I generally avoid violent films...which is why I resisted watching "Casino" for a long time. However, despite being very violent in spots, the film turned out to be very compelling....it was far more than just violence and had an interesting look at the mob influence in Las Vegas back in the day.

The film is unusual in that it has two leading men with parallel stories. Sometimes Ace and Nicky (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci) were in scenes together....often they were apart...each doing his own thing. As for Ace, he was a smart man who was in charge of one of Vegas' top casinos. He was tough...but basically honest for a mobster. As for Nicky, as you'd expect with a Joe Pesci character, he's a bit of a nut-job....often out of control and letting anger govern most of his decisions. Unlike Ace who had a veneer of honesty about him, Nicky was a hood...and didn't mind this. Eventually, the pair end up having a downfall. How and what happens to each you'll have to see for yourself.

The parts of this film I enjoyed the most were when you learned about how Vegas operated. Seeing Ace dealing with crooked gamblers was especially interesting. And, in this sense, I enjoyed the film much more than "Goodfellas"...also with the same stars and same director. This is because "Goodfellas" was mostly just about violence and crime...whereas "Casino" seemed to have more story and wasn't always about excessive violence and nastiness...not that the film is in any way a 'nice' picture. It's filled with obscenities, nasty folks and a few scenes of horrific violence. Think about this before you decide whether or not to see the movie.

By the way, this is only a personal choice and doesn't really affect the movie much, but one thing I did not love about the film is the omnipresent pop music....which at times made the film seem like a music video. I think less of this would have been nice.

Casino is my favorite movie of the last decade of the last century. Just like in Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese rivets the audience to their seats without a real hero to root for. It's the power of the characters he creates.

Robert DeNiro as the gambler boss of the Tangiers casino in Las Vegas of the 70s and 80s and Joe Pesci gangster are long time boyhood pals from the mean streets of Brooklyn. Both move out to Las Vegas seeking their respective places in their related fields at the orders of the higher ups in the criminal world. But circumstance drives them apart and one of those circumstances is Sharon Stone.

People descending into degradation is always a role that will get you noticed by the Academy. Sharon Stone's part as Ginger is no exception here. She's a high price call girl when we first meet her and her descent into drug addiction isn't pretty, but Scorsese keeps it very real.

But the main story line involves DeNiro and Pesci. To see ourselves as others see us is one elusive goal not attained by many in this world. These two aren't an exception. Each can see how the other is screwing up and absolutely cannot see what he's doing.

The key scene in the whole film is when DeNiro and Pesci meet in the desert where a lot of problems have been known to disappear. If you can get passed all the cursing which is how you would expect gangsters to talk, each is making very realistic assessments about the other one and neither is listening to a word the other is saying.

This is why I love Casino so much. I've never seen that particular theme ever handled so well on the screen.

I don't consider Casino Scorsese's very best film(Goodfellas is my personal favourite),but it is a fantastic film and definitely one to see. It is shocking, disturbing and unflinching in places, particularly the part where a head gets squeezed in a vice, but that added to the atmosphere rather than distracted from it.

Casino is brilliantly made too. I loved the setting, the cinematography and editing are outstanding and never take away from the atmosphere, and Martin Scorsese's direction is superb. The realism the film has is always absorbing, the subplots that form the story are intriguing and the characters are adeptly drawn.

The story for me has seldom a dull moment, not with the subplots as intriguing as they are, how well made it is, how good the characters and acting are. The characters also are deliberately less endearing than are seen with Goodfellas, making it perhaps a more even portrayal of unorganised crime, but the decision to do that paid off. The acting is equally impressive. Robert DeNiro the great actor he is is incredibly charismatic, Joe Pesci gives his best performance in one of his more meatier roles and Sharon Stone(who has never been this good or even sexy before) is a revelation in a very demanding role.

Overall, hugely compelling and underrated. 10/10 Bethany Cox