Popspotting #116: “Super-Size DeNiro” (Aug. 29, 2011)
It’s another movie double feature for Movie Monday, as Jen lines up a couple of three-hour films that star Robert DeNiro.
First up is “Heat,” written and directed by Michael Mann, which also stars Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, and Ashley Judd. (We don’t even get around to Danny Trejo or Natalie Portman, and many other stars.) This stylish cat-and-mouse thriller follows DeNiro’s Neil McCauley, a professional thief, and Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna, veteran LAPD homicide detective.
Then it’s on to “Goodfellas,” a Martin Scorsese masterpiece which stars Ray Liotta, Paul Sorvino, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, and a dozen other great actors. We follow Liotta’s Henry Hill, who says up front, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” He’s taken into the Lucchese crime family by Sorvino’s “Paulie” Cicero, Pesci’s Tommy DeVito, and DeNiro’s Jimmy “The Gent” Conway.
Would you have picked a different pair of epic DeNiro films? Is there another iconic actor that should get some Popspotting love? Let us know!
Goodfellas is one of my favorites, due to the music, acting, sets and costumes. You really feel the progression of time from the 50-Early 80’s. Very well acted move.
Goodfellas is one of my favorites, due to the music, acting, sets and costumes. You really feel the progression of time from the 50-Early 80’s. Very well acted move.
Loved both movies! I have a soft spot for Goodfellas, since I was 12 when I first saw it – this just has to be the first Mob movie that I’d ever liked. If you liked this you might also enjoy Casino, which has DeNiro and Pesci with Sharon Stone. Plot and acting probably pales next to GoodFellas, but the soundtrack is amazing.Â
Since you mentioned LA Movies, I might as well bring up my top 5, in no particular order:
– Jackie Brown. My brother used to live close to the Del Amo Fashion Mall, where the big take-down scenes in JB were staged. Watching this movie gives me good memories of cruising around Del Amo with my brother.Â
– Ruthless People: Another dark movie I watched when I was 12. I never get tired of watching this; there’s just something about the way this captured the excess of Beverly Hills in the ’80s that amazes me.Â
– Go. This reminds me of my Christmases in Southern California. Not so much with the drugs (LOL) but the atmosphere of last-minute shopping and side trips to Vegas, and trying to figure out the best way to have a happy holiday when things go wrong.Â
– Die Hard. Christmas in LA, part 2, with Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. Can’t go wrong with that.Â
– L.A. Confidential. As much as I loved the other “LA noir” movies – Chinatown and Body Heat stand out, in particular – this one stands out to me, the most, because it’s practically a love letter to film noir in itself.Â