Sunday, October 08, 2023

Movie review - "Casino" (1995) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Many thoughts.

- Bits I liked. The milieu. The research.

- Too much smoking in lieu of acting.

- Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci aren't bad. But they are clearly bored. De Niro never seems into Sharon Stone. He never likes Pesci. Or his daughter. Or anyone. Anything. He gets fired up when he can't work in the casino I guess. Was this why he and Scorsese didn't work together for so long? Pesci goes through the motions too. He never seems to like de Niro or Stone. He has a moment at the end crying when his brother is killed.

- Sharon Stone is magnificent. Warm, compelling, sexy, touching, emphathetic. Steals the film. I wish she'd had better roles at her peak. Even here she's stuck in endless Scorsese yelling domestic scenes.

- I also liked the guy who plays Pesci's mate who kills him. He was putting in good work and had a fantastic worm turns moment at the end.

- Could have been trimmed. The journalism stuff. The yelling scenes.

- Always interesting direction - camera angles, colours, sounds.

 - Don Rickles terrific. Aparet from de Niro and Pesci the acting is very strong. And those two aren't bad just bored.

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