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The Godfather, sequels, cartoons, Dune, James Bond etc.

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  • Originally posted by Raphael View Post
    There also this masterful little comedy special of Rowan Atkinson as Doctor Who.

    He would make a terrific Doctor!
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    • I don't think the N word was used in Roger Rabbit - I saw it in the theater (best time at the movies ever! Got to talking to the kids working there about how RR was made and ended up getting to see the projection booth! ) and that didn't stand out to me. I could be wrong but usually I notice that - it has always bugged me.
      "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

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      • Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
        If I can ask a general question:

        I'm not a movie person... at all, but I've been curious about the Godfather trilogy knowing just how critically renowned it is. Given each movie is a three hour time investment, would you say it's worthwhile?
        It is, in my opinion, among the greatest of modern tragedies (rivaling some of the best ancient Greek tragedies or Shakespeare). The first two films especially are, from both a technical perspective (lighting, editing, acting, costume/set design, camera placement, soundtrack, direction and cinematography), as well as a storytelling, among the greatest films in the world. But when watching them, a few things need to be taken into perspective.

        This is a film that takes place mostly in the 50s, but it's also a product of it's time, made in the 70s. For modern audiences it can be a time capsule buried in a time capsule, not only do you see what the 50s were like 20 years later, but you get a sense of what the 70s was like as well. It's one of the very first films that dug deeply into the Mafia and it's many secrets, and if I recall correctly in order to smooth things over with the Mafia and get inside information into it's operations, Coppola was required not to mention the word "Mafia" (I can't remember if "Cosa Nostra" was mentioned). There are, in fact, a few real-life Mafiosos in the movie.

        Many of the films audiences have seen since have been HEAVILY influenced by these movies, so what we may now see as old had originated with the first two films. The films are a tragedy, so while there are redemption elements here and there (especially in the final film), it's not going to fill the viewer with a sense of hope and good cheer, BUT it's also a moral lesson, with some themes that are undoubtedly lifted from scripture (either knowingly or subconsciously). It can sometimes be very violent, but not at the level of most modern films, or even some 80s gangster films like Brian DePalma's Scarface (also starring Al Pacino). If you watch the first one, and like it even a little bit, you'll probably like the second one better, as it goes back 20 or 30 years earlier to Pacino's father's time in Sicily (played by DeNiro). The actors never meet, and don't share a film again until Heat in the 90s (and even then, I can't think of a scene where they are both on the screen at one time).

        I HIGHLY recommend it with the above understanding.

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        • The first two at least are well worth seeing. For me, the most uncomfortable aspect of any movie or TV series of that sort is that it puts the viewer in the position of "rooting for" sociopaths.
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          • Originally posted by NorrinRadd View Post
            The first two at least are well worth seeing. For me, the most uncomfortable aspect of any movie or TV series of that sort is that it puts the viewer in the position of "rooting for" sociopaths.
            True, but I feel that The Godfather does a good job of showing how corrupting and damaging organized crime is. It doesn't really glorify the violence it depicts (like I feel Scarface does), it shows that it's a means to an end, and it always comes back to haunt you.

            But, perhaps as Truffaut is said to have commented, "There is no such thing as an anti-war film," maybe there is no such thing as an anti-Mob film.
            Last edited by Adrift; 08-18-2019, 04:11 PM.

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            • Originally posted by Adrift View Post
              True, but I feel that The Godfather does a good job of showing how corrupting and damaging organized crime is. It doesn't really glorify the violence it depicts (like I feel Scarface does), it shows that it's as a means to an end, and it always comes back to haunt you.

              But, perhaps as Truffaut is said to have commented, "There is no such thing as an anti-war film," maybe there is no such thing as an anti-Mob film.
              How do you think that Goodfellas compares to the Godfather?

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              • Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                How do you think that Goodfellas compares to the Godfather?
                I love Goodfellas, but it's an entirely different type of movie. The Godfather is an epic. It's up there with movies like Gone With the Wind, or as far as similar subject matter, Sergio Leone's failed Once Upon a Time in America. Goodfellas is a much more personal movie. It's smaller feeling, and dirtier. It's definitely much more violent. And I think that this gets at the heart of the type of directors doing these movies. Both Italian, but from very different backgrounds. Coppola's Godfather movies feel more refined. They feel graceful, and old world, and as though they're harking back to an earlier era of movie making when you could still make a sweeping epic. Scorsese's movies feel young, street-smart, and rock n' roll. Very influenced by French New Wave rather than classic Hollywood. Even when Scorsese makes an epic movie like Gangs of New York, it still has a touch of Glam Rock/Punk Rock to it.

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                • Originally posted by Adrift View Post
                  I love Goodfellas, but it's an entirely different type of movie. The Godfather is an epic. It's up there with movies like Gone With the Wind, or as far as similar subject matter, Sergio Leone's failed Once Upon a Time in America. Goodfellas is a much more personal movie. It's smaller feeling, and dirtier. It's definitely much more violent. And I think that this gets at the heart of the type of directors doing these movies. Both Italian, but from very different backgrounds. Coppola's Godfather movies feel more refined. They feel graceful, and old world, and as though they're harking back to an earlier era of movie making when you could still make a sweeping epic. Scorsese's movies feel young, street-smart, and rock n' roll. Very influenced by French New Wave rather than classic Hollywood. Even when Scorsese makes an epic movie like Gangs of New York, it still has a touch of Glam Rock/Punk Rock to it.
                  There are definitely major stylistic differences but I wonder how much the different time periods they are set in had to do with the very different "feel" they had. The Godfather harkens back to the day when the neighbors of crime bosses tended to both respect and even like them. The bosses were known to help them with problems and kept crime down in the area (you know what I mean -- it was safe to walk the streets at night), where in more recent times neighbors more often than not live in fear of the mobster on the block.

                  I'm always still in trouble again

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                  • Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                    There are definitely major stylistic differences but I wonder how much the different time periods they are set in had to do with the very different "feel" they had. The Godfather harkens back to the day when the neighbors of crime bosses tended to both respect and even like them. The bosses were known to help them with problems and kept crime down in the area (you know what I mean -- it was safe to walk the streets at night), where in more recent times neighbors more often than not live in fear of the mobster on the block.
                    You might be on to something, but if we're counting it, Godfather III takes place in 1979, and it doesn't at all have the feel of Goodfellas, which takes place in the same period. Some of that might have to do with the life of an associate and soldato (soldier) in Goodfellas, compard to the high life of Dons and the Godfather himself in the Godfather films. But from a stylistic point of view, the Godfather is full of natural lighting, long shots, crushed blacks (and almost sepia-type tones), film grain, and that huge classical score. Goodfellas is a lot brighter even when taking place in dark restaurants and bars, it forgoes a lot of long shots for quicker edits, the soundtrack is almost entirely rock n' roll. If The Godfather is a top down look at a family business that stretches decades, Goodfellas is practically an over-the-shoulder look at how one's association on the fringes of organized crime led to excess and self-destruction, largely within a decade (if we don't count the short prologue that takes place in the 50s).

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