Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #5 Casino

Box Office: $42.5 Million Dollars

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress (Sharon Stone)

Oscar Wins: None

MovieRankings.Net: 91/100

Available To Stream: Peacock

For a movie with so much happening in it from murders to Las Vegas to showgirls to political corruption, Casino is really just about trust and relationships. You can be brilliant and have all the right ideas but if you trust the wrong people, you're fucked. 

When this came out, it got very little award buzz (outside of Sharon Stone) and mildly positive reviews because it kept getting compared to Goodfellas. I get it. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci in another gangster movie directed by Martin Scorsese that came out only five years later. I'm not going to say there aren't similarities. Both take place in the 70's and 80's, both use Pesci as the violent guy in the crew, both even use Rolling Stones songs. 

So while I can admit, these might be cousin movies, the themes are different. Goodfellas is about Henry Hill, who can never be in the mob but loves everything about it and wants to get as close as possible. Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro) doesn't like the mob but knows it's the only way he can get ahead. Henry laments going legit and even bitches about lousy tomato sauce by the end. He wanted to be in the mob forever. Ace sees the whole thing as a giant albatross around his neck.

Ace's biggest downfall is his ego. He believes he can change a woman like Ginger (Sharon Stone in an all-time great performance) even though she herself warns him he can't when he proposes. He thinks he can change how they've done things in Nevada because he's right about one guy being an idiot. Ace is so stubbornly principled that he can't see anyone else's perspective. Life isn't a pass/fail like it is with picking football winners on a Sunday. These are the most interesting elements of Casino and the things that stick with me the most. That's why I have a hard time saying this is a twin movie with Goodfellas. I see them more as a mob trilogy along with The Irishman that show why the mafia might be fascinating from afar, the core is rotten and will leave you ruined.

Moviestore. Shutterstock Images.

We have to talk about Lester Diamond, who might be the biggest piece of shit in movie history. James Woods is so great to just dive in to be Lester. There is nothing redeemable about this child molesting, drug addicted pimp but Ginger just keeps going back to him. I respect the movie for not going overboard to explain why. Is she self-destructive? Does she like the risk? Did she just want to make Sam jealous? I think it's all of the above. Sam and Ginger are very different people but they are both wildly selfish and don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks.

This isn't my favorite Scorsese movie ever (but it's damn close).However, it might be his finest job directing. It's shot so fucking well. The way he makes Vegas look. The explanations of how the casino operates and watches over us. The mixing in of humor. How he allows and shows the brutality of the end. It's his most beautiful looking movie. That shot of Nicky driving in the reflection of Ace's sunglasses. Does it get any better than that?

I know he won Best Director for The Departed and that's a great movie…but to not even get nominated for this is a shame. Chris Noonan got nominated the same year for Babe. Babe is a very good kid's movie but what are we doing here?

I first saw Casino in the theaters on Black Friday in 1995. I had just turned 16 and it absolutely blew my mind. How it looked, how they spoke, seeing a casino from the point of view of someone running it. I couldn't believe how good it was and how badly I wanted to see it again.

29 years later on the same day, I love this movie just as much.

5. Casino

6. Groundhog Day

7. The Silence Of The Lambs

8. Office Space

9. The Sixth Sense

10. Boogie Nights

11. Jurassic Park

12. Jackie Brown

13. A Few Good Men

14. The Fugitive

15. The Truman Show

16. Fargo

17. Swingers

18. Reservoir Dogs

19. There's Something About Mary

20. Sleepers

21. Schindler's List

22. Rushmore

23. Fight Club

24. Saving Private Ryan

25. True Romance

26. Dumb & Dumber

27. Kingpin

28. Donnie Brasco

29. Heat 

30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

31. Rounders

32. Unforgiven

33. Trainspotting

34. The Game

35. Out Of Sight

36. Carlito's Way

37. Seven

38. L.A. Confidential

39. Speed

40. Gattaca

41. Misery

42. Tombstone

43. Ransom

44. Wayne's World

45. The Insider

46. Back To The Future Part III

47. A Bronx Tale

48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt

49. Eyes Wide Shut

50. The Sandlot

51. Happy Gilmore

52. Contact

53. The Green Mile

54. Man On The Moon

55. Boyz N The Hood

56. Grosse Pointe Blank

57. Independence Day

58. The Rainmaker

59. Go

60. The Firm

61. Magnolia

62. The Talented Mr. Ripley

63. Tommy Boy

64. The Usual Suspects

65. In The Line Of Fire

66. My Cousin Vinny

67. Awakenings

68. JFK

69. Toy Story

70. Home Alone

71. Jerry Maguire

72. Titanic

73. Billy Madison

74. Apollo 13

75. Braveheart

76. Edward Scissorhands

77. Cape Fear

78. The River Wild

79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

80. 12 Monkeys

81. Stir Of Echoes

82. Mission: Impossible

83. Total Recall

84. Quiz Show

85. For Love Of The Game

86. Being John Malkovich

87. Men In Black

88. Scream

89. Alive

90. Three Kings

91. Glengarry Glen Ross

92. Die Hard With A Vengeance

93. The Blair Witch Project

94. Twister

95. Dirty Work

96. Election

97. Tremors

98. Any Given Sunday

99. The Wedding Singer

100. Clerks

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