Casino

I generally avoid violent films...which is why I resisted watching "Casino" for a long time. However, despite being very violent in spots, the film turned out to be very compelling....it was far more than just violence and had an interesting look at the mob influence in Las Vegas back in the day.

The film is unusual in that it has two leading men with parallel stories. Sometimes Ace and Nicky (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci) were in scenes together....often they were apart...each doing his own thing. As for Ace, he was a smart man who was in charge of one of Vegas' top casinos. He was tough...but basically honest for a mobster. As for Nicky, as you'd expect with a Joe Pesci character, he's a bit of a nut-job....often out of control and letting anger govern most of his decisions. Unlike Ace who had a veneer of honesty about him, Nicky was a hood...and didn't mind this. Eventually, the pair end up having a downfall. How and what happens to each you'll have to see for yourself.

The parts of this film I enjoyed the most were when you learned about how Vegas operated. Seeing Ace dealing with crooked gamblers was especially interesting. And, in this sense, I enjoyed the film much more than "Goodfellas"...also with the same stars and same director. This is because "Goodfellas" was mostly just about violence and crime...whereas "Casino" seemed to have more story and wasn't always about excessive violence and nastiness...not that the film is in any way a 'nice' picture. It's filled with obscenities, nasty folks and a few scenes of horrific violence. Think about this before you decide whether or not to see the movie.

By the way, this is only a personal choice and doesn't really affect the movie much, but one thing I did not love about the film is the omnipresent pop music....which at times made the film seem like a music video. I think less of this would have been nice.

If you haven't seen Casino yet, stop whatever it is you're doing, rush to the nearest video store, rent it, and watch it. Along with Mean Streets Casino is probably Scorsese's most underrated and unheralded picture. I would also venture to say that this is probably his most ambitious film. The film deals with a particular time period and a particular atmosphere and accomplishes an overwhelming achievement by creating and accurately portraying both. The art direction is splendid, most likely the best of any film Scorsese has ever done. The acting is superb. I never thought Pesci would be able to top his dynamic performance in Raging Bull until I saw Casino. Every time I watch this picture I fall in love with it all over again. This is the most honest depiction of Las Vegas, especially of the time period it was portrayed in. Scorsese's direction is flawless. Perhaps it is because I watch alot of Scorsese and Kubrick films, but I am becoming less satisfied with plot driven films and more enamored by films that possess the freedom that typical stories just don't seem to hold. Sharon Stone gives the best performance of her career, and as far as the editing is concerned, well if you believe like Kubrick and Pudovkin that a film is not shot, but built who better to have on your team than long time cohort, collaborator, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Ultimately, the genius of Scorsese is not just in the mastery of the medium, but in the understanding and appreciation for the necessity of great collaborators on all levels that Scorsese has consistently utilized throughout his career. Casino exemplifies not only the best of a Scorsese film, but transcends it. This film is truly a gem.

While re-watching "Casino" just now I kept thinking of Spielberg's words re: Kubrick. "Just try to stop watching one of Stanley's movies when you've already started," he said. "It's impossible".

Perhaps, with Kubrick's passing, Scorsese became the greatest filmmaker on the planet. "Casino" is just an unbridled jolt of cinema, a three hour movie that feels like an hour and a half, a breakneck pace that still allows for rare depth in its performances and characterisations. It's the best performance Sharon Stone ever put in; after the ridiculous "Basic Instinct" and "Sliver", they could have written her off if not for this. Her character's arc is tremendous.

More than anything, "Casino" is a showcase of what Pauline Kael called "film sense", that implacable quality that all great directors have. Like Spielberg and Kubrick, Scorsese has a gift for knowing exactly what shot should follow which, is an absolute master of camera movements, angles, framing such that the movie streaks across the screen like fast-moving water over rocks, never once stalling or slowing down.

It's brilliant, but it's not up with the director's greatest work like "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", or "Hugo", which is a truly underrated masterpiece. It's a notch below, but when Scorsese is a notch below his best, he's still streets ahead of everybody else.

Casino is by far my favourite film. I enjoyed good fellas, thought Raging Bull was great and enjoyed Taxi driver but this is a cut above the rest imo

I have seen this film to many times to count and i am yet to become even remotely sick of it. The acting is flawless, story flows at a great pace for the full all but 3 hours, great narration and a great soundtrack

Pesci and De Niro play their parts so well as does Stone. When watching this film I started to wonder what PEsci is really like in real life. Is he a crazed man like he so often plays? After seeing Casino you are likely to wonder, he is that good

I also think the characters in Casino are far more believable then those in good fellas.

Must see for any gangster film fan

I have to admit my bias, because I believe that Scorcese cannot do wrong - ever. Even his lesser-known or critically panned films are above the "great film" line, and Casino is certainly no exception.

Casino spans three decades and chronicles the true story of a faction of the mob who ran Las Vegas casinos. Robert DeNiro plays Ace Rothstein, a fantastic bookie who is chosen to run the Tangiers hotel and casino. Along the way, he marries a drug-addicted con-artist trophy wife (Sharon Stone) and struggles with his friendship with loose-cannon Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci). Rothstein is a complicated figure in that he is not a heavy, yet he wields a lot of power due to the respect he has gained from his mob bosses back home.

Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci are both fantastic in their roles, and Sharon Stone actually turned out a non-irritating performance. As the viewer, you can't stand her, but that is the point. Scorcese's normal supporting cast are also involved in this film, including his great mother - even though she usually has incredibly minimal roles, they are always memorable.

Scorcese seems to have several different directing styles, and Casino follows in the tradition of Goodfellas as a pseudo-documentary. A lot of the exposition is revealed by the characters themselves in the form of voice-overs, and several scenes are filmed in documentarian fashion. The entire production however, is sleek and very quick. The use of music bears mentioning as well: Most Martin Scorcese films have an amazing soundtrack that adds to and enhances the scene. Being a child of the MTV age, I'm a sucker for good uses of music in films and Scorcese is a master. Scorcese doesn't just utilize the soundtrack, he makes it part of the storytelling - by the music, we chronologically know what time period we are witnessing, since one cannot rely on other factors, such as fashion alone. One of my favorite scenes in film which effectively involves music is actually from Casino - the very intense scene when the relationship between DeNiro, Stone and Pesci come to a head in the climax of the film. The pounding music cut throughout this scene is a cover of "Satisfaction" by Devo and the result is absolutely brilliant.

Being a complete film geek, I generally don't go to films that feature certain stars, I go to films by certain directors and Scorcese is one of them. While this was probably the tenth time I'd seen this film there were more things I noticed, and I'm sure I'll notice more upon my eleventh viewing. The man is a complete genius, and a gift to film - my suggestion is to watch some of his films, then check out his unbelievable series, "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorcese Through American Movies" which was done the same year as Casino. The series is essentially a primer on the history of film, sectioned off by film genres. You not only will experience his amazing intellect and massive knowledge of film history, but his incredible humility as well.

--Shelly