← Back to Reviews
in
Casino
Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, a mob-connected casino operator in Las Vegas, attempts a civilized lifestyle with his money-conditional wife, Ginger. Nicky Santoro, a boyhood friend of Ace and now a Made-Man of the Mafia, arrives in town with an ambitious agenda of his own that soon disrupts Ace's life. Before long, Ginger and her long-time leeching lover Lester, along with Nicky's mistakes, causing problems
Before I start this review, I know that a bunch of you are worrying about the runtime (1 minute short of 3 hours.) I must say that there wasn’t a boring second in it. All of the scenes were entertaining and powerful, you won’t need your fast forward button.
With that said and done, I really loved the acting in this. As you all probably know, Sharon Stone received her first Oscar nomination for the role of Ginger, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you came up to me and said that Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci each received Oscars for their performances. They worked very well together when they fought, which makes me think about what the behind the scenes were like. Even the famous insult comic Don Rickels, who half the time sits there and looks cool, he does it well. I’m not saying Oscar-well but well enough. Finally, there was James Woods playing the crack addicted ex-boyfriend of Ginger, he does respectable, all making for a great ensemble cast.
This is my favorite Martin Scorsese movie, and with a career like his, that is saying something. I loved the voiceovers were done very well. I especially loved how it cut off when once character dies while giving a voice over, nice touch. Another thing I liked about the directing was when a character would say a place and we would have a flashback; the subtitles would tell you exactly where you were from what the character said. For instance one time Nicky says “back home a long time ago” then the flashback comes and the subtitle will literally tell you “back home a long time ago.” Martin especially cut and moved the camera very well, the cuts were put together in a logical sense and there were some very memorable camera shots. Job well done.
The script from Nicholas Pileggi (who wrote the book this movie is based on) with some help from Martin Scorsese was also well done. I loved the way they wrote in the things that Nicky did to avoid the cops, which with some research really made sense. I also liked that it was written in a casual manner. There was an insane amount of “f” words, but you barely notice them. That is how well the non-“f” words were written.
Finally the cinematography from Robert Richardson was very good. Without sounding too childish, The lights in the casino were very pretty and the desert looked very good. All very well shot.
Rating: Scorsese doesn’t get better than this.
Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, a mob-connected casino operator in Las Vegas, attempts a civilized lifestyle with his money-conditional wife, Ginger. Nicky Santoro, a boyhood friend of Ace and now a Made-Man of the Mafia, arrives in town with an ambitious agenda of his own that soon disrupts Ace's life. Before long, Ginger and her long-time leeching lover Lester, along with Nicky's mistakes, causing problems
Before I start this review, I know that a bunch of you are worrying about the runtime (1 minute short of 3 hours.) I must say that there wasn’t a boring second in it. All of the scenes were entertaining and powerful, you won’t need your fast forward button.
With that said and done, I really loved the acting in this. As you all probably know, Sharon Stone received her first Oscar nomination for the role of Ginger, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you came up to me and said that Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci each received Oscars for their performances. They worked very well together when they fought, which makes me think about what the behind the scenes were like. Even the famous insult comic Don Rickels, who half the time sits there and looks cool, he does it well. I’m not saying Oscar-well but well enough. Finally, there was James Woods playing the crack addicted ex-boyfriend of Ginger, he does respectable, all making for a great ensemble cast.
This is my favorite Martin Scorsese movie, and with a career like his, that is saying something. I loved the voiceovers were done very well. I especially loved how it cut off when once character dies while giving a voice over, nice touch. Another thing I liked about the directing was when a character would say a place and we would have a flashback; the subtitles would tell you exactly where you were from what the character said. For instance one time Nicky says “back home a long time ago” then the flashback comes and the subtitle will literally tell you “back home a long time ago.” Martin especially cut and moved the camera very well, the cuts were put together in a logical sense and there were some very memorable camera shots. Job well done.
The script from Nicholas Pileggi (who wrote the book this movie is based on) with some help from Martin Scorsese was also well done. I loved the way they wrote in the things that Nicky did to avoid the cops, which with some research really made sense. I also liked that it was written in a casual manner. There was an insane amount of “f” words, but you barely notice them. That is how well the non-“f” words were written.
Finally the cinematography from Robert Richardson was very good. Without sounding too childish, The lights in the casino were very pretty and the desert looked very good. All very well shot.
Rating: Scorsese doesn’t get better than this.