"The Godfather, Part II" (1974) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #32

Synopsis (according to IMDB.com)
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
It's difficult for me to review this on its own since I can't help but compare it to Part 1 (especially since I saw these two films back to back recently).  The story here is more of a downer, and I find so many scenes in Part 1 to be more memorable and iconic, so I'm struggling to give this film the acclaim it deserves.  Having said that, here I go...

Much like the first film, Part 2 is extremely well done.  It's a bit more of a complex story to follow, but the storytelling is once again terrific - it feels like an epic at 3 hours and 20 minutes, but it goes by rather quickly.  I loved seeing how Vito Corleone came to power and how his story is juxtaposed with Michael's efforts to retain that power.  It's well done filmmaking to interweave these two stories as Coppola does, and the screenplay, acting, lighting, and atmosphere all add to that, which is why this is another masterpiece.

Complaints?

No complaints, but I found it interesting that the only real moment of levity in either of these two films comes in a short scene in Part 2 (since, like I mentioned above, Part 2 is more of a downer to me, so it's ironic that it's the one with a semi-funny moment).  Nevertheless, seeing the landlord visit Vito after taking his money and insulting him, only to find out later the reputation Vito now has, is a pretty funny scene.

LET ME SUM UP...
Another masterpiece, though not quite as enjoyable for me as the original.

MY RATING: 8/10 (no change from my previous rating)

"The Godfather" (1972) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #2

Synopsis (according to IMDB.com)
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
Whenever I talk about this movie, I always say "it's probably as close to a perfect movie as there is."  After re-watching it again, that statement holds true.  This is simply the poster child of a masterpiece.  The storytelling.  The acting.  The screenplay.  The cinematography.  "The Godfather" is simply amazing.

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
I'm going to cheat and copy and paste the Critics Consensus from Rotten Tomatoes because they say it much better than I could: One of Hollywood's greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema.

Complaints?
Despite my raving above, I do actually have one complaint.  To try and avoid spoilers as much as possible, there is a fight scene out in the street between two characters, and at one point the camera is positioned in such a way that you can clearly see one "punch" that gets thrown misses the other guy's face by about a foot.  The rest of the fight scene looks believable enough, but the very first time I saw the film I noticed this fake punch and it sort of ruins the scene for me every time I watch it.

LET ME SUM UP...
As I said above and I say every time I talk about "The Godfather": it's probably as close to a perfect movie as there is.

MY RATING: 9.5/10 (0.5 higher from my previous rating)