Top 5 Favorite Movie

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2020)

Goodfellas, directed & written by Martin Scorsese, produced by one of the best producers in the game today, in Irwin Winkler, is the most accurate, and my favorite mob movie of all time. Scorsese, Winkler & Pileggi crafted this beautifully told story, being nominated at the Oscars for Best Picture & Best Director. Marty displayed this incredible sense of direction, while pulling source material right out of Nicholas Pileggi's book, titled Wiseguys, based off of Henry Hill's life.
Goodfellas is a masterpiece whichever way you want to look at it. The story was a true, authentic representation of not only Henry Hill's life, but what life was like in the mafia, back in the 60s/early 70s. Some scenes probably came off as theatrical, or done for amusement, but according to Henry Hill himself, the content is 99.9% accurate, and ultimately dumbed down. With the narration from Ray Liotta, it brought all of the content from the previous scene together, making everything flow much better throughout the film.
The cast director in Ellen Lewis casted the absolute best, star studded cast possible! Each character had their own sense of comradeship. Ray Liotta was the star of this film. The attention to detail by all of the characters, especially Jimmy Burke, was nothing short of impeccable. After being so invested into his character throughout the movie, I did some further research on how he prepared for this film, and it only made his performance that much better, seeing the hard work he put in. His character development throughout the film is so bonkers! I changed my opinion on him a few times, due to all of the crazy antics he has to go through. The most notable performance of the film, was by one of my favorite actors, in Joe Pesci. He portrays Tommy De Simone's crazy, ludacris persona PERFECTLY, although he couldn't really embrace his physical structure, to say the least ðŸ˜‚. Pesci was nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, but fell short to Denzel Washington, in Glory. Bob De Niro put on yet another stellar performance. His character was heavily focused on, to help build our main "antihero" in Ray Liotta. With a character with such a high stature, De Niro is the only casting that makes sense. Lorraine Bracco was the character the audience really felt for. She put on such a great, dramatic performance, selling every scene. She was also noticed at the Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, but came up short to Brenda Fricker, in My Left Foot. Paul Sorvino always does a great job in these type of roles, but this time, I wish we got a little more of him. For someone who really meant a lot in the true story, he didn't have too much screen time, but when he did, he made a nobale and witty statement everytime. Even though I absolutely loved Sorvino's performance, he was probably my least favorite character, due to the justice that wasn't served to his high caliber character. The only minor take away from the characters as a whole; all of these characters (except Lorraine Bracco) are equally as violent, but they dumbed a few characters down.
The script by Martin Scorsese & Nicholas Pileggi (who also went on with Scorsese to do Casion), was BRILLIANT! With the popularity behind it, some of the dialogues were borrowed by other writers, who incorporated their tweaked version to their own work. The script was honorably nominated at the Oscars, and in my opinion, robbed by Alfred Uhry, who wrote Driving Miss Daisy. The script carried too much weight, being so witty, and sliding in plenty of laughs, to not win the award.
The cinematography by Michael Ballhaus, who
did After Hours & the Last Temptation of Christ with Marty & went on to do The Departed & Gangs of New York as well with him; utilized so many brilliant tools to create such a beautiful picture, with immaculate frame work. Ballhaus utilized great steady cam work, with intelligent usage of freeze frames, to capture important moments. He also used these great, eye-level seeking shots, displaying the amazing scenery and characters. Come the final act, things got were little different, being much more high paced. Thelma Schoonmaker started utilizing the score and music more, to enchace the tone, and feelings. Schoonmaker kept up with her great edits, but started to incorporate snappy edits, with fast camera movements. This movie could've easily been three & a half, to four hours long, if they really wanted to capture everything. Alone, there was 36 minutes cut from the film, and everytime I see this film, I wonder what it would be like. Schoonmaker who was also nominated for an Oscar, being absolutely snubbed. This was one of, if not the best edited movie I've seen.
The action was very stylish, gory, brutal, with a great 60s feel. The action was displayed almost to a T, but according to Henry Hill, it was dumbed down a little because things were way more explict.
Overall, this will forever go down as, not only one of the best mafia movies, but one of the best movies of all time.
PS, if you haven't seen the Joe Pesci rap video, DO SO ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£