Goodfellas turned 25 on Sunday. We were introduced to Henry Hill and his gangster cohorts in a world where Martin Scorsese had never won an Oscar. It was a world where The Godfather was the reigning champion of gangster films, uncontested, except possibly for The Godfather Part II. Goodfellas introduced us to a new kind of …
Cinema deviants can come in all forms or variety. It is just a matter of taking your pick as to what kind of deviant you consider. Perhaps your preference of deviant is of the sexual or molesting persuasion? Or maybe in the arena of hustlers or swindlers or cheaters? Will notorious gangsters and corrupt officials …
#10. Chinatown (1974) Lost to: The Godfather Part II Well, no one will argue that it should have won, but still. Roman Polanski’s film made a true leading man out of Jack Nicholson. It grabbed eleven nominations, only taking home one. That being said, that one was for Original Screenplay, written by Robert Towne, which may …
The first time Karen and Henry meet in Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s pivotal 1990 decades-spanning Italian gangster film, it is on a forced double date that precedes a back room meeting, with the sole purpose being so Tommy can “bang this Jewish broad”. Henry is beyond rude and Karen is timid, although timidly pissed as she has every right to be. Notably, she is dressed to the nines (complete with styled hair and a set of pearls) as she will stay for the duration of the film no matter the situation. When Henry stands her up on the second date she immediately requests, nay demands, to be taken to find him in order to ream him out in front of his cohorts.
Once Upon a Time in America is a gangster film of the highest order, and, at the same time, it recalls so many of its predecessors
American Hustle Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell Directed by David O. Russell USA, 2013 Watching American Hustle puts one in mind of the old anecdote relayed by the late Roger Ebert. He wrote of a child prodigy, invited to play an impossibly difficult piece of music on piano for one of …
Effective shot composition is a key component of filmmaking, sometimes resulting in the only interesting aspect of a bad film, and elevating a good film into a great one. Good cinematography, however, unfortunately goes unnoticed a lot of times, no matter how well it enhances a movie. Larry Wright of Refocused Media, however, has turned …
Gangster Squad Directed by Ruben Fleischer Written by Will Beall USA, 2013 At some point, an excess of style only serves to emphasize the hollowness of a story. A director like Martin Scorsese knows how to weave a sprawling tale of vice and amorality while juicing up the proceedings with verve and panache. On the …
We love crime movies. We may go on and on about Scorsese’s ability to incorporate Italian neo-realism techniques into Mean Streets (1973), the place of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) in the canon of postwar noir, The Godfather (1972) as a socio-cultural commentary on the distortion of the ideals of the American dream blah …
With the notion of film canonization once again at issue, we thought it might be an appropriate occasion to check in on our staff’s collective opinion of the greatest films of all time. We had no idea what to expect; our contributors come from all over the world and come from vastly different backgrounds and …
One of the greatest American crime films of the 90’s, Goodfellas, a hard-hitting and stylish flick directed by Martin Scorsese is being adapted for the small screen. Over the past year, there has been quite a bit of information dropped on the development of Goodfellas as a television series but there was no official word …
So you can call this part deux of my cops and robbers best of movie list! I think I read somewhere that one of the top male fantasies that didn’t involve their grade eight French teacher with a ridding crop was to be involved in some sort of “caper” with their buddies! Because crime is …
5. Brokeback Mountain vs. Crash (2005) A strong character has the privileged opportunity to reveal who we are, and sometimes whom we want to be, delivering a message linked to the consequences attached between the two. Ang Lee’s tender love story between two homosexual ranchers in the American Midwest effectively demonstrated this harrowing reality. It …