The Godfather: Part 2 (1974)

The second film the trilogy from Francis Ford Coppola and the first sequel to win the best Picture Oscar, as you will see from my review of part 1, earlier today. I am not the biggest fan of the original, so I had been told that watching the second part would make the whole film make sense and fall into place for me. You follow the continuing story of Al Pacino as Michael Corleone as he continues to run the family business moving more towards Vegas and illegal drugs.

In part two you also get Don Vito Corleone’s early story as you follow Robert DeNiro playing a young Don as he comes to America and starts his empire. This film is very much in the same line as the first part and I can believe that there is a version where both films have been edited and run together and I can imagine that they would work perfectly well. I have to say that the film making is excellent, the acting is fine with all of the cast returning but the story did not engage me. Yet one of my favourite films is Goodfellas and I love the idea behind the Gangster genre I can only presume that I am missing something, perhaps it is the hype and expectation that I am missing.

Overall disappointed that this film is not as good as I expected but unsure how to feel, am I wrong? Or is everybody else wrong? Have people just bought in to the fact that many people say it is the greatest film in the world or have I seen to many films that makes me view it as a copy when in fact it was an original? Who knows, I know that at some point I will watch these again as it baffles me as usually I do enjoy the classics but at the moment this is a 6 out of 10 for me.

The Godfather (1972)

The classic gangster film from the 70’s based upon the book by Mario Puzo it follows the Corleone family, starting at the wedding of the daughter where you get to meet all the family from the Father played by Marlon Brando to the boys played by James Caan as Sonny and Al Pacino as Michael with Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. You follow the family as Don Vito Corleone makes offers to people that they cannot refuse while he does the business.

This is considered by many as one of the greatest films of all time, it reaches the top spot in many of the countdowns of greatest films of all time. I have to be honest, this is the second time I have watched this film and it must be the hype as I really enjoyed it but failed to see how it can be considered such a classic. I was very disappointed and feel I must have missed something and would really like someone to explain why it is so great.

I have the second part to watch and maybe as someone said this will complete why these films are considered some of the greatest films of all time. Well enough of my uncultured ranting about the greatest film of all time. I did enjoy it and would recommend that everybody sees it, I will have to revisit my thoughts after seeing the second part but at the moment this is a solid 6 out of 10 for me.

Would really appreciate people putting me right on this as I feel I am missing something and even though I did enjoy it I feel let down by it. 

The 6th Day (2000)

So I watched the 6th Day again and loved it again, I think this is another film that falls into my guilty pleasure category. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in this film twice so you get the double Arnold and it is about human cloning, the real story is a film that can make you think how would you cope if you met yourself and how would you react and feel. I understand that many people do not like the film I think that the biggest downside to people is the science and the believability levels are hard to get around.

Overall your basic story is that Arnold wakes up in a cab and then then some weird stuff happens to the point when he gets home and sees himself in his living room with his wife and the mind games begin with him trying to figure out what is happening and who the people trying to kill him are and what the hell is actually going on. You have 4 characters trying to kill him and the confusion envelopes him as he kills a couple but then sees them again. Now I can see some of the holes with clones remembering how they died even though the "simcard" is a save point in their lives. But I can see past all of that and love the X-Coptors that can be controlled and the action and gun play.

As a Guilty pleasure for me it is 4 stars and overall I would say switch the brain off at the door and you will have a pretty good time, these opinions are my own.

The Road (2009)

Format - Cinema
Date - 15 January 2010
Director - John Hillcoat

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless cannibalistic bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a rusting shopping cart of scavenged food and each other. Written by Sean Pollock.

Thanks to IMDb for the plot summary.

Your basic plot for this film surrounds a father and son walking through ruined America, approximately 10 years after an undetermined apocalypse. You have them seeing the land and the survivors. For the bleak concept and outlook the visuals are really well produced, the characters are believable and the situations are desperate and realistic.

I went to this film with a friend and it was not a film I had considered going to see at all. The source material by Cormac McCarthy is not a book I had ever thought of reading and to be honest after seeing the film not one i will be looking up in the near future. I have no idea if the film is a fair adaption of the book or how well the material has been transferred to the big screen, I went in being told that it was the book you could not filmed. This film was not for me, there were some good points, the best being everything is from the point of view of the Man and Boy, if they did not see what happened either did you, it was very clever.

I have to say that acting was excellent and the visuals were stunning. Viggo Mortensen was powerful as Man, he was a man on the edge looking out for Boy who has known nothing but the world in which he now finds himself. Boy is played by Kodi Smit-McPhee he is very good in the role and I think you will see him again, from an interview with the director John Hillcoat he knew he was the one to play Boy. You have flashbacks through the eyes of Man to Charlize Theron, Woman, his wife and Boy's mother and you get an insight into where and why the Man is doing what he is. There are also cameo's by Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall which are played really well.

I have to say that i would not go and see this film again, I could not recommend it to you if you like the films that I do, I have to say that it is well made, well shot and great acting but it depressed me, this film was not for me.

I would give this 2/5

Let me know if you have seen it and your thoughts on it.