Sam becomes obsessed with Ginger and aggressively pursues her.

Into the mix walks Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a drop-dead gorgeous hooker who's beholden both professionally and emotionally to her slimy pimp Lester Diamond (James Woods). Often regarded as the final installment in a Mafia trilogy that includes Mean Streets and GoodFellas, Casino covers a 10-year period as it charts the exploits of Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (De Niro), manager of the casino at the fictional Tangiers Hotel in Las Vegas, and his pint-sized gangster partner, Nicky Santoro (Pesci), who cleans up all the messes while making more than a few of his own.

And like his characters, he doesn't pull any punches. Of course, when Marty ramps up the violence, it's tough not to squirm - a scene in which Pesci's character puts a guy's head in a vice and cranks up the tension is especially grisly - but when Scorsese ventures into the world of organized crime, he goes all in. In short, it's typical - or should I say quintessential - Scorsese, and like all the director's films, you just buckle up and enjoy the ride. The film is at once poetic and garish, romantic and repulsive, subtle and audacious. Just as GoodFellas is a gangster tutorial, Casino is a casino tutorial, and some of the movie's most fascinating moments come during its semi-documentary account of the inner workings of these massive gambling meccas, the corruption that takes place behind the scenes and in faraway locales, and the sleazy, mob-like rules of Vegas society. Casino stands on its own, and the way it transports us to and completely immerses us in a glamorous yet tawdry world of outrageous excess and shocking violence makes it one of Scorsese's best movies. Like GoodFellas, Casino is distinguished by Scorsese's inimitable artistry, attention to detail, breathtaking visuals, and peerless grasp of Hollywood moviemaking, as well as top-notch performances from Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Director Martin Scorsese's epic chronicle of a Las Vegas gambling establishment, its underworld ties, and how the heady mix of money, power, and sex destroys the lives of a trio of shady characters captivates from the opening frames and keeps us largely riveted over the course of its hefty three-hour running time. Without a doubt, few mob films, if any, can top GoodFellas, and let's be real, Casino doesn't. Casino is often referred to as a pale imitation of and inferior stepsister to GoodFellas, and while the two films do share many of the same artistic and thematic elements, such an estimation is grossly unfair.

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