Perfection presented in a tangible state

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2007)

...which is hard to say. This is one of those all-too-rare moments where the praise showered upon a movie truly lives up to its hype. The accolades and critical acclaim this movie has been receiving (and will continue to receive) are truly deserved. Teenyboppers, however, don't attend, please. Anyone who was dying to watch Britney's Crossroads movie: steer clear, otherwise you'll feel a compelling urge to come here on IMDb's board and voice your idiocy to the whole world in the ever-so-repetitive: "THIS MOVIE IZ OVERRATED".
Here are the reasons this movie is considered by me and many others (including critics and movie buffs) to be one of the greatest movies ever made:
(1) Martin Scorsese. He's the director, and he's the number one reason this movie is so, so good. There are three factors that make Marty a master of his craft (in no particular order): first, he has vision. Talent. The stuff. He has what it takes to be a director. He knows what to do, where to do it, when to do it and how to do it. He knows what works and what doesn't work. He knows when something is almost good (hence push it to be good) or overdone (hence take it down a notch). That's the first factor of his greatness: talent, and skill. Second, his amazing attention to detail. In his movies, everything has to be just PERFECT. 'Nuff said about this. Third (and his one sets him apart from the majority of the great directors), he has a rare (perhaps perfectly unique) ability to direct the WORST actors and absolute novices and turn them into acting gods and goddesses. I do not think there has been any director, past or present, that has this ability. Marty ensures that every single line, body movement, facial expression, voice tone and what have you are convincing...to the extreme. The realism of it, in fact, can be so creepy (seen Taxi Driver?). Sharon Stone's first nomination came late in her career (in 1995) when Marty directed her. Marty directed a new actress (Cathy Moriarity) in Raging Bull and had her nominated for an Oscar. The same for Joe Pesci in the same movie (he was new back then). When Pesci won his first Oscar, it was Scorsese who directed him (in this very movie, Goodfellas).
(2) The cast. This is the second reason this movie is so great. Joe Pesci is a psychotically violent thug, Ray Liotta as the lead in this biographical picture (mostly biographical, with quite a few artistic liberties), DeNiro as Liotta's take-no-prisoners boss, and most importantly (for me anyway), Paul Sorvino, as the capo regime for the big crime family he's working for. He heads this group of thugs and they all report to him. Sorvino delivered one of the scariest, most intimidating performances EVER, in any movie. The terror he strikes into your heart as the feared, imposing mob boss is matched by very few in other mob movies. Even Don Vito Corleone had a softer, more courteous, more diplomatic side. Paulie Cicero (Sorvino's character, based on a real mobster called Paul Vario), however, is terrifically intimidating. I remember an interview with Paul Sorvino (a few years ago) in which he says some Goodfellas fans tremble when they meet him, still shaken up by his dead-on performance. And, I don't blame them. Incidentally, let me combine the first point and the second point to produce this little back-up trivia: during the course of the movie, Sorvino improvises a slap to Liotta's face, which he receives with a stunned, surprised look against Sorvino's static, icey face. That slap was real, and Liotta didn't know it was coming. Scorsese left it in the movie because of that reason. That's a demonstration of point 1 (Scorsese's brilliance and attention to detail) and 2 (the cast, i.e. Sorvino's emotionless, scary look in this case).
(3) The story. The story this movie is based on is real. However, not every single thing in this movie happened. There were some liberties taken; some improvisations and some modifications. In any case, the story is superbly immersive and interesting. To top it all off, the movie runs at past 2 hours, so you get a heavy dose of movie pleasure.
(4) The music. The period music was used to perfection, although this can belong to point #1, but I thought it deserves its own point. The first song you hear (along with a paused shot of Ray Liotta's face) is "Rags to Riches" by Tony Bennet, which really sets the mood for the movie at its beginning and adds a little preview at the same time (the story is about Henry Hill's rise to power from a small, underprivileged family). The songs are matched brilliantly to the scenes and chosen with utmost care.
So, dear reader, these are the four main points that I believe made this movie what it is: a cinematic masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made. Inevitably, and because of the movie's supreme power and brilliance, it will always be compared to the Godfather, but the two are essential different. Whereas Goodfellas is the story of one man's journey through crime, the Godfather is about a whole family's ups and downs. The term "mob movie" is applied very loosely to the two. It's just a general label. So, it's futile to compare them, because they're two superb pictures. But a personal observation of mine is that the Godfather is great as a whole, whereas Goodfellas outshines it in many little details that make it more than the sum of its parts. Beyond that, they're both great and neither is better than the other, so to speak.
The movie's violent though, so it ain't for the squeamish. But that's all irrelevant. Those are just little post-it notes on the back cover of a whole book on how to make movies that time will eternally remember.