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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: A Very Good Mob Movie
Review: If you like to watch mafia and gangster movies you have to watch
this one. When I watched the first 15mins of the movie I started
to really enjoy it. Its about this guy Peter(Ray Liotta) whos wanted to be in the mafia since he was a kid. He did errands for gangsters when he was about 14 years old and loved it. When he gets older he hangs out mostly with Jimmy(Robert Deniro) and Tommy(Joe Pesci)his closest friends. But when Peter goes to jail a couple a times, Jimmy and Tommy think that Peter is going to squeal on them. The only way Peter can get out of jail is to sell drugs. When he sells the drugs he takes the drugs also. He starts having trouble with his wife like beating her. But if the head of the Mafia Pauli, finds out that Peter is selling the drugs , Peter might get wacked(killed). What happens next I can't tell you so your going to have to see it to what happens. A very good movie. Two thumbs up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Rise and Fall of a Wiseguy
Review: For as long as he could remember, Henry Hill wanted to be a gangster. So, when he was 12 years old, he started running errands for the neighborhood wiseguy and extortionist, "Paulie" Cicero (Paul Sorvino). By the time he was 21, Henry (Ray Liotta) had made a name and a good life for himself stealing and reselling cargo. Along with Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert DeNiro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), Henry organized and executed heists big and small for their boss and protector, Paulie. He married a headstrong Jewish woman, Karen (Lorraine Bracco), who at first reluctantly and then enthusiastically embraced the gangster life. Even a prison stint didn't slow Henry down. Wiseguys get their own kitchen and accommodations in the joint. But Henry's defiance of his boss' directive in dealing cocaine and Tommy's violent outbursts threaten to destroy the world the wiseguys have made for themselves. Even $6 million from the great Lufthansa heist, the largest cash heist in American history, may not be enough to protect this group of aging gangsters from their own mistakes.

"Goodfellas" is based on "Wiseguy", Nicholas Pileggi's biographical novel about the life of mobster-turned-state's witness Henry Hill, who lived nearly 30 years as a small-time New York wiseguy before being arrested and entering the witness protection program in 1980. Martin Scorsese directed the film with a mind not to glamorize the gangster life, but to accurately portray the world of minor mafioso, a world driven not by violence -the violence is incidental, but by money. Scorsese succeeds in getting the audience inside of this world. Robert DeNiro gives one of the best performances of his career as Jimmy, who starts out level-headed but is eventually unhinged by greed and paranoia. Joe Pesci is fantastic at conveying Tommy DeVito's unfortunate combination of easily bruised ego and itchy trigger finger. Lorraine Bracco is a convincing mafia wife, but her performance is at its most interesting when she first discovers how truly bizarre the domestic lives of mob wives are. Paul Sorvino gives a nice supporting performance as the patriarch of this extended family. This brings me to the starring performance of Ray Liotta: Sometimes I felt that Liotta was appropriate for the role of Henry Hill, and other times I thought that his line delivery was wrong. So I have mixed feelings about Liotta's suitability for this role. But, overall, his performance is convincing enough.

"Goodfellas" is an entertaining look inside inside an iconic American subculture. The Italian/Sicilian mafia is a fringe culture which, for some reason, never ceases to fascinate the mainstream no matter how ugly or petty it gets. I admit to not understanding or sharing this fascination. Wiseguys are never smart or complicated men. They are simple, laughably predictable people who exist in a very straightforward environment of their own making. The most challenging aspect of making a gangster film based on a true story may be making the characters interesting. Martin Scorsese accomplishes this by using the camera to immerse the audience into the world of these wiseguys. They are interesting within their own circles, so they become interesting to us. "Goodfellas" displays some of Scorsese's most masterful and seductive work. It contains some great performances, and it gives us a window into the culture of organized crime. Gangster movies must have the highest rate of being true stories of any film genre.

The DVD: This is a 2-sided DVD. The movie is on both sides of the disc, and you have to flip the disc in order to finish watching it. The transfer has problems. In one scene that I recall, there is a thin vertical black line through the picture. The only real bonus features are a few pages of production notes and the ability to subtitle the film in English, French, or Spanish. I wouldn't recommended this DVD to collectors. If you are interested in purchasing "Goodfellas", wait for the Special Edition DVD to become available.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not a review...
Review: A reviewer before said to stop complaining about the DVD and stick to the subject. This may have been true with VHS, but this is DVD. Amazon reviews should not only talk about the film, but the quality of the product itself. And, as we all know, the Goodfellas DVD is the pits.

But I have some good news for you guys. Warner is currently in production of a 2 disc special edition which SHOULD (and I stress the word "should") be out sometime in February 2004. Finally, no more having to get up to flip the disc over after Spider the bartender is blasted by Tommy. Outstanding.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a gangster.."
Review: I would like to start off by saying that a lot of reviews here are simply complaining about the DVD itself. Please, let's stick to the damn subject, okay? (Maybe they'll release a 15th anniversary edition in 2005.) The DVD is fine.

Now, onto the flick. Brilliance. Sheer brilliance. This movie takes you in the life of the NYC Mafia from 1955 to 1980, and follows the life of a young Brooklyn native named Henry Hill (Ray Liotta, who's one hell of an actor) who gets into the mob at a young age (13ish). Along the way, he basically learns how to be a "wiseguy": rackateering, extortion, murder, robberies...no stone goes unturned here. His closest friends are Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro), Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci, who's unintentionally funny as a little guy who keeps dropping f-bombs left and right), and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). Throughout the movie, the viewer gets to witness the comings and goings and comings of the mafia. (If you're squeamish at all, bye. This is NOT the movie for you. Go watch Mary Kate and Ashley instead.) As Henry Hill progresses, his life starts to spiral more and more out of control, and it leads up to the big finish.

Anywho, I recommend this one. It may be rather lengthy, but it's interesting the whole way through. Well done.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Another Unflattering Picture
Review: As an Italian-American, let me tell you why folks like Scorsese and Coppola make mob movies. It's because those of you who are not eat this garbage up like a big dish of baked ziti! It makes them rich, so why not! Sure it happened, but the mob life represents a razor thin sliver of the whole Italian experience in America. In my opinion Goodfellas is somewhat overated. I found this film somewhat boring and depressing at the same time, like "Boogie Nights or Casino." I didnt feel there was enough tension because you dont care who got whacked next. Who do you root for? Ray Liotta's character "Henry Hill" is as close to being the one protagonist in the movie but he has too many bad traits -infedelity, drug abuse, murder ect. that you are not endeared to him. And his wife becomes transformed into the very type of mob wife she originally despised. Pesci's charachter Tommy is compleatly despicible and deserved what he had comming to him. I did think the scene where he goes on about "do you find me amusing?!!" pretty funny though. I didnt think the film very entertaining untill Liotta's charachter was franticly trying to evade the narc helicopter that was trailing him. If you like mob movies and are looking for escape from a mundane life, you would probably like this one, so eat up-Mangia!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Genius Film, Hampered By Lackluster DVD
Review: What more can be said that hasn't already been said about Goodfellas. The movie speaks for itself; it's genius filmmaking. However, the DVD itself is just God-awful. This is the only DVD I know of where you have to get up in the middle of the movie and flip sides to get the second half. Then again it's Warner Bros - the quintessential joke of the DVD Home Video market - so consumers can't really be surprised by their shenanigans.

Anyway despite the inferiority of the DVD (of which I gave this review only four stars instead of the five it really deserves) enjoy the genius of Goodfellas. You won't be disapointed.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: :shakes his head in disapproval at Warner Brothers
Review: Note to Warner Brothers: Your DVD production team should be fired! Great film- but I hate the Double Sided DVD! Also, where are the extras? You know- behind the scenes, deleted scenes, director's commentary? The extras you'd expect from a DVD. None of WB's DVD's have these. EG: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Stanley Kubrick Collection (I would have loved to see the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey). Also, what's up with the cardboard DVD cases? Anyway, Goodfellas is good, but WB's DVD production team needs to be totally gutted.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Goodfellas
Review: Just keeping the Goodfellas pride alive with yet another 5-star rating. An amazing, brilliant film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Where is the "Special Edition DVD?"
Review: Six year later, still no "Special Edition DVD?" What's going on? Goodfellas is one of my favorite movie of all time! I still got the laserdisc version!
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the only movie in history to receive four different editions??? The first DVD is from Image, the second DVD is from Artisan, the third DVD? remember the "Ultimate Edition" and finally the "Extreme Edition" I want to scream at the big wig at Warner Bros!!! Where is the so-called 2 disc Special Edition DVD??? It's about time?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An "A+" movie by an "A+" director
Review: This is one of the best mob movies ever made. With its great and true tale of one of the Lucchese family earners, it proves to be not only a great film, but also a great look into the world of organized crime.
The movie starts out right away with Henery and his two friends driving down the Jersey turnpike when their "pakage" in the trunk wakes up. Right there you are hooked.
A lot of reviews said that this was a very violent movie, which it is, but in my opinion they kind of over exagerate. The director shows the violence very real, and does not let the audience down with some watered down version, in my opinion, it is what sets this movie apart from the other mob movies, and into a league of its own.


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