"He shoots him in the foot, he tells him to go f**k himself."

Rating: 10/10 (24 July 2004)

One of the best and funniest lines in an excellent movie.
Goodfellas is, in my opinion, one of the best movies Scorsese's ever made. It has such great momentum, both dramatically and visually. Ballhaus and Schoonmaker are really at the top of their game in this movie. Fantastic.
But it's all in the story. If you don't have it on paper, it doesn't matter how many cool camera angles or transitions you can come up with. The movie runs for almost two and a half hours, yet it never gets boring. It always manages to get, and keep, you interested. The script is perfect. I normally have sort of a problem with voice overs. As Brian Cox says in Adaptation: "God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character."
But here it works wonders, it helps to propel the story along with the excellent soundtrack.
And the characters... The names alone... Jimmy Two Times, Johnny Roastbeef, Joe Buddha... Why don't we see people like Frank Cicero and Frank Vincent in more movies?
Not to mention Ray Liotta. I don't get why he isn't hired more often. Regardless how bad the movie is, he usually is able to make something interesting and/or funny out of his character. Take "Copland" or "Hannibal" or "Heartbreakers" or "Blow" or why not "Narc"? Well, as always, there are exceptions. I wouldn't see "Operation Dumbo Drop" or "Escape from Absolom" again, even if my life depended on it...
Joe Pesci is... ...well, he's Joe Pesci in this movie. But I gotta hand it to him, no one can pull off a Joe Pesci like he can! He IS funny like a clown, and he DOES amuse me!
Robert De Niro's perfect as the laid back gangster Jimmy Conway who just explodes with fits of rage.
As I said, one of Scorsese's best. He's one of my all-time favourite directors, but I just wish he'd stop making cr*p like Gangs of New York. The Special Edition of Goodfellas is coming out on DVD in Europe this fall, and I'll be waiting first in line to replace my old version.
I'd recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a movie with both a compelling story as well as great characters. Although I have to leave a little caveat, It IS violent.