Actor: Al Pacino

"There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."


Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro
Running time: 200 minutes
Country: USA


The Godfather: Part II is an absolutely phenomenal sequel to the classic film that is The Godfather. It isn't better than the first one but it has proved itself to be one of the greatest film sequels of all time. This one is longer than the first one is because we see more about Vito Corleone's childhood and past of how the family began. The way those scenes are structured are absolutely fantastic. It is clever how they get modern days of Don Michael Corleone and the childhood of Vito Corleone back in the 1910s/1920s. If I lived in the 1970s and loved The Godfather, I would have predicted that this sequel would have failed but it didn't fail in any way whatsoever. It is a rare treasure because it is a sequel that didn't fail and not that many sequels succeed. The other sequels I can think of that did succeed are The Empire Strikes Back, The Two Towers, The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2. The second Godfather becomes more personal and deeply affectionate with the Corleone family. The Godfather: Part II is also the darkest one of the trilogy particularly because under Don Michael Corleone and there were a lot of deaths in this one. It is a story that takes and beats down lives including Michael's.

Al Pacino delivers the best performance of his career as Don Michael Corleone. Al Pacino was a better actor in his early days apart from Scent Of A Woman, The Godfather: Part III and Heat. His portrayal of Don Corleone made Michael one of the coldest film villains of all time. I actually feel sorry for Michael because in the first one before his older brother and newly married wife were murdered, he was having a normal peaceful life but after those events and since his father Vito died of a heart attack in the gardens, he became Don Corleone and he became obsessed with power and became a very dangerous man that nobody will betray and double cross. When I saw him in the sequel, I thought to myself "Is that really Michael Corleone?" because he becomes a whole new person in this one. Al Pacino is perfect for Michael because Michael is a rather slimy and scheming character and also a really powerful, dominant character which is what Al Pacino is like in some of the films he has been in before. Robert Duvall's performance is top notch once again as Tom Hagen who is the fostered son of Vito Corleone and is the family's lawyer. Hagen always tries to get through to Michael for what he is doing but doesn't listen. Tom Hagen doesn't appear in The Godfather: Part III. Robert De Niro's performance as younger Vito Corleone is an absolute legendary performance. Two legendary actors have portrayed a character both with Oscar winning performances. The late Marlon Brando portrayed Vito in The Godfather Part I and Robert De Niro portrayed the younger Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II. The Godfather: Part II became the ultimate start to Robert De Niro's legendary career. Some say that he is the best living actor right now and Marlon Brando was the best actor ever of the past. Thankfully, Robert De Niro didn't ruin Marlon Brando's amazing reputation of Don Corleone. His performance is almost in my opinion just as good as Marlon Brando's with the amazing Italian accent for an American man and also an absolutely fantastic way of portraying the gangster kind of character. Diane Keaton's performance as Kay Corleone is good but not amazing. I felt sorry for her when she was worried about Michael and for the sake of her children for what Michael was doing. Keaton isn't the perfect choice for Kay but she still a really good choice. As we reflect on most of the cast in The Godfather Parts 1 and 2, it is rather strange to see them almost 20 years older in The Godfather: Part III such as Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Talia Shire.

Francis Ford Coppola proves once again after the first one that he is the only director who could have been able to pull off The Godfather trilogy. He makes The Godfather: Part II the darkest one of the trilogy but not the best. The way he directed was that he wanted us to feel the breaking down of the Corleone family and at the same time to learn how it all began which leads to young Vito's introduction and how he raised his four children Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie. The script is outstanding. Francis Ford Coppola has a great gift at writing the scripts for The Godfather scripts as well as directing and producing them.

This film won 6 Oscars (more than the first one did): Best Picture 1974, Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Original Dramatic Score. It was nominated for Best Leading Actor (Al Pacino) but lost to Art Carney in Harry And Tonto, Best Supporting Actor (Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg) but lost to Robert De Niro in the same film, Best Supporting Actress (Talia Shire) but lost to Ingrid Bergman in Murder On The Orient Express, Best Costume Design but lost to The Great Gatsby. It was nominated for 6 Golden Globe awards: Best Picture Drama but lost to Chinatown, Best Actor Drama but lost to Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola) but lost to Roman Palonski in Chinatown, Best Screenplay but lost to Chinatown, Best Original Score but lost to The Little Prince and Most Promising Newcomer (Lee Strasberg) but lost to Joseph Bottoms in The Dove.

The Godfather: Part II is an eternal masterpiece that takes its place as one of the greatest films of all time. It is one of my favourite films but I still love the first one more. The Godfather: Part II is in my opinion a tie for best sequel ever made after The Empire Strikes Back. I loved this film a lot and it led to a very good yet rather failed third Godfather: Part III because of the pressure of trying to successfully suceeded by being just as good as first two Godfather films. It is one of my favourite films of the 1970s as well as of all time. It is an absolute masterpiece that will never be forgotten. It is Al Pacino's best performance of his whole career, I loved Robert De Niro's performance as young Vito Corleone but I prefered his performances in films such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. The Godfather: Part II is a film that is a bit of an unexpected phenomenon that I don't think people were really expecting to be fantastic. I cannot think of one single person who doesn't like The Godfather Part 1 or Part 2. Love it! Always have and always will!

"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."


Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall
Running time: 175 minutes
Country: USA


The Godfather is probably the most famous motion picture that has been filmed ever. When I first saw a poster of Vito Corleone I thought to myself "what the hell is this film?" But I didn't really understand the plot of the film so I needed to see the film and find out myself. The first time I saw The Godfather I didn't understand it even though I really liked the characters. The second viewing of the film was absolutely incredible for me because I understood it more and finally realised how much of a classic it really was. The Godfather truly is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that is just a complete gangster classic. It is obviously rather dramatic but it is a thriller as well because there are some threats involving each of the different families within the film. The Godfather is a film that you just have to call a classic whether you like it or not. I can understand why some people wouldn't like this film because it is hard to understand and it is a long film as well. People would appreciate The Godfather because of how it was filmed, how interesting the characters are whether they are heroes or villains.

The Godfather including the second one has one of the best ensemble cast members of all time. The Godfather is the one film where the entire cast have all delivered top-notch performances. They are all ones worthy of an Oscar win. Marlon Brando delivers an ultimately legendary performance as Don Vito Corleone. Don Corleone is the father of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie Corleone. He has an adopted son called Tom Hagen which is still classified as a member of the family. Marlon's portrayal of Don Corleone was very unique because he has a very bizarre voice and with absolutely awesome make-up as well. I think the producers and director wanted to make it look the least like Marlon Brando even though it is obviously still him. I think they wanted to make the Vito Corleone character as realistic as possible. It is quite hard to compare Marlon Brando as Don Corleone with characters like Stanley Kowalski and Terry Malloy because he is almost 20 years older and also Vito is a rather odd person. Marlon was an actor with a really specific taste of characters he would portray which is a very good talent for Marlon because he wanted to keep his reputation at a very high standard. There were some films that I have heard he has done bad performances in including his Razzie win. Unfortunately Marlon declined his Oscar winning performance as Don Corleone because Hollywood were discriminating against Native Americans. Al Pacino's performances in his early years are probably his best performances. His performance as Michael Corleone was really awesome. Michael became a totally changed person when he got himself involved with the family's affairs. Michael was just going to live a normal private life but when Don Corleone was assassinated but not killed, he ends up becoming a big part of the family even though he is the youngest son of Don Corleone. Al Pacino showed Michael slowly becoming a monster in which he did become in The Godfather: Part II. James Caan was really awesome as Sonny Corleone who is the oldest son of Don Corleone. Robert Duvall was absolutely awesome as Tom Hagen. Tom Hagen is the adopted son of Don Corleone. I really liked Diane Keaton as Kay Adams as well who is Michael's girlfriend and then ultimately becomes his wife and the mother of his children.

Francis Ford Coppola has created the start of a classic trilogy that are just legends of cinema. Coppola's Godfather is like Jackson's Lord Of The Rings. It's like Lord Of The Rings are this decade or maybe even century of The Godfather. The Godfather is a story that is a mafia sort of film that would be something Martin Scorsese would do but to be perfectly honest he would have made it rather crap. Francis Ford Coppola made it feel like I don't need to read the novels because the films are just so good including the third one as well. Coppola has made The Godfather a very unusual gangster film with dark settings, cinematography, costumes and make-up design. Coppola hasn't really directed any films at all really because I think he wanted The Godfather Parts 1 and 2 to be his most memorable works as well as extremely memorable works in cinema. The script is just absolutely outstanding with a famous quote from Don Corleone: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Despite the fact I haven't read the novels yet, I think the films are probably better.

This film won 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Leading Actor (Marlon Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Marlon Brando regrettably refused to accept the award for the reason that the U.S. and especially Hollywood are discriminating Native American people. Brando did not show up at the ceremony, but instead sent a faked Indian woman named Sacheen Littlefeather who later turned out to be Maria Cruz, a less known Californian actress. The Godfather was nominated for Best Supporting Actor which had three actors from the film nominated but none of them won (James Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino). They lost to Joel Grey in Cabaret. It was also nominated for Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola) but lost to Bob Fosse in Cabaret, Best Costume Design but lost to Travels With My Aunt, Best Sound but lost to Cabaret, Best Film Editing but lost to Cabaret and Best Music Original Dramatic Score but lost to Limelight. The Godfather won 5 Golden Globes: Best Picture Drama, Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola), Best Actor Drama (Marlon Brando), Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. It was nominated for another Best Actor Drama nomination for Al Pacino but lost to his older co-star Marlon Brando and Best Supporting Actor (James Caan) but lost to Joel Grey in Cabaret.

The Godfather is one of the two trilogies that had had all three films nominated for Best Picture. The other trilogy is Lord Of The Rings. The Godfather is one of the all-time best classic films. The first is the best and most famous in the trilogy. The first one started absolutely amazingly and ended amazingly as well. The Godfather is one of those films you might have to watch twice to understand it like I did. The Godfather is Marlon Brando's most famous performance but it isn't his best and my favourite. My favourite is A Streetcar Named Desire which was his first film. Vito Corleone is one of my 10 favourite film characters of all time. I love Vito more than Michael. Al Pacino's best performance is still in The Godfather franchise but he is the best in the second film. The Godfather is my 5th favourite film franchise of all time after Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, Batman and Harry Potter. The Godfather made me watch classic films no matter how old they are. I absolutely adore the second film but this one is better. The Godfather will always have its rightful place in history as one of the best films of all time and one of my all-time favourites ever.

"Let me sleep."


Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
Running time: 118 minutes
Country: USA


Insomnia is in my opinion one of the most underrated films of all time. It is a film that has a very enjoyable, fate-deciding and twisted story that I found deeply interesting from start to finish. I think the reason why I loved this film so much was that it was one of my kinds of films: murder mystery without being too complex, twists, tense and dramatic and a great ensemble cast. Insomnia is one of those films that I wasn't expecting to love as much as I actually did. It is a film that you will get totally gripped with especially with a shocking twist that affects the whole film as well as the characters within the film. It isn't a complex murder mystery film like Zodiac but it is just a simple film that just entertains and thrills audiences all the way through. This is the sort of film that would keep you awake if you are falling asleep watching it which is another reason why I really love this film a lot.


This film features three outstanding actors who are all Oscar winners: Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. Al Pacino's performance is one that some people would be disappointed by but I personally think it wasn't disappointing at all because I was gripped with Detective Will Dormer and what his fate and the fate of the rest of the film would be which is what attracted Pacino's performance to the character meant to me. It isn't Al Pacino's best performance but in my opinion it is one of my favourites from him. Robin Williams' performance as Walter Finch actually surprised me. He made a good impression of playing a villain in this film. One thing that was rather strange was that I personally believe Robin made Walter's character a pretty predictable one because I knew he was the villain even though he was denying it to begin with until he revealed he was in fact the murderer. Robin should consider in portraying some more villains in films because he is actually pretty good at doing that. Hilary Swank gives another awesome performance which is pretty predictable because she is one of those actresses who doesn't disappoint at all. Ellie Burr is like the rookie of the investigation so she learns from Will Dormer and his partner Hap Eckhart but when Eckhart is accidentally shot by Dormer and she slowly learns the truth she sees a darker side to being a detective than just seeing criminals in the outside world.


I love Nolan's work in all of his films because he hasn't done one bad film yet. It's the same thing with David Fincher too. Nolan's Insomnia is Fincher's Zodiac and it's that simple apart from Insomnia is better. Nolan's work on Insomnia wasn't like his work on Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento and The Prestige because he only directed Insomnia but he wrote and/or produced the other films. Chris Nolan has always been a director of creating visual dark stories but this is the only one that isn't so. The awesome cast, story and script were the things that didn't make this a disappointment to me at all. I didn't know George Clooney was one of the executive producers of Insomnia until writing this review now. I was surprised that he did produce it but to be fair he and other producers within the film actually did quite a good job. I know that some people might critisize me and have critisized me for saying that Insomnia is Nolan's second best film after The Dark Knight and Memento is his least best work even though that is still amazing but it is one's opinion.


Insomnia is a really fun film that I just loved for its entertaining story, interesting characters and the way it was filmed. Out of the three Oscar winning actors in Insomnia, Hilary Swank is the best out of them. Her performance is still obviously better in Boys Don't Cry. I find it to be one of the best films from Robin Williams and Al Pacino too. Insomnia is one of my favourite films for those reasons and other reasons in my review. It is one of my favourites of 2002 as well. I find it to be one of those rare intense, thrilling, murder mystery masterpieces that people can appreciate for being what it is: entertainment.

"You're in no position disagree with me, boy. I got a loaded .45 here. You got pimples."


Director: Martin Brest
Starring: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar
Running time: 157 minutes
Country: USA


Scent Of A Woman is a very emotional story with a huge adventure and a huge impact on self discovery. That is where it is beautiful especially when Frank is driving a car, despite he is blind, he enjoys it and he tries his best to be like everyone else. Also, as he becomes closer to Charlie, he tries to help him and sort of behaves like his father. It is really emotional as Slade becomes close with Charlie, Slade cant seen Charlie and doesnt know what he looks like. Slade becomes quite angry with himself for being the way he is. It becomes from a hard going relationship to a very deep personal relationship. Both Slade and Charlie discover about themselves and they both a change of heart. Charlie goes from being a complete bad ass to a really nice hearted young guy after being with Colonel Slade. Because of Slades bitter attitude, he lost most of his family. He starts to get back with his family and meeting new people and because of this Slade becomes a whole new person again.


Al Pacinos performance is simply outstanding. It was his first and only Academy Award he won and this is probably one of his best that not many people might not have taken into consideration. He is mostly overrated for Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface and Serpico. But in a way it is quite good. I love powerful characters who are very different who behave like normal people now. I love characters who are either retarded, deaf, blind, disabled, deformed etc. For example, Al Pacino as blind man Frank Slade, Dustin Hoffman as autistic Raymond Babbit, John Hurt as John Merrick and more. I mostly love it when characters like that are portrayed by such powerful actors and the greatest actors of all time. As far as the Frank Slade character is concerned, Slade is quite hard on the outside where he has that part of the army within him still but inside he is a really nice man with a big heart. Al Pacino very much deserved his Oscar in this film. Not his best performance though. His best performance is Michael Corleone particularly in The Godfather: Part II. Chris O Donnell delivers another outstanding performance as Charlie Simms. Charlie is a lonely young man who has no family. Chris portrays Charlie with such powerful emotion and with a lot of laughter too. I found it quite funny when he saw that beautiful woman in the restaurant and Pacino danced with her and he was quite shy. He is the one character in the film that made me laugh. He deserved his Golden Globe but should have had an Oscar nomination.


The direction from Martin Brest was really good. I could tell that Pacino and O Donnell needed to do a lot of hard work with all the different actions that were going on. I thought the script was simply outstanding because as I said it is an extremely emotional and powerful script but at the same time it is quite a funny script too. This film can help people with learning about who they really are.


I have only seen three of the five 1992 Academy Award Best Picture nominees and after seeing Scent Of A Woman, Howards End and Unforgiven it is my favourite one of those five so far. It has achieved Al Pacinos most powerful performance but not his most famous performance though. It is one of the best of 1992 and one of Al Pacinos best as I have said repeatedly. The one thing that disappointed me about Scent Of A Woman was that I thought it was a bit too long. Despite of how long it was, it was still a really well written film that deserves its place as one of the most beautiful films based on self discovery and friendship.

"Michael Corleone: Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment."


Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola
Running time: 163 minutes
Country: USA, Italy


The Godfather: Part III doesn't quite match up to the previous two Godfather films but it is still a very good film to watch. It's minorly disappointing but I still really enjoyed it. The Godfather: Part III is the conclusion to one of the most famous trilogies of all time. It is filmed in almost the same way as the previous two films but the stories or performances quite sum up to it. It tells the story of Michael and him in his older days when he begins to go downfall and he begins to regret all of his crimes in the past such as the murder of his brother Fredo at the end of The Godfather: Part II and the divorce with Kay. There aren't many threequals that are classics but I have to say that this is a really good one but not the best one though. The best is The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King. The third installment of the trilogy comes after 18 years of The Godfather: Part II and I had a prediction that I the third film wouldn't be favourites of mine like the first two films are.


Al Pacino proves once again that he is the perfect actor for Michael Corleone. Michael doesn't seem to be a very powerful leader in this one as much as second one because he is aging as is the family drug business. Michael is just a beaten down old man in this one and rightly so because Michael gets everything he deserves in this film for what he did in the past. Diane Keaton was really good as Kay Corleone. Seeing Pacino and Keaton reprise their roles after 16 years was awesome obviously but quite weird because they look almost 20 years older in this one but playing the same characters. Andy Garcia's performance as Vincent Mancini was absolutely awesome which made this film even better than it already is. Sofia Coppola didn't impress at all. Her performance as Mary Corleone (daughter of Michael Corleone) was absolutely appauling which did become a minor disgrace to The Godfather trilogy.


Francis Ford Coppola is a fine filmmaker indeed. He didn't flaw at all in this one despite how disappointing some people find it. I think Coppola felt a bit under pressure with this one because I think he needed to make it just as good as the previous two films. The time of when it was made didn't really help very much because Coppola was working on other projects and I think that some people might have thought he'd lost his taste for making another acceptional Godfather film. No, this isn't a masterpiece compared to the first and second film but it is a brilliant conclusion to such a masterful trilogy.


The Godfather: Part III is the worst of the trilogy but is still a really good film that I really enjoyed. It doesn't quite live up to the previous two films but it isn't that far off. This would have seriously been bad if Coppola wasn't the director. The Godfather Parts I and II and Apocalypse Now are Coppola's best works but this third Godfather film is another fine achievement to his legendary career. The Godfather is one of the two trilogies to have all three films nominated for Best Picture and rightly so. The Godfather: Part III is a fantastic conclusion to one of the best trilogies of all time.