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1974 Films, Best Picture Oscar Winners, Drama, Epic, Favorite Film of the Year, Guy Films, Mob, Top 10 Films, Top 100 Films, Top 25 Films, Top 250 Films, Top 50 Films

The Godfather: Part II-1974

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The Godfather: Part II-1974

Director Francis Ford Coppola

Starring Al Pacino

Top 250 Films #2

Scott’s Review #197

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Reviewed: November 25, 2014

Grade: A

Frances Ford Coppola’s sequel (and, technically, a prequel) to the highly regarded and successful The Godfather (1972) is one of the rare sequels to equal, if not surpass, the original in greatness, creativity, and structure.

The Godfather Part II (1974) feels more profound, more complex, and ultimately richer than The Godfather, and it is a masterpiece.

Part II is much darker in tone. Francis Ford Coppola had complete freedom to write and direct as he saw fit, with no studio interference.

The result is a film masterpiece.

The film is divided into two parts, an exciting and practical decision.

The story alternates between the early twentieth century, following Don Corleone’s life, now played by Robert DeNiro, as his story is explained- left without a family and on the run from a crime lord, Don escapes to the United States as a young boy and struggles to survive in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City.

He gets a modest job as a grocery stockboy and eventually rises to power in the mafia.

The second part of the film is set in 1958, as Michael Corleone faces a crumbling empire, with rivals and the FBI investigating him, Senate committee hearings in Washington, D.C., and a failing marriage to Kay (Diane Keaton).

Betrayal is a common theme, as Michael’s wife, brother, and mobster allies are revealed to be cagey enemies. Michael becomes increasingly uncertain and mistrustful of almost everyone around him.

Is Kay a friend or foe? Is Fredo plotting against him? He even begins lashing out at Tom Hagen on occasion.

What makes The Godfather Part II so brilliant, and in my opinion richer than The Godfather, is that it is tougher to watch- and that is to its credit.

Now, instead of being a warm, respected member of a powerful family, Michael is questioned, analyzed, and betrayed.

New, interesting characters are introduced, including Hyman Roth, played by Lee Strasberg, a former ally of Don’s, and Frankie Pentangeli, played by Michael V. Gazzo.

These characters are intriguing, and their allegiances remain unknown throughout most of the film: are they loyal to the Corleones or deadly enemies?

Michael evolves from conflicted to all-out revenge-minded, even seeking revenge against members of his own family. He is now a dark, angry character- gone is the nice, decorated war hero with his whole life ahead of him.

He is much older and has changed.

Similar to the original Godfather, the opening scene is a large celebration- this time, Anthony Corleone’s first communion celebration.

Additionally, the film’s finale features the deaths of several significant characters, one after another.

Unique to this film are the multi-location scenes, featuring New York, Nevada, Italy, Florida, and Cuba, which create an enjoyable segue throughout and support a larger budget.

The blow-up confrontation between Michael and Kay reaches a devastating, shocking climax. When Michael punches Kay in a sudden rage, the audience feels it too.

The incredible scene at the end of the film, with the entire family gathered around for Don’s fiftieth birthday in 1942, is a special treat for viewers; familiar faces make cameo appearances.

I love these aspects of the film.

The rich history of Don is the most significant aspect of The Godfather Part II, known as “Godfather” and the patriarch of the family.

The film shows his life as a boy and a young man, showing how he became one of the most powerful men in the crime world.

I love how he remains a decent man and helps people experiencing poverty and the victims of the ruthless Don Fanucci, his predecessor. He loves his wife and children, but also loves his neighbors and helps them, believing in the principle of fairness.

Ultimately, Don and Michael are worlds apart.

The Godfather Part II (1974) is one of the most complex and well-written films in movie history- studied in film school, discussed, imitated, and championed.

It remains vital and should be viewed and analyzed repeatedly.

Oscar Nominations: 5 wins-Best Picture (won), Best Director-Francis Ford Coppola, Best Actor-Al Pacino, Best Supporting Actor-Robert De Niro (won), Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, Best Supporting Actress-Talia Shire, Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material (won), Best Original Dramatic Score (won), Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction (won)

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture- Drama, Best Director-Francis Ford Coppola, Best Actor-Drama-Al Pacino, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, New Star of the Year-Actor-Lee Strasberg

1990 Films, Biography, Crime Drama, Drama, Favorite Film of the Year, Guy Films, Mob, Top 100 Films, Top 250 Films, Top 50 Films

Goodfellas-1990

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Goodfellas-1990

Director Martin Scorsese

Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci

Top 250 Films #46

Scott’s Review #349

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Reviewed January 9, 2016

Grade: A

Director Martin Scorsese adapts Goodfellas, a crime-mob film, from Nicholas Pileggi’s 1986 nonfiction book. Pileggi helped Scorsese write the screenplay.

The film is more matter-of-fact in its telling than the purely dramatic The Godfather, with added wit and humor, and excellent editing.

Featuring powerful acting by Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, it is a memorable classic mob film that can be enjoyed via repeated viewings.

Largely ad-libbed, the film is rich in good dialogue and contains one of the highest totals of curse words in film history.

The film is told from the first-person narrative of the lead character, Henry Hill.

Henry, now in the Witness Protection Program, recounts his years affiliated with the mob from 1955 to 1980.

We meet Henry as a youngster in Brooklyn, New York. He is half-Italian, half-Sicilian. He idolizes the “wise guys” on the streets and intends to join their ranks one day.

From there, the film describes the trials and tribulations of Henry’s group of miscreants. Henry meets and falls in love with Karen (Lorraine Bracco), and their tumultuous love story is explored through tender moments and affairs.

What I love most about Goodfellas is the characters’ love and the sense that you are part of the action.

The film is a highly stylized family drama- gritty nonetheless, but the viewer feels like they are part of things and a family member- milestones are celebrated, and meals are shared.

We see Henry grow from a gullible teenage boy who idolizes the neighborhood men to a member of the group.

The other characters, such as the vicious and volatile Tommy DeVito (Pesci) and Jimmy “The Gent” Conway (De Niro), are older and more mature.

Bracco’s character is interesting. Unlike most of the female characters in The Godfather films, she is not content to merely sit on the sidelines and look past her husband’s shenanigans and torrid affairs with floozies.

She is a more modern, determined woman, and Bracco plays her with intelligence and a calm demeanor. She wants to be Henry’s equal, not just some trophy wife.

Pesci deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role; he is brutal and filthy, but a mesmerizing character.

During a memorable scene, his character, Tommy, jokingly teases Henry, but when Henry responds in a way that displeases him, the scene grows tense, and Tommy becomes increasingly disturbing.

His famous line “What am I, a clown- do I amuse you?” is both clever and haunting in its repercussions.

I adore the soundtrack Scorsese chose for the film—spanning decades, he selects songs true to their times, such as “Layla” (1970) and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” (1964), which are just perfect.

Worth noting is that when a scene plays, the song is sometimes mixed into the narrative to enhance the scene altogether—becoming a part of it rather than simply background music.

If one is looking for the perfect mob film, one that contains music, wit, charm, and fantastic writing, Goodfellas is among the best.

I prefer The Godfather and The Godfather II, but while Goodfellas has similarities to these films, it is also completely different and stands on its own merits.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Director-Martin Scorsese, Best Supporting Actor-Joe Pesci (won), Best Supporting Actress-Lorraine Bracco, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Film Editing

2017 Films, Drama

Wonder Wheel-2017

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Wonder Wheel-2017

Director Woody Allen

Starring Kate Winslet, Jim Belushi

Scott’s Review #709

Reviewed December 31, 2017

Grade: B+

Woody Allen typically releases a new film each year, and 2017’s project is Wonder Wheel.

Set in 1950s Coney Island, a seaside beach in Brooklyn, New York, the film is an authentic-looking period drama, with lovely costumes and legitimate New York accents from all principal actors.

The story is pretty depressing, though, as a likable character is tough to find. However, Wonder Wheel contains fantastic acting, mainly on the part of star Kate Winslet, whose troubled character is the film’s focal point.

Winslet portrays Ginny Rannell, a struggling forty-year-old woman living in the seaside neighborhood and working as a waitress at a dingy Clam House. She despises her life and longs for a way out of the doldrums, yearning for the life she had years ago as an aspiring actress.

Her husband, Humpty (Jim Belushi), a carousel operator, has alcoholism. Together they raise Ginny’s son, Richie, a young boy who loves to start fires.

When Humpty’s estranged daughter, Carolina (Juno Temple), shows up on their doorstep, having provided information about her mobster husband, and subsequently “marked”, Ginny’s life slowly begins to unravel as she and Carolina pursue the same man, hunky lifeguard, Mickey (Justin Timberlake).

The film’s New York setting is an enormous plus and a standard of many Woody Allen films—the authenticity is apparent. The summer mood of the beach, sand, sunny boardwalk and beach scenes make the viewer feel transported in time.

The 1950s period worked as beachwear, and the amusement park sets were used to their advantage. The actors’ New York accents and the language and sayings are appropriate for the times.

The apartment that the Rannells rent is an excellent treat to the film. The set features a wonderful beach landscape during daytime and nighttime scenes so that the mood change can be noticed—these are all enticing elements to Wonder Wheel.

Enough cannot be said for Winslet’s talents, who make the character of Ginny come to life.

Undoubtedly a tough role for her to play, Winslet, who can make reading the phone book sound interesting, tackles the complex part and arguably gives one of the best performances of her career—my vote would still go to her portrayal of Hannah Schmitz from 2008’s The Reader.

Initially a sympathetic character, she longingly desires to return to the stage and perhaps find stardom as an actress and sees Mickey as her last chance. When events curtail her dreams, her character takes a sharp turn and does an unspeakable act.

I love Justin Timberlake’s acting talents. By 2017, he had successfully proven himself a major star in both the film and music worlds.

As the hunky, charismatic, yet studious and intelligent lifeguard, Mickey, he teeters between womanizer and earnest, love-stricken, young man.

Timberlake has taken on more interesting film roles beginning with the 2010s, The Social Network, and let’s hope there are more to come.

Juno Temple is just perfect as the naive Carolina. With an innocent, sweet personality, she yearns for love and a fresh start. Temple, known mainly for quirky independent film roles, fits a Woody Allen creation perfectly.

Finally, legendary actor James Belushi fills his character of Humpty with dedication, loyalty, and alcoholic rage. He adores Ginny but sometimes takes her for granted.

What a treat for fans of The Sopranos to see a couple of familiar faces appear as (what else?) mobsters. Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa make cameo appearances as Angelo and Nick, henchmen for Carolina’s unseen husband, who is intent on tracking down and killing her.

Despite minimal parts, the actors seem to have a ball reprising similar roles that made them famous.

Wonder Wheel, shot in a similar tone to a stage production, draws comparisons to A Streetcar Named Desire, both with four principal characters- two male and two female, Ginny, Carolina, Mickey, and Humpty, all with some similarities to and some differences with storied characters Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch.

However, the comparisons can easily be studied and analyzed.

Woody Allen creates a film that can be appreciated chiefly for its top-notch acting talent, which is not surprising given the actor’s cast, and it is a compelling, never boring story.

The film is a downer, however, with no heroic characters. Thankfully, this is counterbalanced perfectly by a great New York setting, which is a high point of Wonder Wheel (2017) and cheers up the otherwise dour tone of the film.

2016 Films, Comedy, Drama, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama

Café Society-2016

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Café Society-2016

Director Woody Allen

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Steve Carell

Scott’s Review #462

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Reviewed August 11, 2016

Grade: B+

Having received sub-par reviews but wanting to see this film for myself, as it is a Woody Allen film, and I have yet to see an Allen film I did not like, I traversed to my local theater to see this flick.

I was not disappointed, though others did not share my opinion.

To love Woody Allen films is to love quirky characters who are either neurotic, damaged, or, more often than not, both.

Also notable to Café Society (2016) is the stellar cast of who’s who, many in minor cameo roles, another trademark of Woody Allen films.

Marisa Tomei, Daniel Radcliffe, and television stars Anna Camp (True Blood) have tiny roles, as do stars such as Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks) and Tony Sirico (The Sopranos).

Additionally, Woody Allen himself narrates the film- a highlight.

The main stars of Café Society are Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, both ideally cast.

The setting (which I adored) is 1930s Hollywood, and the action traverses between California and New York City, another common bond in Allen’s films.

Eisenberg plays Bobby Dorfman, a Jewish son of a working-class jeweler who has many siblings. Tired of New York, he flies to Los Angeles to obtain work with his hotshot Uncle Phil, played by Steve Carrell, who knows every celebrity.

There, he meets Vonnie (Stewart), and they fall in love, Bobby unaware of her on-and-off love affair with Phil.

The set and costume designs are to die for, and as a fan of this glamorous period in history, I find it an extraordinary visual treat.

Café Society is a prime example of a film that feels authentic to its time rather than appearing staged with actors merely dressed up in appropriate attire. This is tougher to achieve than one might imagine.

Despite contrary opinions, I enjoyed how most characters were wishy-washy and unsure of their motivations or feelings toward others.

Vonnie loves Phil, and then she warms to Bobby, who has been in love with her since their first meeting. She innocently shows him around Hollywood’s palatial mansions.

She is honest with Bobby but then makes a decision and becomes everything she once despised about Hollywood: a shallow, trophy wife.

Ironically, Bobby becomes involved with a stunning new woman named the same as his ex back in New York. This coincidence is crucial to the film’s point. He transfers his feelings to another woman, but is he pleased?

It did not bother me, though perhaps it should have, that several characters were introduced for a scene or two and then mysteriously dropped.

For instance, the novice hooker, Candy, having tried to make it as an actress and failed, has a heart of gold. However, after her awkward attempt at a tryst with Bobby, the character is never seen again.

Another characteristic of the film that I enjoyed is the natural, overlapping dialogue between the characters. It makes them more genuine and evokes my fondness for Robert Altman films, which used a similar technique with their actors.

The point of Café Society is that nobody ever gets what they want, and the film makes a point that nobody knows what they want.

Containing elements common to other Woody Allen films, Café Society (2016) is intended for fans of his lengthy work.