Spring Cleaning -- Casino

Sometimes it's OK to go back to the well, to recapture (or try to) the glory of past victories. 9 times out of 10 it doesn't work, and you wind up with something like MJ in a Wizards uniform, or M Night Shyamalan's The Village; but occasionally the magic can be rekindled. One example is The White Stripes' The Denial Twist, a great song which is pretty much the same as There's No Home For You Here, both of which are slight variations of Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground . Doesn't mean any of them aren't great songs.

Goodfellas is Martin Scorsese's big gangster picture. Casino is basically Goodfellas: The Remix, and while there's certainly no new ground broken story-wise, it's nevertheless a complete marvel to watch from a cinematography and editing perspective, not to mention the great performances. Sure, Pesci is playing Tommy DeVito Version 2.0, and if one watches carefully one can see hints of what DeNiro would unforgivably morph into in a few years -- but it doesn't matter; Casino is a great picture regardless.

Which is not to say the film is flawless. Far from it. Besides paling in comparison to Goodfellas, Casino lacks the narrative cohesiveness that made the former such a classic. The nifty camera tricks and propulsive plot is there -- as is another great rock soundtrack -- but where Casino falls flat is in its failure to rise above its superior predecessor in almost every way. The sole aspect in which Casino has Goodfellas beat is the fact that Sam "Ace" Rothstein is marginally more likeable than Henry Hill. But that certainly doesn't mean he's more interesting.

Maybe Casino is to Goodfellas as Follow The Leader is to Paid In Full* -- but that's OK; I like Follow The Leader just fine.

Some quick thoughts before I go to bed:

1) How can we, the audience, be expected to believe that DeNiro is 43 years old at the start of the film? Totally implausible. It's not as bad as Tommy and Henry supposedly being the same age in Goodfellas, or Ray Liotta playing Johnny Depp's dad in Blow, but it's close.

2) Was Pesci wearing make-up/prosthetics to alter his appearance? Seriously, he looks as though he had a face-lift. Nobody I've asked supports this theory.

3) Lists are stupid, but watching Casino tonight made me re-evaluate my list of the best Scorsese films. Here's how things now stand:

I) Goodfellas
II) Raging Bull**
III) Taxi Driver
IV) Mean Streets
V) The Aviator



Current "To Watch" List

Seven Samurai
Scarface
Training Day
Once Upon a Time in America
Gangs of New York
Full Metal Jacket
2046

* Not the best analogy, but it's 2 in the morning, so what do you expect? Send me an e-mail if you think you can make a better one.

** Seriously, when is this going to be released in Korea, and why hasn't it been already? A Clockwork Orange I could sort of understand, because there's a penis shot in it, and penises make people kill presidents; but Raging Bull? What's so offensive about it?

What did Raging Bull ever do to you, Korea?