Casino DVD review
This movie is someplace in my top 5 all time. That said, this DVD is certainly not worth buying to replace the one probably collecting dust in your collection already.
The Bad: There is no director or DeNiro real-time commentary track -- which alone would have been worth any price; in its place, there are what the marketing department has coined "moments with Martin Scoresese [et al]..." where he, some cast, and some crew are heard briefly discussing scenes and trivia of interest. If you play the DVD with these audio "moments" on, then it appears that Marty, Sharon, Nicholas, the editor and the costume designer (yeah, that's right, costume designer!) are offering commentary while they too watch the film. Actually, it's a track that's essentially a bunch of interviews spliced together in an attempt to match the film's progression. This is made evident once you watch the other features because as it were, the features are themselves just the video representation from the audio portion of the "moments". What's even more frustrating (once you figure out that you don't care about finding 1970esque shirt collars) is the neutral voice that introduces who's about to talk EVERY TIME they switch audio narrative. And let me tell you, it's usually Sharon Stone -- who doesn't exactly come across as the bolt of lightening she managed originally to trap as an actress this one time in her career. She goes on and on and on, not really saying anything, fawning over DeNiro and Scorsese and Woods, and never telling you anything you didn't know -- other than confirm just how insecure an actress she was at the time, and likely continues to be.
The Good: The History Channel documentary featuring Nicholas Pilleggi offers the most insight -- including real interviews with Ace, and great footage of the other characters (including Tony Spilotro -- Joe Pesci's character). Even if the re-enactments are cheesy, the information is valuable. Problem I see with this is that this material was already out there, and was available for purchase from the H-channel website well before this DVD came out. All in all, save your money unless 1) your DVD player can make the most of the digitally remastered picture and 2) you have a good enough eye to notice.
The Bad: There is no director or DeNiro real-time commentary track -- which alone would have been worth any price; in its place, there are what the marketing department has coined "moments with Martin Scoresese [et al]..." where he, some cast, and some crew are heard briefly discussing scenes and trivia of interest. If you play the DVD with these audio "moments" on, then it appears that Marty, Sharon, Nicholas, the editor and the costume designer (yeah, that's right, costume designer!) are offering commentary while they too watch the film. Actually, it's a track that's essentially a bunch of interviews spliced together in an attempt to match the film's progression. This is made evident once you watch the other features because as it were, the features are themselves just the video representation from the audio portion of the "moments". What's even more frustrating (once you figure out that you don't care about finding 1970esque shirt collars) is the neutral voice that introduces who's about to talk EVERY TIME they switch audio narrative. And let me tell you, it's usually Sharon Stone -- who doesn't exactly come across as the bolt of lightening she managed originally to trap as an actress this one time in her career. She goes on and on and on, not really saying anything, fawning over DeNiro and Scorsese and Woods, and never telling you anything you didn't know -- other than confirm just how insecure an actress she was at the time, and likely continues to be.
The Good: The History Channel documentary featuring Nicholas Pilleggi offers the most insight -- including real interviews with Ace, and great footage of the other characters (including Tony Spilotro -- Joe Pesci's character). Even if the re-enactments are cheesy, the information is valuable. Problem I see with this is that this material was already out there, and was available for purchase from the H-channel website well before this DVD came out. All in all, save your money unless 1) your DVD player can make the most of the digitally remastered picture and 2) you have a good enough eye to notice.
posted by stefNfloyd | 10:38 AM
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