Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modelled on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast-paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and Good Fellas) but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
I loved it!!.......2008-03-02
Casino was another helping of the finest acting. all of the characters were excellect, De Niro again didnt fail in empressing me. The story line was awsome, full of quirky lines and little surprises along the way (a little violence of course). although i dont think this film was as good as goodfellas i was still very impressed over all.
Casino.......2008-02-02
Having not seen 'Goodfellas' to compare this to (at the point when I watched this film) I was thoroughly impressed with 'Casino'. A great deal of it is shot with De Niro doing a voice-over, telling the story as he went, which I really liked. The way a casino was run and how it all relates back to mob control was fascinating to see and the various tricks the customers and casino owners use are pretty inventive. Some parts of this film are quite graphic, as to be expected from Scorcese, but the story overall is gripping and kept me engaged the whole time. This is a great gangster type movie and brilliantly directed and acted. Well worth a viewing.
Scorses scores jackpot.......2007-11-23
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.
Intrinsically Sexy., .......2007-10-10
Plot:
Casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) are the mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their fortunes. They come into conflict with Ace falls for a pushy showgirl, Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky falls into a cycle of drugs and violence.
My Review:
This is one of those films where If you like to know where you are with a brilliant director, Casino is the movie for you. I had heard of this movie yet, unaware that the one and only Scorsese directed it. I noticed that it wasn't on the top 250, so I intended to pursue why that was. Thought that list can be a cake with a few missing layers, so to speak. There are many films not on that list and deserve some recognition. Placing The Age Of Innocence and another classic like Cape Fear to one side for a brief moment, we have a well-made and classic film with director Martin Scorsese, who loves to work, on what he seems to do best and with the same cast as before.
Casino being co-written with the same screenwriter of GoodFellas, Nicholas Pileggi, and with usual bandits, in the shape and form of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Here Scorsese, felt more comfortable with 'sticking' with what he knows, in this case the same cast. I think he wanted to explore different roles and types of personalities that this lot of actors hadn't pursued, e.g. Sharon Stone. Starting off with a most interesting depiction of what seems to be the end of the film and then pushing you towards how it all started. Similar to that of Goodfellas. It has a different look and feel of Scorseses' previous work. Many have speculated and judged that this is of similar tone and less rock-strewn of Goodfellas, minus Ray Liotta and plus Sharon Stone. The film is completely different and so are the characters the two that Scorsese worked with previously on Goodfellas.
In this film, we are given the balmy reassurance of the presence of many of GoodFellas' character actors, greyish facade and a twitchingly trigger-fingered. Its bad to take it into account and exploiting the fact that just because two of the cast are in a different film (Goodfellas) and working with the same director, it will of similar stature and class.
For the beginning we are given in the first 15 minutes, our tough man Joe Pesci brutally stamping on a mans head in a bar, we are given a pre-existing relationship between De Niro and Pesci that evolves throughout the film. Their mannerisms and personalities seem to coincide with their counterparts in Goodfellas. However, the films' tone takes that to a completely different direction. After seeming to beat the man within an inch of his life and the screaming obscenities, a bewildered Robert De Niro looks on with that great quizzical expression of his.
Some say GoodFellas Part II? Well I prefer to think of it as the Mob With Money. It takes a completely different path to that of Goodfellas. It shows more the gradual decline of an empire through the cause of the characters having choices and the affected outcome. Martin Scorsese insisted this isn't a mob film, and you clearly see this point. He prefers to show us how the choices these characters make seem to alter the direction, and concordantly the personalities of the portrayed. The film tells the chapter and slightly inflated - true story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a luminous Mid-West gambler recruited by the wise-guys to run their casino in Vegas, which he does with ruthless efficiency and aptitude.
It all begins to overheat when his old friend Nicky Santoro (Pesci in incredible psychotic role) comes to the town and starts throwing his weight, more round his belly, approximately at more or less the same time as Ace makes the one big and eventually reckless gamble of his life: persuading the sex-bomb and gorgeous hustler Ginger McKenna (Stone) to marry him. Her younger physique and personality made me see why a character like Ace (De Niro) becomes devote in her. The headstrong duo just adds too many possibilities into the comfort set-up zone, and the slowly easy moneymaking machine starts to degrade. Then the baseball bats come out plus Joe Pesci.
This is one of De Niro's finest hours, and certainly since the classic GoodFellas and maybe since the legendary The King Of Comedy. Being on screen for nearly the whole three-hour running time/ 2 hours 50 minutes, he is alarmingly logical about his life at first, then begins to slowly descend into panic, frustration and violence as things go wrong. His part is perfectly played from start to the final finishing point, as indeed do the entire cast. Sharon Stone is a revelation; she has a lot more talent then what we are given to see in her later roles. The hands of a good director work well with a mature cast, especially if he has an exact idea of what to expect. Pesci is his usual mesmerising self.
The violence isn't fast and painless; it's actually full on painful. I don't mind violence if involves Joe Pesci and use of a vice, and if Scorsese isn't making huge strides in terms of his film-making glossary. This piece is a very powerful, disturbing and absolutely fascinating assessment of a specific time and place, and how natures' of the deals we do and whom with. Just whom can you trust?
Verdict:
To some It may not be Scorsese's greatest work, feeling its just a very, very good richer copy of the mob movie Goodfellas, but comparing. Goodfellas seems to be the Strawberry Ghetto; Casino is Cheesecake. Different toppings, same basic foundation. 9/10
Great but flawed.......2006-10-06
If Scorcese hadn't already done 'Goodfellas' this would probably be a 5 star film, but Goodfellas came first and this second. Still its a dam good movie but flawed. At 178 minutes its way too long and whilst I like the over-dubbed narration that Scorcese uses in some films, there's too much in this one, especially at the start.
OK enough gripes, Joe Pesci is terrifying again, DeNiro is excellent and best of all Sharon Stone gives a fabulous performance and was deservedly nominated for best actress in the 1996 Academy awards. Naturally this being a Scorcese picture there are some classic moments, and some of them are extremely unpleasant.
If you haven't seen Goodfellas you'll probably love this. If you have then you'll see that it is the work of a master filmmaker, but its not quite up to the same standard as his earlier masterpiece.
Customer Reviews:
Is it just me..........2007-08-05
...or is this the darkest black comedy ever made? I just find Casino so amusing and funny that I hardly even notice the grim violence and harrowing drama. I also think that Casino is far, far superior to the over-rated Goodfellas. Even though it's longer, it passes in a breeze. Casino is just so colorful, multi-layered and intricate despite it's apparent simplicity. The film has three different characters narrating the story but none of it feels like exposition and it's never over-bearing.
Adapted from a true story, the film focuses on the fictional Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The boss is Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, his wife, volatile hustler Ginger and his psychotic 'friend' Nicky Santoro. All they needed to do was to keep the cash-flow at the Casino steady to satisfy the bosses back home. But it was just never meant to be. And everything implodes at the end.
Casino is filled with dozens of sub-plots, tangent stories and brilliant side-characters. James Woods is especially funny as a lowlife con-man who can't even win a fight with a ten-year-old girl. Vinny Vella also amuses as long-suffering Artie Piscano. But it's Sharon Stone who walks away with the movie. Despite starring opposite loads of well-established male lead actors she owns Casino. She was absolutely robbed at the Academy Awards when they gave the Oscar to Susan Sarandon. Stone delivered a performance so authentic that it's truly unfair the amount of criticism she gets for her other, less-important films.
The violence will satisfy gore fans. In this lovely film we have a dope with his head in a vice (after getting icepicks in his balls), a truly brutal beating with baseball bats, some moron getting a pen shoved into his neck and a cheater getting his hand mashed by a hammer. Don't let this put you off, that was the old Vegas. Nowadays you just get told not to come back.
I know most people will call it sacrilege to condemn Goodfellas but Casino is just the better film of the two, plain and simple. Better lighting, far more impressive cinematography and more entertaining characters. It just has so much going for it that Goodfellas did not.
The 1080p HD DVD is absolutely stunning and is surely reference quality stuff. The Dolby Digital+ sound is also amazing and there are plenty of extras. A total must-have.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modelled on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast-paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and Good Fellas) but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
I loved it!!.......2008-03-02
Casino was another helping of the finest acting. all of the characters were excellect, De Niro again didnt fail in empressing me. The story line was awsome, full of quirky lines and little surprises along the way (a little violence of course). although i dont think this film was as good as goodfellas i was still very impressed over all.
Casino.......2008-02-02
Having not seen 'Goodfellas' to compare this to (at the point when I watched this film) I was thoroughly impressed with 'Casino'. A great deal of it is shot with De Niro doing a voice-over, telling the story as he went, which I really liked. The way a casino was run and how it all relates back to mob control was fascinating to see and the various tricks the customers and casino owners use are pretty inventive. Some parts of this film are quite graphic, as to be expected from Scorcese, but the story overall is gripping and kept me engaged the whole time. This is a great gangster type movie and brilliantly directed and acted. Well worth a viewing.
Scorses scores jackpot.......2007-11-23
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.
Intrinsically Sexy., .......2007-10-10
Plot:
Casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) are the mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their fortunes. They come into conflict with Ace falls for a pushy showgirl, Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky falls into a cycle of drugs and violence.
My Review:
This is one of those films where If you like to know where you are with a brilliant director, Casino is the movie for you. I had heard of this movie yet, unaware that the one and only Scorsese directed it. I noticed that it wasn't on the top 250, so I intended to pursue why that was. Thought that list can be a cake with a few missing layers, so to speak. There are many films not on that list and deserve some recognition. Placing The Age Of Innocence and another classic like Cape Fear to one side for a brief moment, we have a well-made and classic film with director Martin Scorsese, who loves to work, on what he seems to do best and with the same cast as before.
Casino being co-written with the same screenwriter of GoodFellas, Nicholas Pileggi, and with usual bandits, in the shape and form of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Here Scorsese, felt more comfortable with 'sticking' with what he knows, in this case the same cast. I think he wanted to explore different roles and types of personalities that this lot of actors hadn't pursued, e.g. Sharon Stone. Starting off with a most interesting depiction of what seems to be the end of the film and then pushing you towards how it all started. Similar to that of Goodfellas. It has a different look and feel of Scorseses' previous work. Many have speculated and judged that this is of similar tone and less rock-strewn of Goodfellas, minus Ray Liotta and plus Sharon Stone. The film is completely different and so are the characters the two that Scorsese worked with previously on Goodfellas.
In this film, we are given the balmy reassurance of the presence of many of GoodFellas' character actors, greyish facade and a twitchingly trigger-fingered. Its bad to take it into account and exploiting the fact that just because two of the cast are in a different film (Goodfellas) and working with the same director, it will of similar stature and class.
For the beginning we are given in the first 15 minutes, our tough man Joe Pesci brutally stamping on a mans head in a bar, we are given a pre-existing relationship between De Niro and Pesci that evolves throughout the film. Their mannerisms and personalities seem to coincide with their counterparts in Goodfellas. However, the films' tone takes that to a completely different direction. After seeming to beat the man within an inch of his life and the screaming obscenities, a bewildered Robert De Niro looks on with that great quizzical expression of his.
Some say GoodFellas Part II? Well I prefer to think of it as the Mob With Money. It takes a completely different path to that of Goodfellas. It shows more the gradual decline of an empire through the cause of the characters having choices and the affected outcome. Martin Scorsese insisted this isn't a mob film, and you clearly see this point. He prefers to show us how the choices these characters make seem to alter the direction, and concordantly the personalities of the portrayed. The film tells the chapter and slightly inflated - true story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a luminous Mid-West gambler recruited by the wise-guys to run their casino in Vegas, which he does with ruthless efficiency and aptitude.
It all begins to overheat when his old friend Nicky Santoro (Pesci in incredible psychotic role) comes to the town and starts throwing his weight, more round his belly, approximately at more or less the same time as Ace makes the one big and eventually reckless gamble of his life: persuading the sex-bomb and gorgeous hustler Ginger McKenna (Stone) to marry him. Her younger physique and personality made me see why a character like Ace (De Niro) becomes devote in her. The headstrong duo just adds too many possibilities into the comfort set-up zone, and the slowly easy moneymaking machine starts to degrade. Then the baseball bats come out plus Joe Pesci.
This is one of De Niro's finest hours, and certainly since the classic GoodFellas and maybe since the legendary The King Of Comedy. Being on screen for nearly the whole three-hour running time/ 2 hours 50 minutes, he is alarmingly logical about his life at first, then begins to slowly descend into panic, frustration and violence as things go wrong. His part is perfectly played from start to the final finishing point, as indeed do the entire cast. Sharon Stone is a revelation; she has a lot more talent then what we are given to see in her later roles. The hands of a good director work well with a mature cast, especially if he has an exact idea of what to expect. Pesci is his usual mesmerising self.
The violence isn't fast and painless; it's actually full on painful. I don't mind violence if involves Joe Pesci and use of a vice, and if Scorsese isn't making huge strides in terms of his film-making glossary. This piece is a very powerful, disturbing and absolutely fascinating assessment of a specific time and place, and how natures' of the deals we do and whom with. Just whom can you trust?
Verdict:
To some It may not be Scorsese's greatest work, feeling its just a very, very good richer copy of the mob movie Goodfellas, but comparing. Goodfellas seems to be the Strawberry Ghetto; Casino is Cheesecake. Different toppings, same basic foundation. 9/10
Who cares if this is better or not than Goodfellas - Its great anyway.......2007-09-12
Martin Scorcese is without doubt a genius. I can't believe this man could produce a film such as this along with Goodfellas and to a lesser extent The Departed. De Niro is brilliant, Pesci fantastic even if his behaviour is deplorable and Sharon Stone is magnificent in this film feast. Gorge yourselves my friends as at 171 minutes there is plenty to go around. Just stunning.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modelled on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast-paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and Good Fellas) but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
I loved it!!.......2008-03-02
Casino was another helping of the finest acting. all of the characters were excellect, De Niro again didnt fail in empressing me. The story line was awsome, full of quirky lines and little surprises along the way (a little violence of course). although i dont think this film was as good as goodfellas i was still very impressed over all.
Casino.......2008-02-02
Having not seen 'Goodfellas' to compare this to (at the point when I watched this film) I was thoroughly impressed with 'Casino'. A great deal of it is shot with De Niro doing a voice-over, telling the story as he went, which I really liked. The way a casino was run and how it all relates back to mob control was fascinating to see and the various tricks the customers and casino owners use are pretty inventive. Some parts of this film are quite graphic, as to be expected from Scorcese, but the story overall is gripping and kept me engaged the whole time. This is a great gangster type movie and brilliantly directed and acted. Well worth a viewing.
Scorses scores jackpot.......2007-11-23
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.
Intrinsically Sexy., .......2007-10-10
Plot:
Casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) are the mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their fortunes. They come into conflict with Ace falls for a pushy showgirl, Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky falls into a cycle of drugs and violence.
My Review:
This is one of those films where If you like to know where you are with a brilliant director, Casino is the movie for you. I had heard of this movie yet, unaware that the one and only Scorsese directed it. I noticed that it wasn't on the top 250, so I intended to pursue why that was. Thought that list can be a cake with a few missing layers, so to speak. There are many films not on that list and deserve some recognition. Placing The Age Of Innocence and another classic like Cape Fear to one side for a brief moment, we have a well-made and classic film with director Martin Scorsese, who loves to work, on what he seems to do best and with the same cast as before.
Casino being co-written with the same screenwriter of GoodFellas, Nicholas Pileggi, and with usual bandits, in the shape and form of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Here Scorsese, felt more comfortable with 'sticking' with what he knows, in this case the same cast. I think he wanted to explore different roles and types of personalities that this lot of actors hadn't pursued, e.g. Sharon Stone. Starting off with a most interesting depiction of what seems to be the end of the film and then pushing you towards how it all started. Similar to that of Goodfellas. It has a different look and feel of Scorseses' previous work. Many have speculated and judged that this is of similar tone and less rock-strewn of Goodfellas, minus Ray Liotta and plus Sharon Stone. The film is completely different and so are the characters the two that Scorsese worked with previously on Goodfellas.
In this film, we are given the balmy reassurance of the presence of many of GoodFellas' character actors, greyish facade and a twitchingly trigger-fingered. Its bad to take it into account and exploiting the fact that just because two of the cast are in a different film (Goodfellas) and working with the same director, it will of similar stature and class.
For the beginning we are given in the first 15 minutes, our tough man Joe Pesci brutally stamping on a mans head in a bar, we are given a pre-existing relationship between De Niro and Pesci that evolves throughout the film. Their mannerisms and personalities seem to coincide with their counterparts in Goodfellas. However, the films' tone takes that to a completely different direction. After seeming to beat the man within an inch of his life and the screaming obscenities, a bewildered Robert De Niro looks on with that great quizzical expression of his.
Some say GoodFellas Part II? Well I prefer to think of it as the Mob With Money. It takes a completely different path to that of Goodfellas. It shows more the gradual decline of an empire through the cause of the characters having choices and the affected outcome. Martin Scorsese insisted this isn't a mob film, and you clearly see this point. He prefers to show us how the choices these characters make seem to alter the direction, and concordantly the personalities of the portrayed. The film tells the chapter and slightly inflated - true story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a luminous Mid-West gambler recruited by the wise-guys to run their casino in Vegas, which he does with ruthless efficiency and aptitude.
It all begins to overheat when his old friend Nicky Santoro (Pesci in incredible psychotic role) comes to the town and starts throwing his weight, more round his belly, approximately at more or less the same time as Ace makes the one big and eventually reckless gamble of his life: persuading the sex-bomb and gorgeous hustler Ginger McKenna (Stone) to marry him. Her younger physique and personality made me see why a character like Ace (De Niro) becomes devote in her. The headstrong duo just adds too many possibilities into the comfort set-up zone, and the slowly easy moneymaking machine starts to degrade. Then the baseball bats come out plus Joe Pesci.
This is one of De Niro's finest hours, and certainly since the classic GoodFellas and maybe since the legendary The King Of Comedy. Being on screen for nearly the whole three-hour running time/ 2 hours 50 minutes, he is alarmingly logical about his life at first, then begins to slowly descend into panic, frustration and violence as things go wrong. His part is perfectly played from start to the final finishing point, as indeed do the entire cast. Sharon Stone is a revelation; she has a lot more talent then what we are given to see in her later roles. The hands of a good director work well with a mature cast, especially if he has an exact idea of what to expect. Pesci is his usual mesmerising self.
The violence isn't fast and painless; it's actually full on painful. I don't mind violence if involves Joe Pesci and use of a vice, and if Scorsese isn't making huge strides in terms of his film-making glossary. This piece is a very powerful, disturbing and absolutely fascinating assessment of a specific time and place, and how natures' of the deals we do and whom with. Just whom can you trust?
Verdict:
To some It may not be Scorsese's greatest work, feeling its just a very, very good richer copy of the mob movie Goodfellas, but comparing. Goodfellas seems to be the Strawberry Ghetto; Casino is Cheesecake. Different toppings, same basic foundation. 9/10
Great but flawed.......2006-10-06
If Scorcese hadn't already done 'Goodfellas' this would probably be a 5 star film, but Goodfellas came first and this second. Still its a dam good movie but flawed. At 178 minutes its way too long and whilst I like the over-dubbed narration that Scorcese uses in some films, there's too much in this one, especially at the start.
OK enough gripes, Joe Pesci is terrifying again, DeNiro is excellent and best of all Sharon Stone gives a fabulous performance and was deservedly nominated for best actress in the 1996 Academy awards. Naturally this being a Scorcese picture there are some classic moments, and some of them are extremely unpleasant.
If you haven't seen Goodfellas you'll probably love this. If you have then you'll see that it is the work of a master filmmaker, but its not quite up to the same standard as his earlier masterpiece.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Deer Hunter is an expansive portrait of friendship in a Pennsylvania steel town, and of the effects of the Vietnam War. Led by the trio of Robert De Niro, John Savage and Christopher Walken (who won a supporting actor Oscar), the first hour is dominated by an engrossing Russian Orthodox wedding and reception. When the drama moves overseas it switches from anthropologically realistic documentation of a community's rituals to highly controversial and still shocking Russian Roulette scenes, symbolising the random horror of war. Unforgettable as they are, the Vietnam sequences occupy less than a third of the three-hour running time; defying movie convention The Deer Hunter is fundamentally a before-and-after ensemble character study anchored by De Niro's great performance.
Although it was the first serious Hollywood feature to address the Vietnam War, the plausibility of some of the later plot developments raises awkward questions. But the film remains powerfully effective, its deliberate pace, naturalistic overlapping dialogue and unflinching seriousness marking it very much a product of the 1970s. With nine Oscar nominations and five wins, including Best Picture and Director, it's a cinematic landmark that stands the test time, almost incidentally setting Meryl Streep on the road to superstardom in her first leading role.
On the DVD: The Deer Hunter: Special Edition has the film on the first disc with a serious yet amiable Region 2 exclusive discussion track between director Michael Cimino and critic SX Finnie. The picture is anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1, and perfectly reproduces Vilmos Zsigmond's deliberately desaturated, necessarily grainy cinematography. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack clearly reveals the mono original, being largely focused on the centre speaker and while it does a good job, some of the choral music does sound harsh. Dialogue is sometimes indecipherable, but that's due to the naturalistic nature of the original sound recording and mixing.
Disc 2 offers excellent new interviews with Jon Savage (15 mins), Vilmos Zsigmond (15 mins) and Michael Cimino (23 mins). Also included is the original trailer (anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1), a routine photo gallery and a DVD version of the original press brochure. There's no trace of the 40 minutes of deleted material referred to by Cimino, but this presentation is still an object lesson in how quality of extras triumphs over quantity. --Gary S Dalkin
Customer Reviews:
AUDIO DESCRIPTION INCORRECT.......2007-11-17
I have just bought this dvd on the strength of the description on Amazon which is normally very reliable. I was replacing my stereo vhs which I could have transferred to dvd but wanted the improvement of 5.1 audio, hence I bought this particular edition. The Audio is actually STEREO AND NOT 5.1 so unless the 1st reviewer got his versions mixed up the description is wrong.
NOTE TO AMAZON A HUGELY BENIFICIAL IMPROVEMENT TO YOUR SITE WOULD BE TO DISPLAY THE REVERSE OF THE DVD AS WELL AS THE FRONT SO THE DVD SPECIFICATION WOULD BE UNAMBIGOUS.
Beautifully shot, brilliantly directed masterpiece.......2006-12-08
I know THE DEER HUNTER (1978) has been critcised for it's infamous Russian Roulette scene, but this isn't a political movie. The film is far more interested in the lives of the characters, before they went to the Vietnam war, during the war and when they return home.
Undoubtedly my favourite scene in the movie is the wedding party. It's is long, but it really makes you want to join in and it shows the depth of the characters. The cinematography is beautiful and the performances are all excellent. The mournful guitar theme, which plays out during the opening titles will stay with me forever.
It's just a crying shame that the man who directed this Oscar-winning masterpiece, Michael Cimino, has never repeated the same success throughout his career (his next film was the infamous turkey HEAVEN'S GATE [1980]), but THE DEER HUNTER will be remembered as one of the finest films of the 1970's and will also remind us all that Hollywood truly did made some brilliant movies (no Bruckheimer-explosions, no bland CGI and no show-off media celebrities).
EMOTIONAL FILM' CLASSIC..........2006-09-22
One of several 1978 films dealing with the Vietnam War (including Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home), Michael Cimino's epic second feature The Deer Hunter was both renowned for its tough portrayal of the war's effect on American working class steel workers and notorious for its ahistorical use of Russian roulette in the Vietnam sequences. Structured in five sections contrasting home and war, the film opens in Clairton, PA, as Mike (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Stan (John Cazale, in his last film) celebrate the wedding of their friend Steve (John Savage) and go on a final deer hunt before the men leave for Vietnam. Mike treats hunting as a test of skill, lecturing Stan about the value of "one shot" deer slaying and brushing off Nick's urgings to appreciate nature's beauty. As Mike ruminates post-hunt, the film cuts to the horror of Vietnam, where the men are captured by Vietcong soldiers who force Mike and Nick to play Russian roulette for the V.C.'s amusement. Mike turns the game to his advantage so they can escape captivity, but the men are permanently scarred by the episode. Steve loses his legs; Nick vanishes in the Saigon Russian roulette parlors. Mike returns alone to Clairton a changed man, as he rejects the killing of the deer hunt and finds solace with Nick's old girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep) Disgusted by the antics of his male cohorts at home, Mike decides to bring Steve back from a veterans' hospital, and he returns to Saigon to find Nick. As Saigon falls, Mike discovers how far gone Nick is; the survivors gather in Clairton for a funeral breakfast, singing an impromptu rendition of "God Bless America." ~
A flawed, sprawling classic.......2006-08-22
My first viewing of what I've often considered my favourite ever film for several years...and it was all a bit disappointing. The Deer Hunter has some incredibly powerful and moving scenes though it's far too drawn out and left me feeling difficult to relate to or even feel that much sympathy to the main characters.
For those who don't know, it's about three friends from a small-town blue-collar community who go to the Vietnam war and return totally scarred in different ways. The film is more about their friendship and community than the war itself though the infamous Russian roulette scenes from the latter were hugely controversial in their unrelenting ruthless depiction of the Viet Cong.
The Deer Hunter has some truly brilliant moments but is far too long - especially the opening pre-war wedding celebration scenes. A sprawling, flawed classic which maybe I've seen too many times.
the greatest advert for peace you will ever see.......2006-05-28
I walked into a pub and started watching this film just before the scene where the vietcong started playing Russian Roulette with the American soldiers.That was twenty years ago and I doubt I will ever forget that scene which made me feel like I was really there and one of those Americans myself.Since then I have viewed the whole film.If you wanted to make a film that would convince people war is a bad thing then you couldn't make one better than this.In my opinion the most memorable moment in the history of cinema is in the Deer Hunter, as an American soldier,back home in the USA,on a hunting trip,has a deer in the sights of his gun and discovers how devastating the war has been for him.The Deer Hunter will teach you everything you need to know about the impact of war on the lives of ordinary people.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modelled on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast-paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and Good Fellas) but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modelled on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the glitzy call girl who becomes Rothstein's wife. The film is not as fast-paced or gripping as Scorsese's earlier gangster pictures (Mean Streets and Good Fellas) but it's still absorbing. And, hey--it's Scorsese! --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
I loved it!!.......2008-03-02
Casino was another helping of the finest acting. all of the characters were excellect, De Niro again didnt fail in empressing me. The story line was awsome, full of quirky lines and little surprises along the way (a little violence of course). although i dont think this film was as good as goodfellas i was still very impressed over all.
Casino.......2008-02-02
Having not seen 'Goodfellas' to compare this to (at the point when I watched this film) I was thoroughly impressed with 'Casino'. A great deal of it is shot with De Niro doing a voice-over, telling the story as he went, which I really liked. The way a casino was run and how it all relates back to mob control was fascinating to see and the various tricks the customers and casino owners use are pretty inventive. Some parts of this film are quite graphic, as to be expected from Scorcese, but the story overall is gripping and kept me engaged the whole time. This is a great gangster type movie and brilliantly directed and acted. Well worth a viewing.
Scorses scores jackpot.......2007-11-23
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.
Intrinsically Sexy., .......2007-10-10
Plot:
Casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) are the mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their fortunes. They come into conflict with Ace falls for a pushy showgirl, Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky falls into a cycle of drugs and violence.
My Review:
This is one of those films where If you like to know where you are with a brilliant director, Casino is the movie for you. I had heard of this movie yet, unaware that the one and only Scorsese directed it. I noticed that it wasn't on the top 250, so I intended to pursue why that was. Thought that list can be a cake with a few missing layers, so to speak. There are many films not on that list and deserve some recognition. Placing The Age Of Innocence and another classic like Cape Fear to one side for a brief moment, we have a well-made and classic film with director Martin Scorsese, who loves to work, on what he seems to do best and with the same cast as before.
Casino being co-written with the same screenwriter of GoodFellas, Nicholas Pileggi, and with usual bandits, in the shape and form of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Here Scorsese, felt more comfortable with 'sticking' with what he knows, in this case the same cast. I think he wanted to explore different roles and types of personalities that this lot of actors hadn't pursued, e.g. Sharon Stone. Starting off with a most interesting depiction of what seems to be the end of the film and then pushing you towards how it all started. Similar to that of Goodfellas. It has a different look and feel of Scorseses' previous work. Many have speculated and judged that this is of similar tone and less rock-strewn of Goodfellas, minus Ray Liotta and plus Sharon Stone. The film is completely different and so are the characters the two that Scorsese worked with previously on Goodfellas.
In this film, we are given the balmy reassurance of the presence of many of GoodFellas' character actors, greyish facade and a twitchingly trigger-fingered. Its bad to take it into account and exploiting the fact that just because two of the cast are in a different film (Goodfellas) and working with the same director, it will of similar stature and class.
For the beginning we are given in the first 15 minutes, our tough man Joe Pesci brutally stamping on a mans head in a bar, we are given a pre-existing relationship between De Niro and Pesci that evolves throughout the film. Their mannerisms and personalities seem to coincide with their counterparts in Goodfellas. However, the films' tone takes that to a completely different direction. After seeming to beat the man within an inch of his life and the screaming obscenities, a bewildered Robert De Niro looks on with that great quizzical expression of his.
Some say GoodFellas Part II? Well I prefer to think of it as the Mob With Money. It takes a completely different path to that of Goodfellas. It shows more the gradual decline of an empire through the cause of the characters having choices and the affected outcome. Martin Scorsese insisted this isn't a mob film, and you clearly see this point. He prefers to show us how the choices these characters make seem to alter the direction, and concordantly the personalities of the portrayed. The film tells the chapter and slightly inflated - true story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a luminous Mid-West gambler recruited by the wise-guys to run their casino in Vegas, which he does with ruthless efficiency and aptitude.
It all begins to overheat when his old friend Nicky Santoro (Pesci in incredible psychotic role) comes to the town and starts throwing his weight, more round his belly, approximately at more or less the same time as Ace makes the one big and eventually reckless gamble of his life: persuading the sex-bomb and gorgeous hustler Ginger McKenna (Stone) to marry him. Her younger physique and personality made me see why a character like Ace (De Niro) becomes devote in her. The headstrong duo just adds too many possibilities into the comfort set-up zone, and the slowly easy moneymaking machine starts to degrade. Then the baseball bats come out plus Joe Pesci.
This is one of De Niro's finest hours, and certainly since the classic GoodFellas and maybe since the legendary The King Of Comedy. Being on screen for nearly the whole three-hour running time/ 2 hours 50 minutes, he is alarmingly logical about his life at first, then begins to slowly descend into panic, frustration and violence as things go wrong. His part is perfectly played from start to the final finishing point, as indeed do the entire cast. Sharon Stone is a revelation; she has a lot more talent then what we are given to see in her later roles. The hands of a good director work well with a mature cast, especially if he has an exact idea of what to expect. Pesci is his usual mesmerising self.
The violence isn't fast and painless; it's actually full on painful. I don't mind violence if involves Joe Pesci and use of a vice, and if Scorsese isn't making huge strides in terms of his film-making glossary. This piece is a very powerful, disturbing and absolutely fascinating assessment of a specific time and place, and how natures' of the deals we do and whom with. Just whom can you trust?
Verdict:
To some It may not be Scorsese's greatest work, feeling its just a very, very good richer copy of the mob movie Goodfellas, but comparing. Goodfellas seems to be the Strawberry Ghetto; Casino is Cheesecake. Different toppings, same basic foundation. 9/10
Who cares if this is better or not than Goodfellas - Its great anyway.......2007-09-12
Martin Scorcese is without doubt a genius. I can't believe this man could produce a film such as this along with Goodfellas and to a lesser extent The Departed. De Niro is brilliant, Pesci fantastic even if his behaviour is deplorable and Sharon Stone is magnificent in this film feast. Gorge yourselves my friends as at 171 minutes there is plenty to go around. Just stunning.
UK DVD:
- Cast Away (2 Disc Set) [2001]
- Charmed - Series 1
- Charmed - Series 3
- Charmed - Series 5
- Crossroads [1986] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 3 - Part 1 [2001]
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 3 - Part 2 [2001]
- Dallas - Season 7
- Dallas: The Complete Season 1 and 2 (5 Disc Box Set) [1978]
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Limited Edition Sleeve and Free Bookmark (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [2007]
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