Masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2013)

A fantastic, raw movie about mob life. Instead of glamorizing, this film shows it as it really is --- it can appear glamorous at times, but there are a lot of rough patches as well, and those have to be taken into account. People can get hurt from all directions. People can get careless. People can get overconfident. And then, people can be removed from their pedestals by force...
If I had to reward the best actor in this film, I would have to go with Joe Pesci. He portrayed the psychopathic, insecure, bigger-than-life, living time bomb Tommy DeVito so well, especially the chilling way Tommy could snap like a twig when a remark rubbed him the wrong way, as well as the chilling, casual take that Tommy took when he carried out a murder, like it was comedic and normal to him. Just... chilling is the only word I can think of. The way the actors responded to him was amazing, too; every time Tommy looked like he was a little angry, everybody ducked for cover and simultaneously pretended like they were still having a great time when they were actually all PETRIFIED with fear. I lost myself in his character, who I actually found to be incredibly intriguing. While EVERY character made me forget that I was watching a movie (I felt like I was watching Henry Hill's life from behind his own eyes), Tommy DeVito brought the whole film to a new kind of life that has NEVER happened to me before. Pesci won and fully deserved his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Well done.
As I said before, every actor is fantastic. Ray Liotta perfectly portrayed Henry Hill's subtly innocent personality; Henry always felt like a bystander, like he wasn't fully engaged in the perfect storm surrounding him, and Ray Liotta portrayed that part of Henry perfectly. Likewise, Robert DeNiro flawlessly portrayed Jimmy 'The Gent' Conway's paranoid, secret, and subtly violent personality. At the same time that he seemed like a friend, he also seemed like an enemy and a traitor, scheming behind your back to ruin you and keep the riches to himself.
The soundtrack is, simply put, amazing. Every song fits its corresponding scene perfectly, especially the dreamy "Beyond the Sea" while things seem to be going well for the wise guys in prison, "Rags to Riches" to give a strong, powerful kickoff to the film, and especially "What is Life," during Henry's frantic last day before his life collapses, but the token song on the soundtrack would have to be "Sunshine of Your Love." I will always get chills during a moment that I call one of my favorite movie moments of all time, courtesy of one of the greatest directors in history, the masterful Martin Scorsese: when Jimmy takes a drag on a cigarette and glares at Morrie while the beginning of "Sunshine of Your Love" plays in the background, and Morrie is dancing and singing a cheery song, Irish folk anthem "Danny Boy," like a bird, without knowing what fate awaits him. That always gives me chills.
I have a remark to the people who say that Goodfellas glamorizes violence and mob life. I think that the direction Scorsese was taking with the film was NOT to glamorize violence and mob life, but to show the domino effect that mob life has on the people on the inside. Jimmy 'The Gent' started with everything --- too much money to count, prestige, security, and comfort. So did Henry and Paulie. Then the reality of mob life hit them, and the walls started crumbling, and things weren't so beautiful after that. The film shows the imperfections in mob life, especially the imperfections that most contemporary counts seem to gloss over.
Overall, this is my favorite movie for a myriad of reasons. It's a beautifully raw film, and I will always love it every time I see it. No film that I've ever seen can beat this MASTERPIECE... yet.