Casino ( Dir. Martin Scorcese, 1996) Is A Crap Film

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Yeah, I'm not being entirely serious with that point, to be honest. I still don't think Casino's much cop, though.

YOU NEW PAGE MOTHERFUCKER, YOU.

[Sebastian Cobb]

It doesn't help I spose that Goodfellas and to a lesser degree Casino have become the holy grails of bro cinema.

People who dislike things just because idiots happen to like them are posturing idiots.

[thecuriousorange]

In order of quality.

1. Goodfellas
2. Casino
3. The Irishman

Casino is fine if you want Goodfellas 2, which is a perfectly reasonable thing to want

[Sebastian Cobb]

Aye, Scarface is the chief bro film and all of Scorsese's efforts have much more redeeming qualities than that.

[bgmnts]

What the fuck is a bro film and why is Scarface a bro film? Because he shoots a gun and says say hell to ma lil fren?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

What the fuck is a bro film and why is Scarface a bro film? Because he shoots a gun and says say hell to ma lil fren?

Takes loads of cocaine  too  tbf.

[ArtParrott]

Does the fact that he clearly gets blown up in the introduction and is seen engulfed in flames during the opening credits, before escaping said explosion practically unscathed 2 hours later bother anyone? In my mind, its a bit of a dishonest rug pull.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I think it's supposed to be a visual metaphor with him descending into hell, and I accept it on that level

[non capisco]

Also , there's one scene where Joe Le Pesci  is being cross with Robert De Niro in the middle of the desert, which ends with himself saying something like " you motherfucker, you", which, due to that second appended " you" actually sounds quite comical. I think Non Capisco was alluding to it in the second post  on 'ere.

Ha ha, yeah. Always made me laugh as well. "You motherfucking mutt, you!"

[colacentral]

Does the fact that he clearly gets blown up in the introduction and is seen engulfed in flames during the opening credits, before escaping said explosion practically unscathed 2 hours later bother anyone? In my mind, its a bit of a dishonest rug pull.

I almost wrote a post agreeing that it's not very good, but to be honest it's been too long since I saw it to put my finger on why it annoys me so much. The car bomb is one scene that pisses me off though - just seems below Scorsese really.

I think that's what I don't like about it - it's beneath him. Trashy crap, a garish pastiche of Goodfellas. Like Goodfellas directed by Guy Ritchie or Tarantino almost. I like the film best when it's a dry study of how a casino works and how the mob were involved. All the relationship stuff, sex and betrayal and whackings - just seems like forced titillation.

[Rev+]

Inevitably:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Inevitably:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc

You stupid sucker, you!
I like how Joe Le Pesci sounds like ( a clean version of)Tony Cox in this clip, too.

[oy vey]

Someone here suggested Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman make a nice series: Youth -> Middle age -> Old age.

Out of those three, I think I enjoy Casino the most.

Absolutely, the perfect sociopathos trilogy. Goodfellas is no 1 for me but I wouldn't argue against anyone who prefers Casino or The Irishman.

For Casino, let's not forget decent supporting roles by James Woods and Kevin Pollack. Sharon Stone nailed it. None of these movies are supposed to have likeable characters. Fuck that.

[bgmnts]

Exactly. Nobody in Goodfellas is likeable either. Most of them are sociopathic.

[colacentral]

That's not true. You are told the story through Henry's POV - from childhood, made to feel like a grown up, part of a club, thinking he'll make his mother proud, seeing the glitz and glamour, before a late realisation of the mess he's in. The opening scene is essentially saying "how did I get here? Let me show you everything leading up to this so you can maybe empathise." (It's probably a highly selective retelling of history but that's neither here nor there).

Casino doesn't have a character like that. Deniro is just a cunt - really no likeable characteristics whatsoever.

Also, again, the majority of the Sopranos characters are likeable - that doesn't mean they're good people. Ralph beats a woman to death and he's still likeable.

[oy vey]

Empathise and like are different though. I never liked Henry but I was with him the whole way. He was oily, sort of like a people pleaser gangster. He handles the "funny how" situation very well but I don't buy any of his laughter for a minute.

We get POVs for Nicky and Ace in Casino. I like swapping between them. Scorcese is the only one I let away with expository voiceover. I don't know how the fuck he gets away with it but it works.

[Default to the negative]

That's not true. You are told the story through Henry's POV - from childhood, made to feel like a grown up, part of a club, thinking he'll make his mother proud, seeing the glitz and glamour, before a late realisation of the mess he's in. The opening scene is essentially saying "how did I get here? Let me show you everything leading up to this so you can maybe empathise."

Goodfellas opens with Henry saying, 'As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.' He made a choice that many other boys did not. He damns himself at the beginning of his life, and takes the first step onto the slippery slope, just like Ace in Casino.

They're very similiar characters, falling into the same trap.

[Danger Man]

Absolutely, the perfect sociopathos trilogy. Goodfellas is no 1 for me but I wouldn't argue against anyone who prefers Casino or The Irishman.

For Casino, let's not forget decent supporting roles by James Woods and Kevin Pollack. Sharon Stone nailed it. None of these movies are supposed to have likeable characters. Fuck that.

I approve of this message.  James Woods is superb, by the way.

[Keebleman]

Also, again, the majority of the Sopranos characters are likeable - that doesn't mean they're good people. Ralph beats a woman to death and he's still likeable.

Ralph is not likeable.  It didn't take the beating-a-woman-to-death thing to make him so, he was unlikeable anyway in everything he did, whether it was making prank phone calls or visiting a dying man in hospital or whatever.  He was unlikeable right from the moment the viewer realises that David Chase et al had thought, "Hey, we really shouldn't have killed Richie Aprile off, let's bring him back with a different name!"

[colacentral]

ok

[Default to the negative]

I remember reading, somewhere or other, that the whole point of the Ralph/Tracee story was for Chase to address the accusation that he was making the mob into cuddly characters.

[bgmnts]

That's not true. You are told the story through Henry's POV - from childhood, made to feel like a grown up, part of a club, thinking he'll make his mother proud, seeing the glitz and glamour, before a late realisation of the mess he's in. The opening scene is essentially saying "how did I get here? Let me show you everything leading up to this so you can maybe empathise." (It's probably a highly selective retelling of history but that's neither here nor there).

Casino doesn't have a character like that. Deniro is just a cunt - really no likeable characteristics whatsoever.

Also, again, the majority of the Sopranos characters are likeable - that doesn't mean they're good people. Ralph beats a woman to death and he's still likeable.

I dont find anyone in The Sopranos or Goodfellas likeable, maybe The Sopranos because it has much more time to develop the characters. I know they have charisma, thats how sociopaths manipulate and extort people. But I dont find them likeable in the slightest.

Also, at the end, Henrys lament is not "how did I get here?" in terms of regret at his choices and empathy for the people he robbed, its "its all over" because he misses the life. Which isn't very likeable.

[touchingcloth]

What the fuck is a bro film and why is Scarface a bro film? Because he shoots a gun and says say hell to ma lil fren?

Yes.

I hadn't seen any Scorcese films until recently and I was very surprised to learn that the scene in Extras where De Niro is amazed by a pen with a woman which turns naked inside it was based on a bit from Taxi Driver.

[Default to the negative]

Worth noting that the real-life Henry Hill got booted out of the protection programme because he was a recidivist who tried to go back to drug dealing. Later, as a publicly exposed figure, he tried to launch his own brand of pasta sauce.

[oy vey]

He was also on Howard Stern a couple of times. I recall an unplanned pissed up phone in. It was sad really. Probably on youtube somewhere.

[Bence Fekete]

Inevitably:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc

De Niro & Pesci < Bert and Ernie

[Default to the negative]

He was also on Howard Stern a couple of times. I recall an unplanned pissed up phone in. It was sad really. Probably on youtube somewhere.

I remember those interviews. He tried to play the Big Man by bringing a couple of tarts in on his arm. Howard straight-up called him a murderer, and he had no answer.

[drdad]

What the fuck is a bro film and why is Scarface a bro film? Because he shoots a gun and says say hell to ma lil fren?

Then gets shot about a billion times and falls face-first into a swimming pool. Did they miss that bit?

[non capisco]

Inevitably:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc

Big laugh at the change of 'You Jew motherfucker' to the much more offensive 'You Jew money lover'.

[McChesney Duntz]

I was very surprised to learn that the scene in Extras where De Niro is amazed by a pen with a woman which turns naked inside it was based on a bit from Taxi Driver.

It is? What bit would that be?