The Godfather

Considerd one of the greatest movies of all time. I haven't seen it in a long time and the movie comes with such high expectations that I wasn't sure if I would still like. But it really does hold up well over time.  It is one of those movies that you can watch multiple times and still find something new.  The plot is complex and intricate. You really have to pay attention to get all the details of what is going on. It is very engaging and really keeps your attention.



In case you dont know what the movie is about. In a nutshell Marlon Brando plays Vito Corleone the head of a mafia family in New York City.  As he is getting older other families are trying to muscle in on him and push his family out. It ends up being the relcutant younger brother played by a young Al Pacino who has to take the rise to the role of leader of the family business.  Obviously there is a lot more going on but to get into all the details would take forever.
The movie ended up winning 3 Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando, and Best Screenplay for Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo.  The most suprising thing is that it didn't win more awards. All the acting was amazing. Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall all lost best supporting actor to Joel Gray for Cabaret. Al Pacino was great as Michael. He starts off as a war hero who wants to get out of the family business but after an assasination attempt on his father and the murder of his brother he ends up taking over the family. The transformation is played flawlessly by Pacino.  Of course the movie wouldn't be what it is without the great writing of Coppola. The amazingly complex plot works perfectly and produced some of the best quotes in movie history, like "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."

Oscar facts:
Cabaret won 8 academy awards but lost Best Picture. Making it the most awards won for a movie that lost best picture.
The Score of the Godfather by Nino Rota had its nomination withdrawn when it was determined that it was used in another film.
Marlon Brando declined the award and had a women claiming to be Native Amarican read a speech about how Hollywood has portratyed the Native American's poorley in TV and movies. "Sacheen Littlefeather" was really a Mexican actress named Maria Cruz.  Brando became the second person to decline the award after George C. Scott did in 1970 with his award for Patton.
The three best supporting actor nominations ties a record for most nominations in one acting category for a movie.
The only two actors in Sleuth(Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine) were both nominated for Best Actor making it the second of three movies where the entire cast was nominated for an Oscar(Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966, and Give 'em Hell, Harry in 1975 were the other two movies).
Al Pacino lost the BAFTA award for Most Promising Actor to Joel Gray from Cabaret. Looks like they got that one wrong.
Also that year Deliverance was nominated for 3 awards including Best Picture. But was not nominated for any acting awards or for the iconic Dueling Banjo's song.

By the Numbers:
The Godfather was ranked number 3 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies of All time in 1997 and number 2 in 2007. It also ranked at number 11 for 100 Greatest Thrills.
On IMDB Top 250 movies of all time it is currently ranked at #2.

Listomania Sunday: US Politicians in Movies

I was having a hard time trying to decide what list to make this week. Living in Wisconsin the news this week has been filled with politics and protests.  It has distracted me from focusing on movies which I would rather debate then politics. I found myself being very frustrated by the no compromising attitude's of both sides.  Anyway, I was thinking of doing lists of union movies or teachers since they have been in the news all week. But finally occurred to me that I should just do a list of the best movies with politicians.  So here it is.

1.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-A movie about a naive guy who ends up a senator and stands up for what he believes in the face of a political atmosphere that just wants him to go along with the establishment.  This is a great movie about the ideal politician that only exists in a Frank Capra movie. Wish there were some politicians that were like this.

2.  The Distinguished Gentleman-The exact opposite of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington about a guy who uses wacky tactics to get elected just so he can get money and gifts from the corporations and lobbyists. My Government and Politics teacher actually showed this movie in class.

3.  Air Force One-An action movie that doesn't quite fit with the rest of the movies but it fits on the list. Harrison Ford as a kick ass President awesome. 

4.  All the Kings Men- A great movie about how a guy who starts off with good intentions and discovers the only way to get things accomplished is through intimidation and corruption. Eventually it catches up to him and he is brought down. Loosely based on the true story of Huey Long you get to see how power corrupts and can get into peoples heads.

5.  The American President-A romantic comedy about a widowed president who starts dating a lobbyist which starts a media frenzy. Written by recent Academy Awards winner Aaron Sorkin the movie is funny and sweet. 

Movies that just missed the list. My Fellow Americans, Bullworth, The Contender, Frost/Nixon, Milk

The French Connection

I have been slacking in writing this blog for a while. Last week I watched the next 4 movies and have not written any blog posts yet. Now it is one day before I usually post and am going to try to get this one in and hopefully next week get the next 3 in.

1971 started what would be 4 years in a row of crime dramas winning Best Picture. The French Connection is about two police detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy Russo in New York City. The two street wise detectives uncover a drug smuggling scheme with a French connection. Gene Hackman plays "Popeye" Doyle who's is a tough and flawed detective that is constantly in trouble with his superiors for his "gut" instincts. On one of his nights off he goes to a night club and sees some guy who is giving away money like it is water and gets very suspicious. He convinces his partner to follow the guy all night to find out what the deal is with him. The follow the trail which eventually leads to high end drug import ring.

Along with being the first Rater R movie to win Best Picture it is also the first movie to win that had cursing in it and also the first action movie to win. Being a big fan of action movies it is not surprising that I love the movie. I love how "Popeye" is a great detective but also very flawed. Not only does he drink but he is racist and has a thing for women in boots(one of them even manages to handcuff him to his own bed). I love the gritty style of the movie and one of Gene Hackman's best performances. The director William Friedkin did a great job and was one of the youngest directors to win Best Director. The movie is known for its action and for the great car chase scene where Gene Hackman is chasing a train in a car. It is one of the best car chase scenes in film history.
The movie beat two other movies that have maybe gone on to become more popular over time. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof. While I think A Clockwork Orange is overrated I do love Fiddler on the Roof. The academy picked the movie between the classic musical and the edgy ultra violent pic. The French Connection also won Best Actor for Gene Hackman, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

Interesting Facts:
A Clockwork Orange was the second and last movie to be Rated X to be nominated for Best Picture
The great movie composer John Williams won his first Oscar for the music in Fiddler on the Roof it was his 3rd nomination and has a total of 45 nominations and 5 wins.
Isaac Hayes won best song for "Theme from Shaft"
The Popeyes chicken food chain was named after Gene Hackman's character
The French Connection was name to the AFI 100 Greatest Movies in both 1997 and 2007 at 70 and 93 respectively and also AFI 100 Greatest Thrills at number 8. A Clockwork Orange was also named to the same three lists at 46, 70, and 21 respectively and is also currently at #54 on IMDB Top 250

Listomania Sunday: Pregnant Characters

Well we announced some big news recently. My wife is pregnant. So, I was thinking should do a list of the best movies where a main character is pregnant.

1.  Fargo

2.  Children of Men

3.  Juno

4.  Knocked Up

5.  Rosemary's Baby

Patton

With its now iconic opening 1970's Patton truely makes an impact. It lets you know exactly who Patton was and what his beliefs were. Ironically the beginning was one of the things that the studios at the time didn't like, because it showed an older Patton then the movie goes back to a younger Patton. But it works and really gets you into the movie. Francis Ford Coppola who wrote Patton used a similar style of opening for The Godfather (which also won Best Picture). It is the interesting writing along with great acting and a wonderful score that makes this movie great.


Patton follows the rise and controversies of General Patton during WWII. He starts of the movie as a 2 star General and ends the movie as a 4 star General. In between he has many setbacks. This mostly has to do with his very strict rules for his men and his unique ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. For a while he is used as a diversion to make the German Army think he is going to attack from England when really he was basically removed from command and placed on disciplinary leave for hitting a solider. Eventually he makes his big push and establishes himself as a great military leader.

What I like about this movie is that it is not the typical war movie. Patton is a flawed but also brilliant General. He had one of those personalities that borders on that line between genius and insane. He studied military history and was a great strategist but he also thought that he had past lives and fought in some of those battles. There are a few battle scenes but not many. The movie mostly focuses on Patton and his interactions with the higher commands. With his tendency to stick his foot and question their strategies he was constantly in trouble. But on the battle field there was no one like him. The movie had great performances by George C. Scott as Patton and Karl Malden as his best friend General Bradley. Francis Ford Coppola's script balances the genius and quirky personality of Patton perfectly. Interestingly Coppola first submitted the script for the movie 5 years before the movie was made and it was rejected for being too unusual mostly because of the opening sequence. Eventually someone found his script and used it and he won an Academy Award for best Screenplay.

Oscar Facts
Patton was the first PG rated movie to win Best Picture (only the third rated movie to win)
George C. Scott who won Best Actor declined the award saying competition between actors was wrong. The first person ever to turn down an Oscar.
A very different war movie was also nominated for Best Picture in 1970 the antiwar movie M.A.S.H.
Woodstock won Best Documentary that year.

Listomania Sunday; Oscars

Midnight Cowboy was the 42th movie to win best picture and tonight is the 83rd Academy Awards making Midnight Cowboy the halfway point to my goal of seeing all the movies to win best picture in order. So, I thought this would be a perfect time to do a list of my 5 favorite and 5 least favorite movies of the first 42 years of Oscar.



5 Favorite
1. Casablanca (1943)
2. All About Eve (1950)
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
4. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
5. The Sound of Music (1965)
Honorable Mention: On the Waterfront, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Apartment

5 Least Favorite
1. Cimarron (1931)
2. Tom Jones (1963)
3. Oliver (1968)
4. Hamlet (1948)
5. Gigi (1958)
Dishonorable Mention: How Green was My Valley, Cavalcade and Grand Hotel.

Academy Award Predictions

Almost forgot to post my predictions.
I realized that I am predicting a lot of upsets this year so I have included the favorite to win in each category.

Best Picture-The Social Network (Favorite to Win-The Kings Speech)

Best Director-David Fincher (also favorite to win)

Best Actor-Colin Firth (also favorite to win)

Best Actress- Natalie Portman (Also favorite to win)

Best Supporting Actor-Christian Bale(also favorite to win)

Best Supporting Actress-Helena Bonham Carter (favorite to win- Melissa Leo)

Best Screenplay Adapted-The Social Network (also favorite to win)

Best Screenplay Original-Inception (favorite to win The Kings Speech)

Best Animated Feature- Toy Story 3 (also favorite to win)

Art Direction- Inception (favorite to win The Kings Speech)

Costume Design- Alice in Wonderland (favorite to win The Kings Speech)

Documentary Feature-Restrepo (favorite to win Inside Job)

Best Editing-The Social Network (also favorite to win)

Foreign Language Film- In a Better World (favorite to win Biutiful)

Make-up- The Wolfman ( also favorite to win)

Original Score- Inception (favorite to win The King Speech)

Original Song- We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 ( also favorite to win)

Sound Editing/Sound Mixing/Visual Effects- Inception for all thee (also favorite to win)

UPDATE-Got 13 right. Not bad.
Also realized I forgot to post my prediction for Cinematography which I correctly predicted Inception
Missed
Best Picture-Kings Speech
Best Director-Tom Hooper
Best Supporting Actress-Melissa Leo
Art Direction-Alice in Wonderland
Documentary Feature-Inside Job
Original Score-The Social Network
Original Screenplay-The Kings Speech.