The Godfather

Rewatched this for the first time in about 12 years. The last time I saw it I don't think I was ready to appreciate it's brilliance, as it was a tad slow for me back then. Glad I did.

There's no real point reviewing it, basically most people know what's it's about and know it's universally regarded as one of the best movies of all-time. Here's some reasons why.

-Brando as Don Corleone. Brilliant
-Pacino as Michael. Brilliant.
-The directing of Coppola. Brilliant. Beautifully shot movie with some landmark scenes, most notably Sonny's death and the restaurant scene.
-Excellent story

The movie holds up very well, albeit it's a bit slow at times. Here's 3 scenes that could have been improved.

-Michael moving his father in the hospital. Should have been some guys inside who Michael had to fight off.
-When Sonny beats up Carlo. Really poorly done.
-The restaurant scene. Didn't use the suspense enough, could have drawn out some more.

A brilliant movie, must-see for major movie factors.

For Your Consideration

Stumbled across this is the comedy section at "Video Busters" the other week, a section i thought I'd exhausted.

"For Your Consideration" is the latest offering from Christopher Guest and co, this time the movie is about a seemingly ordinary movie that out of nowhere gets some Hollywood buzz and greatly excites the crew of newcomers and veterans. That's pretty much the story, but it's not done in their normal mocumentary style, it's more of a movie. The cast is the same, featuring Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard etc. There's also a cameo from Ricky Gervais, albeit it for just a few scenes.

Pretty average, and very few laughs. The style didn't work and the characters had little to work with. The last few from these writers has dropped off quite a bit, with "Best in Show" being the last real decent one, largely thanks to Fred Willard. Give it a miss.

Fame

"Fame" is the latest Ricky Gervais stand up offering, joining the stable that includes "Animal" and "Politics".

In "Fame" Ricky talks at first about being famous, then gets onto his pet topics of homosexual men, God and Adolf Hitler. It's pretty much more of the same and amazingly I've gotta say it was full of yawns. A couple of ok jokes, but most of it was rubbish and stuff we've sort of heard before. He really mailed this one in. I then tried out the special features, but again more of the same old stuff ie annoying Robin. He's pretty much a one trick pony and his act is getting a bit worn out. he's been doing it for 8 years now and needs to come up with something fresh to avoid becoming Eddie Murphy.

Disappointing.

Revolutionary Road

"Revolutionary Road" reunites "Titanic" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a story about a couple who become unhappy with where their life is and decide to set off for Paris. Leo plays Frank, a business man who is becoming increasingly bored with his life and has realised he's not where he wants to be. Winslet plays April, a stay-at-home mum who still yearns to become a great actress (her character, not Kate Winslet) but realises that part of her life has probably passed her by. One night April confronts Frank that they should up and move to Paris, a place Frank loves and that may enable him to chase his true dreams. At first Frank comes up with all the negatives, but soon realises "why not!". They start making plans but things get railroaded when April gets pregnant and Frank gets offered a way better job with a lot more money. Will they still chase their dreams, or will their responsibilities keep them home?

Something different, as the movie leaves it to you for the most part to decide whether life is about chasing our dreams, fulfilling our responsibilities...or a bit of both. Well acted and a good story, but it got a bit too silly for my liking in the last 30mins. Worth a look.

Valkyrie

For the first time in recent memory, I was overwhelmed with choices when I popped into "Video Busters" last night. There was plenty for me, but also a decent range left that wifey might be interested in too. Being a long weekend, I got a stack of videos and for the overnighters grabbed this and "Revoltionary Road".

"Valkyrie" is based upon a remarkable true story of a group of brave men who attempted to assasinate Hitler and seize power of Germany during WW2. That has to rank as one of the gutsiest things to attempt ever. Heading this group is decorated war hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise, in his finest work since "Top Gun"),perhaps the most important Colonel ever behind Colonel Sanders. The plan is reasonably complicated, but if they can pull it off, they will see Hitler and a bunch of his key men killed and a coup occur where the SS will be shutdown and the country can be placed in safe hands and will consequently surrender to the Allies. It won't be easy though. The plan relies on being able to get key army people to be willing to commit treason and to get Hitler to unwittingly sign a document that will essentially enable the coup to occur should he be killed. Tricky. Will The Colonel pull it off? See it to find out.

Reasonably well done, except for the fact everyone spoke English and without a hint of a German accent. That made it seem a bit weird. Cruise was ok at The Colonel, but there would have been about 50 better actors they could have used eg Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks or Sean William Scott. Amazing story and well worth seeing.