Yes, now that I have seen Godfather 2, I can admit to you that I had never seen it before. Pretty shameful. In fact, I haven’t seen the first Godfather since high school, so I may have to follow up with another viewing of that soon. Anyways, Godfather 2 is considered by IMDB voters to be the 3rd best movie ever. I don’t know if I’d go that far, though I did think it was a stunningly wonderful movie. Pacino brought a shrouded mood to every seen he was in, and John Cazale was terrific as Fredo. It was obvious that he was going to get whacked in the end, but it was still upsetting. The beauty of the film was that you hated just about every major character in the film at one time or another, and you sympathized with every major character at one time or another. I thought the only weakness of the film was the somewhat farfetched return to Italy to take out Don Ciccio. And I’m not sure I understood why Michael decision to go into the Marines at the end was so significant. Did I miss something? All in all, though, a wonderful film, and perhaps even my second favorite mob movie of all time. Goodfellas is still, in my mind, the best. A-
PREVIOUSLY IN THE CLASSIC MOVIE PROJECT: North by Northwest.

You guys really blew it on this one. Terrible choice. I’m sorry, but I saw every single joke in this movie coming from a mile away. I may have laughed three or four times, but there was never a part of the movie that I can say I thoroughly enjoyed. Darth Helmet was the only moderately funny character. I love John Candy, and my disappointment in what a terrible character he played cannot be overstated. I’m sure I would have liked this movie when I was 12, and I have a feeling that that’s why you guys like it so much, but trust me, this one doesn’t hold up. Or perhaps if I had done some deadly marijuana and then watched it at the deadliest time of the day it would have been funnier. However, that would have also led down a road to death and despair. I suspect this is the worst movie I will see in the Classic Movie Experiment. D-

PREVIOUSLY: JGT reviews North By Northwest.
PREVIOUSLY: JGT reviews Dr. Strangelove.

Heading down to Virginia on Thursday, and my dad and sister are both big Western fans. So I’m hoping to spend a little QT with the fam watching a Western I haven’t seen yet. Vote for which one you think I should see. I saw Spaceballs this past weekend and will have my review manana.

Ok, ok, so Blue Velvet actually beat North by Northwest by a single vote. But my video store didn’t have a DVD copy of Blue Velvet somehow, so I went with North by Northwest. If anyone has a copy of Blue Velvet I could borrow, I’ll watch it this weekend.

This film was an absolute blast. The scenery was almost as much fun as the film, from the colorful hotel rooms to the obviously staged woods to house at the end, the sets were amazing. Cary Grant was the definition of cool. As a friend of mine said the other night, “George Clooney has built an entire career out of being Cary Grant.” And Eva Marie Saint is stunningly beautiful, with that certain edge that makes women ten times sexier. Smart, powerful, and sexy, I have a hard time thinking of an actress in Hollywood today that could have pulled that character off. The other character I really liked was the super creepy villain played by Martin Landau. What was up with that dude? What a psycho.

I loved the classic scene on the prairie. “That’s funny, that plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.” And of course Cary Grant runs from a plane without ever breaking a sweat or running out of breath. I also enjoyed the scene at the art gallery, where he made an ass of himself to avoid being killed, though I wasn’t sure why he didn’t try to get away from the cops as well.

No real negatives to talk about. Thought the movie coulda been about 15 minutes shorter, but I still enjoyed all of it. I thought the Mount Rushmore scene was a little hokey. Apparently, they were really gonna shoot at Rushmore, but got found out and the Park Service wouldn’t let them, so they had to build a fake Rushmore and promise to not walk on the faces. In any event, that scene was a bit silly, though I’m really just nitpicking here.

All in all, a great film. I even watched the 30 minute extra about the filming of it, which I rarely do, because I wanted to learn more about the film. I’m sure I missed some vague nuances, and will at some point treat myself to watching it again to try to pick them up. Great film. B+.

Alright, gang, time to pick a movie for this weekend. I have never seen any of the following. Yes, I know I’m the only person alive who never saw A Few Good Men. For those of you who keep telling me to watch 12 Angry Men, I’ll put it back in a poll soon and see if it fares any better. Whichever movie has the most votes by Friday at 5 pm is the one I’ll be watching.