Not your average mafia film

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2003)

Martin Scorsese drew up a foreshadow of this film within "Raging Bull." He foreshadowed mafia like characters and also the trifecta in himself, DeNiro, and Pesci (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino).
Why compare Goodfellas to The Godfather? Two totally different scenarios, directors, and group of actors. Criticism should be placed with a more centered commonality (director, screenplay writer) instead of such a gereral film genre as "dramatic crime/mafia". It makes more for the comparison than the pushing away of cinema because it's not something that you've already seen (gosh forbid if movies are suppose to be original in some context!).

Goodfellas is simply ingenious. The cinematography is phenomenal and Scorsese is a master of the voice over narration. He's a guru of the timing of still frames and gives more value to such dark lighting. The list of actors can't be denied in its own fame and with such deep characters to portray. A storyline that keeps you interested makes for less of a drag. And the music defines the time era which helps to make characters/events even more indulging.
Scorsese is a man of all films. He watches it, learns it, teaches it, and knows how to convert it to his own. Goodfellas is simply ingenious.