Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Monica Belucci's head-turning beauty adores the poster for Giuseppe Tornatore's Malèna
In a small Sicilian town in 1940, as Italy enters WWII, a teenage boy is seeing the locally famed beauty Maléna, who changes his life.
Malèna is written and directed by Italian master filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore (The Professor/Il Camorrista (1986)), based on a story by Luciano Vincenzoni (Little FunnyGuy/L'Emigrante (1973)). It is Tornatore's 7th feature. It is a wonderful little film of first love, the rampant horniness of the teenage boy, and the passing from boy into something else. It is also about a woman but mostly as an idolized, more or less mystical, older figure. Monica Bellucci (She Hate Me (2004)) is incredibly beautiful and erotic as the title character, among the fairest and sexiest women in the history of cinema with Malèna one of the great bullets to prove this, and you can easily watch the film for her scenes alone and enjoy it immensely. But Malèna is also exceptionally shot (cinematographer Lajos Koltai (The Legend of 1900/La Leggenda del Pianista sull'Oceano (1998))), - and the score is pure Ennio Morricone (Porca Vacca (1982)) magic.
Cost: Reportedly "around" 10 mil. $ Box office: 14.4 mil. $ = Big flop (returned 1.44 times its cost) [Malèna premiered 26 October (Italy) and runs 109 minutes/92 min. in the North-American watered down edition. Shooting took place in Morocco and in Sicily, Italy from September 1999 - March 2000. The film opened #37 to a 62k $ first weekend in 32 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #28 and in 117 theaters, grossing 3.4 mil. $ (23.6 % of the total gross). The international gross sheet at Box Office Mojo is not complete, missing among many other markets Italy itself, likely the film's biggest or at least 2nd biggest market, but the 14.4 mil. $ gross is likely accurate. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Cinematography to Pater Pau for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Score to Dun Tan for the same film. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, a BAFTA, won 1/4 David di Donatello nominations, a National Board of Review award and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Tornatore returned with The Unknown Woman/La Sconosciuta (2006). Bellucci returned in Dear Father (2001, short) and theatrically in Brotherhood of the Wolf/Le Pacte des Loups (2001). Malèna is rotten at 54 % with a 5.58/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The sharp image of heir-to-the-throne Michael Corleone is right-of-centre and also throws the title off balance in this text and symbolism-heavy poster for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II
Michael Coleone takes over the New York mob family empire after his late father in 1958. SPOILER He and his wife Kay survive an assassination attempt, and the hunt for the traitor begins, followed by a failure in Cuba, miscarriage and more death. The Godfather Part II is written by Mario Puzo (Superman (1978)), based partially on his novel The Godfather (1969), and Michigander master filmmaker, co-writer/producer/director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather (1972)). It is the second part in the Godfather trilogy, which ends with The Godfather: Part III (1990). Coppola boldly attacks his sequel to one of the biggest hits in 1970s cinema and fearlessly places everything on black, as he opens the film similarly to The Godfather with a large family celebration, but here a First Communion party for Michael and Kay's son with an atmosphere that is in stark contrast to the warm festivity at the Godfather wedding party. This icy-cold, highly different mood continues to seep from Part II, SPOILER which in large part centers on Michael's realization and dealing with the fact that his brother Fredo is the traitor. Warmth and glow are found in the epic film in its sequences that follow Michael's father, Vito's childhood and youth in Sicily and New York, stylized and delicious visually (cinematography by Gordon Willis (Zelig (1983)) with Robert De Niro (Everybody's Fine (2009)) innovative and terrific as Vito. None of the performances in Part II are less than great; and Nino Rota's (Roma (1972)) music is central to the film's power. It is a matter of taste whether one prefers the first film or the drastically different tone of The Godfather Part II, which is very dark, full of bitterness and loss of values, certainly a very cold great achievement in film.
Cost: 13-15 mil. $ (different reports) Box office: Reportedly 88 mil. $ = Huge hit (returned at least 5.86 times its cost) [The Godfather Part II premiered 12 December (New York) and runs 200 minutes. Puzo started writing the screenplay in 1971, before the release of the first film. Coppola was given great freedom following Godfather's enormous success, and the initial 6 mil. $ budget was allowed to more than double during production. James Cagney refused a part in the film. Coppola had to change the script to appease Pacino's misgivings just prior to production. Shooting took place from October 1973 - June 1974 in California, New York, Las Vegas, Nevada, Miami, Florida, Washington DC, Italy and the Dominican Republic. Marlon Brando failed to appear for his one day of shooting (a flashback scene), and the script was immediately changed to accommodate the no-show. Paramount opposed the 'Part II' in the title, as this had not been put in the title of a mainstream movie before, but Coppola had his way, and the practice was soon commonplace afterwards. The film grossed 47.5 mil. $ in North America (54 % of the total gross). Both domestically and internationally the film did far less business than its landmark predecessor, but it was still Paramount's highest-grossing movie of the year and the 7th highest-grossing film of the year in North America overall. The film won 6 out of 11 Oscar nominations. It won Best Picture (the first sequel to achieve this), Supporting Actor (De Niro), Director, Adapted Screenplay, Art-Set Direction and Score. It lost Actor (Pacino) to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto, two more Supporting Actor nominations (Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg), Supporting Actress (Talia Shire) to Ingrid Bergman for Murder on the Orient Express and Costume Design to The Great Gatsby. It was also nominated for 6 Golden Globes, won 1/4 BAFTA noms and several other awards. Roger Ebert initially gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one, but later changed it to a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #3 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between The Godfather (1972) and The Dark Knight (2008). Coppola returned with Apocalypse Now (1979). Pacino returned in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). The Godfather Part II is certified fresh at 97 % with a 9.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Godfather Part II?
Proud of its cast and creators, in stark black and white, with the only graphical adornment the puppeteer's hand over the title, the iconic poster for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather
Michael Corleone is the heir to Don Corleone's powerful mafia family in New York, and following an assassination attempt on the old man's life, Michael reluctantly returns home to definitively enter into the criminal family business. "I believe in America" is said at the beginning of The Godfather, which, as the statement suggests, grows to something much greater than a mere gangster tale. It is an epic national drama. It was written by Mario Puzo (Earthquake (1974)), based on his own-same-titled 1969 best-selling novel, and Michigander master filmmaker, co-writer/director Francis Ford Coppola (The Bellboy and the Playgirls (1962)), whose 8th feature it was. The wedding party at the outset of the film is a completely magical piece of cinema and worth the prize of admission or three hours running time in itself. The faces, atmospheres, music (Nino Rota's (Amarcord (1973)) authentic, soulful score), the characters and all the way out to the extras, this sequence is formidable. Marlon Brando (Guys and Dolls (1955)) is awe-inspiring as the Don, and the film continues to the very end with tremendous scenes that once seen can somehow never be forgotten. The Godfather is an epic milestone.
Cost: 6-7.2 mil. $ (different accounts) Box office: 246-287 mil. $ (different accounts) = Blockbuster (returned at least 34.16 times its cost) [The Godfather premiered 14 March (New York) and runs 177 minutes. Puzo's novel was the best-selling book for several years after selling 9 mil. copies in two years. Paramount optioned the novel before its publication for 80k $, which Puzo took to pay off gambling debts. Coppola was hired after 12 other prestige directors had rejected the offer to helm the film, and Coppola did it despite reluctance to Puzo's novel to pay off his own debts. He was reportedly paid 125k $ and 6% of the gross rentals; a likely eventually enormous amount due to the film's success, though his initial take is uncertain. Puzo was paid 100k $ to work on the screenplay along with an undisclosed percentage of the film's profits. Coppola and Puzo's final script was 163 pages long, about 40 pages longer than what Paramount had asked for. Brando was cast over Paramount's preferred star, Ernest Borgnine; Brando's pay deal resulted in a tall 1.6 mil. final salary. Coppola also got his way with several other key actors in the film, namely Al Pacino (The Irishman, VOD (2019)), whom he fought to have portray Michael. The budget was reportedly raised from 1 mil. $ to 2.5 mil. $ to more than double that, as Coppola was allowed extensive location shooting and schedule time, boosted by the novel's enormous popularity. The Italian-American Civil Rights League succeeded in getting the word 'mafia' removed from the screenplay. Shooting took place in Sicily, Italy, the Dominican Republic, Las Vegas, Nevada, California, including Los Angeles, New Jersey and New York from March - August. Coppola fired his editor and assistant director, who he felt were angling to get him fired from the film. Brando in turn threatened to leave the film, if Coppola was fired. The film had built up tremendous anticipation before its release and had already made 15 mil. $ in rentals before its release. It opened #1 to shatter records for a first week gross of 10 mil. $, earning a total 81.7 mil. $ in rentals in North America during its first release. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972 and beat Gone with the Wind's (1939) record as highest rental earner of all time, until Jaws (1975). The domestic gross grew to 134.9 mil. $ (47-54.8 % of the total gross depending on the correct number) after several re-releases. Its domestic success was such that it currently sits as the 25th highest-grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning 3; for Best Picture, Actor (Brando, - who refused to receive it and sent a native American representative to take it for him as a protest of the portrayal of native Americans in Hollywood culture) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Supporting Actor (triple nomination for Pacino, - who also refused to attend the Oscars, because he had more screen time than Brando in the movie, - Robert Duvall and James Caan) to Joel Grey for Cabaret, Costume Design to Travels with My Aunt, Director to Bob Fosse for Cabaret, Editing also to Cabaret and Sound also to Cabaret. Rota was initially nominated for his score, but it was then found to be similar to a score he had made about 15 years earlier and the Academy withdrew the nomination. It also won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 1/5 BAFTA noms, 2 David di Donatello awards, 1/2 Grammy noms, 2 National Board of Review awards an many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, in line with this one. NBC paid 10 mil. $ for the TV rights to first show the film on TV in 1974 over the course of two evenings, which was a ratings smash, increasing the anticipation for Coppola's 1974 sequel in the Godfather trilogy. The film spurred countless imitations and a wealth of portrayals of Italian-American gangsters in film and TV. IMDb's users have voted The Godfather in at #2 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). Coppola first returned with The Conversation (1974). Brando returned in Last Tango in Paris (1972). The Godfather is certified fresh at 98 % with a 9.27/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Godfather?
A painted poster that doesn't at all do Luchino Visconti's The Leopard or its stars justice
If you only watch one more film for the rest of your life, let it be The Leopard by Milanese master filmmaker Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice/Morte a Venezia (1971)), based on the same-titled 1958 novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, his only novel. On Sicily in the years 1860 to 1862, the Prince of Salinas steers his aristocratic family safely forward, as the rebel Garibaldi attacks royalist troops and unites Italy, and a promising marriage approaches in his nearest family. From the very first frames of this epic period drama, it is clear that it is a work of extraordinary visual beauty. The cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno (The Stendhal Syndrome/La Sindrome di Stendhal (1996)) captures the Sicilian landscapes and the often flamboyant interiors with equal measures of grace and profundity and wisely withstands close-ups for the vast majority of the film in place of more distanced, picturesque offerings. Visconti adapted the novel with screenwriters Suso Cecchi D'Amico (What a Woman/La Fortuna di Essere Donna (1956)), Pasquale Festa Campanile (Rocco and His Brothers/Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (1960)), Enrico Medioli (Once Upon a Time in America (1984)) and Massimo Franciosa (Rocco and His Brothers). It is a mature story of love, war, marriage, Sicily, Italy, aging and death. Sequence after sequence stuns and affects with its humor, its sharp and often profound dialog and its magnificent images. Nino Rota (Amarcord (1973)) has composed the beautiful score, and Mario Serandrei (The Battle of Algiers/La Battaglia di Algeri (1966)) has edited the film just perfectly. It trusts its own attraction in its visuals and strong characters to overcome the fact that this isn't a plot-driven film, and the editing of several sequences, including the fancy ball scenes that make up nearly the last hour of the film is not only bold but piercingly insightful. This last third of the film is arguably its most miraculous, perfectly portraying the uniquely lonely and desolate feeling of being isolated in a major festivity setting.
A still from the overwhelming, fantastic civil war scenes from Luchino Visconti's The Leopard
The battle scenes are incredible, and so different in their purity, (regrettably, one might add), from the way that war plays out in our time. The Leopard, of course, attains its masterpiece status as one of the best films ever made not least because of its brilliant cast: Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity (1953)) got his career's arguably best part as the Prince of Salinas, the ultimate, wise, Conservative patriarch, a personified institution on the Mediterranean island, where he is like a lion on the savanna. In the latter scenes where the Prince becomes morose, Lancaster plays him with astounding sensibility, but he is a study in formidable character acting from start to finish here. Behind the Prince, Alain Delon (Le Samuroaï (1967)) might be the most dashing actor in a film ever as his nephew, and Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon a Time in America/C'Era una Volta il West (1968)) equals his beauty with her voluptuous grace, fantastically memorable vulgar laugh and perpetually, and awfully charming, puckered forehead. In supporting parts, the film also has some extremely fine and funny roles for some esteemed Italian actors: Paolo Stoppa (Garibaldi (1961)) as Don Calogero, Rina Morelli (The Joy of Living/Che Gioia Vivere (1961)) as the hysterical Princess of Salina, Romolo Valli (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis/Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970)) as Father Pirrone and Terrence Hill (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973)), who is also quite handsome as Delon's army chum, are all delightful. The Leopard demands attention and concentration but is an infinitely worthwhile film. SPOILER Even in the end, it doesn't give us and its title character the movie ending that would seem obvious; he doesn't get to die. The Leopard doesn't give contrivances, it gives life.
Burt Lancaster in the role of his life, as Luchino Visconti's The Leopard
Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon in Luchino Visconti's The Leopard
Watch the American trailer for the film here, - which doesn't do it justice at all
Cost: 2.9 Bil. ITL Box office: 1.8 mil. $ (North America only) = Uncertainty [Visconti originally wanted Russian star Nikolai Cherkasov for the lead, but he wouldn't be in the film. The American studio Fox gave their contribution to the budget with star Lancaster attached, which made Visconti angry, because he didn't get a say in the matter, - but it turned out to be a great collaboration after all. Visconti, being gay and naturally enamored with Delon, gave him the only dressing room available, so that the film's star Lancaster reportedly had to wait around for hours for Delon to be ready. The Leopard was a big hit in France, where it won the Palme D'Or in Cannes and 3.6 mil. paid admission, and in Italy, where it nearly made its budget back by '67 (2.3 Bil. ITL). It was also re-released several times in Italy to success. I count it tentatively as a box office success. Upon release in the US, Newsweek and The New Yorker gave the film ridiculing reviews. It is out in four lengths; the 185 minute version is Visconti's preferred one, - so watch that one.] What do you think of The Leopard? Do you agree that it might be the greatest film ever made?
Irresistible Polish (?) poster for Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso
QUICK REVIEW:
Film director Salvatore receives a call from his old mother: His childhood father figure Alfredo has died. For the first time in 30 years, the man returns to his small childhood town in Sicily, where his first love and his love of films were founded. Cinema Paradiso is a splendid, film-crazed film. "The people in this film are so full of emotions", I have heard one co-audience member say about the film, which is absolutely true: Especially in the flashback sequences, the cast are incredibly vivacious, full of thrill and excitement in the context of a pictorially magnificent film; cinematographer: Great job by Blasco Giurato (Passage to Paradise/Passaggio per il Paradiso (1998)). It can all be interpreted as a parable about the joys and pains of growing up as well as a declaration of love and a celebration of cinema and of life itself. Paradiso holds great acting performances from Jacques Perrin (The Chorus/Les Choristes (2004)), Leopoldo Trieste (The Name of the Rose (1986)), Agnese Nano (Barocco (1991)), Philippe Noiret (Les Grands Ducs (1996)), Marco Leonardi (Maradona, the Hand of God/Maradona, la Mano di Dio (2007)) and as Salvatore as a boy, 'Totò', Salvatore Cascio (Everybody Is Fine/Stanno Tutti Bene (1990)). Also Ennio Morricone's (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966)) strong score deserves recognition. Paradiso was shot mostly in its co-writer-director Giuseppe Tornatore's (Malèna (2000)) Sicilian childhood village Bagheria. He co-wrote the script with Vanna Paoli (Roma Roma Roma! (1990)). The film is gripping, touching and funny. - A masterpiece and a must-watch for any movie-lover!
Salvatore Cascio as Totò in Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso
Watch the great original US trailer for the film here
Cost: 5 mil. $ Box office: 12.3 mil. $ (US only) = Uncertainty [But reportedly a big hit: The film had a bad release initially in Italy, which prompted Tornatore to cut nearly 30 minutes from the film (for the 124 minute international cut, - a 174 minute director's cut has since been issued on DVD, which elaborates Salvatore's lost love; Tornatore has stated that he loves both versions), and the new cut became a big hit internationally, winning the Best Foreign Film Oscar and other awards. I found two numbers that support its success story: 2 mil. people paid admission to see it in France and 1.3 mil. in Argentina. Some even credit the film with reviving the slumming Italian film industry overall.] What do you think of Cinema Paradiso?
