Scorsese's "Casino" - Critical Reappraisal?

Just watched this on netflix. I haven't seen it since in the theaters in 1995.

I enjoyed it but I think I liked it about the same as I did 20+ years ago: A fun movie, but overlong and way too much emphasis on Sharon Stone's character.

Wikipedia has this quote to finish their synopsis:

"The film's critical profile has increased in recent years, with several critics expressing that, in retrospect, they feel it to be a more accomplished and artistically mature work than the thematically similar Goodfellas."

I certainly wouldn't go that far!

 

Interesting, at the time I didn't like it and thought it was really inferior to GF, now I think it's great and now in my top 5 Scorsese films

 

Not as strong as Goodfellas, but still engaging and fun. I loved it on release and still watch it around once a year.

 

I find Casino much stronger than Goodfellas, which I don't care for.

In the same genre, The Departed has them both beat IMO.

 

Loved it then, loved it now. I remember a lot of the criticism at the time suggesting that he'd just made the same movie as Goodfellas, but also remember his reaction, saying he didn't understand what the big deal was, that John Ford had done it and nobody complained (which I thought was a good point).

In terms of Goodfellas vs. Casino, I give the slight edge to Goodfellas, but am not sure it's for any other reason than it came out first.

 

Fuggetaboutit!

 

Love both, but it's Goodfellas for me mostly because Ray Liotta was better as the central character than DiNiro was in Casino. James Woods stole the show in Casino though.

 

It never needed a re-appraisal from me; I loved it from the first time I saw it, always thought it held more than it's own against Goodfellas, and the criticism from some that it was merely the latter in Vegas doesn't hold water when the film itself is so faithfully close to what actually happened in real-life, for the most part.

Terrific film overall; dazzling cinematography (although DP Robert Richardson used Super 35 for the first time to shoot it and was gutted when he saw the final prints), great performances all round, and a killer soundtrack... one of Scorsese's best films, certainly one of his most underrated.

I would... and agree wholeheartedly with that assessment... but then I've always been an unapologetic Casino fanboy... I really do believe it's THAT good.

 

I like Goodfellas and The Departed a lot more. I think it's good, although I agree that it's a bit too long. And I would have liked more Don Rickles.

 

I haven't watched Casino in years. I liked it, but De Niro does chew a bit of scenery, and his habit of repeating lines ("Can I trust you? Can I trust you? Can I trust you?" etc) annoys the bejesus outta me but those are minor quibbles. Sure, stylistically it is maybe a little too similar to Goodfellas but it also has a bit of depth to it that Goodfellas lacks IMO. I remember my wife hated Goodfellas when we watched it but somehow I get the feeling she'd actually like Casino. Should we ever find ourselves with the three hours to actually sit down and watch the thing (the kids would definitely have to be in bed though), I should find out...

 

Thought it was very poor. Goodfellas one of the greatest films I have ever seen, this one is a pale shadow of that using very similar direction and narrative structure. Also, the violence got a bit too gratuitous.

 

My sediments exactly!

 

I really like both Goodfellas and Casino and agree that Casino was underrated. I do like Goodfellas a lot more though; It’s one of my top five favorite films, whereas Casino doesn’t really rank. Casino is a really good movie IMO, with its biggest flaw being that it was too similar to Goodfellas, but even if you view them both in a vacuum, I think Goodfellas is still the better film. I think it does pretty much everything better, except for cinematography.

 

Casino has some nice moments but is too derivative of other better movies and I'm sorry but Sharon Stone's ridiculously over the top performance really trashes the movie for me. She really needed to be reeled in and I'm not sure why Scorsese chose to let her cut loose like that. I found her performance embarrassing. I wished they'd used Rickles more too...

 

Too much overacting, especially by Sharon Stone.

 

casino is mid-tier Scorsese. not in same league as goodfellas, mean streets, taxi driver.....it sits aside alice doesn't live here anymore and afterhours....not bad company

 

James Woods really knows how to play a scumbag.

 

An Oscar-worthy performance -love her in this movie.

 

He is always a fun actor to watch, and his characters are often creeps (Videodrome, Once Upon A Time In America).

 

I've got time for any movie with Joe Bob Briggs! Perfect casting!

 

I thought it was great. If it had been released before instead of after Goodfellas, I wonder if the initial reactions would have been different.

Joe Pesci was especially good. I love him in Goodfellas, obviously, but his character is a little less clownish in Casino.

 

Way too long, but not on account of Stone's character. Ginger was a brilliant, messed-up hustler, and Stone more than did her character justice. I could have lived with a lot less of Ace's back-and-forth with the various Nevada boards and commissions. That's what really dragged the picture down for me.

That said, like many others, I like Casino more now than I did then; the worst I can say is that it was a letdown after GoodFellas.

P.S. Has there ever been another movie that cast three comedians in dramatic roles as Casino did with Don Rickles, Alan King and Tom Smothers? Scorsese has turned to Ellen Lewis for casting again and again, so clearly he loves her work.

 

Love it, proud to own it.

 

Hmmm....maybe "Dreamgirls" with Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Jaleel White?

 

Actually I own it too. Got it on Blu-ray for about $2 (in a box set). Haven't re-watched yet though. I did think Sharon Stone was good.