THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE

Some people have never seen “The Godfather Part III” despite their love for Sofia Coppola, whose career behind the camera emerged from the ashes of her supposedly amateurish performance as Michael Corleone’s doomed teenager daughter in her father’s trilogy-capping epic. This writer had never seen “The Godfather Part III” because of my love for Sofia Coppola.

Born in 1984 and raised to think of the “Lost in Translation” director as more of an auteur than an actress, I’ve been all the way in on the likes of “Somewhere” and “Marie Antoinette” from the moment Coppola’s movies came into my life, and it always seemed unnecessary — even rude — to dig through…

Watching The Godfather: Part III is painful, all the more so because despite the fact that it's so mediocre, there are enough tantalizing glimpses of greatness in it that I can't help but be all the more disappointed with the film.

The look of the film is just right. It's not quite as dark as the previous two installments, but it's just as rich in detail and color. And the music score is still there, accompanied by several familiar faces, both of which made me feel, however momentarily, that I was indeed watching the third part of one of the greatest American epics ever made.

There are several moments of poignancy, most of which come when the new cast is…

look, i won't argue that there's a lot going on here the previous ones didn't already do better with regard to violent corruption of capitalism, the sins of the father punishing the rest of the family, mob life as shakespearen tragedy, etc. but idk coppola still has the goods behind the camera (backroom discussions of business, family, death and regret in willis' browns and shadows is simply what cinema is), adding international banks and the pope introduces a not uninteresting thread about money vs. god and i think michael (now a sad, aging diabetic who just wants the best for his kids) going full circle into an old, “respectable” don filled with regret completes the cycle of irreparable pain these…

a crisis of conscience. nothing he does or says can change the sins of his past, and nothing can mute the sounds of the screams when they catch up to him. a lifetime of capital over compassion leaves him dead with nothing to love as he fades and the bitter pain of watching even the innocents in your life die in front of him. in the end, you fuck over everyone, in the end, pain is all that’s left. the greatest tragedy of a generation ends with a bang, a scream and a death that doesn’t mean anything anymore. epic and tragic in ways only true poets could convey, and makes you feel in your heart and soul by the…

Clearly this one lacks the intensity and intriguing plot compared to the previous two but still a better movie than I expected. Many say there was no need for this film to be made in the first place, however, I disagree. The main plot point throughout this movie is that Michael is trying to make his family business finally legitimate. But as history has told us, you can not run and hide from your past. The more good he tries to do for his family the worse things seem to get for him. I did enjoy seeing some of the previous actors/actresses in this movie (much older obviously) but they still did an excellent job. I feel that Coppola wasn’t…