Casino DVD Review

Martin Scorsese has a tendency to use the same actors numerous times, but there is only one special pair of actors he has used together with remarkable success each film. Casino is the last of the Robert De Niro/ Joe Pesci outings to date, and it is now over ten years old. Scorsese has since moved away from gangster film, although not entirely from crime, but there has been a rise in gangster films recently that calls to revisit the classics on high definition. The Blu-ray release of Casino transfers the content from the 10th Anniversary DVD edition with the perks of the Blu-ray discs.

Following the success of the gangster film Goodfellas, Scorsese teamed up with writer Nicholas Pileggi to attempt another look at mobsters, this time with the focus being on two very different gangster friends attempting to make it big in Las Vegas. While Casino is definitely a longer and far more drawn out film, it is also a more complex film which focuses more on the characters rather than just the violent acts which the characters commit.

De Niro is Ace Rothstein, a Chicago mobster who heads to Vegas with his long-time friend, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci). Ace begins to find success and Nicky works behind the scenes doing all of the dirty work, guaranteeing many scenes in which Pesci shows his wicked temper, most memorable is the one involving a vice and a cheater’s head. Things go well for these two for a while, but as it always seems to happen in these films, things begin to go wrong. Sharon Stone enters the picture as Ginger, an uncontrollable force who becomes the femme fetale in Ace’s life. Even though she is remarkably unenthusiastic about their relationship, Ace falls deeper and deeper in love, which becomes a problem quickly. The business becomes a problem as well, and before long there are more holes being filled in the deserts of Nevada.

The film is set in 1973, which adds texture to the story both through the visuals and through the soundtrack, much in the same way music was used in Goodfellas. There is a great feel to cinematography, which is able to capture the glamour of Vegas in the early seventies, and it has been transferred wonderfully for the 10th Anniversary Edition. In many ways the style of Casino is one of Scorsese’s more polished attempts, even though this marked the beginning of his tendency towards films that last longer than they should.

The transfer of the film on this version is by far the best treatment that it has received since it was in theaters. There a great deal of wide shots that look great with the 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation that the DVD has. Although it seems that this could have easily been a two-disc special edition, it has a double-sided disc instead, which I am normally not a fan of. In this case I am glad that all of the special features were not on the same side as the film, but still feel that the extra money should have been spent to make it a double disc package. Because there is nothing but the film and a commentary track which is not the traditional commentary track. The extras included in the U-Control: • Casino: The Story - A fascinating exploration of the script, the book, and how director Martin Scorsese collaborated with writer Nicholas Pileggi to bring the story and characters of Casino to life • Casino: The Cast & Characters - Discover the real people behind the characters • Casino: The Look - A revealing look at the unique style of the film • Casino: After the Filming - A retrospective on why Casino has become a classic • Vegas & the Mob - NBC News takes a look at Las Vegas’ rough beginnings • Great Mob Writers: Nicholas Pileggi - The History Channel highlights the career of writer Nicholas Pileggi • Moments with Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone, Nicholas Pileggi and more - Audio commentary with Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker, Barbara De Fina, Nicholas Pileggi, Rita Ryack, Frank Vincent, and Sharon Stone • Deleted Scenes

The deleted scenes are about as useless as most deleted scenes, and the audio commentary is not a free flowing discussion between the cast and filmmakers, but is just audio clips from each of them inserted. While these are not very good, the rest of the features are very interesting and fairly well done. The disc menus are all very simple, all containing a black screen with the lights of Vegas and one of the character’s faces. It seems as though there could have been more attention given to these menus, but they serve the purpose just fine.

Universal has made common-place their U-Control function. Similar to some basic features included on DVD, when U-Control is activated it displays any available special features corresponding with each specific scene, controlled by icons that appear in the corner of the screen which can be chosen from. There is picture-in picture available to watch the film as the cast talks about it and behind the scenes footage is shown. The original features from the DVD are included as well, integrated into this format of viewing during the film.