Next, while we are on the subject of gangster movies, I want to take some time to talk about a more modern movie, and maybe even, if I have the attention span, make some comparative analysis between the Godfather and this movie. But I probably won't though.
Anyway, in case you haven't seen American Gangster, while its not as big a crime as not seeing the Godfather, I still greatly recommend it to you if you have any legitimate taste in good quality movies. But I'll show you a short scene from the movie, one that really captures the action and raw coolness that this movie exhibits.
American Gangster is a movie that is based on the real life events of the famous black gangster, Frank Lucas. This man was a drug lord back in the 1960s and the late 1970's. He was mainly active in Harlem, New York. What makes this man so famous, what makes it necessary to make an entire movie on him, was the fact that he dealt one on one with the top heroin dealers in South Asia. This is different then your average gangster (if there is one), in that he eliminated the "middle man", is didn't have anyone buy the heroin for him and then he would have to buy it from them. This gave the man lots of reputation as being ruthless, and it was also very hard to track what he was doing, because he was usually on the scene, making sure all the drugs were concealed correctly. Frank would hide the heroin inside of coffins of dead soldiers' bodies being shipped back to the United States after the Vietnam War.
This movie is shot from two different points of view, Frank Lucas himself, and the cop that was on his tail, Richie Roberts. The movie tries to capture the personal lives of both of these men, how Frank was trying to live up to his mentor and teacher, the "wise" gangster, Bumpy Johnson; how Richie was dealing with many problems in his domestic life including a wife who wanted a divorce, temptations about keeping a suitcase he found filled with money, and his intimate relations with his female colleagues.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Implications of The Godfather
The Godfather was more than just an awesome movie that will never be forgotten. It created the entire pop culture that so many people came to love that had kind of been around since the days of Al Capone. There is almost unanimous agreement amongst critics that this movie is one of the greatest ever made, they don't want to admit that it IS the best movie ever made because they don't want to start a heated debate with less intelligent, narrow minded individuals who can't see the finely crafted genius in this movie. Winning Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director (Francis Coppola), and MUCH more, debate on whether The Godfather is one of the best movies if not the best movies is somewhat asinine in my opinion. Anyway that being said, this movie spread throughout the country and the rest of the world and became extremely influential.
This movie really showed the "gangsterous" lifestyle of these people and portrayed it from their point of view, not police, or innocent bystanders. Rap artists have given themselves clearance to give reference to the Corleone family and even state that they are "the real Corleone family." Specific shows like "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" are influenced in part by The Godfather.
This movie really showed the "gangsterous" lifestyle of these people and portrayed it from their point of view, not police, or innocent bystanders. Rap artists have given themselves clearance to give reference to the Corleone family and even state that they are "the real Corleone family." Specific shows like "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" are influenced in part by The Godfather.
Back to the Basics
Hello everyone, this is really the first official post on this blog, so I thought that it would only be appropriate if I went back to the classics, started off on a good note. Today I would just like to discuss The Godfather series. The best movies ever made in not only my opinion, but the opinion of so many others. Its almost the official opinion, if there is such a thing.
The Godfather made wrote the foundations for all gangster- crime movies I think. It made the official rules of what was okay to have in a movie and what wasn't. Not only was it starring a few of the best actors ever to be seen on the big screen, (De Niro, Pacino, Brando) but they all meshed so well that I don't think they could have substituted anyone for someone else.
For those poor, underprivileged souls who have not yet seen THe Godfather for whatever inexcusable reason, allow me to give a very, very brief description of the first part, so we can at least be on the same page.
The Godfather takes place in New York City in the decade spanning 1945 to 1955. The main character for the first few hours, (they switch main characters a lot) is Marlon Brando, the Godfather himself. He is known by many names in this movie, the name given to him at birth is Vito Andolini. Vito was born in the small village of Corleone in Sicily, Italy. Through complications with the locals at the time, he was smuggled out of Sicily onto a ship containing hundreds of Italians all headed for New York, Vito was about ten years old. Arriving at New York, unable to speak any English, he was confronted with immigration workers asking for his name, on his passport it said "Vito" (his first name) and "Corleone" (his hometown). His new name became Vito Corleone.
Throughout the rest of his life Vito slowly began climbing the ladder of entrepreneurship and became a very wealthy olive oil merchant, or so people thought. Vito was also rising as the top leader of organized crime in the entire nation. His control of the bootlegging and gambling businesses was what he was really interested in. Over the years Vito and his close friends rose to the top of the underworld ladder and the Corleone family started to grow. Vito became the Godfather of this family, also called The Don. Many assassination attempts were made on his life, none of which succeded, but one caused fatal injuries that he hever really recovered from.
The first part in the three part series than, addresses events in The Don's life after he became the official leader of the Corleone family and his competetion with rival Italian families in New York, notably the Tattaglia and Barzini families.
The Godfather made wrote the foundations for all gangster- crime movies I think. It made the official rules of what was okay to have in a movie and what wasn't. Not only was it starring a few of the best actors ever to be seen on the big screen, (De Niro, Pacino, Brando) but they all meshed so well that I don't think they could have substituted anyone for someone else.
For those poor, underprivileged souls who have not yet seen THe Godfather for whatever inexcusable reason, allow me to give a very, very brief description of the first part, so we can at least be on the same page.
The Godfather takes place in New York City in the decade spanning 1945 to 1955. The main character for the first few hours, (they switch main characters a lot) is Marlon Brando, the Godfather himself. He is known by many names in this movie, the name given to him at birth is Vito Andolini. Vito was born in the small village of Corleone in Sicily, Italy. Through complications with the locals at the time, he was smuggled out of Sicily onto a ship containing hundreds of Italians all headed for New York, Vito was about ten years old. Arriving at New York, unable to speak any English, he was confronted with immigration workers asking for his name, on his passport it said "Vito" (his first name) and "Corleone" (his hometown). His new name became Vito Corleone.
Throughout the rest of his life Vito slowly began climbing the ladder of entrepreneurship and became a very wealthy olive oil merchant, or so people thought. Vito was also rising as the top leader of organized crime in the entire nation. His control of the bootlegging and gambling businesses was what he was really interested in. Over the years Vito and his close friends rose to the top of the underworld ladder and the Corleone family started to grow. Vito became the Godfather of this family, also called The Don. Many assassination attempts were made on his life, none of which succeded, but one caused fatal injuries that he hever really recovered from.
The first part in the three part series than, addresses events in The Don's life after he became the official leader of the Corleone family and his competetion with rival Italian families in New York, notably the Tattaglia and Barzini families.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Welcome
Seeing as this is my first blog entry, ever, I really don't know how to start this. But what you can expect from this blog later on, is a thorough review of new releases of movies, video games, gaming consoles (this will probably include lots of computer jargon, just don't want to scare anyone away) and every now and than I'll like to switch it up and maybe throw in an interesting article that I found, or a cool video.
Quick edit: I am posting this from school right now, don't think that I am up this early to post blog entries lol... I'll most likely be on after school, late afternoon to night time...
Quick edit: I am posting this from school right now, don't think that I am up this early to post blog entries lol... I'll most likely be on after school, late afternoon to night time...
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