‘Casino’ 1995 Review – Movie Monday

• Plot: Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobster best friends and a trophy wife over a gambling empire.
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Writers: Nicholas Pileggi (book), Nicholas Pileggi (screenplay), and 1 more credit »
• Stars: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci | See full cast and crew

Story: This was a real good one. Before seeing this, I know lots of people compare it to Goodfellas all the time and stuff, since it has Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) in it. Now lets get this over with, Casino was not better than Goodfellas. Although it is a lot lke Goodfellas with the same actors, freeze frames, a De Niro stare, Mafia, etc, etc. Goodfellas is different, there’s just something about the storyline and Henry Hill we all love.

I found the narration by De Niro and Pesci to be way too much at parts. Mainly, the first 30 or 40 minutes of the film. Then I got used to it. But it was like, “Is this gonna be like I’m being read a book?” The parts where it was too much kind of needed that since it was introducing the characters and the Tangiers hotel. but still, I think that was just lazy writing.

The ending was a bit bland. Sure, I was blown away when De Niro said what happened after the explosion in his car, but still, the very ending was Ehhhh for me. I expected something better, like Goodfellas.

One of the things I also realized was some very lazy edits that were very noticable. In the opening scene when De Niro gets into the car and it blows up. If you look closely at De Niro, right before it blows up, a dummy is switched in instead of De Niro, then the car blows up. he other lazy edits were just skipping frames, weird angles, etc.

Music: The music also, did not live up to Goodfellas. Sure, it had some pretty sick choices at parts, classics, you know. But there were not many favorites in this one.

Characters: As they always were Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were amazing. There’s something about De Niro smoking a cigarette and his walk with that New York accent that is absolutely perfect for these kind of movies. Joe Pesci did the usual psychotic, awkward, and provocative guy who kills people whenever he wants.

Sharon Stone was amazing also. Throughout the whole movie, especially the middle, she really changed. She went from this nice girl, to this brat that was depressed, angry, and miserable. And De Niro really didn’t do anything to her. It was her love she still had for James Woods (who also did great for his role even though it was small) instead of De Niro and the lust for money that dr0ve her to be like that. We all knew it wouldn’t work out well in the end for her.

Rewatch Value: High

Verdict: Although not as great as some of Scorcese’s other works, Casino is a classic of the 90s and one of their best performances from the duo of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.

‘GoodFellas’ 1990 Review – AMC Mob Week – Movie Friday

Story: Everybody knows about GoodFellas. Everybody. Not a soul that does not know that GoodFellas is one of the greatest mafia movies ever. This was the very first time I had ever seen it. Perhaps not as great as The Godfather, but still a classic for all time. What makes a great mob movie like The Godfather, Scarface, and GoodFellas? I believe it’s when a movie shows other parts and things of how the mob works. What do they do, why do they do that, where do they do it, when? All of those question, when those are answered, make a great mob movie. GoodFellas, The Godfather, and Scarface each show different parts and stories in American history of honor, betrayal, glory, love, hatred, etc, you name it, everything you’d think of in the mafia. Not only does it have these aspects of a good mob movie, but it introduces new mob movie aspects to the film audience. Sure, if you’ve ever read the mafia books, some of these movies are based on real life events, just condensed into movie format. This also was a really funny film. It had some great ‘haha’ moments.

Visuals: I got the real 40s to the 80s feels throughout the film. Cinematography and set was great.

Music: Also, to help the change in years, the songs would change too according to the years, which was cool. Plus, to top it off, they were all classics. Scorcese also seems to like Tony Bennet a lot, which is cool.

Characters: I really liked Ray Liotta as Henry Hill. When he started snorting cocaine in the movie, his appearance REALLY looked like he was on drugs. For Karen, I loved her most of the time, but I didn’t sometimes. She just got annoying at some parts. Robert DeNiro. Him and Al Pacino are the ultimate mob guys. The only thing is, Al Pacino wasn’t in this film. Joe Pesci was. I really wanted mroe of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, this was one of the only things I didn’t like much. I felt like we didn’t get enough of them. And Joe Pesci’s mother in the film. LOVED HER. She looked just like him and had somewhat of he same hairstyle as him.

Rewatch Value: A true classic. Everyone who loves mob movies like The Godfather or Scarface needs to go watch this film.

‘Copland’ 1997 Review – AMC Mob Week – Movie Wednesday

Story: Going into this after watching the trailer I was thinking “Ah man, this is probably gonna be another stupid Stallone movie” When I say stupid Stallone movie, of course I mean Rocky 4-6. But throughout the trailer I recognized a ton of faces. My attitude was like “Oh my god, all this is missing is some Al Pacino”. Also, after watching the trailer and reading the movie’s description, I was thinking how this was considered a mob movie and why was it being shown on AMC Mob Week? I let it go since it had the biggest stars from other mob movies. Anyways, I really enjoyed this one. I really felt the nice 90s cop mystery vibe. The actors were great and it had a nice and twisted storyline. It had a few “wut” moments toward the end, but overall, I really liked this one. This leads me to wonder why it only has a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.9 on IMDb.

Visuals: A really awesome 90s cop mystery vibe. The night scenes were the best really. Especially the crime scene on the bridge. I really loved how it looked. They made it look and fell very realistic.

Music: I didn’t really hear much music throughout the film. This happens sometime, it’s no big deal, it’s just hard to rate. Do I rate it low since there is no music? Or will that make people think that the music was terrible?

Characters: Amazing. I loved them. Stallone had one of his greatest performances of his career here. He plays a slow and dumb guy very well. The look and voice help too, (no offense). Harvey Keitel really looks like a cop for than a mob guy like in Mean Streets or a pimp like in Taxi Driver. He looks like a legitamate veteran cop, “Oh my god he jumped!” Robert DeNiro was great in this also. “I gave you a chance to be a cop, AND YOU BLEW IT!” Loved him. He wasn’t in it much, but when he was, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the screen. And lets not forget Ray Liotta. This is the only other movie I’ve ever seen him in besides Goodfellas, which I will be reviewing tomorrow. But he was great too. He’s real good at playing a mest up and terrible looking guy. I thought he was on drugs or something in the movie.

Rewatch Value: I was impressed. I admit it, I was very impressed. I’ll have to watch more Stallone movies besides the Rockys, Rambos, and Expenables.