Peter Griffin on why he doesnt like the Godfather

_Kaiser_

Goodfellas ftw

faceman

Galvasean wrote:

From what little I did see, I found the characters to be fairly overblown and a little bit cartoonish.

that is the most bizarre comment i have ever heard about the Godfather!!

Dev 17 wrote:

A lot of the time a movie is so built up and over hyped in magazines and reviews and in the the general public, people often think that something is wrong with them if they don't like the film.

i understand your point here in many ways. i didnt watch Pulp fiction for about a year after it came out on video because of all the hype about it. i didnt enjoy it though but never the hype.

difference between pulp fiction and the Godfather is the GF is about 30 years old. theres hasnt been hype over it in decades!

Galvasean

faceman wrote:

that is the most bizarre comment i have ever heard about the Godfather!!

Am I alone in thinking Brando's performance was way over the top?

johnny_ultimate

Galvasean wrote:

Am I alone in thinking Brando's performance was way over the top?

Nope. As I mentioned earlier thought it was an embarrasingly overblown performance. Really confused me when I watched it that the performance is viewed as one of the greatest of all time and Oscar worthy.

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote:

Nope. As I mentioned earlier thought it was an embarrasingly overblown performance. Really confused me when I watched it that the performance is viewed as one of the greatest of all time and Oscar worthy.

Probably because it's been parodied so much that it has become cliche. I thought it was a wonderful performance myself.

Galvasean

Retr0gamer wrote:

Probably because it's been parodied so much that it has become cliche. I thought it was a wonderful performance myself.

That could be it. Maybe because the Godfather is such an iconic film with so many pop culture references attributed to it, its hard to get into it now without preconceptions.

faceman

Galvasean wrote:

That could be it. Maybe because the Godfather is such an iconic film with so many pop culture references attributed to it, its hard to get into it now without preconceptions.

thats a very good point. its like watching someone in their early 20's watchin "once upon a time in the west" or "high noon" and saying they're crap westerna when in fact it set the bar for westerns and has been imitated in form or another ever since.

when people are submersed in popular culture which puts homages, nods, winks, imitations etc to a piece of work, its hard not to be prejudice.

johnny_ultimate

OK I have the boxset upstairs and have decided to watch all three of them through based on this thread to see if a second watch of the first and first watch of 2 and 3 change my mind on the film. I shall report back on my findings. I will go in with an open mind, and hopefully emerged with an enlarged one.

Sad Professor

I wouldn't bother with the third, at least not for now. Coppola was in a weak position when he made it so the suits at Paramount had their way on most things. He didn't even want to call it The Godfather and considered it a separate story focusing just on Michael. It has it's moments but it's best to see it as a rough cut of what might have been.

Part II is brilliant though and even better than the first imo. Certainly the greatest sequel ever made. The amazing thing is that it was an afterthought but it still feels like a natural continuation of the first film.

faceman

Sad Professor wrote:

Part II is brilliant though and even better than the first imo. Certainly the greatest sequel ever made. The amazing thing is that it was an afterthought but it still feels like a natural continuation of the first film.

for me its hard to prefer one of the other as they have such excellent qualities. i do love the ending to part II tho. right up to the last shot. in fact that shot says a thousand words.

Running Bing

really wish I had not read the replies because I knew it would just get me riled up.

Films are all about opinion, some people like a film some dont, but the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

Either that or you have A) Not watched the whole thing a la Peter Griffin(which I would not put past some of the posters with the comments made) or You were disapointed that you actually had to make an effort and use your head to watch it and that there were no jokes about redneck NASCAR drivers or metrosexual figure skaters in it.:rolleyes:

aidan_walsh

Babybing wrote:

the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

In your opinion.

johnny_ultimate

Babybing wrote:

really wish I had not read the replies because I knew it would just get me riled up.

Films are all about opinion, some people like a film some dont, but the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

Either that or you have A) Not watched the whole thing a la Peter Griffin(which I would not put past some of the posters with the comments made) or You were disapointed that you actually had to make an effort and use your head to watch it and that there were no jokes about redneck NASCAR drivers or metrosexual figure skaters in it.:rolleyes:

I wasnt going to bother retorting that nonsense, but you have summed up exactly what is wrong with a number of film snobs. So what if I dont like the Godfather? I love many other so-called classics, and the fact is a) I have watched the whole thing and b) no, I wasnt disapointed it wasnt a Will Ferrel film (and what is wrong with the occasional Will Ferrell movie? Nothing).

A film message board is about airing alternate views. Not coming on just to put down people who dont like a film you do. Its that kind of arguement that makes me angry. How can a film possibly be above criticism? If I liked a film others didnt, I may argue with them over why, but I wouldnt out and out insult them like you just did.

Babybing

Babybing wrote:

really wish I had not read the replies because I knew it would just get me riled up.

Films are all about opinion, some people like a film some dont, but the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

Either that or you have A) Not watched the whole thing a la Peter Griffin(which I would not put past some of the posters with the comments made) or You were disapointed that you actually had to make an effort and use your head to watch it and that there were no jokes about redneck NASCAR drivers or metrosexual figure skaters in it.:rolleyes:

You sir know nothing of cinema.

faceman

johnny_ultimate wrote:

A film message board is about airing alternate views. Not coming on just to put down people who dont like a film you do. Its that kind of arguement that makes me angry. How can a film possibly be above criticism? If I liked a film others didnt, I may argue with them over why, but I wouldnt out and out insult them like you just did.

exactly, wouldnt be much fun if we all had the same opinion!

Running Bing

aidan_walsh wrote:

In your opinion.

Naturally;)

MooseJam

both brilliant films, but I prefer the one with Robert Duvall

Galvasean

Babybing wrote:

really wish I had not read the replies because I knew it would just get me riled up.

Films are all about opinion, some people like a film some dont, but the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

Either that or you have A) Not watched the whole thing a la Peter Griffin(which I would not put past some of the posters with the comments made) or You were disapointed that you actually had to make an effort and use your head to watch it and that there were no jokes about redneck NASCAR drivers or metrosexual figure skaters in it.:rolleyes:

As per my point about 'film snobbery'
And now to make my post 50 times more facetious... :rolleyes:

GhostInTheRuins

Sad Professor wrote:

The book isn't that great imo. Puzo wrote it for the money and it was just another best-seller to be adapted into a Hollywood movie.

I kind of have to disagree with you on that point. I'm torn between which I prefer, the book or the film. In some ways I think that the book is better than the film. You get a much better insight into the characters and their history in the book than in the film. Luca Brasi for example, in the film all you're told is that he is a "very scary man", you'll never know how much of a cold bastard he is, burning his new-born child alive because it's of Irish decent for example :eek:. The same with Al Neri, In the film he has about 10 seconds screen time, but theres a whole chapter about him in the novel.

Reading the book had added so much to my enjoyment of the film. I'd recommend anybody that likes the Godfather to read it and I certainly wouldn't say that it's not a great book. Infact, I've started reading some more of Puzo's novels and they too are excellent

JohnK

Speaking of the Godfather, what was the deal with the Godfather lines in Oceans 13? Seemed to be a few of them.

monkeyfudge

faceman wrote:

exactly, wouldnt be much fun if we all had the same opinion!

[different opinion]Yes it would![/different opinion]

ixoy

Babybing wrote:

really wish I had not read the replies because I knew it would just get me riled up.

Films are all about opinion, some people like a film some dont, but the godfather is beyond opinion, if you dont like the godfather you dont like film and you have no place on a film message board.

Or how about, if you're out to insult other poster's tastes so broadly, you have no place on this film board

I completely disagree with you, and it's encouraging to see people have different tastes. I don't particularly like "The Godfather" - shoud I resign as mod? Can you tell me what movies I'm supposed to like?

You were disapointed that you actually had to make an effort and use your head to watch it and that there were no jokes about redneck NASCAR drivers or metrosexual figure skaters in it.:rolleyes:

That's the sort of reasoning that gets people so annoyed: if you don't like it, you're not intelligent. Elitist nonsense. None of that please.

Duggy747

Meh, I find it hard that people might not like The Godfather but that's taste & opinion, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I am more shocked at people who haven't seen movies like this. I know people who haven't seen Godfather, Die Hard series, Lord Of the Rings, any Tarrantino movie, any horror movie (Yes, I knew someone that sad), The Matrix series, etc. I know 2 people who haven't seen all of these and one of them never heard of Pulp Fiction, , is that physically possible?

But since we're enjoying each other's opinions I'm going to come out and say I can't stand Family Guy anymore. First 3 seasons were genius, 4th was decent, but 5 and 6 are pure muck. The show has just deteriorated into trying so hard to be random that the jokes aren't random anymore.
"Just like that time when I......." Then cue the joke that carries a daft situation, some sex inuendo (Which is waaaaay too frequent now), and a celebrity everybody forgot about (I dunno, Fred Savage from Wonder Years but I bet he's already been covered) It was fun when Family Guy first came out but now the jokes aren't even funny anymore. The lad's and I used to have a great laugh but for the past few season we've litteraly barely cracked a smile at the episodes and instead droned over the same ol' crap. That and I don't think it has the longevity like old Simpsons or South Park, you know, episodes that you can watch over and over again but never get sick of.

*Sigh* That's my rant covered, I await your verbal beatings!

ixoy

Duggy747 wrote:

*Sigh* That's my rant covered, I await your verbal beatings!

I don't There's a Television forum and a Prime Time Cartoons forum for 'Family Guy' bashing.

Galvasean

Duggy747 wrote:

Meh, I find it hard that people might not like The Godfather but that's taste & opinion, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I am more shocked at people who haven't seen movies like this. I know people who haven't seen Godfather, Die Hard series, Lord Of the Rings, any Tarrantino movie, any horror movie (Yes, I knew someone that sad), The Matrix series, etc. I know 2 people who haven't seen all of these and one of them never heard of Pulp Fiction, , is that physically possible?

As a film student sometimes I get absolutely stunned by how little the common man in the street knows about films. There are people in my age bracket (20-22) that have not seen Jurassic Park. Poor people must not have had childhoods.

Vokes

Galvasean wrote:

As a film student sometimes I get absolutely stunned by how little the common man in the street knows about films. There are people in my age bracket (20-22) that have not seen Jurassic Park. Poor people must not have had childhoods.

Well, those ppl would have been 6-8yrs when it came out on the big screen, so wouldnt have seen it then. Maybe they just couldn't be arsed watching it on dvd *shrugs*

johnny_ultimate

Galvasean wrote:

As a film student sometimes I get absolutely stunned by how little the common man in the street knows about films. There are people in my age bracket (20-22) that have not seen Jurassic Park. Poor people must not have had childhoods.

Yeah there are alot of people who really don't go out of their way to watch acclaimed / popular / smaller films. Was talking to a friend of mine t'other day, and turned out he hadnt seen Jurassic Park, only the threequel, which he thought was terrific. I know I spend much more time watching / reading about film than the vast majority of my other friends, but it is still weird to think about.

JohnK

Dont worry, its just a sign that you're out of touch and getting old

Duggy747

JohnK wrote:

Dont worry, its just a sign that you're out of touch and getting old

LIES!!! Anywho I was about 7-8 years old when Jurassic Park came out and I saw it in the cinema, I mean it was THE biggest thing in school! Dinosaur magazines came out, pencil cases, sweets........the whole sha-bang! I forgot to mention the old Star Wars trilogy, 2 lads never saw any of them.......not even a scene! Correct me if I'm wrong but before Lucas came out with the new ones weren't the originals a staple of RTE's Xmas schedule every single year? Baffling stuff!

Cabaal

Duggy747 wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong but before Lucas came out with the new ones weren't the originals a staple of RTE's Xmas schedule every single year? Baffling stuff!

don't forget ITV, they used to show them every stephens day....especially Return Of The Jedi