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DVD The Godfather, Part III
Sixteen years after Francis Ford Coppola won his second Oscar for The Godfather II (his first was for the 1972 Godfather), the director and star Al Pacino attempted to revive the concept one more time. Despite an elaborate plot that involves Michael Corleone seeking redemption through the Vatican while simultaneously preparing his nephew (Andy Garcia) to take over the Corleone family, the film fails to take shape as a truly meaningful experience in the way the preceding movies do. Still, Pacino is very moving as an elder Michael, filled with regret and trying hard to make amends with his wife (Diane Keaton) and grown children (one of whom is played, and not all that well, by the director's daughter, Sofia Coppola). --Tom Keogh
The Godfather III has been one of the most maligned movies in recent times. The truth is the movie is not that bad. In the first two movies, as Michael Corleone descends into his pitiful existence, the audience sees Michael suffer for his terrible sins only once, when Kay aborts her child. However, we never see the guilt, remorse and sorrow that Michael exhibits in Godfather III. One of the criticisms leveled at this movie is that Michael does not die a violent death at the hands of his enemies. He suffers a far worse fate, as he sees his daughter die before his eyes. In the director's commentary for the disc, Coppola says that `there is not a worse way to pay for your sins then to see your children suffer.' In this way, the movie acts sort of as a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Sofia took the critics relentless assaults against her acting. As for Michael, we see him at the end of the original movie as triumphant, but at the end of Godfather II, we see him victorious but it has cost him his family. At the end of the third part, he is broken, beaten and destroyed. He did confess his sins, but still orders murders, and his ultimate punishment is to see his daughter die. Coppola has not betrayed the cinematic integrity of the first two films, but just elevated the punishment that Michael must face. In the first two movies, we are left wondering whether Michael has felt remorse for the life that he has led. At the end of Godfather III, as he screams on the concert hall steps, we finally see the remorse and glimpse the human being that he once was, instead of the old, crippled mafia chieftan that he became.
"Just When I Thought I Was Out..."; 2 1/2 Stars
On its own, "The Godfather Part III" is actually a pretty good movie. However, in comparion to its two predecessors, I'm sorry but the film just doesn't hold its ground. Coppola and Puzzo were running out of ideas, and the cast members, both returning and new, basically phoned in their performances.
The main problems with the film are script and casting. First of all, the plot is filled with more holes than Sonny Corleone's body when he got shot at the toll booth. Several new characters are introduced to the story, many of them with little to no origins that just pop out of nowhere. There is some weird plot against the Vatican that may have looked good on paper but just didn't transfer well onto the screen. Then, there's the cast. Pacino and Andy Garcia were great, but for the most part, the cast sleepwalked through their performances, including Diane Keaton and Talia Shire. Eli Wallach and Joe Mantegna were welcome additions to the cast but they too couldn't muster up decent performances. Whose idea was it to replace Robert Duvall with George Hamilton? What was Bridget Fonda doing there again? And then there's Sofia Coppola - look, Francis, we all know you love your daughter, but if you really loved her, you wouldn't go exploiting her lack of acting talent like you did with this film.
The film is not a complete waste, however. The scenes from Sicily, for exmple, are brilliantly written and breathtakingly filmed. As an Italian, I can honestly say this is the best footage of the Sicillian landscape ever to be put on film. The usual death montage at the end of the film was cool to watch, and the Atlantic City Massacre sequence was incredibly well done.
Overall, get this film only if you want to own the complete trilogy on dvd. Otherwise, just catch it on tv.
All The Power On Earth Can't Change Destiny!
If anything, the third part of the Godfather series of films is symbolic of when too many sequels are greenlighted, and consequently, the film is doomed to fail. More often than not, the reason why these films crash and burn are because of major studios acting like Adelphia executives and wanting more money, and in using the previous films' successes as leverage, they lose sight of things like quality. It's happened to other trilogies.
And if you put together previous films with the reputation that the first two Godfather films have, the only question left to answer is whether or not the third film would be a minor or major letdown. Most of the essential players returned, with the exception of Robert Duvall (Duvall said Francis Ford Coppola never really negotiated with him, while Coppola says that Duvall asked for more money, so who knows?), Mario Puzo helped out with another part of the story, so why did this film not live up to the hype?
Well, and this is by no means a slap to Coppola and Puzo, but the story was too nostalgic. A good portion of the film was told with clips from the other movies. While understandable, it didn't address some of the performances from the cast. Pacino's performance was pretty good and more subtle than I first remembered, and Andy Garcia's role as Vincent (Sonny's bastard child) still stands up after these years too. But Talia Shire as Connie clearly is the evil mastermind behind a lot of the Corleone's present activities is an underappreciated performance. And in considering the evolution of her character from Part 1 to Part 3, her transformation was a little more gradual, but on par with Michael's. Shire definitely deserves more praise than she got in this series. Onto the bigger question; did Sofia Coppola as Michael's daughter Mary REALLY stink up the joint in this film? Well, I think that she's gotten some unfair slams through the years, considering she had little experience on a movie set aside from watching her Dad direct. I mean, imagine how good you would be when you're sharing scenes with Al Pacino. Exactly! For her to be a scapegoat as to why Part III wasn't a good film is a little unfair.
Is this film a satisfying ending to the trilogy? By and large, it is, and the film on its own isn't that bad. But within the context of the Puzo/Coppola narrative, it's a step sideways and not one of the most well planned ideas. After releasing the trilogy in a boxed set a couple of years ago, they have finally (along with Part II) released the third film as a standalone DVD for the cinemaphile.
As mentioned earlier, the only extra of any quality is clearly the commentary track with Coppola. Clearly stung by the drubbing that Sofia got, the track's main purpose seems to be a defense of Sofia by her father, who directed the film. That's a natural reaction and very understandable, I just wish that it didn't take up so much of the track. Coppola also vents about how the studio pressured him to get the film done, and explains in detail why Sofia was cast, and the options he had to face. It's fascinating in how passionate Coppola was and is for the film, but it gets a little repetitive after awhile. There's also a trailer that's listed on the DVD, but it's not readily accessible, unless I'm missing it.
Most of you probably bought the film as part of the boxed set awhile back, and don't have a reason to buy it now. For those who haven't, it's definitely worth renting to see the end of the Corleone family in several different ways, and is part of an unforgettable film experience.
Generally acknowledged as a bona fide classic, this Francis Ford Coppola film is one of those rare experiences that feels perfectly right from beginning to end--almost as if everyone involved had been born to participate in it. Based on Mario Puzo's bestselling novel about a Mafia dynasty, Coppola's Godfather extracted and enhanced the most universal themes of immigrant experience in America: the plotting-out of hopes and dreams for one's successors, the raising of children to carry on the good work, etc. In the midst of generational strife during the Vietnam years, the film somehow struck a chord with a nation fascinated by the metamorphosis of a rebellious son (Al Pacino) into the keeper of his father's dream. Marlon Brando played against Puzo's own conception of patriarch Vito... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Francis Ford Coppola DVD Release Date: Released the 11 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess, Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. Scarface is a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia. Universal's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Al Pacino - Michelle Pfeiffer Director(s): Brian De Palma DVD Release Date: Released the 30 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Martin Scorsese's 1990 masterpiece GoodFellas immortalizes the hilarious, horrifying life of actual gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his teen years on the streets of New York to his anonymous exile under the Witness Protection Program. The director's kinetic style is perfect for recounting Hill's ruthless rise to power in the 1950s as well as his drugged-out fall in the late 1970s; in fact, no one has ever rendered the mental dislocation of cocaine better than Scorsese. Scorsese uses period music perfectly, not just to summon a particular time but to set a precise mood. GoodFellas is at least as good as The Godfather without being in the least derivative of it. Joe Pesci's psycho improvisation of Mobster Tommy DeVito ignited Pesci as a star, Lorraine Bracco... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 17 August 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modeled after on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos. Sharon Stone is the stand out among the actors; she nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the voracious Ginger, the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert De Niro - Sharon Stone - Joe Pesci Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 14 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Based on a memoir by former undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a de- romanticized, de-mythologized version of The Godfather. It offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of organized crime from the perspective of the little guys at the bottom of Mafia hierarchy rather than from the kingpins at the top. Donnie Brasco is not only one of the great modern-day gangster movies to put in the company of The Godfather films and GoodFellas, but it is also one of the great undercover police movies--arguably surpassing Serpico and Prince of the City in richness of character, detail,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Al Pacino - Johnny Depp Director(s): Mike Newell DVD Release Date: Released the 11 December 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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