CASINO
4 out of 5 stars

‎"in the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. the longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all." - sam "ace" rothstein


DAMN... this movie was LONG! at a whoppin' 2 hours and 59 min., you get a story of a friendship/relationship/business that lasts about 15 years. continuing onward with more vegas movies, we dive headfirst into the seedy world of the italian mob and how they controlled vegas for some time back in the 1970s and early 80s... let this be a lesson to all those cheaters out there: DON'T FUCK WITH THE MOB. :P

robert deniro plays the always cool, always professional gamblin' man, sam "ace" rothstein, who reluctantly manages the fictional tangiers casino on the strip for the italian mobsters back home. the mobsters know that sam would do a great job as their little puppet, but they also send psycho-killer nicky santoro (a crazy yet awesomely acted joe pesci)as muscle for sam. (esp. for those who didn't pay off their debts) sam and nicky seem to have been friends since childhood, and their relationship also seems thicker than blood. it's just too bad when ginger (a great sharon stone!) comes into the picture, and starts some major drama i.e. sleeping around, giving money to her ex-BF & pimp, tying up her daughter to her bed b/c she couldn't find a babysitter, and snorting coke lines like nobody's bizness... all sam was responsible for was to rake in the $$$ at the casino, so that the mob could skim their share off the top. of course, good ol' fashion human greed gets in the way of things, and pretty soon, sam and nicky get in WAY over their heads.

i don't think this was scorsese's best i.e. the departed or shutter island. one of his trademarks is telling a great story with multiple perspectives, but i found it that the narration was the bulk of this movie. honestly, i'd rather read the actual book than watch this again... although i got to hand it to scorsese for great acting and great script. deniro has always been awesome, but joe pesci's character nicky is just WOW! he gets the mobster role down right esp. the scene where he basically kills a guy...with his own pen! CLASSIC! it's a very intense film about human greed in the city that is fueled by it, and in the end, it's all kind of funny due to the amount of cash (in shoeboxes!) just lying around sam's home. crazy... ;)