Joe-Pesci Movie Reviews

love these two movies. very funny

Joe Pesci usually ends up playing tough, often brutal, and sometimes incredibly violent mobsters. This says a lot more about the movie business than it does about him. Actually, his violent roles, despite his hard-boiled persona and his ability to convincingly explode on screen, remain a tiny bit unconvincing. One reason for this is that he is not physically imposing. Also he can't stop being just a wee bit cute, like a squirrel with a machine gun. The role of Wee Gee, the persistent little cameraman who documented New York's dark underbelly, therefore, is tailor-made for Pesci. Employing a vulnerability alongside his trademark streetwise persona, he gives an affecting portrayal in a film that also seems a masterly and gritty recreation of 1940s New York (Having no first-hand experience, I can't really say for sure). The movie's one fault, however, is that a photographer is just a photographer and is not a suitable subject of apotheosis, as is attempted at the finale.

Such a good movie. Pesci's best performance.

This review refers to the VHS edition of "The Public Eye".....

Noir lovers and Pesci fans alike will be thrilled by this dark look at the underworld of New York City in the 1940's. It stars Joe Pesci as Leon "The Great Bernzini" Bernstein, photographer to the mob.
"Bernzy" as he is also called by those who know him well,will stop at nothing to get that great shot of the "dead guy" even before the cops arrive.The gorier the better. Bernzy has an in with not only the cops, but also the two ruling mafia gangs that are in control of the city. But Bernzy never takes sides, just the pictures. That is until the beautiful but unattainable Kay Levitz(Barbara Hershey) asks for a favor. He immediatly becomes enamored by her and will do anything for her.The "favor" has Bernzy becoming involved with dangerous black market schemes and a lethal war going on between the two mafia gang rivals. Bernzy has a chance to get the picture of a lifetime from information that he has obtained, and fulfill a promise to the woman he adores,although it may cost him his life.

Joe Pesci's performance of this character is captivating. He's a shutterbug who not only is always there to exploit the horrible murders he sees, but also artfully captures the life going on around him. Barbara Hershey is exquiste and keeps the mystery going, and Stanley Tucci also turns in a fine performance as an underworld figure. It was directed by Howard Franklin(Larger Than Life/Quick Change)who absolutely takes you into this seemy underworld and keeps you there.

The VHS is a good picture and the sound in Dolby Stereo(HI FI) is pleasing. I did not see it available in DVD,but it really should be!

Get the popcorn ready BEFORE you get involved with this one! It will have you so caught up with these characters and the story you may not be able to find a place to pause it, once you start it.......Laurie

What can I say about 'Raging Bull'? It's my favorite movie of all time, the title character is played by my favorite actor of all time, and the director is my favorite director of all time.
Any questions? :)

What a way to start out the 80s! The decade before you had the birth of such films like 'Mean Streets,' 'Taxi Driver,'(both directed by Marty Scorsese), 'The Deer Hunter,'(Cimino)'The Godfather (Parts 1 & 2)and 'Apocalypse Now.'(all by Coppola).

..Then Marty comes back with a tour de force film that examines the trials and tribulations of an ordinary man's soul.

Robert De Niro, in his second Oscar-winning performance, portrays 1940s Bronx boxer, Jake La Motta. What's so interesing about this movie, as well as practically ALL of Scorsese's cinematic gems, is that here you have an ordinary man trying to live an ordinary life by his own standards but can't because the local hoods have other plans for him. He's in constant struggle of normalcy and answering to a 'higher' power.
Jake La Motta is a lot like Charles Foster Kane ("Citizen Kane"). He wins support and followers just as quickly as he loses them while losing those who loved him in the process.In essence, this film bears a lot of similarities with "Citizen Kane."

La Motta is a tragic figure, a victim of his own self-disgust and complexities. He fights in two rings: the actual boxing ring and the domestic ring that includes the two people he loves most, his brother Joey (Joe Pesci)and wife, Vickie (Cathy Moriarty). Because he keeps what he feels for both so close to the surface, it eventually erupts and drives them both away. At heart, La Motta is a closet romantic. He becomes smitten with a fifteen-year-old Vickie the first time he sees her and she becomes his trophy and ideal. In the scenes where Jake is looking at her, there is no sound. It's as if this young girl's presence takes Jake completely out of reality. It's amazing to watch scenes with Moriarty and De Niro. When he pines for her, when he meets her, marries her, and even when the marriage goes sour.

It's also absolutely mesmerizing to watch De Niro transform in front of the cameras. He goes from a promising boxer to a burnt-out has-been. De Niro gained over 60 pounds for the scenes later in the film. He still holds the world record for the most weight an actor has put on in preparation for a role. It's absolutely incredible. De Niro, you're the best there is and the best there ever will be!

Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci give flawless perfomances. They deservably won best supporting actor/actress nods for this film. It started Moriarty's career and reignited Pesci's.(You're awesome, Joe! :))The cinematography and editing is top-notch. It doesn't any better than this. And Marty...dearest Marty, you're a master! In my book, that best director Oscar should've gone to you years ago! You're number one!

In 1980 a film was released that made cinematic history. Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring the great Robert De Niro, Raging Bull was released and caused jaws to drop throughout the film world. It recieved rave reviews and was also nominated for plenty of Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. As always, the Academy picked the wrong winners for most of the awards including Robert Redford for Best Director instead of Martin Scorsese. They did though give Robert De Niro his well deserved Best Actor award.

What really set Raging Bull apart from the rest of the 80's films was the fact that it was filmed in black and white. This may seem like a mistake to some, but after watching it you'll understand the reason for this. It makes you feel like you are actually watching old boxing mathces from the 1940's. Robert De Niro plays Jake La Motta, an Italian Bronx fighter that is constantly battling not only his opponents, but also himself. He is constantly accusing his wife or adultry which eventually drives her away from him. La Motta also has to battle the pressures given to him by the mob, like in many Martin Scorsese films.

Joe Pesci stars as Jake's brother Joey. Jake also pushes Joey further and further away from him with his anger-driven accusations. There are some of the best boxing scenes ever caught on film in this movie, especially during La Motta's fights with Sugar Ray Robinson.

At the end of the 80's a poll that was given to tons of film critics revealed that the majority of them felt that Raging Bull was the best picture of the 80's.

If you are planning on buying Raging Bull I would highly recommend that you buy the DVD instead of VHS. The DVD does not contain tons of extras or anything but it does have a lot better picture and sound compared to the VHS version. Overall, Raging Bull has all of the key elements that not only make up a good movie but also one of the best of films of our time.

I went to the video store, plucked this off the shelf, rented it, and popped it into the VCR expecting it to be Rocky. In fact, I didn't even look at the box when I rented this, I associate all boxing movies with Rocky. Rocky this ain't, but De Niro's an okay actor. He's no Stallone, but held his own in his scenes with Pesci, a much more talented, gifted actor. Pesci is the best thing about this flick; if it concentrated more on boxing and less on soul searching it would be okay. In the future, biopicks are only good with fast cuts and in color. This movie moved as slow as molasses. Again, it was decent, and I give it five stars because of Pesci, but where are the cuts?

*Scorcese's not that bad a director check out his masterpiece, the Cape Fear remake, his best film.

Once again Sergio Leone proves that he is the master of the classically "American" genre film, this time training his exquisite eye from the Western to the gangster film...gangster EPIC, actually.
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This movie takes place via disjointed flashbacks over a period of fifty years, focusing on the life (and death) of crime as experienced by four childhood friends, specifically David "Noodles" Aaronson, portrayed in maturity by Robert DeNiro in another typically inspired performance.
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The movie in its American release nearly 20 years ago was absolutely butchered by the US-based distributor, with over an hour of footage removed from the feature in order to make it more managable for US audiences. The result was that the personality of the movie was essentially siphoned off and the film was savaged by film critics nationwide. When the movie was released for cable a year or so later, a fair bit of the footage was restored (and in fact another edit presented the film exclusively in chronological order from Noodles' youth to old age).
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This restored version does include as much as the film's original footage as can be accounted for (to our knowledge), and the effect is somewhat more enlightening than the cable edit I first saw (and legitimately loved) almost two decades prior. The violence edited back into the movie makes it more difficult for the viewer to find sympathy/empathy with any of the characters (which may have been a stretch to begin with)...but while the extra features are a wonderful addition to the DVD (James Woods' admission on the Leone bio piece that to this day he is asked what exactly happened in "his" last scene...and to this day he's uncertain himself...is worth the price of purchase alone. And Richard Schickel's film-length commentary track is also a joy to watch/listen to.
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But Warner Brothers REALLY dropped the ball by deciding to split the film into two equal lengths for the purpose of placing it on 2 discs; particularly when considering that in fact Leone did make provision for an intermission within 2:45 of the film's original running time. The most obvious issue is that yes, a rather crucial scene was unceremoniously interrupted as Disc One ends and resumed at the beginning of Disc Two. Arguments will be made that this was necessary to include the full-length commentary track for both discs, but even "Pulp Fiction" with a complete running time of over two-and-a-half hours was able to complete the presentation with commentary track on the same disc; you have to believe Warner Borthers could at least have done a better job with Leone's final masterpiece. As it is, the perfect realization of the film that was by all admissions nearest and dearest to the Italian film maestro's heart still eludes him, even in this digital age. Had he lived to see it, he could not have been pleased with this treatment. Nor was I. A terrific film, beautifully and lovingly shot as always, speaking to the emotions of the viewer in a way that so many American directors simply can't pull off...but once again the editors have failed the artist. I own it, and will view it regularly out of respect to its brilliance as a film, but someone should have been sacked over this DVD presentation.

this movie is a must see for any fan of Robert De Niro.its a timeless glance back to the way life was in NewYork after the turn of the century.with a superb cast this is one of my favorites.

This movie stands out because in many ways it is very strange! However, I think that it is very special because it is so different from most movies. It is very LONG but I must admit that once I started watching it I got hooked. Even if you end up not liking it, you too will probably be drawn to it. You'll love it if you love DeNiro and if you love epic film-making! I recommend that you AT LEAST watch the entire film once in your life!

With Robert de Niro starring as Jimmy ''the Gent'' Conway, this film has a perfect cast, it is also brutally funny with ... conversation, this film is not for the light hearted.
It is not as boring as ''The Godfather'' films and I'd have to give it maximun marks, its great!

This sprawling epic of one man's true life journey in one of the most notorious NYC crime families spanning nearly 4 decades portrays as many laugh-out-loud moments as it does makes-you-flinch violence and brutality.

The movie features great acting, interesting characters and a great story. The soundtrack, set and warddrobe effectively mark each passing decade - from the do wop 50s & 60s to the "Layla" 70s to Sid Vicious' "My Way" at the conclusion.

Pesci, DeNiro and Liotta are all fantastic as the 3 main characters, as are Loarraine Brocco as Liotta's wife and Paul Sorvino as the strong, silent Mob boss.

The film maintains its uniqueness and never seems to fall back into 'Godfather' territory. The conclusion's slow descent into drugs, paranoia and betrayal (reminiscent of "Sid n Nancy") is a car wreck that you can't turn away from.

Minimal extras do not detract from the greatness of this film on DVD.
Also recommended:all 3 films mentioned above; the 1st 2 'Godfather' movies and of course, "Goodfellas", the book.

This movie pars with Mean Streets as the best gangster movie of all time. GoodFellas is more detailed while Mean Streets is more simplistic. The movie is basically the life of Henry Hill, a gangster who was in the mafia from 1955 to 1980. The movie shows you how gang life changed over the course of 2 and a half hours. At first, no one got killed unless it was absolutly necessary. Then, killings became a habit. Robert DeNiro is perfect as a nervous wreck of a man, and Joe Pesci is always crazy, but in this movie, he perfects the Italian stereotype. Ray Liotta is also exceptionally good, and the movie flows very nicely. THe music is AWESOME. Check out the part where DeNiro's in a bar smoking and Cream comes on. Best movie music ever. Anyway, this movie is really good, has really good violence, and has no epic feel despite the length. Highly reccomended.

With Robert de Niro starring as Jimmy ''the Gent'' Conway, this film has a perfect cast, it is also brutally funny with ... conversation, this film is not for the light hearted.
It is not as boring as ''The Godfather'' films and I'd have to give it maximun marks, its great!

This sprawling epic of one man's true life journey in one of the most notorious NYC crime families spanning nearly 4 decades portrays as many laugh-out-loud moments as it does makes-you-flinch violence and brutality.

The movie features great acting, interesting characters and a great story. The soundtrack, set and warddrobe effectively mark each passing decade - from the do wop 50s & 60s to the "Layla" 70s to Sid Vicious' "My Way" at the conclusion.

Pesci, DeNiro and Liotta are all fantastic as the 3 main characters, as are Loarraine Brocco as Liotta's wife and Paul Sorvino as the strong, silent Mob boss.

The film maintains its uniqueness and never seems to fall back into 'Godfather' territory. The conclusion's slow descent into drugs, paranoia and betrayal (reminiscent of "Sid n Nancy") is a car wreck that you can't turn away from.

Minimal extras do not detract from the greatness of this film on DVD.
Also recommended:all 3 films mentioned above; the 1st 2 'Godfather' movies and of course, "Goodfellas", the book.

This movie pars with Mean Streets as the best gangster movie of all time. GoodFellas is more detailed while Mean Streets is more simplistic. The movie is basically the life of Henry Hill, a gangster who was in the mafia from 1955 to 1980. The movie shows you how gang life changed over the course of 2 and a half hours. At first, no one got killed unless it was absolutly necessary. Then, killings became a habit. Robert DeNiro is perfect as a nervous wreck of a man, and Joe Pesci is always crazy, but in this movie, he perfects the Italian stereotype. Ray Liotta is also exceptionally good, and the movie flows very nicely. THe music is AWESOME. Check out the part where DeNiro's in a bar smoking and Cream comes on. Best movie music ever. Anyway, this movie is really good, has really good violence, and has no epic feel despite the length. Highly reccomended.

With Robert de Niro starring as Jimmy ''the Gent'' Conway, this film has a perfect cast, it is also brutally funny with ... conversation, this film is not for the light hearted.
It is not as boring as ''The Godfather'' films and I'd have to give it maximun marks, its great!

This sprawling epic of one man's true life journey in one of the most notorious NYC crime families spanning nearly 4 decades portrays as many laugh-out-loud moments as it does makes-you-flinch violence and brutality.

The movie features great acting, interesting characters and a great story. The soundtrack, set and warddrobe effectively mark each passing decade - from the do wop 50s & 60s to the "Layla" 70s to Sid Vicious' "My Way" at the conclusion.

Pesci, DeNiro and Liotta are all fantastic as the 3 main characters, as are Loarraine Brocco as Liotta's wife and Paul Sorvino as the strong, silent Mob boss.

The film maintains its uniqueness and never seems to fall back into 'Godfather' territory. The conclusion's slow descent into drugs, paranoia and betrayal (reminiscent of "Sid n Nancy") is a car wreck that you can't turn away from.

Minimal extras do not detract from the greatness of this film on DVD.
Also recommended:all 3 films mentioned above; the 1st 2 'Godfather' movies and of course, "Goodfellas", the book.

This movie pars with Mean Streets as the best gangster movie of all time. GoodFellas is more detailed while Mean Streets is more simplistic. The movie is basically the life of Henry Hill, a gangster who was in the mafia from 1955 to 1980. The movie shows you how gang life changed over the course of 2 and a half hours. At first, no one got killed unless it was absolutly necessary. Then, killings became a habit. Robert DeNiro is perfect as a nervous wreck of a man, and Joe Pesci is always crazy, but in this movie, he perfects the Italian stereotype. Ray Liotta is also exceptionally good, and the movie flows very nicely. THe music is AWESOME. Check out the part where DeNiro's in a bar smoking and Cream comes on. Best movie music ever. Anyway, this movie is really good, has really good violence, and has no epic feel despite the length. Highly reccomended.

With Robert de Niro starring as Jimmy ''the Gent'' Conway, this film has a perfect cast, it is also brutally funny with ... conversation, this film is not for the light hearted.
It is not as boring as ''The Godfather'' films and I'd have to give it maximun marks, its great!

This sprawling epic of one man's true life journey in one of the most notorious NYC crime families spanning nearly 4 decades portrays as many laugh-out-loud moments as it does makes-you-flinch violence and brutality.

The movie features great acting, interesting characters and a great story. The soundtrack, set and warddrobe effectively mark each passing decade - from the do wop 50s & 60s to the "Layla" 70s to Sid Vicious' "My Way" at the conclusion.

Pesci, DeNiro and Liotta are all fantastic as the 3 main characters, as are Loarraine Brocco as Liotta's wife and Paul Sorvino as the strong, silent Mob boss.

The film maintains its uniqueness and never seems to fall back into 'Godfather' territory. The conclusion's slow descent into drugs, paranoia and betrayal (reminiscent of "Sid n Nancy") is a car wreck that you can't turn away from.

Minimal extras do not detract from the greatness of this film on DVD.
Also recommended:all 3 films mentioned above; the 1st 2 'Godfather' movies and of course, "Goodfellas", the book.

This movie pars with Mean Streets as the best gangster movie of all time. GoodFellas is more detailed while Mean Streets is more simplistic. The movie is basically the life of Henry Hill, a gangster who was in the mafia from 1955 to 1980. The movie shows you how gang life changed over the course of 2 and a half hours. At first, no one got killed unless it was absolutly necessary. Then, killings became a habit. Robert DeNiro is perfect as a nervous wreck of a man, and Joe Pesci is always crazy, but in this movie, he perfects the Italian stereotype. Ray Liotta is also exceptionally good, and the movie flows very nicely. THe music is AWESOME. Check out the part where DeNiro's in a bar smoking and Cream comes on. Best movie music ever. Anyway, this movie is really good, has really good violence, and has no epic feel despite the length. Highly reccomended.

Martin Scorcese re-teams with Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi with this inside look at the Las Vegas Casino control. And after their success with GOODFELLAS, this was a promising offering. They succeed in many ways but the story, direction and characters seem more derivative than original.

DeNiro is small time street hood Ace Rothstein who makes big time as a Casino Manager. And like in GOODFELLAS, his doomed relationship with the trip hammer Joe Pesci exhibits what is too come and his paranoia takes over. Added into the mix is Ace's doomed relationship with an expensive call girl whose only interests in life are money, drugs and money. Here, Sharon Stone practically streetwalks away with the film. Her performance as Ginger is frightening.

The storyline is a bit ill conceived as the film has three narrators, making it difficult to know who the story is about. DeNiro's Rothstein and Pesci's Nicky Santoro split most of the film but at one point, a secondary character suddenly takes over narration. Scorcese uses his interesting camera work to relay the story with great success. But, the story never is as enrolling as GOODFELLAS and will always be an also ran because of that. The DVD comes with a nice widescreen transfer and unique soundtrack.

I love Casino. The fact that it's based on a true story is probably what makes the plot so interesting. The movie also gives you a sort of "behind the scenes" look at how Vegas works: the flow of money to the count room, the surveillance security, etc. To top it all off, the cast in this movie is rock solid. Sharon Stone does an absolutely amazing job playing the greedy junky. Robert De Niro is awesome as the ruthless yet nerdy Ace Rothstein (how about those clothes?!?). And Joe Pesci does an excellent job playing the violent out-of-control mobster (similar to his role in GoodFellas).
My only complaint about the DVD is the lack of special features. There's some text about the actors that you can read, but not much else. I remember at about the time that Casino was originally released in theaters there was a story about Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (the real-life basis for DeNiro's "Ace Rothstein" character) that aired on DateLine or PrimeTime or one of those news magazine shows. It was fascinating seeing the true life character that the movie was based on, but for some reason that footage was not included on this DVD. Why not?

Just freaking magnificent! I have seen this movie so many times but it always catches my attention. Sharon Stone is terrific as is De Niro. But, when is De Niro NOT good??? Pesci is terrific--the scene with his character's brother in the corn field weighs heavily on my mind. It's oddly moving, unsettling, disturbing and touching all at once. Even James Woods delivers in this flick.

Again, the violence in this film makes me uncomfortable, but it is a MOB film. An interesting look at the mafia in Vegas as well as how casinos are run. Great movie.

Martin Scorcese re-teams with Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi with this inside look at the Las Vegas Casino control. And after their success with GOODFELLAS, this was a promising offering. They succeed in many ways but the story, direction and characters seem more derivative than original.

DeNiro is small time street hood Ace Rothstein who makes big time as a Casino Manager. And like in GOODFELLAS, his doomed relationship with the trip hammer Joe Pesci exhibits what is too come and his paranoia takes over. Added into the mix is Ace's doomed relationship with an expensive call girl whose only interests in life are money, drugs and money. Here, Sharon Stone practically streetwalks away with the film. Her performance as Ginger is frightening.

The storyline is a bit ill conceived as the film has three narrators, making it difficult to know who the story is about. DeNiro's Rothstein and Pesci's Nicky Santoro split most of the film but at one point, a secondary character suddenly takes over narration. Scorcese uses his interesting camera work to relay the story with great success. But, the story never is as enrolling as GOODFELLAS and will always be an also ran because of that. The DVD comes with a nice widescreen transfer and unique soundtrack.

I love Casino. The fact that it's based on a true story is probably what makes the plot so interesting. The movie also gives you a sort of "behind the scenes" look at how Vegas works: the flow of money to the count room, the surveillance security, etc. To top it all off, the cast in this movie is rock solid. Sharon Stone does an absolutely amazing job playing the greedy junky. Robert De Niro is awesome as the ruthless yet nerdy Ace Rothstein (how about those clothes?!?). And Joe Pesci does an excellent job playing the violent out-of-control mobster (similar to his role in GoodFellas).
My only complaint about the DVD is the lack of special features. There's some text about the actors that you can read, but not much else. I remember at about the time that Casino was originally released in theaters there was a story about Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (the real-life basis for DeNiro's "Ace Rothstein" character) that aired on DateLine or PrimeTime or one of those news magazine shows. It was fascinating seeing the true life character that the movie was based on, but for some reason that footage was not included on this DVD. Why not?

Just freaking magnificent! I have seen this movie so many times but it always catches my attention. Sharon Stone is terrific as is De Niro. But, when is De Niro NOT good??? Pesci is terrific--the scene with his character's brother in the corn field weighs heavily on my mind. It's oddly moving, unsettling, disturbing and touching all at once. Even James Woods delivers in this flick.

Again, the violence in this film makes me uncomfortable, but it is a MOB film. An interesting look at the mafia in Vegas as well as how casinos are run. Great movie.