(If you’re curious, my review process. It’s also pasted at the end of this post. I don’t believe in Rotten Tomatoes. I just believe in me.)
(***all-purpose SPOILER ALERT*** there may be some in this review)
The mini-review:
Goodfellas
acting 9
directing 10
effects 9
editing 10
writing 10
SW SCORE: 48
5 out of 5 š
++
There are only two other mob movies that can be in the conversation for best mob film ever: The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. And as much as I love those movies, I think the best film in this three-horse race is Goodfellas. I would not say it is Scorsese’s finest films but that’s because he is a singular genius. For almost every other director, this would be their opus. It feels like something that could happen in the real world but it is at the same a sprawling, layered, magnificent epic. It is a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy. The Godfather films are also nearly perfect examples of tragedy but they feel like a slightly stylized version of a horrible criminal world. It feels a bit too perfect. Goodfellas, on the other hand, is blood and guts and sadness and it’s told from the outside of the mob family not from the perspective of a reluctant prince. Again, don’t get it twisted. All three are basically perfect movies. But I just felt like quibbling.
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Review process: (this is always evolving, I’m sad to say. I’m more of a watcher who makes mostly unhelpful observations about things I have absorbed. I am not unlike a pop culture blob.)
Two scores are assigned: (I don’t believe in Rotten Tomatoes. I just believe in me)
(1) Shark Wrighter (SW) Score: Based on a sum of 5 sub-scores (acting, directing, writing/story, cinematography &/or animation &/or effects, editing) with 1 being terrible and 10 being terrific.
(2) Octopuses (0-5 š, with 5 being fantastic and 0 being feces)
(3) Octopuses are my unquantifiable feelingā¦not that SW score is scientificā¦but this one is even less so
(4) ++ This optional section includes any incredibly *brilliant observations that don’t fit into simple quantitative slices like the scores and octopuses *(they are likely NOT brilliant)
