GoodFellas

Rating:
Summary: one of the best mob films ever made!
Review: This movie is insanely good! With out doubt one of the best mob movies ever made. Starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta. This movie is the true story of Liotta's character getting into to the mob at a very young age and moving up the ranks. "GoodFellas" goes through his life until the end were he gets his self into trouble with the law and latter on with the mob. Before it's over tons of wackings and a surprise ending or at least I think so! When Liotta try's to leave the mob and it doesn't work out as he planned. This movie has everything a good mob movie should have Killings, people ripping other people off, killing, cops, jail. Oh, and more killing! This is truly a movie no one interested in the mob should miss out on, if you like the Sopranos you will LOVE this! This is truly a classic among classics this is a must own and it really is one of the best movies ever made!

Rating:
Summary: "I'm Here to Amuse You?"
Review: "All I ever wanted to be was a gangster," says the young Henry Hill in the beginning of Goodfellas. By the end of Scorsese's masterpiece, the viewer really recognizes the tragedy of that decision. Goodfellas is a historical saga stretching over 25 years, highlighting the history of New York organized crime as experienced by a man who was an important part of it. Through Hill's eyes, we see the lie that is the "noble mafia", an image profligated by some movies and television shows. We see the true brutality of organized crime, and the official corruption it breeds. We see the debilitating effect of drugs and the explosion of narcotics trafficking in the 1980's, an influx of money and violence which eventually helped dismantle La Cosa Nostra. All of this is portrayed beautifully through the direction of Martin Scorsese and the magnificent performances of Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta.

Henry Hill was a run of the mill working class kid living in 1950's Brooklyn. If a kid wanted to escape this hard life, there were only a few limited options of exit. The most attractive choice was to join the controlling authority in the neighborhood, the mafia. Organized crime offered money, support, friendship, and, most importantly, respect. It was an irresistible option, and Hill quickly became a part of the mafia apparatus. As he rises up the ranks of the operation, he gains close veteran associates, in the form of Jimmy Conway, a charming and smooth Irishman played by Robert DeNiro, and Tommy DeVito, a hilarious but psychopathic criminal played with maniacal glee by Joe Pesci. This trio pulls off some high profile heists that pull in big money, propelling Hill and his friends high up the organizational ladder.

In his private life, Hill marries a Jewish suburbanite, played wonderfully by Lorraine Bracco. Their life, at first, is one of comfort and influence. However, Hill would begin to fall apart as the mafia life begins to shift to a much darker incarnation. As the drug trade explodes, wealth flows into the mafia coffers. This stream of money touches off a dramatic increase in violence and harsher judicial prosecution. Hits become more common and less justifiable, especially on the part of Pesci's character. As the atmosphere of trust and loyalty break down, Hill himself falls to the weakness of substance abuse, an occurrence that slowly but surely corrupts and destroys his family life. The old limits and rules go out the window, and Hill is eventually forced to break the cardinal rule of the mob: Thou Shall Not Talk.

Goodfellas delivers on so many levels, it is hard to quantify how good it really is. The acting is just amazingly well balanced all around. Liotta is absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of a man who rises high but sinks so very low. Pesci is in his glory here, as the somewhat over the top but nevertheless frightening small statured killer who can explode with even the slightest provocation. DeNiro, of course, is DeNiro. Story, directing, and cinematography are all top notch, with the flying camera effect that Scorsese uses sometimes used to a glorious extent in this film. The mood, the aura around the characters and the settings is very expressive, very representative of the historical time periods. On a side note, the music in this film is just great, most of the songs fit so well with the feelings expressed on the camera. A wonderful example of what great acting, plotting, and directing can do together.

Rating:
Summary: Susheel K Sharma's review
Review: Goodfellas is a raw adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's book Wiseguy. It follows the lifelong journey of an Irish-American mobster named Henry Hill. The movie starts with his childhood, growing up poor and his infatuation with the people that were feared and the people with the power-mobsters. Henry gets a job with the mobsters at the cabstand. His job is basically an apprenticeship with the leader Paulie Later in the film, Hil is all grown up and is a big time mobster. the adult Henry Hill is played by Ray Liotta in the performance of his career. Liotta also does the voice overs throughout the movie. You are then introduced to some of his friends played by DeNiro and Joe Pesci, and his wife played by Soprano's star Lorraine Bracco. The great thing about this movie is how real it is. The mob movies that came before only focused on the good parts aboutmob life, but this film focuses on all aspects; the pressure from the hierarchy, the constant running away from the police, the conflict of interest between prison time r ratting out your friends. The film is directed by Martin Scorcese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and is similar to the other two films in the sense that it is a character study on the rise and fall of a man. This film is truly one for the ages.

Rating:
Summary: Fabric, Texture, and Nuance of Cinematic Genius
Review: This film is based on a book written by Nicholas Pileggi (Wiseguy) as was Casino based on another of his books (Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas). Both were directed by Scorcese and two of the major characters in both films are portrayed by DeNiro ("Ace" Rothstein and Jimmy Conway) and Joe Pesci (Nicky Santoro and Tommy DeVito). For me, these are the only significant similarities between the two film classics. True, Scorcese effectively employs a number of documentary techniques in both (especially during the first half of Casino) but the setting of GoodFellas is essentially a neighborhood whereas Casino examines the gambling culture of Las Vegas, represented by the Tangiers which is owned by syndicate bosses headquartered elsewhere. Moreover, the character Henry Hill (portrayed as an adult by Ray Liotta) is used as a device by which to explain rites of passage into the local crime world whereas the focal point of Casino is Rothstein as he becomes (in effect) the COO of a major casino and quickly establishes total local control of its operations, then (for various reasons) makes personal decisions which eventually place him and his absentee bosses in harm's way. One of the several reasons I admire Scorcese so much is his talent (indeed genius) for creating so-called "minor" but nonetheless memorable, indeed unforgettable characters. For example, Paul Cicero (portrayed by Paul Sorvino) in this film, a character which may have had some influence on the creation of another character, Tony Soprano. Cicero embodies menace precisely because his personality is so understated. His selective use of a paternalistic posture (reminiscent of Johnny Friendly's, a less-subtle character played by Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront) belies his absolute determination to sustain absolute control over his crime operations. Comparisons and contrasts of this film with Casino are probably inevitable. I think both are classics but for different reasons. The former is anchored in local experience, somewhat "small-time" crime if you will, whereas the latter examines the culture of an entire industry in which the scale and impact of crime are far greater. (The same point could be made about Godfather I and Godfather II, although I much prefer to view them in a chronological sequence.) Even in Casino, however, Scorcese constantly locks in on two or three characters in a specific situation. He is at his best when dramatizing the dynamics of verbal and physical violence in small scale (e.g. Raging Bull and The Gangs of New York). In my opinion, like Tolstoy, Scorcese's vision may be "epic" in certain films but the impact of his art is best measured in quite human terms...scene by scene, juxtaposing statement and response, action and reaction.

Rating:
Summary: More a review of the movie itself than the DVD
Review: I'll just point out right now that I'm going to spend more time reviewing the movie rather than the DVD features. As a DVD, this is really nothing special (it has no commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, or any of the other extras that have come to define what DVD is about), but it's worth owning just for the movie. "Goodfellas" is one of the few films that can be put out with no bonus materials and still be great. The movie alone is enough to warrant 5 stars.

Now that that's out of the way, onto my main point, this is one of the best movies ever made. In the 13 years since this movie came out, few other films have been made that rival the greatness of "Goodfellas". This is one movie that has, and will most likely continue to stand the test of time.

As you've probably heard, the movie is based on a novel ("Wiseguy") by Nicholas Pillegi. It follows the rise and fall of mafia soldier Henry Hill, from his mob beginnings in the 1950s, to his eventual demise in the 1970s. One of the key aspects of this film is that it portrays the mob in a more realistic fashion than a lot of other movies do. Some films depict mobsters as bloodthirsty criminals who live only to kill, but this movie manages to capture something that many others do not ; a mobster's job isn't to kill people, a mobster's job is to make money. The killing that they have become so well known for is just a small part of that. "Goodfellas" doesn't show it's characters as the inhuman killing machines that many crime movies do, instead the characters are shown to be fairly normal individuals. This is where a lot of the appeal lies in this movie. People like to see things shown in a new way, and that's exactly what this movie does. It shows that criminals aren't really all that different from any one else. Henry's wife, Karen, explains much of this in an excellent monologue about half way through the movie.

Some will say that this film glamorizes organized crime by showing all the perks of the criminal life; the money, the clothes, the cars, the respect, etc., but I think that in many ways this movie is actually very anti-crime. While Henry and his criminal cohorts do experience success, they ultimately pay the price for the lives they lived.

As for the cast of this movie, they're absolutely outstanding. Liotta gives one of the best performances of his carreer, and De Niro is excellent as usual. Paul Sorvino and Lorraine Bracco also turn in great work as supporting characters. As for Joe Pesci, he received a well deserved Academy Award for his performance. Watching the movie, you can really see the intensity Pesci provides as Tommy, Henry's maniac friend. Every time I watch this movie, I develop even more appreciation for Pesci's work. The direction is also spectacular. This is the movie that introduced me to Scorsese's work, and he's been my favorite director ever since. It's incredible to see the amount of work that he put into every frame of this movie. The stretch in the restaurant (I think it's the Copa Cabana) is some of the best photography I've ever seen.

This is one movie that is definitely worth owning on DVD. A lot of movies lose their effect the more you watch them, but it's been my experience that the more I watch this movie, the more impressed I am by it. I love it more with every viewing.

Rating:
Summary: only one star for the dvd itself
Review: Whats up with this horrible dvd the box claim enhanced for widescreen tv's but it is not! and the movie is split in two on both sides of the disk! not to mention very bad picture quality. They need to fix this problem.

Rating:
Summary: My personal all-time favorite
Review: This is my favorite movie of all time. I have seen it, literally, about 10 times in the last 9 months. The scenes in this movie are very vivid; they stick with you. It's hard to forget the climactic scenes that show the day Henry Hill is caught selling drugs, for instance.

This movie has been accused by some of glorifying the Mafia life. I think the opposite is the case. Although in the beginning of the movie clearly it looks good to be a gangster, that all changes when Hill is caught with drugs and has his life threatened by his best friends.

I'm having trouble getting across how wonderful I think this movie is. Let me sum up by saying that if you are interested in the Mafia at all, especially in seeing how a blue collar Mob guy lived, you should check out GoodFellas.

Rating:
Summary: This is one of the greatest
Review: Whoever doesn't love this movie has absolutely no taste in movies and they should go back to watching disney movies. This is one of the greatest mob movies of all time and it stands tall next to godfather 1 and 2 in quality and originality. Anyone who gives the film a one star review makes me sick. I agree, it is a pain to get up and flip the DVD in the middle of the movie, and the sound isn't great, but overall just having this spectacular movie in your dvd collection makes up for this error. 5 stars for the movie, and 3 for the DVD, (even though it really should be a 0). It would be a good idea to rerelease this movie on one DVD with special features.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best mob movies ever made
Review: I saw it when I was home alone one night. It my favorite movie besides "Casino". It had great writng and plot. The acting was fantastic. The camra angles were exelent. Very realistic violance. Probalby a movie kids shouldn't see. The best role I have ever seen Robert De Niro in since "The Godfather Part II. A movie to deifinalty buy.

Rating:
Summary: ****1/2 - Brilliant film; definitely among the best
Review: Legendary director Martin Scorsese, teamed with writer Nicholas Pileggi (who also together wrote CASINO), bring you GOODFELLAS, arguably the greatest mob movie since THE GODFATHER PART II. It's an absolute masterpiece, definitely among the best films of all-time. Based on a true story, GOODFELLAS follows the lives of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) as they encounter betrayal, hate, anger, revenge, and love from 1955 to the mid 80's. It's a brilliant film, that is most certainly worth the Best Picture award it was nominated for in 1990. Highly recommended, wether you want to see a great cast, flawless direction or a brutally realistic film.