It’s also testament to Scorsese that he has managed to get a decent acting performance from the usually average Sharon Stone. I would rate this as one of De Niro’s best performances and its shame there isn’t more films where he gets to play against Pesci. He is slightly different to his Goodfellas role, as he is the main protagonist and slowly becomes a man desperate and overwhelmed as his world unfolds around him but De Niro carries this effortlessly. Pesci plays unhinged, unpredictable and terrifying better than anyone.Īlong the same lines, De Niro plays the silent, calculating and equally as unhinged character well too. Nicky is just as unhinged, unpredictable and terrifyingly violent as Goodfellas Tommy ever was and it makes for compelling viewing. To think this is the same guy who tried to steal from Macaulay Culkin is unthinkable. One of the best parts of Casino is that Pesci is playing a very similar character.

Nobody plays dark, unhinged and terrifying like Joe Pesci. Goodfellas is probably one of my favourite films and that is mainly because of Pesci’s great performance as Tommy. It’s very easy to try to make a film where there is lots of double-crossing and “trust no-one” but instead of going down that route, we get a well delivered, gripping story about a man trying to make it in the Vegas gambling industry. The relationship between Robert De Niro’s Sam and Joe Pesci’s Nicky is a journey in itself and one that deteriorates and strains as the film develops. Like Scorsese’s other gangster films, this is a complex, multi-layered story that never baffles or over-complicates. The story builds slowly and gives each character time to develop. Its testament to Scorsese that he can make a compelling film that has a running time of almost three hours but surprisingly, I was engrossed for the whole film. Casino is probably one of De Niro’s best performances. I know this is a generalisation because there is a case to be made for Shutter Island or The Aviator, amongst others, but I rate his films about gangsters and crime above all others and Casino fits firmly in that category too. It seems like Scorsese produces his best films when they centered around gangsters and organised crime. Goodfellas is an incredible movie and The Departed is one of my favourite films. I do rate a lot of Scorsese films though.

I know this is a bold, generalised statement but recently I have been hugely disappointed with Scorsese “classics.” I didn’t enjoy Raging Bull as much as I thought I would and thought Mean Streets was even worst. Taxi Driver is considered one of his most iconic and best films but I failed to find anything amazing about that film either. Martin Scorsese is only good at making one kind of movie… Gangster movies.

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