Goodfellas review (10/10)

I finally finished Goodfellas and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I found it to be a very realistic and toned down movie, nothing like what I was really expecting. I googled it and this movie is apparently based on a biography of a real man named Henry Hill. His life seems so interesting and I can't wait to read more about it. I'll probably google the book and read that as well since I find it to be pretty cool part of history. Henry Hill died in 2012 which is wild to me.

Ray liotta, the famous actor who played him in the movie, passed away LAST YEAR and I'm just now learning about it.

One thing I will say about this movie is that the entire movie had me on the edge of my seat. I was never sure when anyone would die, or how they would die, the whole thing kept me tense. I can definitely see why people really like this movie because it had my attention from beginning to end and I was just literally so jumpy lol. It's not a horror movie but damn was I always so close to closing my eyes each time anything happened.

I think what's really great about this film is just the sheer amount of hypocrisy that drips from every  single character. I mean, they call themselves "Goodfellas" and "Wiseguys" but they're the worst people imaginable. They steal, they cheat, they murder, they lie, they disrespect everyone they ever meet and they'll double cross their friends in the blink of an eye.

Even though they have all this money and stuff, they never truly are allowed to move up in society, because they have to hide everything. They own all these expensive cars and coats, but everything they own is something that eventually ended up being evidence used against them in court. In truth, they weren't ever really living in luxury.

I enjoy movies about bad people for some reason, I find their mentality to be fascinating. I don't think Henry Hill was ever a good guy, he may have had his moments of empathy here and there, but over time he became just as hardened and crooked as the man who taught him everything. He may have felt bad sometimes, but he never once said no to it because he was too addicted to living this life as a gangster and a mobster. He wanted to be apart of something that he could never truly be fully in due to his irish heritage, and I think that's why he was so intensely loyal until the end when all that shit finally caught up to them.

Anyways, I'll be watching the Godfather next as I've heard that's also a good movie, but that its more exaggerated for film and not as grounded in reality as Goodfellas is.