The Reel Rejects - CASINO (1995) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

BETTER THAN GOODFELLAS?! Casino Full Reaction Watch Along:  https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/thereelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ 1 year after they gave their Goodfellas Reaction...now it's time for Casino Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review w/ Coy Jandreau (DC Studios) & Tara Erickson! Join Coy and Tara as they dive into Martin Scorsese's 1995 masterpiece, Casino, a gripping tale of greed, power, and betrayal set in the glitzy yet dangerous world of Las Vegas. With unforgettable performances from Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver & The Godfather) as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, Joe Pesci (Home Alone & Raging Bull) as the volatile Nicky Santoro, and Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct & Catwoman) in her Oscar-nominated role as Ginger McKenna, this film showcases Scorsese's signature storytelling and unmatched direction. The extended cast also includes James Woods & Don Rickles! Coy & Tara REACT to the Best Scenes & Most EPIC Moments, including Nicky’s Explosive Outbursts, Ginger’s Meltdown, The Vice Scene, The Desert Confrontation, The Casino Heist, Sam’s Downfall, and THAT Brutal Ending! Martin Scorsese has directed such classics like Mean Streets, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Goodfellas, Shutter Island, The Departed, The Irishman, Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, King Of Comedy, & MORE! Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Don't worry, though. Sierra also has yoga gear. It might be a good place to find your zen. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Without further ado, let's dive in to Casino. Yeah! Oh my God. Casino. What a motion picture. Holy shit, yo.

Oh, man. That's some shit right there. Wow. If you're listening to us in Spotify or iTunes, we just watched Casino, an epic miniseries disguised as a movie. And I say that as a compliment because I miss movies feeling complete. And I do feel like a lot of movies feel serialized now,

not just like franchise movies, but movies don't have that kind of grandiose weight, and that felt like a life we lived. Yeah. Like, I'm exhausted. I'm so tired. Like, it's just, it was a lot because it's great storytelling with great dialogue, amazing acting, so none of it takes you out of it,

and that's what makes a good film, because you feel like you're living in this fucking... For three hours. Chaos. Slash five years or whatever. Yeah. Like, I'm physically drained because of it being so immersive. Oh, me too. I think that's the kind of Martin Scorsese I love.

I recently watched Taxi Driver, which isn't as much my thing as this. And I think the difference is, and I've been really racking my brain over it, because I think of myself as loving Scorsese is the joy that Scorsese takes in some filmmaking is what I like about him. And that's not to say, I don't like dark filmmaking. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors. But for Scorsese, I think the joy is what I like about his filmmaking. And this and Goodfellas and The Departed, I think, are my.

favorite examples of that. Yeah, because you can tell, I mean, I guess in the writing, because you saw that he wrote it with the guy who wrote the book, is that taking the time to breathe and also knowing, it's really hard to know when you show us a shot of pure chaos to cut back to a master with them being silent to know that you'll probably get a laugh. That just takes confidence. A lot of confidence and you got to know you're pacing with the script and the tone of what you're doing and every time it went there like oh yeah by the way like my wife's pregnant again and he's like oh and it's the fuck she's in there and they do a hand shake yeah they're putting the thing down to shake his hand like that's it's just that's where the kind of the joy comes in

and the pacing the editing the transitions a lot of the joy i got from the transitions where it's like that was a playful transition that took six hours like yeah the transitions are not this was on film this was not something you do in final cut on your phone this was film that was thousands of dollars of moments to get that transition right and hours of set up like that's joy when you're playing in that and there was so much of that in this one the first act of this film is like transitions are supporting character the first act of this film because you're going between so many different leads you're introducing so many different characters you're establishing so many different settings and not just physical settings but the montages of

this person is this this this this and then this is the other side of that where his wife's world is this, this, this, and then later, Nikki's world is this, this, this. Those are settings, too, in what it encapsulates. And without the transitions, that could have gotten really stale. Right, and they built up the casino to be a whole other character, and the way they did that is in the

transitions, in the B-roll, which doesn't look like B-roll. It makes it look like a character. They would go from her to him to a close-up of a dice, like, rolling on a table. But he just wade to show his intellectualism of the... Exactly. Like, and everything, it didn't

just look like a, I mean, of course he wouldn't do a shitty B-roll shot, but I'm saying like when you, it's in the beginning of the movie, it's like a diet, it's rolls and then someone blows on the, on the dice. And it's just, it's like backlit and, and it's, it's amazing. Where you're like, the casino is also being set up as a whole other character. So if you've never even been to Vegas, you're like, now I know when it's like, like insane. You lived there. Yeah. I've been there many times. So you have. exponentially more experience. This was the first movie I've seen about Vegas

that made me smell Vegas. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's gross. There's like there's a stagnant smoke that's in the carpets that will never leave. Yeah. Even once they've changed the carpets.

Like there's a permanent thickness. Yeah. And it used to be worse. Like it's gotten less. I go to Vegas like once or twice a year and it's better every time. That smelled like my first couple trips to Vegas. And I'm sure then it was like you couldn't even walk in there. Like I can't even imagine.

existing but like that's how much it captured the atmosphere that I was like oh I remember that stank so gross and that's what they made the new hotel even the aria or some shit when it was built um had the newest upgraded like filters and air like fans that blow it out so they would make everyone who lived in Vegas like go there because it doesn't smell like smoke and they actually did a good job because you go to the lobby you're like it smells good in here so weird such a weird fucking thing that you have to do in a fucking city. But that's, that's Vegas. And like cinema cons at the

Caesar's palace and it's still like years later has not as much because they clean Caesar super well but like it was funny watching this having memories of Vegas because it's so captures that but obviously the criminal side and seeing like you know the 80s version of how they supervised everything like I

don't know how it's done today but the people above watching and all the different jobs and like you said like I've seen all those people and like I never know what the fuck they're doing pit boss watching this guy and this guy and like I've heard those names because like oceans movies but this is really cool to see that the the thing I love about the departed is cops and criminals when someone's holding a gun what's the difference is like the whole concept of like if you're an Irishman in Boston you're going to end up one of those paths as kind of the story this was cool

because it was a similar archetypal story but it was two sets of criminals one set of criminals was legally doing the crime gambling is crime it's just legally allowed out there. Like, I'm not getting into the law, but you know what I'm saying? Like, it's, it's stealing. And then the other side was criminals stealing and them both being like, yeah, we're here to steal. And one of them just does it on the books that are literal books.

And then there's that third party that's just getting all the money from everyone back home. What a dynamic way to tell an intense crime saga. Yeah. I mean, I agree. Because you don't, you don't recognize it as having that many moving parts, but we're also seeing them to his characters and friends and how they grow a part. yet their loyalty still stand through all of this bullshit and you're like he didn't even want

Nikki to come to town because he's like that dude's gonna fuck me up but you know I can't tell him to not come you know he's he's like a brother yeah and the way that we are able to see that relationship move through all the shit that they're doing when you kind of set us up to for like Nikki's the bad one he's the bad thief like he's gonna fuck shit up versus De Niro is sort of like he has his shit together yeah right and And then we kind of see where that at the end, they did set us up for that, where it's like, yeah, De Niro does end up winning because he was just smarter about it all through the whole way through, except for I don't think he ever would have broken if it wasn't for the woman that he fell in love with, which they set us up with that. The second you see or you're like, there's a script tonight. And that song cue you love.

Imagine the fucking poke. Yeah, the chip's going up. The song comes on. And he falls in love with her as she. She's causing the chaos that she's going to cause in his life. I love that he sees her. Such a metaphor. And he's like, well, that's, that's, I'm screwed now.

She smiles at him and he's fucked. And I love that that's his downfall. We knew it from the beginning. But I love that they showed us him dying in the opening, but he's a narrator. And then also, the whole movie you're wondering who sets him up and you think it's Nicky, you think it's Sharon Stone, you think it's, and I love that you kept guessing. And then he survives. And the way that movie, like, played with your expectations.

And I, you know, you felt so bad for Sharon Stone's character, but they, made her so genuinely a junkie and she was so good at acting that you empathized even when she was being a monster towards him and most of his decisions were coming from a place of protecting his daughter but some of them were selfish enough that you were judging him so you understood her side enough but then she'd make a bad call it was just such a balancing act yeah i absolutely agree it's it's it's funny when you saw him be pushed to the to like to his threshold when He's like dragging her. He's like, finally get the F out.

Yeah. And you're kind of thinking from a character's point of view, yeah, if you got rid of her, you could keep the child safe and none of this shit would matter. But then we see her slowly come back in after two fucking hours. He gives her a bunch of money to fuck off. She could have stayed in a hotel. She doesn't. She just comes and crawls back into the bed and he's like, because I knew if I couldn't,

I never see her again and he couldn't let her go and he just puts his hand on her and you just know that this is how it's, she's going to be the girl like who cried wolf and he'll always like, he'll always understand, he'll always take her back. I mean, until, of course, we see it really go into a downward spiral towards the end.

But that's the basis of their, that's the basis of their relationship. Yeah. You would always be there for her. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he knows she's fucking high on Coke, tied up the motherfucking kid. An alcoholic.

I mean, she's, Blackadoo Wild. And that also explains her, James Woods, like, that is actually the right guy for her. Yeah, I mean, they're perfect. They would have died way sooner. They would have died 20 years earlier. That is that it justifies all those decisions. And I love that he loved her enough to even get the autopsy, like a real autopsy and like the hot dose.

And like, he always loved her and he always just wanted to fix her and you can't fix someone. No, you can't. And to think that like the day they get fucking married, if I ever saw the person I married on the phone, crying their eyes out? To their ex. Not even just crying their eyes out. To their ex. Nope.

There you go. See you later. And he made it a business arrangement. That's one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a movie that has a love story that's non-traditional. That was such a fascinating.

He's a businessman that has all of his T's crossed and eyes dotted and he has a business arrangement love and then it keeps coming back to bite him. Because you felt the heart when he looked at her, when he looked at her, when he looked at her. We knew. We just fucking knew. He didn't even have to say I'm in love with her. I mean, I think he said it once, but we just knew. And that's like what makes storytelling so fucking good. Yeah. When you do it the right way. De Niro's such a force. Like he's, I mean, I'm seeing a lot more De Niro movies through reacting to them. But I've always been a fan. And this was one of those performances. This and the Untouchables, where he plays Al Capone. Just. I don't know if I've seen that. It plays Al Capone. It's terrifying. It's like so good. I got to watch that.

It's Kevin Costner versus Al Capone. What? It's Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness, like the guy that took down Capone and De Niro's Capone. And it's like a modern Western. It's like this really dope neo-noir. I need to watch that on the channel. I got to tell Greg. It's really good.

Why the fuck ever do I watch that movie? I watched it with Andrew here. You did? So if it did well, maybe there can be a sequel. Yeah, yeah. Someone else reacts. We haven't had that yet. If there's another reject that hasn't reacted yet, you guys do have we do pairs of reactions.

I would love that. That sounds like an amazing movie. It was so special. What's his name's in it, too? Sean Connery. It's like a dope movie. I love him. Do you guys remember the movie

with the lasers where he met his wife, Catherine? Leave it in the comments if you wanted to watch the Untouchable solo reaction. So good. So yeah, this blew me away. I had really high expectations

after Goodfellas. We watched Goodfellas. You forgot. I did. That's my memory. And it was really funny because I was so afraid Joe Pesci

would be the exact same role and he was similar enough. I got really worried. Yeah. In that movie, Joe Pesci is just like a wild card that causes everything to go to crap. He is also that here, but it takes longer and the wildcardness is less public.

He's publicly a wildcard here, but in a more realistic way. Yeah, and what we saw behind the scenes of him having his loyalty to his fucking friend and her, and you're like, he had these odd-ass boundaries that he really believed in. Like, he had a weird moral code where he would be like, no, you wouldn't have to go and fucking kill you. I'd come to Europe and kill you. That's not what are you doing? You're like, what in the actual fuck?

You'd see him assess, like his eyes, he would be like, okay, against four. I know. Wild. I mean, this is just, this is why when, you know, when movies fail, I, there's some part of it that has to do with when you don't have good casting, you know, have good actors, they can't, like, really bring it. If the casting doesn't do their job to where this person is made for this role, and if they had had someone else who was made for it, it probably would have done a lot better. because good actors can work with shit lines, but every person in this, obviously it was like, but Scorsese knows how to do that.

He has always known how to put people and write and choose the films that he knows that he can fucking make and that he knows the people to choose to put in those roles, which is why I think his movies do so well because you just, you believe it versus there's not one character, which there's great films, there can still be a character out of it. We're like, they were all right.

Like, not that good. I feel like he needs Joe Pesci specifically to what you're saying like the description of the character and the role I think Joe Pesci doesn't get as much love as he should as one of the best comedic dramatic actors because Jim Carrey's always like

oh yeah and he does great drama too like there's certain actors Robin Williams where you say like oh my God we need Joe Pesci to be in that conversation because I grew up with him and my cousin Vinny which I hadn't seen as an adult I'd only seen like ages zero through seven

but that plus home alone made him comedic and then from like age eight to 20 I watched lethal weapon religiously like I still love lethal weapon but like those are all very comedic yeah I didn't see dramatic Joe peshy until we watched Goodfellas yeah so I've now seen like these two powerhouse performances and they're so good at no point was like oh comedic actor Joe pesci right I literally grew up with Leo gets from this is crazy good work so I think he needs me in the gym carry Rob Williams conversation maybe we just because we haven't watched as many as much of, because when his

name popped up, I went home alone. Because we haven't watched as much of his dramatic side that he might, everybody might be yelling at us to be like, he's been in that list. Everybody's been talking about and what the fuck is wrong with you. That's probably true. There's probably like 100 internet lists of like best comedic dramatic acts is Joe Pesci.

But I get what you're saying. But for us. For us. I mean, you heard me say home alone. And I don't remember good fellas. He's crazy. I'm dude, like it's scary. to me that when they told me that I watched Goodfellas, I was like, wait. I was like, who's in it? And did we really?

And are you joking? I want five years. This happens to me all the time here. I think we need you reacting to movies you've already reacted to in five years. Like we give it a couple of years and then we would have you react to your reaction after the movie. Like you're here for four hours because it's two hours of the like and then they watch your reaction.

Oh my God. And see if they're the same. Or if you've totally changed your experience in life so you have a different experience. I would love to do that. I think that's a great plan because y'all know long COVID ate my fucking brain. Tara reacts as a series, but it's you reacting to you. It's so good. Sign me up.

I will do it. I feel like we're not doing this movie enough justice because I've been having, I had such a good time watching this that I'm in like a really good exhausted mood. 10 out of 10, man. Yeah, this was really special. It lived up to the legend, the legacy. It was also really hard to react to because it's one of those movies much like Goodfellas where it's got this incredible pacing and staccato and this.

incredible rhythm to it that I didn't want to talk over at any point. And also like, you're just so engaged. Yeah. And it's so weird. And people in the comments are like, what are you guys talking about? It's like, would you rather a stare at you? Like, what do you think reactions are? Right.

Like, we're supposed to give our thoughts and react to it. This one was hard. It was very hard. I mean, I was just so engaged in like the actors, you know, when you have such like a list quality actors, a glimpse and a look from their eye that you would miss or talk over. It's like you don't want to miss a word or a glimpse at all. And sometimes when you're

saying stuff and trying to communicate, you can in this movie, you just don't want to miss a second. I don't want to close my eyes, don't want to fall asleep. I'd miss you, babe, and I don't want to miss a thing. What movie? That's, that's, that's, I'm a getting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting. You almost quoted. You said like three different lines that were paraphrasing Erosin.

Oh, my God, I don't want to close my eyes. I don't want to fall asleep because I'd miss you, babe. And I don't want to miss a thing. So good. I reacted to that on the channel like three months ago. Subconsciously remembered because you paraphrased. I did. I paraphrase it.

Absolutely. Fucking Armiget. That was great. Well, this was amazing. Lived up to expectation. Everyone that got mad at me for not loving taxi driver, I hope you enjoyed me absolutely loving this. I think Scorsese, that's the strength of Scorsese.

He is a legend of filmmaking because not everything's going to be for everyone, but he's so good at everything that even the things that aren't for me, I can go, respect. And then I can be like, but this one. And now this is another, this one for me. This is one of this one. So freaking good. Three hours of nonstop amazingness.

Yeah, riveted. Me too. Just fully engaged, wasn't bored, wasn't like what time is it? No. Because you can get that when movies that are longer, not with this one. Get that movies that are shorter. I know. I feel like TikTok has caused my brain to run.

Like, and that fact that was three hours. And you look at the thing and you're like, it's only been 40 minutes. It's been 18 minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's been reactions where I've been like, oh, this is supposed to be a comedy. Oh. No, no. That's funny.

Is there a way to leave? But yeah, so this was the opposite. Love this, riveted. And I say felt like a miniseries as high praise. That felt like an AMC or, you know, HBO, like a high premium quality and quantity of time we got to spend. So Scorsese, I think he's going to do okay. What an experience. What a film.

It's going to be all right. He's going to be a contender. I think also last note is that the glasses that he wore at the end when he's like doing his betting where Scorsese's glasses. these glasses. We've seen him wear those glasses. Oh my God, that's true. I think that he was like, you wear these. You know what you need these? He puts his mom in there. No doubt. No doubt those are his glasses. There you go, Bobby. Just wear these and do some numbers. Exactly. That was exceptional. Let us know in the comments below if there is a list about Joe Pesci being the comedic traumatic actor we know it to be. Also, if there's another Scorsese, I haven't seen Raging Bull. I haven't seen

the Jesus one. There's a lot of stuff I haven't seen. So any of those that you want us to watch let us know even if she's seen it she won't remember let us know in the comments if there's one we're missing and much love rejectionation we'll see you soon bye