‘Donnie Brasco’ 1997 Review – AMC Mob Week – Movie Friday

Story: I was very impressed by this one. It’s based on a true story and it was very good. Going into this, I was thinking “Hey Johnny Depp is a cool guy, Al Pacino has a goofy overcoat”. That’s all I thought. I really didn’t know what it was about either, except that it had something to do with the mob. But to my suprise, I loved this movie. The ending was a little ehhh, but yeah, you know. They tried to stay to the real story and be as accurate as possible. They even got the real Joseph Pistone to be an advisor to the film to make sure they were staying true to the real story.

Visuals: The cinematography, lighting, and colors of the film were a little bland at parts, but overall, it was good.

Music: I didn’t notice much music really. I even tried paying attention to try and hear music. But I heard very little background music throughout the film. The opening credits music really fit with all the snapshots of Brasco and Lefty though. I even looked up that song after finishing the film.

Characters: Based on a true story, the characters were very interesting. Going into this, I couldn’t really imagine Johnny Depp playing a serious role after seeing films of his such as Pirates Of The Carribean, Willy Wonka, Alice And Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, etc. As for Al Pacino, I did not like his big, fluffy, goofy coat he wore throughout the film.

Rewatch Value: Moderate. I’ll probably watch it again with my dad and so I can fully understand the story.

‘The Godfather Part III’ Review 1990 – AMC Mob Week – Movie Wednesday

Story: The story of this movie is more based off of continually than the past two movies. The story follows the events after part II and Micheal is shown more as a old man than a mob boss. This might have to do with the fact that Coppola didn’t want to do this movie, as he felt Part II did it nicely, but since he ran out of money, he took the long standing offer to make the third one. The story acts more like a unnecessary addition to the movies rather than a nice wrap up.

Visuals: The director of cinematography from the first two come back the third, and did a pretty decent job at it. I don’t feel that it is as good as the first two, but it could also be because we’ve seen a similar style in the past two movies.

Music: This music was composed by Coppola’s father this time around, and while it isn’t as strong as Rota’s music it isn’t bad. Of course, we would all rather have Rota do it.

Characters: Now, the Characters aren’t strongly portrayed in this. In the part II we’ve come to see Micheal Corleone as more of a bad guy, but in this movie, he is more of an old man. He isn’t the center of attention either, and we’re more focused around Vincent, his nephew, who has a clear goal, and possibly the strongest character of the film. Not because any of the Actors are bad, but they are given weak, and somewhat confusing roles.  Mary, Michael’s daughter is also a very weak character, which is strange seeing how she plays a somewhat important role. Overall, like stated before, the actors of the movie are good, but the characters given aren’t as strong as the actors could make them.

Rewatch Value: The rewatch value to this isn’t very strong. The story is weak, as are the characters. It also doesn’t help that this wasn’t originally planed during the making of the first two, but rather a way for Coppola to make a quick buck.

‘The Godfather Part II’ Review 1974 – AMC Mob Week – Movie Day

Story: There actually wasn’t a novel this movie was based on. Author Mario Puzo and director of the first Godfather movie just went on with the story. Puzo did write another Mafia-type novel called “The Sicillian”, which did mention the events in The Godfather Part II a bit, but not much since it was about different people. Fun fact, The Sicillian was also made into it’s own film, directed by Michael Cimino. Anyways, this is almost just as good as it’s predecessor, The Godfather, except it just isn’t quite as perfect. Mainly because Vito and Sonny Corleone is dead and Michael turns into the badguy in this film. One of the major positives of this film is the story of Young Vito Corleone. I absolutely loved EVERY moment of Young Vito. His beginning story was amazing, part of the reason being the performance by Robert De Niro, but I’ll get into that when I get to the characters.

Visuals: As the first one was, this one has beautiful cinematography. The Salt Lake City setting in Utah is nice too. I loved it.

Music: Nino Rota does it again. I think I’d actually say that this has a better soundtrack than the first. The other used most of the same song layed over and over and over again. This film, with the variety of locations such as New York, Utah, Sicily, etc. , the music is specially composed for each setting.

Characters: Don’t even get me started on how much I loved Robert De Niro’s performance. Oh wait, you just did. De Niro was so amazing at portraying Young Vito Corleone in this movie, with his look to his voice, I loved everything he did. His performance in this movie is in my top three favorite actor performances in any movie ever along with Heath Ledger as the Joker in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight. De Niro even learned Sicilian dialect and lived in Sicily for 6 months prior to filming so he could be the best Young Vito he could possible be, and he accomplished it. Al Pacino, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire also had amazing performances I loved.

Rewatch Value: Like The Godfather, I also watch this quite frequently. Every time I see this on TV, no matter what I’m doing, I HAVE to watch this.