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A “masterpiece” biopic starring Robert De Niro is streaming on Netflix in the UK

A “masterpiece” biopic featuring Robert De Niro is available to stream on Netflix in the UK as of this week.

Raging Bull (1980) stands as a biographical sports drama adapted from world champion boxer Jake LaMotta’s memoir.

De Niro portrays LaMotta, whose “violence and determination led him to the very top inside the ring but destroyed his relationships outside it”, according to the BBC’s synopsis.

The cast of this Martin Scorsese-directed picture, a frequent De Niro collaborator, features Joe Pesci as Jake’s younger sibling and former manager, plus Cathy Moriarty as Jake’s long-suffering spouse Vickie.

The production secured two Academy Awards, with De Niro claiming Best Actor honours and Thelma Schoonmaker earning Best Editing recognition, cementing its status as a timeless classic, reports the Express.

Film blog Taste of Cinema declared it the “greatest biopic of all time” in a glowing post, celebrating both its performances and “surrealist” boxing sequences.

Devotees have flocked to IMDb to heap praise upon the picture, with one branding it a “masterpiece” whilst commending Scorsese’s directorial prowess.

“The fight scenes are famous for their brutal realism and it’s easy to see why,” they penned.

“He puts you right in the ring with the fighters and you cant help but admire their technical brilliance. However, the most stunning aspect of all is Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing.

“It’s some of the best editing I’ve ever seen especially during the fight scenes where it’s positively breathtaking.”

Another viewer praised: “Besides the legendary performance of Robert De Niro, there are many things in this film that will remain in my heart forever: the splendid black & white, the contrast between the slow moving scenes and the frenetic ones, the choice of the music and the sense of loss which entangles the whole movie.”

A third fan hailed the fight scenes as “are the most brutal that I have ever seen on film even though there’s only like 12 minutes of them and the editing is simply brilliant”.

They lamented: “It should have earned Scorsese a best director Oscar but at least they had enough sense to award de Niro the best actor Oscar,” adding: “I’ll come back to this film forever.”

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A fourth critic, who rated the film a perfect 10/10, enthused: “Terrific performances by the leads, particularly De Niro and Joe Pesci. Overall this is rightfully one of the greatest films ever made!”

The film carries a 15 certificate and includes strong violence, domestic abuse, sex references, and very strong language – so viewers are advised to exercise discretion.

Raging Bull is currently available for streaming on Netflix.

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Re “Lockyer Urges Steps to Cut Gas Prices,” Nov. 23: There you go again. The state attorney general, a typical Democratic politician, demagogues this issue without presenting all the facts. Your article and Bill Lockyer leave out the federal tax (14.1 plus 15 cents per gallon) which amounts to 29.1 cents for every gallon of gas. Add the five cents per gallon state tax and the four cents per gallon clean air cost and we have a total cost to the consumer of 38.1 cents per gallon.

If Lockyer really wants to lower gas prices, he should lobby the federal government to lower gas taxes.

HARRY BORLAND

Laguna Woods

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One step Lockyer might consider is the state sales tax, assessed not only on the base price of gasoline but also on the federal taxes and on the state taxes. A state tax on a federal tax and on other state taxes. If that isn’t criminal, it ought to be. The state sales tax on gasoline is a dirty little secret. Every other item we buy as a daily need is clearly priced, and the sales tax clearly spelled out and added. At the service station, it’s carefully buried. So much at the pump, the placard says.

Take away the state sales tax, or even apply it just to the product, and you’ve removed much of the price differential. But don’t hold your breath until our Legislature recognizes this or does something about it.

AL V. CLINE

Rolling Hills Estates

Relatives of the late President John F Kennedy slammed the centre’s board, saying the name cannot be changed under law.

Donald Trump’s name has been added to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, just one day after his hand-picked board members controversially voted to rename the arts venue, the first time a national institution has been named after a sitting US president.

Workmen added metal lettering to the building’s exterior on Friday that declared, “The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

“Today, we proudly unveil the updated exterior designation – honoring the leadership of President Donald J Trump and the enduring legacy of John F Kennedy,” the centre said on social media.

Family members of former President Kennedy, who was killed by an assassin’s bullet in 1963, as well as historians and Democratic lawmakers, have criticised the move, saying only an act of Congress could alter the name of the centre, which was designated as a living memorial to Kennedy a year after his assassination.

“The Kennedy Center was named by law. To change the name would require a revision of that 1964 law,” Ray Smock, a former House of Representatives historian, told the Associated Press (AP) news agency. “The Kennedy Center board is not a lawmaking entity. Congress makes laws,” Smock said.

The AP reports that the law naming the centre explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the centre into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

Kerry Kennedy, a niece of former President Kennedy, said in a post on social media that she will remove Trump’s name herself when his term as president ends.

“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder. Are you in?” she wrote on X.

Naming a national institution after a sitting president is unprecedented in US history. Landmarks such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and indeed, the Kennedy Center were all named after the deaths of the renowned US leaders.

Kennedy’s grandnephew, former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, also said the Kennedy Center, like the Lincoln Memorial, was a “living memorial to a fallen president” and cannot be renamed, “no matter what anyone says”.

Trump claimed on Thursday that he was “surprised” by the renaming of the Kennedy Center, even though he personally purged the centre’s previous board after calling it “too woke”.

He has also previously spoken about having his name added to the centre and appointed himself chairman of the centre’s board earlier this year.

Trump has sought to rein in the Kennedy Center since the start of his second term as part of an assault on cultural institutions that his administration has accused of being too left-wing.