Movie Review: GoodFellas

     So I decided to elaborate on some of the stuff I said about the movies that influenced me, but instead I'm gonna do some more in depth reviews of the movies that I love... and seeing that yesterday was my film-making hero, Martin Scorsese's 72nd birthday I figured there was no better place to start than with my favorite movie ever.

(P.S. I apologize for the gushing fandom you are about to read.)

(PP.S. If you have yet to see GoodFellas what are you even doing... go watch it now.)

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster" - Ray Liotta as Henry Hill.

     From the first time the audience see's Jimmy, Tommy and Henry "pull over and see" what's going on in the trunk they're hooked, and it doesn't stop there. Soon after comes Ray Liotta's now famous opening lines "As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster" and the first (of many) freeze frames, not only that but a movie soundtrack that very well may be the greatest ever kicks in and never seems to stop or falter. This story is not only the best rise and fall story I have seen, it's also a cultural experience that gulps you down without chewing and refuses to spit you back up until the credits finally roll. And boy, by the time those credits roll you don't feel like you watched a movie, you feel like you lived a life that took you to the top and then right back to the bottom of organized crime. 

The second Henry Hill reappears it's clear that he has loads of charisma.

     From the second "Stardust" kicks in and you see Henry Hill leaning against the car you can tell that he is one of the coolest cats in the cinematic universe. And the movie just gets funner and funner the whole way through... That is until a certain someone shows up and decides to break some balls...

...but we won't get to that quite yet.

     This movie, while very polarizing got universal acclaim and a large part of that is the way Marty and co. manaaged to make these vicious mobsters accesible. How did he do it you ask, he took advantage of their humour. Marty grew up with mobsters and he managed to show how a normal kid could get sucked into this life and he made sure they were entertaining the whole way through. It's that factor that makes rewatching GoodFellas feel like you're visiting old friends rather than watching a movie you've already seen.

Very few things are funnier than Henry running his restaurant into the ground.

     There are few better examples of how funny these wiseguys can be then the restaurant sequence, It is packed with humour and features many of the movies key moments, all while also teaching you about the mobster world... and all that is in just one of many entertaining sequences that keep you glued to the screen the whole way through this exuberant example of the cinematic greatness that is Marty Scorsese.

This ridiculously deep cast makes every second of this movie exciting to watch.

    I've gotten through like 80% of the screenshots I have for GoodFellas and I haven't even mentioned the cast yet. This cast ran so deep and was so brilliant that The Sopranos used it to pick one of the best television casts we've ever seen. Everyone remembers the star trio but this cast goes so much deeper. People seem to forget how truly great Paul Sorvino was as probably the best blue collar mob boss in movie history, and they seem to overlook the fact that Lorraine Bracco may have submitted the best performance by an actress that year. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, even the bit roles feature great actors like Tony Sirico and Frank Vincent. The star trio, is however remembered for a reason. "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut" uttered the top billed Robert De Niro, who plays one of most infamous mobsters in New York history with a calculated coolness that could only come from the great Bobby D. In fact Bobby D. is so cool that he even seems cool when stomping someone's head or just simply smoking a cigarette... and while De Niro manages to submit a truly excellent turn as Jimmy Conway, his performance has become overlooked over the years thanks in no small part by the career best turns from both Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. In my opinion the stand out of the cast is Ray Liotta, who was robbed of an Oscar that year (he didn't even land a nomination). Ray manages to do it all as Henry Hill, from being cool and charismatic, to being vulnerable and/or even crazy at times... It's all this that made Liotta's portrayal of Henry Hill one of the best mafioso's in movie history. But while my favorite characters in the flick are portrayed by Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta it's Joe Pesci that everyone remembers to this day. His amazing turn as the small but scary Tommy DeVito was so good that it managed to get him typecast for the rest of his life, not only that but Pesci even took home the best supporting actor Oscar that year.

     All these words and I still haven't gotten to talk about the fact that GoodFellas features some of the best and possibly the most unique cinematography ever. It changes with the mood and even sets it at other times, and provides you with one of the funnest visual experiences you can find. With exquisite steadi-cam shots and a bevy of beautiful shots throughout it's nearly impossible to look away for even a second of this two and a half hour movie. And then there's one sequence that is even more unique than anything else I've seen, The hectic day is something that his never been replicated (except in Casino of course) and that may be for good reason as it seems like it would be extremely hard to replicate.

And it was all down hill from there...

     All of this and I still feel like I missed quite a bit... but I hope it's now easy to see why GoodFellas is, in  my opinion, the most enthralling experience in cinematic existence... and that why it's one of the very few movies I would rate a...

10                                                             

/10