Goodfellas

I really like Goodfellas. As a whole it shows off everything I like in movies: believable characters, interesting cinematic style, and a great premise. Besides that its about gangsters and who doesn't like gangster movies. Its grounded in reality (thanks to it being based on real events) and doesn't try to show the mob as some huge army of gun totting maniacs. Instead it shows them as a group of people who break the law to make a buck.The character Henry even describes the Organization as just a group that offers protection for people who can't turn to the law.

The characters, something I always try to pay attention to in movies, are all well developed and real. the main character of Henry is shown throughout to be a regular guy who just happens to have grown up with the mob. He wants what everyone wants and that's fortune and excitement. Henry, as with most of the cast, are all unique characters that feel they belong and aren't just some caricature of a gangster (except for maybe Joe Pesci). The characters are even original. De Niro's character of Jimmy is a good example. For one he isn't officially part of the mob since he isn't full Italian, but rather he is someone they hired out to for hits and the man who runs their hijacking jobs. Its an interesting take on a mob associated gangster. Every character is also developed. We see how Pesci's character of Tommy grows into a kill crazy gangster, how Paulie slowly begins to distrust Henry, and how Jimmy and Henry become more and more paranoid after the major heist they orchestrate.

What also intrigues me about this movie is how everything is explained. We get voice overs from Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco that details both the life of a gangster and the life of the gangster's wife. Its an interesting choice, describing how gangsters' wives live. Its also interesting how Lorraine's character of Karen finds the other wives as all ugly and disgusting, showing how she doesn't quite understand the gangster world. I also really liked how late in the movie, during the scene leading up to Henry's drug arrest, that the voice over speeds up more and more, conveying the distress that Henry was experiencing.