Casino

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but unoriginal
Review: This is basically "Goodfellas" rehashed but feels a lot longer, and has some Shakespearean ambitions---in many ways, it's Scorsese's version of "King Lear" which by itself was an awful play but here in a modern setting and on film is more bearable. In a nutshell: relentless discipline and hard work puts a man in a very high place, whereupon his human weaknesses and other unforseen events beyond his control converge to bring him tumbling back down.

Scorsese being Scorsese, there aren't many dull moments (except for some of the more melodramatic dialogue between Sharon Stone and Robert DeNiro as their marriage disintegrates) and the film is always visually absorbing.

Unlike "Goodfellas," this film is fairly predictable (even its violence) and a bit heavy-handed at turns...there's little of the former's gloriously anarchistic energy and amoral glee but bits and pieces of more overt moralizing. "Goodfellas" was like a speeding bullet, "Casino" is more like a screeching cargo train that makes a lot of noise but there's never any doubt as to its final destination.

2 and 1/2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Masterpeice of are time
Review: Martin Scorsese teams up with his partner from Goodfellas, Pillie, and the two put together a fantastic, well performed, movie. The story is absolutly amazing. It teaches you so much, in an entertaining view. Joe Pesci is yet again, amazing in this flick, a less darker character then his role in Goodfellas, but none the less, dark....hey it's Joe Pesci. Every single movie Robert De Niro has been in, he awlays gives the fans an excellent performance. Sharon Stone, was great, although a little to great in a couple of scenes. She should of got an oscar. Martin Scorsese gives us his good old wholesome directing, something that you'd suspect from anyone of his movies. A great long three hour epic. It's a movie that you know Scorsese made.

Rating:
Summary: The most disgusting movie I've ever seen.
Review: Look, I KNOW this movie is rated R because Martin Scorsese doesn't want little kids to be horribly traumatized by the head-in-vise scene. Well I'm 24 years old and the scene horribly traumatizes ME. Heck, I almost threw up after seeing his eyeball pop out.

Rating:
Summary: A good mob flick, but nothing more...
Review: I love gangster movies, especially the epic ones which deal with the rise and fall of the gangster in question. But "Casino" is, quite frankly, a bit too much at times. I wouldn't say it's over the top (which Scorsese film DOESN'T go overboard every now and again?). No, I think the problem is that Scorsese tried a little too hard to top his previous mob movie, "Goodfellas." Here, he seems to be throwing every one of his techniques at "Casino," and the result is a mish-mash of a movie that can't seem to find time to breathe. Example: the narration, which Scorsese obviously branded from "Goodfellas," is for the most part, unnecessary. After the first hour, De Niro and Pesci are telling us stuff we already know. As if that isn't enough, while they're commentating on what's going on, we're missing what's being said onscreen by the actors. As if THAT isn't enough, Scorsese has the soundtrack blaring in the background. That's three seperate audio tracks playing all at once. Whew!

So is "Casino" a bad movie? Nah. I've seen it a number of times because it's required reading for new-age gangster film buffs, and I do enjoy watching it. But this is a film which is at the near bottom of my pile of modern gangster film classics. In other words, the main reason I watch it is because I've had enough of my genre favorites for the time being and I feel like watching something, well... watchable.

Now that I've listed my problems with the movie, I feel a little obligated to defend it on certain areas. First of all, why do people complain of it's length? Is "the Godfather" a short movie? Is "Scarface?" How about "Once Upon a Time In America?" Nowadays, it seems a lot of people's attention span can't seem to break the two hour barrier. If you're a gangster movie fan, and "long" movies are a problem for you, then you're truly missing out on some essential movies. Secondly, I can't understand why people bash Sharon Stone for her "Ginger" role. Guess what, folks? You weren't supposed to like Ginger. She was a gold-digger. A player. A scumbag. Stone played her cards beautifully. She completely understood her character's motivations and goals and took it to another level. She's the highlight of the film and is totally deserved of her Oscar nomination. A real bravura performance.

Here are some other things I liked about "Casino." Robert Richardson's insanely detailed cinematography is a wonder to behold. Visually, you've never seen a movie like this. There's something happening in every corner of every frame, and it's beautifully highlighted by the glitzy backgrounds of Las Vegas. I also dug Thelma Schoonmaker's editing a lot. It's very fast-paced, but not in a Michael Bay fashion. As I said before, "Casino" throws a lot at you, but Richardson's cinematography and Schoonmaker's editing mesh together wonderfully, creating a truly intensified atmosphere that gets the job done right by holding your interest for it's three hour on again/off again storyline.

Brief notes on other positive aspects of "Casino" - the soundtrack is great, each actor pulls off their character right, the opening credits sequence is amazing and there's plenty of shoot-em up action and various other violent scenes for all you gore hounds out there.

In conclusion, "Casino" is a pretty good way to spend three hours at the movies. But my initial complaint still stands as the film's biggest flaw (in my opinion) - it's just TOO MUCH. I'm not saying excess is bad. I absolutely adore "Scarface," for Christ's sake. But "Scarface" followed a particular formula. "Casino" blends too many things at once.

Pick your three favorite foods. Good, huh? Now throw them in a blender and see how good THAT tastes.

Rating:
Summary: In many ways, better than "Goodfellas"...
Review: The trio of director Martin Scorcese and actors Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci are back in this fast-paced slam-banger that gets better by the minute and never lets up until the very end. Those who like casino and/or gangster movies will find sheer joy in this film about both. Scorcese has proved himself to be a truly remarkable director and this film shows why. He knows how to handle characters, scenes and even adds in a few of his own tricks. Many have cited this to be a copy of "Goodfellas," but this isn't true at all. Sure, it has some of the qualities that made "Goodfellas" so cool, but "Casino" is its own movie doing its own thing. Acting: everyone here is excellent. Of course, DeNiro and Pesci are absolutely remarkable, but so is Sharon Stone as DeNiro's wife. While the film runs at about three hours, it feels much shorter due to a fast pace and a relentlessly thorough screenplay. This ranks as one of Martin Scorcese's best films.

Rating:
Summary: An under-rated masterpiece
Review: A compelling tale of power, money and depravity sets the tone for this riveting crime drama. Casino has always been compared to Goodfellas and indeed one of the few variations is that this film is set in the heart of Las Vegas but the film holds enough merits to make it distinctley unique within itself and deserves to be judged on such. Robert De Niro heads the excellent cast, playing Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a master bookie turned big-shot casino manager who's astute head for business quickly deserts him when he marries ex-hooker Ginger McKenna (played convincingly by Sharon Stone). Sams boyhood acquaintance, Nicky Santoro (a superb turn from Joe Pesci) turns up with an ambitious agenda of his own thing that takes things on a further downward spiral.
Casino was written by Nicholas Pileggi (who received an oscar nomination for Goodfellas) who goes for absorbing realism, expertly drawn characters that are played with raw, instinctive conviction and a host of intriguing subplots. There are plenty of stomach-churning scenes of violence with such graphic images of a victims head being squeezed in a vice being one of the most brutal acts displayed in the film. The films well-thought out structure is accompanied by an enthralling and sizzling soundtrack. A genuine masterpiece!

Rating:
Summary: Low Life High Life
Review: I worked for a Mississippi casino at the time this film hit the big screen. Obviously, there are tremendous differences between Las Vegas casinos of the 1970s and Biloxi casinos of the 1990s--but even so I was stunned by the accuracy with which Scorsese's CASINO nailed the industry and the personalities that inhabit it. From the slick hair and pin stripe suits to the endless profanity to the count room to the survelliance room, CASINO is uncomfortably close to the truth.

Based on the life of 'Lefty' Rosenthal, CASINO offers the story of Las Vegas' last gasp of mob domination before the big corporations began to move in. Robert De Niro is "Ace" Rothstein, a mob-connected gambler who rises to control of one the biggest mob-owned casinos in town--and then sees his control slips away through his misplaced love for beautiful and brazen Vegas hustler Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) and his association with gangster Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci.) And when their various activities begin to draw heat on the mob bosses, can murder be far behind?

The cast is really top notch. De Niro and Pesci offer memorable performances, as does a superior supporting cast that includes James Woods, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak, and Melissa Prophet, to name but a few--but the real laurels go to Sharon Stone, who plays out the rise and fall of the glamorous Ginger with surprising skill. But even so, and in spite of its memorable cast, dialogue, plot, and production values, CASINO has a slightly awkward feel to it. Part of the problem is the film's inconsistent reliance on voice-over narration that shifts uneasily between De Niro and Pesci; part of the problem is the film's uneasy shifting between love story and gangster movie. And in the final analysis the film seems overlong.

For all its flaws, CASINO is an extremely watchable, very memorable movie that stands up very well on its own in spite of inevitable comparisons to GOODFELLAS. In passing, I note the DVD package has few extras, and most viewers will be as happy with the VHS version as with the DVD. But be it DVD or VHS, the film is strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES!
Review: THIS MOVIE IS SO GREAT, IT'S NOT ONE OF THE FILMS THAT TAKES TIME TO GET TO THE POINT IT IS AN ONGIONG STORY THAT IS VERY ACCURATE AND RELEVANT TO THE PLOT. THIS MOVIE HAD ME ON MY TOES WHEN I FIRST SAW IT(SEPTEMBER 2002 ON STARZ AT 9:30P.M.). AFTER WATCHING THAT I RAN TO THE LOCAL DVD DEALER AND BOUGHT IT, IT WAS THAT SERIOUS. I SWEAR THIS MOVIE MADE ME PUT A HAULT TO EVERYTHING THAT I WAS DOING AT THE TIME THE MOVIE WAS ON. THE MOVIE IS GREAT FROM BEGINING TO END. THIS MOVIE HAD ME IN AWE FROM BEGINNING TO THE END! ACE WAS THE MAN, NIKKI WAS A CRAZY REAL ... MAN, DOMINICK WAS GANGSTER TOO! THE WHOLE DAMN MOVIE WAS GANGSTER, GINGER WAS A MESS BUT SHE GET'S HER PROPS ALSO. PLEASE SEE THIS IF U HAVE NOT ALREADY. ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER MADE U WOULDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE FILM.

Rating:
Summary: Scorcese continues his excellent run of mob films
Review: In a kind of follow-up to Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas, the director takes another examination into the life of mobs and crime in this slow moving yet engaging film.

Casino reunites Scorcese with Robert De Niro and Joe in the criminal world of Las Vegas during the 1970's. And even though Casino has less action then Goodfellas, it still manages to suck the audience in. Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci both beautifully develop despicable characters, the kind of people you just can't stand, while De Niro rises above them all to become a character the audience can identify with.

Perhaps one of the best attributes to this film is how they get gambling right. As a former Blackjack dealer, I always notice how most films fail to remain authentic to real casinos. Dealers never deal right, security isn't portrayed correctly. But Scorcese's film is as authentic as it gets. And that's important in a film where you need to believe is real.

The inevitable comparison to Goodfellas undoubtedly and unfortunately hurts Casino. It is not quite the masterpiece that the former was. But this movie is great in its own rights, and should be viewed without thoughts of his previous film.

Casino is a must see film, with great depth of character, plot, and even a surprising twist at the end. Scorcese's still at the top of the game in Casino.

Rating:
Summary: Stone steals this mob flick
Review: It's too long, and its too repetitive of the other Scorsese/DeNiro/Pesci mob movie. The saving grace is Stone's performance. She steals every scene she's in.

DiNiro is just being DiNiro. Pesci is so damn annoying that who cares? Stone is the only actor who actually put an effort into developing their character, instead of resting on a reputation as an excuse for delivering a mediocre, if not be it poor performance.

It's just another mob movie. However Sharon Stone makes it worth the long, long ride.