2 – The Godfather (1972)

Now i know how Amy Winehouses husband felt.

Set in 1945 The Godfather is about a mafia family boss who happens to be the godfather to around a dozen kids.It must sting the wallet at Christmas time.This Mafia boss,Don Corleone, is hot shit and can make virtually anything happen with his spectacular offers that no one can refuse.Anyway this guy wants Don Corleone to back him in this new drug venture he’s trying to get off the ground.The Don declines and ends up getting shot.Then there’s a war.The Godfather has a pretty good cast with Brando, Pacino, Duvall and Caan to name a few. I’m sure a few other ones will pop up in part II.The Dons favourite son,Micheal,takes the reigns after the shooting.The Godfather is by no means a fast paced film,its miles apart from Goodfellas or Casino but i guess that’s one of the aspects that appeals to people. I’ve never seen a Godfather film before and it’s seems okay,but just okay.There was a couple of lines that made me laugh,one in particular is when they shoot the guy the car and the guy says “leave the gun,take the canolli”.Right,now to watch the  part II.

IMDB RATING      –     9.2
MY RATING     –    7.8
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –     YES
OVERALL     –  IT’S GOT A GOOD NARRATIVE.

3 – The Godfather: Part II (1974)

The ring Fredo,we have to destroy the ring!

I said in my very first post that i would watch every film in order and i have up until this.Lord of The Rings and Star Wars included.But they messed me around doing that so seeing as i’m at the last 2 films I’ve gone ahead and watched Godfather I first.Right Godfather II follows on from Micheal Corleone takes over from his dad and becomes the don.The film has two time lines running at the same time.In one we have Micheal as he runs the Mafia and gets indited and in the other we have the tale of how his dad becmae the don.I found the flashback story to be better.It stars De Niro as Vito and takes place in or around the year 1917.Vitos dad gave guff to a mafia boss in Corleone Italy and was killed for it.They also killed his wife and his son,Vito barely made it away.He’s about 12 years old and bundled off to America on his own.He ebbs out a life and has family and slowly gets involved in small time crime.It’s a good story but on the whole i found the film to be boring,i drifted off a few times and had to rewind it back 10 minutes.I can see why it’s on the list,great acting but just long and boring.Robert Duvall is my favourite character in this.A solid performance.

IMDB RATING      –     9.2
MY RATING     –    7.3
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –     NO
OVERALL     –  NO  FOR ME.BORED ME TO PIECES.

119 – Heat (1995)

Keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ on.

Heat’s a long old slog,2 hours 40 minutes.But it’s a cracker of a film.The first time i saw it 3 years ago i was blown away with it and wondered how i hadn’t seen it sooner.But as i watched it this time i was tuning out because it was still fresh in my head from the last time.You have a pretty good cast with DeNiro and Pacino and even Val Kilmer before he turned to shite.I would have left Ashley Judd out,there’s something about her big rounded face and weird eyes that make not take her seriously as an actress.The plots simple here,we have band of crooks who are being chased by the cops.DeNiro is doing the ‘one last hit’ so he can leave and settle down with a girl he’s known for a full 5 minutes.There’s a lot of shooting and shoot out scenes where it seems the bullet to people getting shot must be about 100:1.Watch Heat once.

IMDB RATING      –     8.2
MY RATING     –    8.1
SEEN BEFORE     –     YES
RECOMMEND?     –     YES
OVERALL     –  GOOD ACTION FLICK.HENRY ROLLINS HAS A SMALL ROLE TOO.

177 – Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

… I’m fucked …

Dog Day Afternoon is about a heist that goes all wrong.There’s a disclaimer thing at the beginning that this all happened on day back in 1972.It would be better if they left this until the end so you’re taken aback that the whole story was real.Al Pacino plays Sonny,a normal enough guy,who with two others decide to rob a bank.One of the other guys gets spooked at the start and bails out. Now there’s only two,Sonny and Sal,the robbery seems to be going perfect until they find out there’s no money and then the cops get wind of the whole thing.The weird twist is that as bold and macho Sonny seems he’s really gay and doing this to fund his lovers (wife) sex change operation.I won’t spoil it for you,but i did read on Sonny Wikipedia page that he sold the rights to the film for a few thousand and 1% of the net profit.Dog Day Afternoon has made $50,000,000 at the box office alone.

IMDB RATING      –     8.1
MY RATING     –     8.3
SEEN BEFORE     –     YES
RECOMMEND?     –     YES
OVERALL     –  GOOD ACTING.INTERESTING STORY.TRUE TOO.