For now, the best movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2003)

Martin Scorsese is America's greatest director and this is his greatest movie. It's detractors claim that it glamourises violence, it's cold hearted, and that it's cartoonish, all of which are baseless. The ending is far from a glamorous outcome for Ray Liotta's Henry Hill, while there is real warmth in many scenes, particularly the one in which Joe Pesci visits his mother (played by Catherine Scorsese, Marty's mother). And if it is cartoonish, at least it's more enjoyable than the comparitively sombre Casino. Liotta is the centre of this movie and his performance is justly towering. Joe Pesci is also memorable as Tommy, the most psychotic gangster ever. De Niro isn't as good here as in his other Scorsese collaborations but he's still silently menacing. Technically, tracking shots, cutting, freeze frames and a rock/pop score are brilliantly used to create a vibrant depiction of the gangster lifestyle. Goodfellas never looses it's grip, not even on repeat viewings. Deserves to be made compulsory viewing.