Finisher

I mean King did his own version and it was fucking horrid.

Personally not a fan of Bringing Up Baby or really any "screwball" comedies. They're rarely any funny.

Also not a fan of most musicals with a few exceptions.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, and it makes me wonder if, when he's writing these books, King seems them playing out in his head like Lifetime Original Movies.

Mabuse

From the 74 review

Decker

Paraphrasing that quote to "those scenes bring the movie to a screeching halt" is overstating it significantly. Saying those scenes break the tension and change the tone, while still wrong (and Ebert does a bit of a backpedal in 2008 anyway), is different than saying it ruins the movie.

atrium

Ebert says in both reviews that the flashbacks interrupt the pacing/immersion. He may not say it with as much hyperbole as PatD but it's clear that he didn't like that aspect of the movie. I think in his Great Movies review he was acknowledging that the movie was beloved by most, but not by him, hence the more relaxed criticism.

davidlynchfan

This thread was created to break hearts.

Mabuse

ddrknghtrtns

Simple fix, is just to watch The Godfather Saga. That way, the second part is not interrupted with the flashbacks.

ddrknghtrtns

Have you ever seen vintage photos of women from the Civil War period? It did not matter rich or poor, they could only rate homely at best. So I could easily see guys from that period fighting over Scarlett.

ddrknghtrtns

Easy Rider, would easily be my pick. Just catching a few scenes out of context, it looks like it could be the candidate for greatest movie ever made. After watching the whole blasted mess, it is not much better than your typical AIP drug exploitation flick from the 60's era.

Decker

How is that a simple solution since that version has never been for sale on any format and does not stream?

ddrknghtrtns

​​​​​​Back in the late 90's, that version was nearly playing in a continuous loop on cable.
I'm shocked that version is not able on DVD/Blu or Netflix.

Decker

It came back to HBO briefly in 2016. But it disappeared after that.

whotony

One of the versions of the Chronologic order Godfather was released on vhs.

Mike86

The ones that always tend to stick out to me when I think of films that are deemed classics that I can’t get into are The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.

I mean don’t get me wrong I can see why they’re highly regarded and why others like them. Personally though they just don’t do much for me, and I never have a big desire to want to watch them. Some memorable scenes and some great acting, but I just find them a bit too long and drawn out.

For a mafia film I’ve always preferred Goodfellas by a long shot. Just seems better paced with a more enthralling story in my view.

Decker

The Godfather and Casablanca are overrated in the same way that The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are overrated: if you don’t absolutely love them unconditionally then they will seem overrated to you because they are held in such high esteem and it’s almost heresy to criticize them.

rocket1312

Man, I'm the complete opposite. I don't usually go for mafia stuff, but I love the Godfather. It just flies by despite the length. Goodfellas, on the other hand, just doesn't do it for me. It's fine for what it is, but by the time you get to the 80's and Liotta is all drugged out, I just want it to end.

I'd agree Godfather II is a tad overrated. I get why people like it. It's a supremely well crafted film, but as was mentioned earlier, it tells us nothing we didn't already know the moment Michael shuts the door on Kay at the end of the first movie. I think the flashbacks and the pacing are fine though.

GoldenJCJ

I agreed wholeheartedly with this.

I love The Godfather. I don’t think it insists upon itself at all!

Ash Ketchum

As much as I like the film, THE GODFATHER deserves some criticism for romanticizing a bunch of predatory criminals who terrorized and intimidated a specific immigrant population and for insisting on infusing them with some kind of code that never existed. I love GOODFELLAS for the filmmaking, but it deserves extra points for showing what vicious, amoral, self-centered thugs they were and how no kind of code ever existed and how clearly they deserved what they got coming to them. The book THE GODFATHER was based on was just designed as a piece of very readable commercial trash, only loosely tied to any real events, while GOODFELLAS is based on a journalist's account of real events and the journalist's extensive interviews with some of the protagonists.

Mabuse

Well said.

Yes The Godfather is very romantic. It romanticizes everything and says it’s okay because the Don refuses to deal in narcotics. So he’s not a bad guy.

Mondo Kane

Since Michael Cimino was brought up earlier, Part II sure feels like it was made by him. So many long and drawn-out scenes. In comparison with Part I, which has many scenes concluding with an attack on someone. That suspense angle was mostly missed in Part II.

milo bloom

There’s that saying about how movies aren’t good or bad based on what they’re about but *how* they are what they’re about. The Godfather films are about awful people but they are just amazing to watch and soak in the atmosphere and music.

JeffTheAlpaca

If 2012 is considered old the Avengers movies

They are all way too long and maybe have 10 minutes of them fighting in their superhero costumes.

Bluelitespecial

Really all of the Marvel movies to me. There is just too many of them in trying to keep up with the story.

ddrknghtrtns

From the golden age of filmmaking to now, Hollywood has glamorized the gangster lifestyle. Just watch any early Cagney or Bogey picture.