I was watching Gangs of New York on AMC last night. Given that both it and GoodFellas are Scorsese movies, I found myself comparing the two. For me, the comparison shows the difference between a good movie (Gangs) and a great one (GoodFellas). While Gangs has a good story and is interesting in its recreation of mid-nineteenth century New York City, there are many moments and lines which don't seem essential or particularly exciting or which could be done differently and be just as good or better. In GoodFellas, however, every second is totally riveting and nothing seems wasted. Every scene and line of dialogue feel like they're telling an essential part of the story, and one feels that if anything were done differently, the movie would be diminished.

My opinion anyway. What are your thoughts?