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Casino | Year: 1995 Classification: Drama Directed: - Martin Scorsese Actors/Actresses: - Robert De Niro - Joe Pesci - Kevin Pollak - Don Rickles - Sharon Stone - James Woods Goodfellas meets Las Vegas, another great Deniro role Another great Scorcese Picture. Deniro is back as Sam Rothstein, the man who runs the Tangiers Hotel and Casino, and the mobs operation of skimming the money. His backup is Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro nuch like Tommy( his role from Goddefellas), he is a ruthless s.o.b. who will take anybody out. In this film he stabs a man with a pen, shoots a woman in her own kitchen and puts a guy's head in a vice grip. Also in the film is Sharon Stone as Ginger, Sam's wife who betrays him. This movie is about a different Las Vegas, the one the mob ran. But in the end, what goes up must come down. The glitz, glamour, and great cast which also includes James Woods, Frank Vincent, Alan King,and more add up to one thing..... a great film. One of my favorites A Mildly Successful Reteaming of Scorsese and DeNiro! Filled with all of Scorsese's trademarks and marks the 8th pairing of Scorsese and DeNiro. The most prolific actor-director team since John Ford and John Wayne. But unfortunately 'Casino' is one of their lesser efforts. Among it's shortcoming is it's epic length, it's just a little too ambitious. Scorsese tries to cover a lot of ground with little plot structure and flimsy supporting characters. The first third of the film plays life a fascinating inside documentary on the Las Vegas moneymaking machine. It starts out well enough, fast paced and with long camera sequences that reminded me of 'Goodfellas'. That is one of the film's other big problems, almost all of the characters seem recycled from 'Goodfellas' at least Pesci and DeNiro are the same. Their verbal riffs are equally intense and memorable but unfortunately we've seen this done more than once in better films, AKA 'Raging Bull' and 'Goodfellas'. Sharon Stone on the other hand delivers a mesmerizing performance as a beautiful call girl that catches DeNiro's eye and then marries him. This is when the film bogs down a bit, all that subplot about Stone's addiction and her relationship with a manipulative pimp is really bothersome. James Woods creates a very unsympathetic character, one of the most unlikable characters ever to grace the screen, and that's not a good thing. He's a weasely, sleazy and manipulative pimp who has some kind of hold over Stone's character that is never really explained. But still, Sharon Stone's performance was astonishing and got her a much-deserved Oscar Nomination, her first and only nomination. Pesci basically repeats the performance that won him and Oscar in 1990 with 'Goodfellas', he's the same hot-headed trigger-happy menace. DeNiro does his best but unfortunately his character has little to work with. Also appearing in supporting roles are Don Rickles (!) and Kevin Pollack. Filled with all of Scorsese's trademarks; an excellent 60's soundtrack, excellent use of slow-motion and voice-over, instantaneous mad bursts of violence and impressive use of cinematography and editing. Some violent scenes are a bit too graphic and definitely not for the squeamish. For example, the scenes where Pesci is torturing an Irish thug and almost squishes his head, and the unforgettably gruesome death of Pesci and his brother when they are both almost beaten to death with bats and then buried alive. Not a bad movie, in fact it remains a very good one, but one can't help but expect more from Scorsese who has proven himself to be one of the best and most original filmmakers in the last quarter of a century. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 7! Crippled American Version This is a great movie that deserves a better dvd treatment. The layout and features are extremely vanilla. Not since Dracula have I see such a vhs content type dvd. Maybe in the future it will get a proper treatment in a boxset but in its current condition this release shouldn't be purchased to accompany any collection. Also its important to note that this is not the uncut version. So far the only uncut version of this classic to make it to dvd is the Australian release. Buy Casino at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Casino Search with the Priority Search Engine on Casino This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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