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Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem

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GoodFellas

GoodFellas

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Stop breakin' my fukin' balls"
Review: This movie was one and maybe the best mob movie the great Martin Scorsese has ever made. The acting was awesome. Pesci, De Niro and Liotta were at their best. The whole movie was GREAT!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scorsese's Best
Review: Although it's accepted as being in the same genre as The Godfather, Goodfellas is quite different in many respects. Despite the fact that both movies romantically glamorize the Italian Mafia, the Godfather presents a portrayal of the Mafia that represents an institution guided by ancient tradition and virtues like loyalty, honor, and solidarity. Even though there are elements of that in Goodfellas, Scorsese adds his own perspective that seems to present a new generation of Italian gangsters who are not quite as nostalgic about those old traditions. What they are very nostalgic about is getting richer and richer, and attaining those riches by any means necessary.

Based on a true story told in best-seller book, Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi (who co-wrote the screenplay for the film), this movie shows the darker side of La Cosa Nostra. The book, as well as the film, chronicled thirty years in the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Irish-Italian criminal from New York. Smitten with the wealth, influence and privileges of the men connected with Mafia, Henry is seduced by their lifestyle as thirteen year-old boy. Along the way, Henry meets Tommy (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), and soon the three of them become best friends and associates; stock-piling enormous wealth from their criminal schemes that would climax with one of the most spectacular robberies in American history.

One of the many things that make this movie work is the cast itself. Full of great acting talents, these are memorable performances from everyone; especially DeNiro, Pesci, Liotta, Paul Sorvino (who plays Paulie Cicero), and even Lorraine Bracco (plays Henry's wife Karen). Their performances were so convincing that it was difficult to not see them as if they were really the characters portrayed in Goodfellas. In addition, I loved the character narration in the movie, which helps to bring the viewer a more in-depth and personal insight into each of the main characters.

Overall, this highly influential movie broke new ground, raised the bar for this genre, and set the standard for many movies afterward. The story, the acting, the great dialog, the directing and attractive story-telling are several of the reasons that it remains one of my personal all-time favorites. Arguably Scorsese's best film, Goodfellas is one to add to your personal collection.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Speedfellas!
Review: 'Goodfellas' is Scorsese's rather twisted version of the American Dream. A dream where those who can achieve do achieve. In that sense there is nothing morally ambiguous about this film. This is the way the rest of the world sees the American way of life, in all its aggressive aquisition, flamboyant decadence and sense of personal invincabiity.

Scorsese has done his best to try and make us feel sympathy for his main characters, but unfortunately I reserved most of my sympathy for the characters who get 'whacked' after only a few minutes screen time. Joe Pesci's fate seemed to have been a relief to all and sundry, the mob, the police, the general public and overstressed barmen.

The soundtrack of the film plays a large and important role helping the movie to move along at a cracking pace. The slow operatic vision of the Godfather it ain't. 'Goodfellas' seems like a gangster movie for the MTV generation. Sense of style is all important. Sometimes this works extremely well as towards the end of the movie when Henry is on drugs and thinks that the FBI is following him. The frenetic movement of the camera and the fast talking voiceover creates an energetic intensity that's difficult to take your eyes off.

In the end though I think that much of 'Goodfellas' dynamic is artifically created by the accelerated pace at which the story is told, cramming each scene with as much info as possible. Great style but check out Scorsese's 'Mean Streets' for greater substance.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Scumbags
Review: Who cares about any of these people? They could all die and it wouldn't make a difference to me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Really good movie, but I hope a new DVD comes out.
Review: This movie pars with Mean Streets as the best gangster movie of all time. GoodFellas is more detailed while Mean Streets is more simplistic. The movie is basically the life of Henry Hill, a gangster who was in the mafia from 1955 to 1980. The movie shows you how gang life changed over the course of 2 and a half hours. At first, no one got killed unless it was absolutly necessary. Then, killings became a habit. Robert DeNiro is perfect as a nervous wreck of a man, and Joe Pesci is always crazy, but in this movie, he perfects the Italian stereotype. Ray Liotta is also exceptionally good, and the movie flows very nicely. THe music is AWESOME. Check out the part where DeNiro's in a bar smoking and Cream comes on. Best movie music ever. Anyway, this movie is really good, has really good violence, and has no epic feel despite the length. Highly reccomended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEFORE the Sopranos
Review: This film just knocked my socks off. No question about it. Just awesome. Again, I am troubled by so much violence, but that is the mob life, right? At least in this movie, violence plays a necessary part.

Pesci was just an unbelievable force in this film--do you think if he HADN'T become an actor, he would have been a hit man??? :-) Another stand out performance is Michael Imperioli--who goes on to play Christopher Moltisanti in the Sopranos--is terrific as Spider, the waiter who gets shot in the foot by Pesci's character. I think this may well be Ray Liotta's finest hour as well as Lorraine Bracco's.

No matter what, this film will leave an impression on you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Wait for SE
Review: We all know how great this movie is...yada...yada...yada. Its one of scorsese's best, if not the best. But this DVD is awful, the picture is not up to par, it seems a little better than VCR levels, there are errors on the print, just not good. No commentary; outakes; deleted scenes..nada! and the kicker is that its a TWO-SIDED DVD! you have to flip it over to continue the movie! who ever heard of that? this came out in the DVD early days and was rushed to the market. A new SE with commentary is on its way out, so for those of you who can, i highly recommend waiting for the new version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Goodfellas: the second best gangster film in history.
Review: With Robert de Niro starring as Jimmy ''the Gent'' Conway, this film has a perfect cast, it is also brutally funny with ... conversation, this film is not for the light hearted.
It is not as boring as ''The Godfather'' films and I'd have to give it maximun marks, its great!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "You think I'm funny?"
Review: Martin Scorsese is a director with a gift. He knows he has a great story to tell, and he tells it, in vivid and violent details. De Niro was great as a semi-calm gangster (calm compared to some of his other roles, for example, Max Cady from "Cape Fear" or Paul Viti from "Analyze This"). An even more important character to the film is Joe Pesci's psychopathic gangster. He is a perfect example of what happens when a madman has power. Ray Liota gave a great performance to Henry Hill. What I really liked about this movie was that it was unflinching honesty about the mafia. While "Godfather" was a classic, it glamorized the mafia, instead of showing the disturbing, violent consequences of the mafia. "Goodfellas" shows the mafia at its ups and downs. There are moments when you get that class-Italian feeling, and other moments that make you want to scream in horror. The acting was exceptional (but Liota's wife in this movie annoyed me a bit), the camera angles were good, and the honesty to the story was the best part. An original mob movie directed by a brilliant director. The DVD features are not especially good, but I read they're going to re-release this on a better DVD sometime soon. Scorsese has been robbed of the Oscars WAY too many times. This movie, however, is not for everybody.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome Movie!
Review: This is one of those movies you can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. The storyline is awesome and although its kind of cliche, its the simplicity that makes the movie worth while!


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