MJ5K's Review

Summary - Perfect 5.0

“The best mob movie ever!” Preaches Roger Ebert of the Chicago-Sun Times. While not the best mob movie ever, Martin Scorsese’s brilliant masterpiece Goodfellas ranks high up there with films like The Godfather. After being told by just about everyone to see this movie I finally did. And to simply put it…..It blew me away like one of Tony Montana’s machine guns! Martin Scorsese is one of the most brilliant and most talented directors in the world of cinema, and this is easily my favorite film of his. To me, this places itself right in front some of his other classics such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.

The film tells the true life story of Henry Hill. The film traces Henry’s life. It shows us his beginnings working for Paul Cicero and his involvement in murders with friends Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito. This all leads up to his sudden demise.

This is the film you have to love even if you don’t like gangster films. Filled with rich performances and artful story telling, Goodfellas is something of a masterwork.

Acting - Perfect 5.0

The acting is absolutely phenomenal.

Before I get to the heavy hitters like De Niro and Pesci, let me talk about Ray Liotta’s overlooked and underrated performance as main character Henry Hill. His dry humor, sarcasm, emotion, and mannerisms really bring out his true colors and makes his performance really stand out.

Now for the big guys, Pesci and De Niro. What can I say except Pesci deserved his Oscar and De Niro offered good support. Pesci is so frightening and yet so funny(oops, maybe I shouldnt’ve called him that) that its hard not to like his character, despite how horrible a person he is. As for De Niro, he brings out his usual acting chops.

Film - Perfect 5.0

The film moves at a steady pace for 2 and a half hours. Also, the script is very rich. I enjoyed Liotta’s monologues and every one of Pesci’s lines was hilarious. The soundtrack has to be one of the best for any movie. One thing I know about good ol Marty Scorsese is he has good taste in music.

Edge - Horrid 3.8

This has to be the most violent and foul mouthed mobster film I have ever seen in my life.

Reality - Natural 1.0

Well, considering this all actually happened…..

6 Comments

• Wick Jul 15, 2010 10:00AM

  Regarding MetalJunky5000’s Review
  Solid appreciation Junky. Happy to see another Perfect weigh in. Over time, perhaps we’ll get the Trust Weighted score back up to Perfect, where it belongs IMO.

• Randy Jan 8, 2008 8:27PM

  I may have to un-trust you then hahahahaha

• Wick Jan 8, 2008 2:18AM

  Agreed, Randy. Each of the movies in the Top 5 now have at least two reviews. Keep in mind the total trust points of the reviewers provides the weight to drive a movie up the TopPiks charts. So even though I’m currently the most trusted reviewer, I no longer have the sole power to put a movie into the Top 5.

• Randy Jan 8, 2008 12:20AM

  Haha.. laugh out loud. That is pretty humorous. The problem is that we need more than one person to review the movies. (As with Gump and Good Fellas)

• Wick Jan 7, 2008 2:54AM

  Goodfellas and Gump seem to be pretty secure atop TopPiks. But the movies below them keep changing.

• Randy Jan 6, 2008 9:27PM

  Hey!

  I noticed that Good Fellas made its way back to the top of the Week. Could it be making a comeback??? Look out Forrest Gump!

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