MovieChat Forums > Casino (1995) Discussion > Funniest Review

Funniest Review

posted 9 years ago by maturity
9 replies | jump to latest

Someone on Amazon or IMDb said Casino is probably the only movie that a blind person could understand completely just by listening because in every scene the narrators and sound effects tell you what's happening. Scorses abuses voice-over narration and constant pop music to create moods and emotion. It gets redundant and annoying. It's a cheap trick. His soundtracks have more value than his movies, like Quentin Tarantino. An endless stream of profanity and sadistic violence gives the audience a nihilistic and depressing experience. It makes no sense to me why people like his works. The characters don't deserve to even be thought about, let alone looked at for hours. Another reviewer described a Scorsese movie as "an ugly film, about ugly people, doing ugly things to each other." Who could deny that truthfully? Scorses should have become a priest and not poisoned the world with toxic waste, IMO.

[–] HijodelCid 9 years ago

I would certainly praise MS if he made movies about such people as Innocent III, Dante, Petrarch, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Pius V, the Carracci family, Guido Reni, Monteverdi, Bernini, Innocent XI, Tiepolo, Boccherini, Verdi, John Bosco, Mother Cabrini, and John XXIII: great Italians who brought great glory to humanity and the people of Italy.
How many movies have been made about Michelangelo? One: THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY. Compare that with how many movies and TV shows have been made about Capone, whom the movie community obviously regards as much more historically significant!
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] Jwink72 9 years ago

No one denies these are terrible people doing terrible things, but people like these kinds of movies. They like entertainment and a thrill. If no one thought about these people or that part of the human psyche, how are we supposed to better ourselves and address our problems? Are there solutions to these problems, or is the only solution to let those people die off (as they always do in gangster movies). Is it safer to let people satisfy their pleasures in film or in real life?

Most people who watch his films aren't poisoned (at least the sane people). They don't go out with a shotgun and shoot up a diner. But they love a good movie, they like violence only on the screen. They also love "moral" movies, as you might call them. It's a wonderful life, Casablanca, Forrest Gump. Now, whether this is a good film is up to opinion, but filmmakers shine lights on the darker angles of our nature like all the great artists of all time.

He does have a tendency to use pop/rock music, but I don't think it's in overuse. I will admit, voice over in his films does get annoying, but I can tolerate it in taxi driver and goodfellas. That was the first problem I had with this film: the first thirty minutes has way too much narration.

Scorsese paints the truth. He paints what he saw as a child. He paints the brutality of life on the street seen from a tenement window scored by whatever popular music comes from the next window. He shows regret, pain, suffering, violence in a true light, but like all art, it gets torn apart by the misunderstanding audience.

[–] HijodelCid 9 years ago

A movie producer with all the money he wants--a TYPICAL movie producer with all the money he wants--has two properties before him: which one will he greenlight?
A bio of ANTONIO VIVALDI--or a bio of ALBERT ANASTASIA?
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] Jwink72 9 years ago

The producer does whatever is the money attraction of the time. Now? It probably wouldn't be Albert Anastasia, lol. Has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. What's your point? Scorsese doesn't produce his films, until the aviator or shutter island. He did a documentary (produced by himself) on film history.

If you want a documentary on Antonio Vivaldi, become a filmmaker/producer and make one. Scorsese takes what he's given and does what he does. Right now, he's working on (or actually done with) silence, in case you didn't know.

[–] HijodelCid 9 years ago

WHAT'S YOUR POINT?:
Italians get a raw deal in the movies and TV. Miscreants like the members of Murder, Inc. are more likely to get shows made about them than heroes of humanity such as Vivaldi and other similarly gifted Italians.
And it's not only Italian heroes who get this kind of shabby treatment. How many shows have been dedicated to Mozart, as compared to his compatriot, Hitler, who is on TV almost daily?

God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] Jwink72 9 years ago

Oh, it would be wonderful, fantastic to see films dedicated to great people of history, but that has nothing to do with the quality of casino.

I would argue as many people know Mozart as who know hitler. Also, how much interesting story would one be able to pull out of Mozart? He was a great composer, perhaps enough info to make a film. About his childhood, his sickness, learning how to play, appreciation of music, etc.

Hitler killed over ten million people, and you're saying we should forget about him? Not everyone is a classical music lover, but most people would be interested to know what happened seventy years ago to ten million people who dropped off the earth at the hands of a man who nearly took over the world.

I see what you're saying, but not everyone is interested in classical art, music, literature. That's just a fact. That has nothing to do with casino.

It seems you're dissatisfied with the focus on the flawed Italians in film. Well, people prefer flawed characters. Great people of all walks of life are cheated when it comes to film. People don't like biographies about da Vinci or Shakespeare as much as they do exciting lifestyles, real or fictional. It should be a testament that people like Fellini, Leone, Coppola, Scorsese, Rossellini, De Sica are able to make films. It's certainly NOT just Italian who get a bad light. People are interested in the more exciting sides of life as entertainment.

I, for one, would be happy to see a bio like that. But artists don't usually do bios of other artists, and producers aren't going to jump on the next biography of Antonio Vivaldi.

[–] HijodelCid 9 years ago

There's a big difference between FLAWED and CRIMINAL. There is an Italian Baroque painter, Michelangelo Merisi, nicknamed il Caravaggio*, who was an extremely flawed individual. He mingled with violent criminals, served time in prison, and was very fond of teenage boys. He was also one of the greatest painters of the Baroque, who inspired such other luminaries as Rembrandt; in other words, he is the kind of imperfect character who would inspire Scorsese to do an outstanding movie.
Read his biography; you will surely agree that he deserves double the attention that MS gave to De Simone and Spilotro.
*There is another painter, Polidoro Caldara, who has the same nickname because he also was born in Caravaggio; be careful not to confuse Merisi with this one.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] MegaMan2 9 years ago

It was an interesting take on the movie. I watched it only a few days ago and I didn't react on any of those things regarding abuse of voice-over or the constant music. I'm not saying that the person is wrong, just that I didn't notice it. It might be becuase I'm not a native english speaker and therefore need to focus a bit on understanding when they speak. Either way, I think the movie is great. It's quite long and heavy. It's quite detailed and not anything to watch while in the mood for a light and easy movie.

Scorsese's and Tarantino's movies are a bit different and as someone who usually watch main stream movies I need to watch them with an open heart and mind. Either way, the reason I watched the movie was that I read a quite funny review in swedish (http://www.casinosvenska.se/casino-fran-1995/). The author to that review had a somewhat different take on it and blamed Ginger for all the *beep* in the movie. The author says that things were running smooth untill Things started to get messy in Ace's private life, which, according to him, was Gingers fault who should have been a happy and faithfull wife. Instead, she still hangs out with her old pimp Lester and starts doing Nicky Santoro. It may not be completely accurate but the author identifies her as the main problem with their business in Vegas.

I think it's a well made and really good movie even though sometimes it feels a bit too long and slow while watching it. Next time I watch it I'm gonna make sure to have lots of popcorn so they don't run out after the first half hour, maybe then it wont feel so long. :)

[–] WaySheGoes 9 years ago

I'm a fan of the crime dramas/gangster films, it's classic 90s DeNiro and Pesci, great combination. To each his own