Cinematic perfection (minor spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2004)

This film shows us a life lived to the excess. The tone of the film suggests more a study of social behavior than outright gangster film, I have even heard it being classed as a modern day noir, whatever, it's brilliant.
The acting is amazing, the cinematography is top bracket, the music is heavenly (in it's depiction of Hell). Scorcese was born to make this movie, it's impossible to study it the first few times you watch because it sweeps you up and dumps you down at the end. It leaves you breathless. There is brutal violence, drug use, and colourful language, but there's no use complaining because this is the mafia, these are bad people, what do you expect?
Told in flashback it is based on the story of Henry Hill, a boy who grows up dreaming of making it in the Mafia, he works his way into the higher ranks of the organised crime syndicate and through a stunning series of set pieces his coke-addled paranoia shows us his downfall and eventual fate. There are various voice-overs to give the action a sense of perspective, but there are so many things going on it's best just to let it flow.
De Niro and Pesci are at the top of their game, and the supporting cast give this film a weight unmatched by many. As examples of perfection of the art of film-making go, not many texts can match Goodfellas, it's utterly enthralling.