MovieswDan

Another great gangster movie from the mind of Nicholas Pileggi. I read that this movie received negative reviews because of how similar it is to Goodfellas (same director, writer, and also had De Niro and Pesci) but I don't see the problem in it. If the style of story telling works well for one movie, what's the harm in doing it again? It wasn't like this is the exact same story. I thought it was very well done and a true masterpiece by Scorsese.

The acting from RDN and Pesci is awesome and Sharon Stone stole the show (which makes sense since she received an Oscar nod for this). The story flowed really nicely too and it did not feel like a 3hr movie.

This movie hit me square in the feels. I only decided to watch this movie because I found the title intriguing but I am so glad that I did. While I watched this film I began to think back on all of the wonderful times I had with my own grandparents and lament at the fact that all of them are now gone.

This is a beautiful and very well done film about treasuring family and taking care of your loved ones, even if you may not get anything back in return. The acting and chemistry between the grandson and his grandma was so good, that I forgot I was even watching a movie. They made you believe that they really were grandson and grandma.

Lastly, the score of the film really set the tone and brought the whole meaning and message of the film home. It's been a while since I wept while watching a movie, but I was no match for this film.

I literally have no notes. The acting, writing, execution of the story, and score were all tied in together to create an incredibly engaging and surprisingly moving film that I will certainly be watching again. There are 2 aspects to this film that really stood out to me. The first is that they were not afraid to get really brutal and go dark. I found myself wincing at parts and there are some shots that are downright difficult to watch, but really benefited the story. It made it feel more real and created true buy-in to the story and each character.

The other aspect that I loved was the dialogue. First of all, there is zero filler in this movie and they waste no time in getting the story moving. The dialogue between the boys kept the pace of the film moving nicely.....almost the same speed at times as they were walking. No one's dialogue had me hanging on his every word the way Peter did though and this is much to do with the incredible performance delivered by David Jonsson.

I was thinking to myself while the credits were rolling that this movie is a great example of why I love cinema so much. Forget any stupid awards or accolades that this will no doubtedly not get. This movie is pure entertainment from start to finish and that's what movies are supposed to be.