Casino is Better Than Goodfellas

Madness

Sharon Stone is the best thing in CASINO.

In no other way is it even comparable to GOODFELLAS, OP.

But to each his own.

No. No it is not.

The only thing I love about Casino is Sharon Stone

[QUOTE] Sharon Stone is the best thing in CASINO.

I do love her in it. But I think the best thing in Casino is the dynamic between Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. I like them better in this movie.

My favorite Scorsese films are the ones that have nothing to do with the Mafia.

OP is the whore in 2R.

[QUOTE] My favorite Scorsese films are the ones that have nothing to do with the Mafia.

Well name them, R6.

I love them. It’s like choosing between your kids

I don’t understand why people still call Casino a knockoff. There are some similarities but to me they feel like two completely different films.

Casino is good, but it’s no Goodfellas. Not many movies are.

Casino is amazing. The fashion, the decor, the music. It really seems to really capture that time in Vegas history. I love it.

It's no Goodfellas.

Everyone should read the book (Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi). Most of the voice over stuff is from the book verbatim! All Scorcese had to do was license some pop music and hire people to read from the (superb) book. He gets credit for the one take camera shot that no one has shut up about ever since.

Of course Dances With Wolves won best picture that year too, what a riot.

Of course I'm talking about Goodfellas, like everyone else in this thread about Casino.

I lived it. My sister was Sharon Stone. My brother-in-law the Mafia dude.

The problem with Casino is, it came second.

What do you mean, R15? You’re related to Geri McGee?

Totally disagree. Goodfellas is paced better with more iconic scenes.

What’s wrong with Casino’s pacing?

I just felt like it's too long and could have been trimmed. I think Goodfellas is better paced and a more involving story. To each their own though.

I'm ambivalent about Goodfellas -- but I love Casino.

Sharon Stone's performance is so over the top that every scene shes's in completely takes me out of the film. Regardless, Goodfellas will always be the better film.

I think Bringing out the Dead is Scorsese's second best 90s movie, after Goodfellas. I would Casino behind it (I'm sure many would disagree with me).

Sharon walks away with the film. The scene where she first meets De Niro is movie gold, he should have known right then what he was getting into.

"Goodfellas" is a masterpiece.

"Casino" is engaging but a lesser work, rather derivative and less-well paced.

Get the fuck outta here ya fuckin' Bozo.

I think "Casino" is derivative too. And Stone is OK, that's all. "Goodellas" is a bonfire, start to finish.

Casino is the better film. The setting is Vegas and it delivers on every level.

That ending with the baseball bats.

Casino was 3 hours long, 1 hour too long. It was not a complicated story and could have been told in 2 hours. Goodfellas was tighter and better.

Ace / Robert DeNiro was not a compelling enough character. The character was an unsatisfying mixture of simp and Mafioso. The James Woods character was more interesting.

Joe Pesci's face lift was too fresh and screamed: "Face Lift!!!"

Sharon Stone was excellent. However, 2nd half of movie, horrible wigs (Carol Brady) & wardrobe.

I thought Casino was way over-hyped and over-praised, while Goodfellas gets better and better.

Hottie Ray Liotta does it for me. Love his laugh in Goodfellas. It’s his real laugh apparently. I’d suck him off.

Hottie Ray Liotta does it for me. Love his laugh in Goodfellas. It’s his real laugh apparently. I’d suck him off.

Casino has the scene where Joe Pesci digs his own grave & it disturbed me greatly!

I always wondered why Scorsese changed the names of the characters in both films. Both stories were already out there, the names of the players were well known.

OP = Obvious Troll. F&F

Just kill yourself if you're not going to get a life, OP.

Casino is based on a book as well. It's not as compelling as Wiseguy, but it's still worth a read. The real Ace Rothstein was a much colder and more ruthless character than how DeNiro played him. He was also abusive to his wife. She had really good reasons for wanting to get the fuck away from him. That said, she was a hustler and a drug addict who treated the daughter she had with Ace like shit (at least that made it into the film).

In that promotional image, the female looks like Genie Francis, the old soap actress from General Hospital’s Luke and Laura storyline a long, long time ago.

You couldn't pay me to see either one of them. Straight stupid macho guys brutalizing each other and their women. Yeah, right. What I live for.

The first hour of Casino is a talky documentary. Then it kicks in. Reminds me somewhat of The Irishman. Way too much introduction before the real story starts.

That was the best role I ever saw Sharon Stone in. I thought after that she would get a lot more better roles. Didn't happen. P

CASINO is 25 years old. Amazing

Casino is timeless, R42.

Casino is good but goes on and on. I prefer Scarface.

Casino is a straight man’s mafia movie for gay guys. Luxurious settings, money, glitzy jewels, furs & gowns, a histrionic female (probably like our own mothers) and set in Vegas. Sharon Stone is a true diva in that role. The movie is great all around too.

Is that why I love it so much? Cause I’m a big homo?

[QUOTE] Casino is good but goes on and on.

That’s part of why I like it so much, R44. If it was shorter, it wouldn’t have been as complete. I would’ve been left wanting more. I’m grateful that Scorsese stuck to his guns and kept it long.

JFK, Jr. wanted Martin Scorsese to pose for the cover of George Magazine.

Scorsese said he would if JFK, Jr. would attend a private screening of "Casino" prior to its release.

JFK, Jr. agreed and took a group of George employees to the screening, only according to a work colleague's book, JFK, Jr. fell asleep ten minutes into the movie and snored throughout it.

Casino is good, mostly for Stone's performance, but I agree it is an hour too long. It's also too much like Goodfellas, which was so much more original.

All Scorsese films are worth watching, even the flops.

I can't quote a single line from "Casino," while more than several from "Goodfellas" are as memorable as if I heard them yesterday.

When on TV I always watch Goodfellas, Godfather and Godfather II. Casino, no. It's not a bad movie just not as compelling.

Goodfellas I can watch yearly. Casino once was enough. James Woods makes my skin crawl even before I knew he was terrible.

Sharon Stone was the last of the great female movie stars. No, she's not a thespian like St. Meryl or Cate the Great, but she's a movie star in that she knows her strengths as a performer in front of the camera, and delivers with the right role.

DeNiro and Pesci were already veteran actors in the gangster genre, and Stone stole the film completely away from both. She's the only compelling character in the film, and she rightly was the only actor nominated for an Oscar.

Casino had a great supporting cast. But it was nothing like Goodfellas. And Deniro could slide more easily into the gangster role.

Oddly enough, he did another role as a talk show host just recently.

[QUOTE] I can't quote a single line from "Casino," while more than several from "Goodfellas" are as memorable as if I heard them yesterday.

R50 there are myriad great movies that I can’t quote a line from. That doesn’t make them any less great.

Btw, I can quote lines from Casino all day.

“From now on I want an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin.”

“Listen, I got your head in a vice. I’m gonna squash your head like a fuckin grapefruit if you don’t give me a name.”

“You beat him with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And if you beat him with a gun, you better kill him because he'll keep comin back until one of you is dead.”

“This guy could fuck up a cup of coffee.” 😂 I use that in real life all the time.

[QUOTE] James Woods makes my skin crawl even before I knew he was terrible.

Yes, James Woods is repulsive as Lester Diamond but that proves how perfect he was for the role. The man was a lowlife scab pimp who would do anything for a buck except get a job: you weren’t supposed to be in love with him.

R55, R56: Each if us was invited to participate in this lighthearted thread and to opine on personal preference. You chose to discredit mine, so I say to you:

"Go home and get your fucking shine box!"

Sharon’s wardrobe alone should put Casino ahead for any gay man.

Casino is overlong and not nearly as involving as Goodfellas. Goodfellas is Hollywood filmmaking at its best.

“I know this guy 35 years, I’m gonna fuckin wack him for you?!!”

“That black book’s a joke. They got two names in there and one of them’s still Al Capone.”

“You get out of line over there again and I’ll smash your fuckin head so hard, you won’t be able to get that cowboy hat on.”

Casino was most definitely a quality film. I may have to reach both to decide. I really love The Departed too, but that may have been the stellar cast and good film deprivation.

Slightly off topic, but...

The same year Goodfellas opened, Nicholas Pileggi's wife, Nora Ephron had a film come out that was also based on the life of Henry Hill, albeit his time in witness protection: My Blue Heaven starring Steve Martin and Rick Moranis. In a weird way, it’s a de facto sequel.

"Make that coffee to go!" Translated: "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Joe Pesci to Frankie Carbone after they murder the careless truck driver in his bedroom.

It's the relentless narration in Casino that bothers me. Ray Liotta's voiceover comments in Goodfellas are black comedy: he's only offering you helpful information about what you are seeing. De Niro's voiceovers are totally in character, too, but it's the character's nature to be over-controlling, to interpret everything before you do. It's tiring.

Enough arguing which is better . What scene stays with you the most from the movies?

Hard call for me: 1. Liotta’s inner voice in coffee shop with DeNiro at end: “When your enemies come to kill you they come with smiles.” (This applies to boring non gangster life)

Runner up: Pesci and Liotta eating at Pesci’s mother house after Pesci murders grey haired man. Pesci looks at velvet painting his mom had done of two dogs, each looking a different way.

“Hey, I like that painting. How one dog is lookin one way and the other the other way.”

Fun fact: I have a family photo resembling this dog photo but with people

I like DeNiro, but some of his characters' mannerisms are too noticeable. Since R66 brought up the Goodfellas' scene at Pesci's mom's house, I'll say DeNiro was doing too much with that ketchup bottle.

Casino is exciting because of Stone. It feels different because of that energy (from a woman, but also the character being so livewire).

GoodFellas is the superior film (it's tighter, better edited, more story impact), but if Scorsese had never made GoodFellas, Casino would be considered so much more accomplished. It really does capture the era and gives Stone that platform to show off her skills that she never had again.

I always thought it was interesting how many comic actors there were in Casino: Rickles, Pollak, Dick Smothers, etc. And yet the funniest person in the movie is Scorsese's mother.

Yes, Mrs. Scorsese is a fine actress.

She also ran the Chicago front, uh, shop, in Casino.

I could not get through Casino. All the screaming & smashing of things by Sharon Stone was just too noisy.

I met Charles & Catherine Scorsese twice & they were exactly the same in real life in the films.

James Wood was perfectly cast as the pimp Lester Diamond.

Agreed.

There’s something distractingly 80s about Goodfellas.

Casino is timeless.

Yes, even though they’re only a few years apart (and set in a surprisingly close time period), Casino feels much more modern.