Originally,
I was going to write about my 10 favorite films of the year. However, I haven’t
seen a lot of the more interesting movies that were released because a) I
didn’t have time, money, permission, etc. and b) I live in Memphis, TN, where
most movies aren’t released until a month and a half after their initial
release date. So instead, I’m going to report about something special I did
over winter break. I’ve been planning this for a month, and was immensely
satisfied when I finished. Have you guessed it yet? That’s right. I had a
gangster movie marathon! 16 hours and 47 minutes of pure, cinema glory! (Well,
not really. But the majority of it was.)
I
started off with the gangster film to define all gangster films: The Godfather. Released in 1972, Francis
Ford Coppola’s highly influential masterpiece tells the tale of the mafia much
different than told before. Initially, gangster films were about dudes in
trench coats and top hats driving old-fashioned cars and shooting Tommy guns at
each other. Then Coppola released this movie,
which focused less on the guns
(although there is a lot of violence in the movie) and more on the family
aspect of mafia life. Great performances from Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and
James Caan, and Coppola’s skills at perfect pacing keep you so engrossed, you
have no idea that 2 hours and 55 minutes of your life have passed by the film’s
end.
Immediately
after finishing The Godfather, I
popped in The Godfather Part II.
Released 2 years after the first one, this is less of a sequel and more of a
companion piece. You need to see the first one before this one, but it doesn’t
feel like a sequel. It feels like an entirely different movie altogether. This
one has a more interesting plot and the best line in the whole series: “I know
it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart.” How heartbreaking.
I then saw The Godfather Part III…eh. It was good
up until Vinnie, played by Andy Garcia, kills Joey Zasa, but after that,
Pacino’s Michael Corleone goes all wimpy on the audience and Sofia Coppola,
playing Michael’s daughter Mary, is so bad, you’re laughing at her in the end
instead of crying (if you watch it, you’ll see why).
Next, I saw Scarface.
Also starring Al Pacino, this
movie is considered a cult classic. And honestly, I have no idea why. I saw
somebody write somewhere that this movie is “a piece of art.” I disagree. Brian
De Palma’s directing is pretty slick, but overall this film tries too hard to
embrace its 80s atmosphere. In other words, this movie was very cheesy. Also, it’s
very excessive. In fact, it’s so over-the-top, you will either find yourself
immensely disturbed or unintentionally laughing at its violence and drug
content. At least it was better than The
Godfather Part III.
I then saw Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s crime
tale that spawns three decades from the 50s to the 80s. I love Scorsese and
think he’s the second best director of all time, right behind Alfred Hitchcock.
But this is not my favorite movie made by him. Don’t get me wrong; this movie
is amazing. But compared to other classics like Taxi Driver and the recently released Hugo, Goodfellas fell
kind of short of my expectations. Not too short, but slightly short
nonetheless.
I ended my
marathon with Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp
Fiction. Probably the most influential film of the 90s, this movie told
three interwoven stories of loyalty, betrayal, and crime in a way only
Tarantino can pull off. Both shocking and hysterical at the same time, this is
probably the only movie on this list I could watch over and over and over again
(I can only watch The Godfather so
many times). Anyway, this is the only movie I had seen before the marathon, and
it gets better every time I watch it.
Well, that’s that.
My rankings of the films I saw from best to worst are:
1.
The Godfather (2
hours and 55 minutes; dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
2.
Pulp Fiction
(2 hours and 34 minutes; dir. Quentin Tarantino)
3.
The Godfather
Part II (3 hours and 20 minutes; dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
4.
Goodfellas (2
hours and 26 minutes; dir. Martin Scorsese)
5.
Scarface (2
hours and 50 minutes; dir. Brian De Palma)
6.
The Godfather
Part III (2 hours and 42 minutes; dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
Of course, those
weren’t the only movies I saw this break. I also saw the French modern-day classic Amelie, the new Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Coppola’s other classic Apocalypse Now, and Beginners, a new indie-film that was
the only movie I saw under 2 hours. I also re-watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy because those movies are freaking
awesome.
