Kiwi Film Review: Manhattan Murder Mystery

IMDB: 7.3

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Roger Ebert: 3/4 stars

Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, and Anjelica Huston

Written & Directed by: Woody Allen

Described by IMDB as: “Larry and Carol are fairly normal New Yorkers who have sent their son off to college. They meet an elderly couple down the hall and later in the week find that the wife has suddenly died. Carol becomes suspicious of Paul who seems to be too cheerful and too ready to move on. She begins her investigation. Larry insists she is becoming too fixated on their neighbor as all of the irregularities seem to have simple non-homicidal explanations. Ted, a recently divorced friend helps her investigation and Larry begins to become jealous of their relationship and agrees to help her.”

I watched Midnight in Paris a few months ago, and I said in the review that I needed to watch some more Woody Allen movies, and I’ve finally gotten around to it. This movie was actually really good, I don’t think I’ve seen one with a similar story line, which is a great start. The thing I like most about Allen’s films is that they’re such simple ideas, but they’re exactly what I think about. Those times you think “damn, I wish I was alive in the 80’s, or the 70’s, or the 20’s,” or those times when you think you and your friends can figure out a mystery. He’s a genius, they just eat away at my mind. Amazing cast, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen work so well together, it saddens me that they aren’t still together. At first Anjelica Huston’s character was sort of random, but in the end it made sense. Its funny because at the core of the story its actually about jealousy and trying to make sure the couple doesn’t get boring as they get older. The whole movie all I could think was I want my relationship to be like this when I’m married and old. I can’t wait to be able to go out to a nice restaurant with my closest friend every week.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. Everytime I watch one of his movies I desperately want to move to wherever the movie takes place, whether thats New York or Paris, he’s such an amazing storyteller. I’m definitely going to try and watch all of his movies as soon as possible.

I’m giving this movie a 8/10.

Kiwi Film Review: The Godfather

IMDB: 9.2

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Roger Ebert: 4/4

Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton.

Written by: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola.

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola.

Described by IMDB as: “The story begins as “Don” Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia “family”, oversees his daughter’s wedding. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father’s business. Through Michael’s life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don’t want to follow the old ways and look out for community and “family”. An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don’s influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don’s fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price.”

*This review contains SPOILERS*

God damn. God damn. God damn. How have I waited this long to see this movie? I’ve seen on a couple of sites that I’ve looked up that its widely decided that its the the greatest movie of all time. I think its a pretty great movie, but its not in my favorite movies of all time. Its really made me realize that by not watching older movies I’m missing out on a lot. I’ve only seen a handful of movies that are older then the 80’s. It starts off with Don Vito Corleone in charge but I was shocked to see at 45 minutes he was shot. I though he was dead at first, and was so confused and sort of disappointed, but in the end he’s still alive. I finally understand why everyone loves Al Pacino. Its so weird to think that he’s the same person who’s in the shitty movies he’s been in recently. Same with James Caan. The man was in Elf for god sakes. Most importantly, Marlon Fucking Brando. He isn’t a boss, he’s THE boss. I need to watch more of his movies because god damn he’s amazing. At first I found his voice sort of annoying, but it seriously adds to the character. Its amazing that the movie was 3 hours, but it was so jammed packed with interesting goodness, it went by so fast.

Second movie in a row tonight that I watched with Diane Keaton. Its amazing the difference 20 years makes. From tonight, I’ve realized that she is seriously one of my favorite actresses. This movie also really shows how great an actor Pacino is. The range of his character in this movie alone is astounding. First he plays a college kid who tries to stay out of his family business, and by the end he’s in charge of the whole operation.

I really love the time period of this movie. The whole 40’s/50s gangster scene is so fascinating. I’ll definitely be watching the 2nd Godfather movie tomorrow. Normally I’d be pretty worried about being disappointed with the sequel to a movie like this, but the reviews for the second are also fantastic which is super exciting.

Overall I’ll give this movie a 9/10.