Tempus Fugit

Robert DeNiro is 64 today. It's kind of hard to believe he's only 64 - it seems he's been around for forever already, and his recent string of movie roles in the last few years (Godsend or The Score, anybody?) make it seem even longer. I don't understand these recent roles - I don't know if they're just bad choices, or if he is mailing it in (which seems somewhat unlikely), or if the parts aren't just coming in anymore (which seems even more unlikely), but it's a shame. His performances not just in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather II, and Goodfellas, but movies like Mean Streets, Heat, The King of Comedy, The Mission, The Deer Hunter, and the criminally underrated Ronin (along with several others not mentioned here) are all reminders of how much we can't take DeNiro for granted, even if his recent films have been hit-or-miss.