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| A weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves |
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY sings the ABBA, and I feel like I couldn't pick a better way to introduce April's first theme, greed. Without much further ado — because I'm going to spend the rest of the day trying to find something worth watching on Netflix which is very likely ending up with me rewatching Easy A for the millionth time — I leave you with my picks.
Casino (1995) - Review
Plot: An expert gambler who has made himself useful to the mob, Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is sent to Las Vegas to run a mob casino. He soon doubles the earnings which makes his Mafia bosses very happy but things start spiralling out of control when he falls in love with a beautiful hustler and former prostitute (Sharon Stone), and his reckless childhood friend Nicky (Joe Pesci) too moves to Las Vegas.
This was my January Blind Spot film and so far it's the best I've seen. Not only that, it is also one if not Martin Scorsese's finest films as it's pretty much a Goodfellas remake that manages to be refreshing, original and fascinating.
Scarface (1983)
Plot: Cuban refugee Tony Montana (Al Pacino) takes over a Miami drug cartel and becomes the right-hand man of boss Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia). Driven by greed, Montana eventually kills Lopez to take his place and "win" the beautiful Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer).
It's been so long since I saw this film so I don't remember much. It was great though, very tense and interesting. And I remember loving the performances, especially Al Pacino's.
It's been so long since I saw this film so I don't remember much. It was great though, very tense and interesting. And I remember loving the performances, especially Al Pacino's.
Trading Places (1983) - Review
Plot: Two greedy old men, Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy), bet that they could turn a common criminal (Eddie Murphy) into a successful businessman. So they give him the job and house of a successful broker (Dan Aykroyd), setting up the latter for crimes he didn't commit.
It took more about 10 years to decide to watch this film and I so regretted avoiding it for all that time because it's brilliant. Sure, it's not as good as my two previous picks but it's an entertaining, amusing comedy.
I haven't seen any of these. I have Casino and Scarface in my Netflix queue though, so I'll get to those eventually.
ReplyDeleteWait, what?! I thought I was the bad one at watching classics haha
DeleteI love Trading Places! It's such a breezy film played by all with just the right sense of fun. Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche make a great team!
ReplyDeleteCasino was okay but then I'm very in and out on Scorsese films, the elements so many people seem to love about them don't work for me. I zoned out on Scarface, it was just too over the top for me. I much prefer the earlier one with Paul Muni.
I did a theme within the theme connecting my second two which were in some way inspired by my first.
Greed (1924)-Small town dentist John McTeague (Gibson Gowland) makes an enemy for life when he falls for his best friend Marcus’s (Jean Hersholt) girl Trina (ZaSu Pitts) and marries her. Unexpectedly Trina wins a $5000 lottery (equivalent to almost 80 thousand in current dollars) which turns the once docile and retiring woman into an obsessed miser leading to enormous tragedy for all three. Director Erich von Stroheim’s controversial epic was originally over nine hours long and for the few who saw it said to be a masterwork. MGM demanded cuts with various editors hacking it down to just over two hours and destroying the rest. It has been restored to 239 minutes through the use of existing elements but the original is lost.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)-In Mexico wanderers Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) befriend old prospector Howard (director John Huston’s father Walter who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and together they head to the Sierra Madre mountains to look for gold. They find treasure but it comes at a high price, first in the form of bandits roaming the wilderness but ultimately more so by the greed that consumes them. Though based on the B. Traven novel director Huston sited the ’24 Greed as a major influence.
Greedy (1994)-Elderly tycoon Joe McTeague (Kirk Douglas) is surrounded by his family, a pack of greedy vultures that include Phil Hartman, Ed Begley, Jr. and Bob Balaban, all circling him looking to get their hands on his cash. Joe seeing through their machinations lets it be known he might leave his money to his nurse Robin (Nancy Travis). In an attempt to convince him they are sincere they find estranged grandson Daniel (Michael J. Fox) but that leads to more trouble than they counted on. The ’24 film is given a comic twist here.
I haven't seen any of your picks but I've seen Greed pop out often this week so I guess I'll give that one a shot.
DeleteI'm so glad you loved Casino this much!
ReplyDeleteIt was sooo good!
DeleteAh... 3 great picks. Trading Places is a great film as it showed some of the awful aspects of greed of what 2 old men are willing to do with the lives of 2 men. All for a $1 bet.
ReplyDeleteI forgot it was for a dollar. I'm even more speechless now.
DeleteLOVE the praise for Casino! That is the fastest three hour movie I've ever seen. It flies. I'd almost be embarrassed to admit how many times I've seen that flick.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true! The running time really intimidated me, which is the reason I postponed the watch for so many years, but it flew.
DeleteThe only one I've seen is Casino and I didn't like it, it just bored me.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so so sorry it didn't work for you.
DeleteI don't think I've seen any of these, the last one I might have seen but probably not. :D
ReplyDeleteAll belong to 20th century, if you talk about seasons I think "Breaking Bad" will also make to the list. Besides, I will see if Casino is available on Netflix, will watch it in case it is.
ReplyDelete