You've get to credit Martin Scorcese's audacity. He dives in full tilt to a project about low lives, creating their world and ignoring the fact that his films are difficult to find a sympathetic character. I mean, you might think Joe Pesci plays great psycho or that Robert DeNiro can convince you he's the real goods as gambler with the golden touch, but you can't like these guys in Casino. And what about Sharon Stone as Ginger. She's dynamite, but man, this beauty is a major league sleaze. Sick, sick,sick..

Ginger plays the suckers©Universal

       Scorcese is really fascinated by this world. The minutiae of the casino is zoomed in upon by the Scorcese lens. He uses repetitions to establish the rhythm and beat of the place. is no question. This director's captures the essence of the stench of Las Vegas, sliding into the core under close examination. How engaging is this world. That may be part of the problem in selling Casino to an audience. The people depicted by Scorcese aren't really that interesting.
     So what we have is an extremely well-crafted, beautifully filmed uninvolving movie. At least the performances and the filmmaking is at a level that an audience can be fascinated by the director doing what he does so well.
     The first scene in Casino is shot very grainy and the opening moments do not look good on DVD. Grain elements are too prominent. I thought I was in for a rough DVD ride, but that is not the case. The DVD is excellent in anamorphic widescreen 2.35. The gloss and gaudiness of Las Vegas in captured in sharp images and rich colors. The clink of coin, the sound of dice rebounding, are finely detailed in the excellent 5:1 mix. Casino is a well made movie and a bright, dynamic DVD.

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