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Casino

Casino

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I would really rate it 4 1/2 stars
Review: This movie, had a better story than Scarface. This movie I think was different. There was never really a movie about a casino and two mobsters owning it. Joe Pesci was excellent. The film has a really gory ending, not for kids.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I like it more everytime I see it.
Review: I just don't understand anyone who has an unkind word about this film. Only God could have made it better,...or Jesus, or perhaps Kevin Smith. It was factual, perfectfully photographed, it has everything. One of best crime family movies. I liked it better than Goodfellas, better than Donnie Brasco. Anyone who had it all, got a divorce, and watched his empire evaporate, can live this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Martin Scorsese Film....
Review: The best Martin Scorsese film i've seen since Goodfellas.
Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci(the best of the cast), Sharon Stone and the rest of the cast are just amazingly good to watch and see what can do on any film they have made late in their own careers.
A Must-See, All-Time Classic film and a Worth-Owning one too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pathos and Dynamite
Review: Casino is probably the best movie of the 1990's. The three main characters are grotesque but sympathetic due to the superb performances of DeNiro, Stone and Pesci. The story is how the mob took over Las Vegas and eventually lost it as told from the point of view of its footsoldiers. Casino takes an intriguing story and wraps it around three fascinating characters. The result is pure cinematic genius.

Sharon Stone plays a frighteningly realistic slut with a grudge to settle. Her character maims the royal scam that the men are perpetrating. She serves as the Helen in this film - so powerfuly desireable, that she destroys the men in her path.
Pesci is the muscle man unafraid of anyone or anything. But subject to all man's temptations. His weaknesses of flesh are the eventual undoing of the main characters and serve as an admonition to all viewers.
The morality of this film is not the issue. The relative morality is. We are driven to contemplate our own values and how our hubristic tendencies force us to compromise our values. We are left to question not wether we do, but to what extent and how that affects our lives. Our most human dramas are writ large in this hyperbolic tale. Its triumph is in the mirror that it holds to us.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Goodfellas 2
Review: This movie had its strong points, but at its core, it can't escape the fate of being a rehash or Scorsesees other pictures. Here, too, he tries to mix the often bizarre juxtapositions of criminal and family life (the FBI agents who run out of gas on DeNiro's golf course, Joe Pesci making his son breakfast after a night of busting heads) with an in-depth, almost textbook examination of organized crime. Pesci and DeNiro are in Scorsesee mode, playing variations of their usual roles. Sharon Stone actually can act, which suprised me, but her role here may be one of the best (and one of the more compelling parts of the film) in the way she acts as a catalyst. It's interesting that DeNiro's Ace makes their marriage a business arrangement. The way she gets between the two leading men is intriguing (especially in the scene where she asks Pesci to kill DeNiro-Pesci's reaction is priceless).

Unfortunately too much of this is on autopilot for the director. I mean, how many times can I watch Joe Pesci beat someone up while the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" plays on the soundtrack? (C'mon, you even used the same SONGS from Goodfellas?) The rather contrived scene in which Pesci beats a guy up for cursing out DeNiro ("is that your pen?")echos the scene in Goodfellas where he kills the "made" guy too much. Some of the mechanics of the Casino are interesting, but on the whole this movie seems unecessary, and you can feel it in some parts in which the director tries for something new (the way Scorsesee switches the narration even to characters who have minor roles is an odd choice, which does little for the film) and doesn't quite pull it off.

The movie bogs down in it's epic length. The ending is also somewhat anti-climactic, and even the last shot echos Goodfellas.

What's interesting is that after this Scorsessee reteamed with another writing partner (Paul Schrader) and made another quasi rip-off of one of his classic films (Taxi Driver), "Brining out the Dead". That movie, however, is more interesting and goes a different course than its predecessor than this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I Have Seen This Video 75 Times And I Want To Review It
Review: Yes, the comparison with "Goodfellas" is unavoidable. Both are brilliant depictions of a corner of American life, where family values and work ethic are genuine but the path to success is misguided. Robert DeNiro - "Ace" - is the gambling genius who takes a new career direction with the odds in his favor. However, the odds are against his marriage to Sharon Stone - "Ginger" - the highly sophisticated call girl who still can't break her bond with a creep from her childhood. The two negatives do not make a positive for Sam, who figures that the law of averages will concede to Love. The numbers don't work, though. His second wrongheaded move is in not comprehending his figurehead role in the new "Gold Rush" out West.
Ace's old pal, Joe Pesci - "Nicky" - arrives on the scene from Chicago to humbly ask permission to insinuate himself in his world - the still-untapped Las Vegas. The message is: I'm joining you out here and I'm going to do what I have to do and I what I want to and I'm only "asking" because we go back a long ways...
The performances of the three are the reason for the films' success even without the excellent performances by Alan King and many others, the grandiose setting and the impressive documentary style film-making. DeNiro and Pesci deliver wisened, deepened portrayals, which in several spots, make their work in "Goodfellas" look almost offhand. DeNiro is able to create a certain, unexpected sympathy for his character. His gamble with Love yields no win, so he gets more and more obsessive about his "work", in which he has already made his mark. His misunderstanding of his role at the Casino only compounds his crisis at home. This confusion is expertly played by DeNiro; in his situation he is able to evoke sympathy in the viewer, something out of the picture in "Goodfellas". Where DeNiro is implosive, Mr. Pesci's *explosive* acting is superb and Scorcese gives him alot of room to work. There are many unnecessary plot scenes which are still successful as platforms for Pesci: He knocks down Casino assistant Don Rickles; he tries to knock down a guy in a parking lot during his later dissipation. In fact, despite the nice pacing, there is about twenty minutes of extraneous stuff for all involved.
Sharon Stone's performance is astonishing as the bad girl who suddenly finds herself fairly successful as Wife, Mother, Socialite - until James Woods decides to work his Svengali act on her. I think Scorcese could have given her more close-ups, etc., but the performance should be appreciated by actors and casual movie-goers alike.
Other actors also should be recognized here, particularly Frank Vincent, recently of "West New York"; he is a master of understatement and his character is interesting. At one point he has to lie to the powers-that-be to keep his friends alive; later he is the first one to apply a baseball bat to his cohort, in one of the most violent scenes ever shot for a major motion picture. Here the Director does *not* underscore with MTV-video effects. The silent, remote setting makes the brutality seem even more horrific. The characters seem capable of anything at anytime.
Against the 24/7 high energy atmosphere of the '70s Vegas we sit forward to speculate on when will the over-inflated, massive balloon finally burst and come plummeting down to earth. Yes it does, and we may question our own three-hour fascination with it. Then we realize we have experienced great cinema.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best films of the 1990s!
Review: Casino is dubbed a wonderful movie because of its wonderful direction, cinematography, and most importantly, wonderful acting. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, two familiar players in Scorsese's films, deliver unsurprisingly powerhouse performances. However, one should never ignore Sharon Stone's presence as De Niro's call girl wife, Ginger. She gives the performance of her career, in my opinion.They're all electrifying!
I loved the fluid camera movements as it helped capture the mood and 'kick back city' feel of Las Vegas. The soundtrack is awesome as it ranges from classical, to classical rock, soul, and even Italian.I've always loved the way Scorsese intricately weaves music of a certain period all throughout the film. It's fantastic. I recommend buying the soundtrack,too.
So..to make a long story short. This movie, like all other Scorsese movies, have the ingredients that make up a movie worth watching over and over again. Even if you've never seen a Scorsese movie, I encourage those who are curious to give in to curiousity.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gambling doesn't payoff
Review: Martin Scorcese re-teams with Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi with this inside look at the Las Vegas Casino control. And after their success with GOODFELLAS, this was a promising offering. They succeed in many ways but the story, direction and characters seem more derivative than original.

DeNiro is small time street hood Ace Rothstein who makes big time as a Casino Manager. And like in GOODFELLAS, his doomed relationship with the trip hammer Joe Pesci exhibits what is too come and his paranoia takes over. Added into the mix is Ace's doomed relationship with an expensive call girl whose only interests in life are money, drugs and money. Here, Sharon Stone practically streetwalks away with the film. Her performance as Ginger is frightening.

The storyline is a bit ill conceived as the film has three narrators, making it difficult to know who the story is about. DeNiro's Rothstein and Pesci's Nicky Santoro split most of the film but at one point, a secondary character suddenly takes over narration. Scorcese uses his interesting camera work to relay the story with great success. But, the story never is as enrolling as GOODFELLAS and will always be an also ran because of that. The DVD comes with a nice widescreen transfer and unique soundtrack.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: wise man not wise, family is no business
Review: Unlike the NYC fella in the Godfather, wise man in this one aren't so wise, their fingers are not on the strings.

The movie proved one thing-unlike Godfather, one cannot ran a business like a family, or ran a family like a business.

Sam got in blind love with a whore, just unbelievable for a smart "ace" gambler.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The House Always Wins
Review: This movie is absolutely fantastic. It plays two roles, a gritty organized crime bit, and a up-and-up business venture. It's beautiful to see crime boss's meet in the back of a supermarket in the mid-west, while trench men like DeNiro and Pesci are on the front lines making them rich. I like this movie for a few reasons. First it brings all aspects into play: there is a hint of media/cop present, there is the inner-workings of the organized crime ladder, there is the business ventures of staying alive in Las Vegas, and to top it off a family to raise. And it is exciting to see how it all fits together like a puzzle. Next I like the casting. I think it is important to have some sort of intimidation and style that is believable. When Pesci jabs a pen through a guys neck, you get that feeling. Lastly, the musical score was great. All-in-all for the true buff of this genre, you owe it to yourself to view this pleasure. Definately worth it.


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