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DVD (37)
[Stone] seems to be trying to enter a more passionate movie, where a neurotic gold digger could at least have a good time. By the end of Casino, for all its craftsmanly bravura, you may want to join her.
So long as Casino stays focused on the excesses -- of language, of violence, of ambition -- in the life-styles of the rich and infamous, it remains a smart, knowing, if often repetitive, spectacle.
Simultaneously quite watchable and passionless.
Martin Scorsese's intimate epic about money, sex and brute force is a grandly conceived study of what happens to goodfellas from the mean streets when they outstrip their wildest dreams and achieve the pinnacle of wealth and power.
It's not the actors' fault that no one is able to break through the film's gorgeous but chilly surface. You watch Casino with respect and appreciation, reveling in its documentary sense of detail.
Scorsese may be flailing here, but Scorsese flailing is more formidable than most directors at the top of their form.
Overlong and tedious crime drama epic. A kinetic behind-the-scenes look at the Vegas casinos.
Violent story of vice and virtue not for kids.
Poor ol' Marty. Epic, grandiose, visceral film after film. And what thanks does he get? "Yeah... but it's not as good as GoodFellas."
Casino is superbly acted and quite astonishingly obsessive about detail, money, and the mob's decline.
An accomplished film that carries with it the unshakable feeling that we've seen it all before.
To understand that Scorsese suffers for his art, it isn't important to know that he's been married four times, or that he considered joining the Catholic priesthood before choosing the equally masochistic experience of NYU.
People talk and talk about how Vegas works, and Scorsese's camera sprints to keep up. He's like an energetic tour guide making sure we understand everything.
Production values are brilliant, and as the drug-addict-hooker Sharon Stone gives her best performance, but thematically, Scorsese rehashes grounds that he had explored deeper in previous films (GoodFellas) and his approach here is too cold and remote.
Casino reminds you in too many ways of the brilliance of GoodFellas, and in a way that dooms Casino to remain in its shadow.
The result, sadly, is that contradiction in terms, a dull Scorsese movie.
Martin Scorsese's Casino is an absolutely brilliant film that's an enthralling equal to his masterful GoodFellas. Demands to be seen at least twice.
Garish, rhythmic and intoxicating.
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