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GoodFellas

GoodFellas

List Price: $19.96
Your Price: $13.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 5 stars for the movie 2 stars for the dvd
Review: not much i can say about this movie that fans of the movie dont already know!what i can say is this movie needs better dvd treatment and almost every one can agree with me on that,2disk special edition anyone?!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Do you think I'm Funny?
Review: Goodfellas is on of my favorite movies of all time and remains the benchmark by which I compare all other movies. Some movies, very few, are technically better. Some may hold a plot better but none combine the two aspects as effectively. Every character is meticulously developed and the camera work belongs only to Mr. Scorcese. Women may not love this movie as much as men however, Ms. Bracco has given us a strong and important female lead. If you love movies and haven't seen this movie... see it. This is a great movie, telling of Henry Hill's 30 years in organized crime. I get teared-up thinking about how amazing some of the scenes in this film are: Joe Pesci asks if Ray Liotta thinks he's funny, Ray drives around in a drug haze, Ray and his girlfriend walk through the kitchen at a nightclub, Ray pistol whips his girlfriend's date who was "all hands," Ray shows off his new TV, Ray's wife tries to break down the door of his girlfriend's house, Robert DeNiro receives upsetting news on a payphone. However, a great movie like this deserves at least a better DVD. I am hoping that Warner Bros. will release another version with an anamorphic transfer and - oh yeah - the movie all on one side of the disc. However, the movie is so good, it overcomes the DVD's shortcomings.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: definitly one of the best i would know i have them all
Review: Of all of the "mob" movies that have graced the silver screen over the years, "Goodfellas" most certainly stands a head taller than the majority of them and it can be said that this film is one of the "definitive" mobster movies. Few movies, if any, can compare to the compelling "based on a true story" nature of this film and the graphic realism that is so brilliantly portrayed by Scorsese's direction and the exceptional cast members.

"Goodfellas" is a powerful film based on the true life best seller "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi. More specifically, it's based on the true story of Henry Hill (Ray Liota), who along with his pals Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert DeNiro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) who received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film. Needless to say, the performances by these actors, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino are nothing short of superb.

The premise:

Narrated by Henry Hill and his wife Karen Hill, "Goodfellas" tells the tale of how he grew up admiring the local mobsters, gained their friendship and then came to be employed by them. After all, how could anybody resist a life in which if you're part of the "organization," there is nothing that you cannot have and you have the fearful respect of everybody around you, as long as you're continuing to make money and not stepping on any of the important people's toes.

As the movies progresses along, Director Martin Scorsese does a beautiful job in displaying many of the aspects of the mobster's lifestyle and the many things that can happen in that lifestyle.

From the opening frame to the final credits, "Goodfellas" is a gripping, suspenseful and enlightening gangster movie that bears multiple viewings quite easily. I highly recommend this film to any and all fans of gangster movies. Fair warning though, this movie "is not" for the faint of heart or the squeamish, for it is fairly graphic at times, which serves to enhance the nature of this film but is not too good on the eyes. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

This DVD was released in 1997 as one of the early transfers, therefore it's not loaded down with an exceptional amount of special features, which is fine because it's all about the film. I do find it surprising that this one hasn't been re-released as a "Special Edition" with all the special features, featurettes and documentaries.

What is does have:

- A remastered soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1
- Production notes
- Two theatrical trailers

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Favorite mob movie.
Review: This is my favorite mob movie of all time. Sure, many will argue that the Godfather is superior, but Goodfellas is the film of my generation. Since I love this film so much I have chosen to wait, impatiently, until the special edition dvd is released. I've heard that Warner Bros. will be releasing it in September 2004. My friend has the original dvd, and I have to say that the transfer is sub par. The sound quality is lacking and the disc must be turned over halfway through the film. If the heresay is true, then September will be a glorious month.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ....It was outta respect.
Review: Thats why after reading through many of the one-two star reviews I had to weigh in with my two cents.
Right off the bat, this is one of the greatest films ever produced. Godfather still rates as my all time greatest American film. But this isnt the Godfather, this is the real story of a real gangster, in a real mob family. The Luchesse family to be exact. And it is not a tragic opera with universal themes with which we can all identify. These are hardcore criminals who live a life most of us would never want and probably have little contact with.
So for people who said they couldnt identify with the characters, your not alone.
Another complaint I read alot is the use of language. More specificly the dreaded F*** word. One reviewer even took the view of my middle class father (whom I love very much) and said "Even gangsters back then didnt talk like that.."
Well how many gangsters did you hang out with back them days? From much of what I'v read that word has been in use going back to the 1800s and beyond. I understand that to some it and other words are offensive, but that is why we have a rating system. But like it or not, its reality.
Now to my fellow Americans of Italian or Sicilian descent WHO are offended by these types of mafia movies, ...sorry, but crime stories sell. An earlier reviewer said 'this is just a thin sliver of the "italian american"experience' Exactly! Scarface(83), State of Grace, Once Upon a Time in America, Year of the Dragon, even Pulp Fiction all deal with a "thin sliver of life" thats what makes them so intresting. Most of us find it intresting taking a look into another world in which we would never set foot. Its got nothing to do with besmirching any race of people.
I realize that answering complaints about this great film is a waste of time. But its great film made by a great director, and outta respect for him and it I had to speak up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tough guy bites the dust
Review:


This is a more-or-less run-of-the-mill tough guys film directed by the master of the genre, Martin Scorsese. One thing sets it apart from the other gangbanger films: it is based on fact--the life of Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), a half Irish, half Sicilian punk from New York City who associated himself with the local mob at an early age.

From a run-of-the-mill street punk, Hill graduates into bigger scores, and eventually into dealing drugs. To save his neck he turns government witness, through the Witness Protection program, and burns everyone who has ever known or been associated with him. The feds get him placed in Seattle with his wife and kids, but once a punk, always a punk. He falls back into his old patterns, and his wife divorces him and he again gets entangled with the law.

All pretty predictable.

The big boys that he ratted on end up doing time, of course, and so everthing is made acceptable, except... Somehow, we end up with the feeling that justice has not really been done. He should have been locked up as well. At least, that's my reaction.

The film is of course well done. But, I thought the filthy language was overdone and gratuitous. I think a good film could be made, and still get the idea across, using language more acceptable to a general audience. You wouldn't want to view this one in company with your mother (or any other person you respected.) That's too bad.

We've come a long way since Gable cussed mildly in Gone With the Wind, and everyone gasped in dismay. Are we better off now, that nothing is left unsaid anymore?

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books



Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Film Masterpiece, DVD Tragedy
Review: Goodfellas is arguably one of the best movies ever put on film. Unfortunately, Warner Brothers has done a fine job of screwing-up our ability to enjoy this masterpiece at home. The "modern" DVD version of this movie is primative at best. It is one of the few, single-layered antiques in existence that you must flip midway through the movie. Pathetic. They would've been better-off releasing this on Beta. Sadly, if you are one of the many out there who hold this movie in the high regard that I do, you're obligated to own it - just don't get too comfortable. Before you know it, you'll be getting-up to flip your "DVD" as if it were an old Earth, Wind and Fire album. If anyone from Warner Brothers reads this review, do yourselves a favor and release a special edition of this classic. Then go get your shine box!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best mafia movie out there
Review: This is one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. It has drama, makes you want to keep watching, gruesome scenes of mafia "hits", and loads of profanity. "what am I, a f***ing clown? Here for your f***ing amusment?" Ah, Joe Pesci was the best. Too bad they whacked him-errr, i mean.... Joe Pesci lives. Anyhoo, buy this movie, stock up on food, watch it, watch it again, keep watching it, don't go outside for a month, keep watching it, and, oh, did I mention you should watch it?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Scorsese Classic (but a lame DVD package)
Review: It's understandable that so many people feel compelled to compare GoodFellas to The Godfather (Parts 1 and 2) or more recently to the Sopranos ... all of them are great mob stories and a lot more than that.

But to give this movie its due, it has almost nothing to do with the Godfather films ... GoodFellas has a flavor of reality that makes it unlike any other mob story. From the opening scene, in which Liota, DeNiro, and Pesci are are driving through the night in a rumbling Buick on some evil mission (you don't find out right away, at least not why they're doing what they're doing, but you find out soon enough), GoodFellas has a certain randomness in the way in combines violence, humor, and personal relationships that makes it ring absolutely true.

It's not a neatly constructed story -- the movie follows Henry Hill's life in a semi-chronological order and at the end the story kind of peters out -- but the power of Scorcese's filmmaking is such that you really don't mind. An absolute classic.

***BUT*** the DVD features are inexcusably lame: there are bascially no extras (OK, the theatrical trailer, which shows that the marketers really didn't know what they had, is kind of interesting but that's about it) and, worst of all, you have to turn the disc over in the middle of the movie. A contemporary classic film like "GoodFellas" is just crying out for a director's commentary, some outtakes, etc. Where are they???

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Second Greastest Gangster Flick of All Time
Review: The only better gangster flick than this is the godfather, and it gives a run for its money. Heck it might be just as great. The reason that this movie is so good is because its based on a true story, the story of Henry Hill. Through the movie you see how he becomes a gangster and what mistakes he makes in his life. So see this movie than go read the book, Wiseguys, to truely understand the life of Henry Hill


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