#2 - The Godfather

"Don't ever take sides with anyone against The Family... EVER..."

The Godfather (1972) -- Rated R -- Running time 175 minutes.
IMDB rank: 2
IMDB score: 9.1/10
First Viewing? Yes.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Mario Puzo (both novelization and screenplay), The Godfather is a classic crime drama and is considered to be the greatest mafia movie ever made. Marlon Brando, James Caan, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall star, with Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, and Abe Vigoda in supporting roles. That last sentence alone should be enough to make anyone who has not seen this movie stop what they are doing and sign up for netflix. (Or head to blockbuster).

SPOILERS BELOW *** SPOILERS BELOW *** SPOILERS BELOW *** SPOILERS BELOW

I just can't review this movie without revealing certain parts of the plot. I tried. Can't do it. So if you haven't seen the movie yet, or haven't seen it in a while and don't remember/don't want anything ruined for you.... STOP READING!

So... I'm probably the only Italian who hadn't seen the Godfather, but that was remedied earlier this week when I designated 3 hours to watching it (something my dad has been trying to get me to do for about 23 years now). And I have to say... WOW. Truly stunning. I tend to shy away from older movies because there just doesn't seem to be as much attention to detail in the direction as there is in more current films. This lack of detail usually makes older movies boring... "medium shot of good guy... cut to medium shot of bad guy firing gun.... cut to good guy on the floor grabbing at his side." It all just seems sort of choppy. Not so with The Godfather. Coppola weaves the film together with such brilliance, it's hard to believe he has sort of fallen out of the director's chair in recent years... Maybe directing Jack caused his career to unwravel 4 times faster than it was meant to. Who knows...

Anyway, I'm not going to go into the reasons why this is such a great movie because you really need to see for yourself. I mean Brando and Duvall give great performances but, to be honest with you, Caan and Pacino steal the show. They are truly magnificent. I cried when Sonny was shot at the toll booth. Cried. And Michael... good college man Michael who didn't want to get into the family business ends up taking over. It's so sad.

As great as this movie is, no film is perfect (so far). I do have a few bones to pick. First of all, it's a little too long for it's own good. Now, I love long movies... If you don't believe me, just read this. I enjoy length in a movie if it's necessary, but I see a good 20 minutes from the Godfather that I could have done without. I understand that Michael had to go to Sicily until the whole double murder thing blew over. I get that. What I don't get is why we have to sit there and watch as he muscles his way into this family and marries the daughter, only to have her blown up. I get that she was blown up for a reason. Revenge and all that. I understand that (although I would think the 200 or so bullets they put into Sonny would be revenge enough). I just don't see how this entire side plot advances (let alone contributes to) the movie as a whole.

Secondly, Marlon Brando is a little tough to understand throughout the movie. And I know that he always mumbles and that's his trademark and all, but I found myself rewinding quite a few times because I had no idea what he said. Now if you've seen Snatch, you know that sometimes a completely incomprehensible character CAN work. But it works for Brad Pitt in Snatch for a few reasons. First of all, 75% of Pitt's dialogue in Snatch is not integral to the plot, so it doesn't really matter if you understand what he's saying. It's just meant to build up this completely eccentric character. Also, what little dialogue Pitt has in Snatch that you actually DO need in order to understand the plot is reinforced by the actors around him. They'll repeat what he said so the audience has some idea what's going on. Not the case for Brando. He's the Don. The main man. The head honcho. Everything he says completely determines the direction of the film. It's like trying to take a course in Quantum Machanics if the course was taught by Bob Dylan... under water...

My last issue with the movie is a really small one. The music really sets the tone for the movie, only it's the SAME SONG over and over... they just play it on different instruments. It's a really famous song now, and for good reasons. Just hearing the first few bars will send chills down your spine. But after hearing it played on violin... and piano... and guitar... and mandolin... it gets a little old. Not enough to detract from the movie, but old nonetheless.

These few problems i had were not even close to enough to bring this movie down. It's countless bright spots outweigh those issues 100 times over. Even though Brando can be tough to decipher, he gives a bone chilling performance. I give him an 8 out of 10. Robert Duvall is also great with his role, although I would have liked to see more of him. However, he shines in the scenes he is in. I give him an 8 out of 10 as well. Now if that weren't enough, Duvall and Brando are somewhat overshadowed by the 2 youngins Pacino and Caan. Caan's performance is extremely powerful and is reason enough to watch the movie. Pacino's transformation from the good son who wanted nothing to do with the family business ("That's my family Kay, that's not me"), to the ruthless head of the Corleone family ("Barzini is dead. So is Philip Tattaglia. Moe Green. Stracci. Cuneo. Today I settle all family business...") is the definition of "performance of a lifetime". They both get 9's out of 10.

Interesting facts:

1) When Tom Hagen has to tell the Don that Sonny was shot on the causeway, Marlon Brando says, "My wife is crying upstairs. I hear cars coming to the house. Consigliore of mine, I think it's time you told your Don what everyone seems to know." This line is somewhat recreated in the movie Ocean's 13 by Elliott Gould. Also starring in Ocean's 13 is James Caan's son Scott Caan, Al pacino (Michael Corleone), and Andy Garcia who has a role in The Godfather: Part III.

2) Interesting fact #2 is that because of Sonny and Michael, I now want to wear a vest everytime i have to wear a suit... it just looks so badass. see here. and here. and here too.

IMDB score: 9.1
My score: 9.7

Recommendations: Goodfellas, Casino, The Untouchables

well that's about it... coming up next: The Godfather: Part II.

Note #1

Just a side note.... I've noticed a trend here. For the most part, movies at the top of the list tend to be rather long. 9 of the top 10 movies on this list are over 2 hours long, with the top 10 having an average running time of just over 2 and a half hours. I have always agreed that Hollywood's typical 90-100 minute standard is rather short as far as movies go, but could this be proof of a direct correlation between quality and quantity?

#1 - The Shawshank Redemption

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies..."

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) -- Rated R -- Running time 142 minutes.
IMDB rank: 1
IMDB score: 9.2/10
First Viewing? No.

The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Stephen King short story titled "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", is a prison drama directed by Frank Darabont. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy and Morgan Freeman as Red.

Now let me start off by saying that The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies of all time, so this review might be a tad skewed. I've loved this movie ever since the first time I saw it on TNT one weekend. Luckily for me, TNT also loves Shawshank so they play it every other weekend (or at least they did back in the late 90s/early 00s).

Everything about this movie seems perfect. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman give the performances of a lifetime, the supporting cast compliments them beautifully, and a relatively green Frank Darabont is able to tie it all together with a wonderful craftsmanship that would make Bob Vila blush. Also, Morgan Freeman's narration helps put the movie over the top. You can hear the pain and solemness of a man who has spent 20... 30... 40 years in prison. Add to that, an amazingly moving scene from Hollywood mainstay James Whitmore and you've got all the makings for a classic.

The Shawshank Redemption is also one of the only movies I have ever seen where I loved the music so much that I had to find out who scored it. Interestingly enough another film with the same quality was American Beauty, both of which are scored by Thomas Newman (cousin of singer Randy Newman). Thomas Newman has scored at least 1 Oscar nominated film every year from 1994's Shawshank to 2006's The Good German with everything from Cinderella Man (2005) to Finding Nemo (2003) in between. The man has to be doing something right. The music from Shawshank is so moving that it was actually played in the background of inspirational montages from the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Personal biases aside, I do have a few qualms with this movie that I feel I should point out. First of all, the movie takes place over the course of about 20 years, and yet the characters never seem to age all that much? The prison warden remains the same over the 2 decades, as do the guards and for the most part, the prisoner population. This doesn't affect the film all that much because you grow accustomed to the characters, but it is something to point out.

The only other issue I have with the film is a very small one. Towards the end of the movie, Morgan Freeman's character claims that 500 yards is "just shy of half a mile". This always bugged me, because simple math tells you that 500 yards is actually just over a quarter of a mile... well short of the supposed half a mile. Now, Morgan Freeman's character IS a convict who has spent 40 years in prison and very well may be uneducated, but being a math nerd I can't help but squirm every time I hear that line.

Is Shawshank a good movie? Yes. Is it a great movie? Yes. Is it the greatest movie of all time? Well, I guess that's what I'm about to find out...

IMDB score: 9.2
My score: 9.7

Recommendations: The Green Mile, Mystic River

Introduction

Let me start by saying "Hello". My name is Anthony and I am a recent college graduate from a University in Boston. I won't go into the details, but it's not any of the 2 or 3 you're thinking of. I graduated in May of 2009 and moved back home to Connecticut. Since then I have become a job searcher by day and a movie watcher by night.

I have always been an avid movie fan. I took a few cinema courses in college which only fed my hunger for watching movies. Being a math major, it was refreshing to have a break between Calculus and Numerical Analysis where I got to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off. However, now that I have an indefinite number of "days off", I have decided to start my very own blog...

I will be watching each and every movie on IMDB.com's list of the top 250 movies of all time. I will then write a review of each movie and post it here. In a perfect world, I would write about 5 reviews a week (yea, i have a lot of time on my hands here) which would mean this whole extravaganza would take about a year... but that's being optomistic. I mean, there's a chance I could get a (gulp) job, and that number could see a slight dip. We'll see how it goes...

So here are the details: I will watch every movie on the top 250 movies of all time list from "The Internet Movie Database" aka "IMDB". Now, as movies are being released everyday there is always some fluxuation on the list. New releases tend to be rated higher than they should because of all of their hype and end up making it to the list when they probably shouldn't. (For example, "(500) days of summer" is currently on the list which I doubt will last for very long). To attribute for the ebb and flow of public opinion, I will be going off of the top 250 list as of about 10:00PM on August 30th, 2009. I will review all 250 of these, and any movie that infiltrates the list from now until I have finished. As of this writing I have already seen exactly 75 of these movies which accounts for 30% of the entire list. I will watch all of these movies again so they are fresh in my mind as I write my reviews.

Now, anyone who says "You got this general idea from that movie Julie & Julia", is only like 37% correct. A few nights ago I was watching NBC's 30 Rock (which is a great show by the way). I came across an episode where Liz Lemon says something along the lines of "We decided to watch every movie on AFI's top 100 list but we only have "Star Wars" and "The Graduate" so we've been watching those 2 over and over." And as they say, "The rest is History"...

So set your phasers to "stun", activate the flux capacitor, and rev up my netflix account, because here... we... go...