godfather

07 Sep

Once Upon a Time in America Is Every Bit as Great a Gangster Movie as The Godfather

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This article contains Once Upon a Time in America spoilers. The Godfather is a great movie, possibly the best ever made. Its sequel, The Godfather, Part II, often follows it in the pantheon of classic cinema, some critics even believe it is the better film. Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount in the early 1970s, wanted The Godfather to be directed by an Italian American. Francis Ford Coppola was very much a last resort. The studio’s first choice was Sergio Leone, but he was getting ready to make his own gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America. Though…

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17 Dec

Giveaway: Win the Godfather III 30th Anniversary Edition on Blu-Ray!

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We’re going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. The Godfather III is getting a restoration for the ages, just in time for its 30th anniversary—and it’s now available on Blu-ray! This new edition has been completely remastered for higher-definition audio and visual quality. But that’s not all. Sporting the film title Coppola initially intended, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo bring you their version of how The Godfather saga should have ended. Coppola was given permission to create the ending he originally envisioned for this critically acclaimed mafia family chronicle.…

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11 Dec

Why The Godfather Part IV Never Happened

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The question first came up in the 1990s, following the release of The Godfather Part III, and it has surfaced occasionally over the years: will we ever see The Godfather Part IV? The fact is that we came fairly close at one point — but a potential fourth entry in the series was ultimately stopped in its tracks. While The Godfather Part III was a modest success with both critics and audiences (it earned $136 million in 1990 money at the box office), it was not enough of a blockbuster to indicate that there was a large audience out there…

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09 Dec

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More

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This Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone analysis contains spoilers. The ending will be discussed at length. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse. Find the film, watch it with fresh eyes, then come back and celebrate The Death of Michael Corleone. “The power to absolve debt is greater than the power of forgiveness,” Michael Corleone observes in the revelatory new opening of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. He may well be speaking for Francis Ford Coppola. The Godfather Part III concluded the family saga,…

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08 Dec

Redeeming The Legacy Of The Godfather Part III

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This article contains spoilers for The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. It’s been three decades since the story of crime lord Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) came to a bitter and lonely end in The Godfather Part III, with an aged Michael collapsing and dying alone in the courtyard of a Sicilian villa, his passing witnessed only by a small dog and seemingly no one left around him to care. Michael’s passing also signaled the somewhat underwhelming end to one of cinema’s greatest sagas, in which two undisputed masterpieces were followed by a troubled third chapter that did not…

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01 Dec

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

Max SchindlerMovie reviewscorleone, death, godfather, michael

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of The Godfather: Part III, director/screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola brings a definitive new edit and restoration of the final film in his epic Godfather trilogy—Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now in his 60s, seeks to free his family from crime and find a suitable successor to his empire. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. The film’s meticulously restored picture and sound, under the supervision of…

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18 Nov

The Godfather Coda: Will The Death of Michael Corleone Fix Part III?

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“Friends, our business together is done,” Al Pacino’s mob family patriarch says in the official trailer for Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. And  Francis Ford Coppola hopes the new conclusion to the mafia saga takes care of all family business. For the 30th anniversary of The Godfather: Part III, the director and screenwriter will release a new edit and restoration of the final film of The Godfather trilogy.   The Godfather: Part III was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Goodfellas, released that same year, only got six nominations. Neither won…

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30 Sep

The Godfather Making-Of Movie Casts Oscar Isaac as Francis Ford Coppola

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Like Michael Corleone dreaming of a life with Kay, Hollywood may never be able to go back to the way things were in the 1970s… but they can make movies about what is generally viewed as their second golden age! Fresh off news that Ben Affleck will direct a movie about the making of Chinatown, another Paramount Pictures masterpiece of the New Hollywood era is getting its own film with Barry Levinson’s Frances and The Godfather. And now Jake Gyllenhaal and Oscar Isaac are climbing aboard, with the latter playing Francis Ford Coppola. The news comes out of Deadline, which…

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15 Sep

The Godfather Creation Story To Get Scripted Series at Paramount+

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“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” Don Vito Corleone said in Mario Puzo’s novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s film The Godfather. The terms might include keeping your brains at the cost of a popular singer or waking up to the head of your prized stud in your bed, but it got things done. It wasn’t personal, it was business. The quote inspired the title of a new series which follows The Godfather’s  journey from book to motion picture. The Offer will be one of the new offerings featured when CBS All Access rebrands as Paramount+ by early…

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04 Sep

The Godfather: Part III Has a New Ending and a New Title

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When Francis Ford Coppola first offered Paramount Pictures the third and final installment of The Godfather Trilogy, he titled it “The Death of Michael Corleone.” The studio refused. This was one of the most anticipated films of all time, and it wound up being synonymous with cinematic disappointment, undeservedly. The director will finally get to show his cut of the film and take the taint off The Godfather: Part III. For a start, he renamed it Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, a title almost long enough to make you forget the original. The new edit…

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06 Jun

The Black Godfather

Max SchindlerMovie reviewsblack, godfather

For decades, the world's most high profile entertainers, athletes and politicians have turned to a single man for advice during the most pivotal moments in their lives and careers, including Grammy Award. winners, Hall of Famers, a Heavyweight Champion of the World and two U.S. Presidents. That man is Clarence Avant. The Black Godfather charts the exceptional and unlikely rise of Avant, a music executive whose trailblazing behind-the-scenes accomplishments impacted the legacies of icons such as as Bill Withers, Quincy Jones, Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron, and Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Driven by a sense of equality, loyalty, and…

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