内容摘要：Some bio documentaries are carried mostly by the reflective, archival footage that send you back to the subject’s heyday.

Some bio documentaries are carried mostly by the reflective, archival footage that send you back to the subject’s heyday.

And we all chuckle. They probably all chuckled on set, too. Because the man playing Vitois none other than Robert De Niro, indeed one of the best actors in the world, revered in our time as Gable was in his.

It’s a cute moment and an apt one, too, becausewhich aims but fails to channel the magic of decades-old mob movies like “Goodfellas” — though penned by the same writer, Nicholas Pileggi — is all about De Niro. Actually, it’s all about De Niro AND De Niro. The man plays both lead roles, feuding mobsters Genovese and Frank Costello, in a story based on real events.Is it a gimmick? Surely. Does it work? Well, there’s the entertainment value — this is De Niro, after all — and if you feel that more De Niro minutes are always better, then it follows that two roles are better than one. Others may feel it has a mob-themed “Parent Trap” vibe, less weighty than it should be given the obviously violent subject matter.

Also, “Goodfellas” fans may wonder if the Vito role was once intended for Joe Pesci (the movie’s been in development forever), so similar is the character to that actor’s impulsive, manically suspicious persona. On the other hand, in two brief scenes where the De Niros appear together for momentous meetings, one might be forgiven for wondering if Al Pacino was in line at some point, for a “Heat”-like moment.Happily, De Niro relies here on makeup, and not de-aging as

though it must be said that, at times, his two characters just don’t look different enough. More importantly, “The Alto Knights,” despite its pedigree, doesn’t rise anywhere near the heights of its glorious predecessors. It is, rather, an enjoyable if choppily paced look at a relationship between two men, where unfortunately we’re arriving pretty late in the game.

There are, though, a few crackling surprises: that domestic courtroom scene; a tense, televised Senate committee grilling; and finally a climactic gathering of mob bosses in the countryside, with fabulous period vehicles parked on the lawn and sausages on the grill, that’s disrupted in comically sudden fashion.Scientists estimate the animal was about 2 1/2 feet (80 centimeters) long and may have resembled a modern monitor lizard. The findings were

The hooked claws are a crucial identification clue, said study co-author and paleontologist Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University in Sweden.“It’s a walking animal,” he said.

Only animals that evolved to live solely on land ever developed claws. The earliest vertebrates -- fish and amphibians – never developed hard nails and remained dependent on watery environments to lay eggs and reproduce.But the branch of the evolutionary tree that led to modern reptiles, birds and mammals – known as amniotes -- developed feet with nails or claws fit for walking on hard ground.