of the 20th century, many of which featured these legends.

"The Irishman," based on a true story, will chronicle the life of mob hitman Frank Sheeran and his involvement with the Bufalino crime family. Martin Scorsese isn't messing around with this epic. You can already tell the film is going to be grandiose in nature, given that it reportedly clocks in at just under three and a half hours long with a budget of nearly 160 million dollars, seemingly unprecedented for a film premiering on Netflix. It is a bit mind-boggling how such a contemporary production studio managed to secure the rights to this old-age film, but they're certainly not complaining.

It hasn't even been released yet and it's getting a lot of awards buzz. Between De Niro, Scorsese, Pesci, and Pacino, there are 17 Academy Award nominations. The whole atmosphere around the film screams Oscar-bait, but perhaps deservedly so. The film feels culturally significant, as it could be a way to show younger audiences who didn't experience the great crime films of the past what they're missing out on. If the film performs well enough, it could even usher in a neo-20th century era of films.

And if not, at the very least it will get credit for its tremendous ambition and scale.

"The Irishman" premiered at the New York Film Festival on September 27, 2019, and will be released on Netflix in just one month, on November 1, 2019.