Goodfellas

With my girlfriend's business trip in Seattle coming to an end today, last night I decided to have myself a good old-fashioned masculine night. I figured I'd come home, put on a suit just for the hell of it, enjoy a steak and some scotch, and watch Goodfellas. In actuality, I got into some gym shorts and flip-flops, had three hot dogs and two Bud Lights, and played Spirit Tracks on my DS. But I did still watch Goodfellas! I don't really have that much to say about it. I've never been one to enjoy gangster flicks as much as some people, but this was still a solid movie, for sure. Well-written, well-acted, and above all, well-directed. But hey, that's what I've come to expect from Scorsese. Maybe it's due to my lack of enthusiasm for the genre (or maybe it's what causes it), but it just seems as though if you've seen a few mob movies, you've seen most of them. A man pays his dues on his way up the ladder, catches some big breaks, does some unspeakable things, has all kinds of sex and does all kinds of drugs and eventually his wife leaves him and his associates don't trust him and it all comes crashing down when he ends up killed, incarcerated, or broke. I'm not saying that's the exact formula followed by Goodfellas, but I am saying it's a formula followed pretty closely, with maybe one or two key twists, by the majority of organized crime films. Even the most classic and beloved ones. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I apologize. This was a good movie and I'm not saying otherwise. I guess I just expected it to be a little more memorable or unique, rather than just a very well-made but very formulaic mobster movie.