Holy crap. This just in from a legitimate source: The Godfather 4 is coming to theaters sometime in 2010. Word has it that Francis Ford Coppola has already penned the script, and the movie is currently in the pre-production phase. It is rumored that Al Pacino will return, though the film will focus heavily on a new character played by Nicolas Cage, who as we all know is related in some way or form, by blood or otherwise, to the famed director. This is amazing news.
However, that news is not real. What is real, however, is that a new DVD set was released today called The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration, which includes the three films remastered and with all-new special effects a la the Star Wars re-releases (it’s pretty crazy seeing Marlon Brando in The Godfather Part III, let me tell you). The collection contains five massive discs of goodness. You can probably guess what the first three discs are used for – the last two are saved for special features, and there are a lot of them.
One of the things I find frustrating by being a movie reviewer, other than constantly receiving free DVDs and invitations to LA press screenings, is that in these renewed box sets that exist solely to make the studio just a little more money by duping die hard fans into buying the latest and greatest version when the DVD they bought five years ago is just as good, the new features and old features are rarely separated. So when I actually take the time to review bonus features – which is not that often because I think most bonus features are a waste of time – I have no clue whether these features have been available for years unless I manage to find the info on Amazon.com or something like that… but the extra ten keystrokes is just more effort than I’m willing to spend.
Thankfully, with The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration, disc four includes special features previously available, whereas disc five is exclusively designed for new bonus featuers. In other words, for review purposes, I skipped disc four and went straight to disc five.
I didn’t make it very far, though. I was building a dresser while watching, and I tried watching the deleted scenes, of which there are many (they are broken out by the chronology of the characters, not the movies). Unfortunately, there’s no “Play All” feature that I could find, and thus it wasn’t worth my time clicking on each thumbnail to watch a deleted scene. So… I moved on to the behind-the-scenes videos, and started watching one of them. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was good. Real good. The video features interviews with practically everyone involved in the movie, and goes into thorough detail about the challenges of making the film – primarily, the fact that Coppola and Pacino were always two seconds away from getting fired. The video is extremely detailed and interesting, and one of the best I’ve seen.
There were many other special features, but that’s as far as I got. Why? Because after watching 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes action, I couldn’t resist but put in the first movie. Having never seen it before, I thought now was as good of time as any. OK, I’ve actually seen The Godfather at least ten times (is that all?), but these movies – yes, even the third one – are so incredible it’s hard to believe they were made so long ago. Absolutely stunning.
The Godfather trilogy consists of three of the best movies ever made. This new DVD set includes a ton of new features that are, I hate to say it, worth owning if you really like your Italian gangsters.
Tags: dvd, dvd box set, godfather 4, godfather trilogy
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DVD Releases, Reviews |
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September 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I’ll wait till its comes out on dvd or video
November 6th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Your review is boring, it’s mainly your attempt at humor. I can imagine the main thing you find frustrating about being a movie reviewer is writing good reviews. I thought the point of reviewing these DVD’s was to let consumers know what they are getting into, even when given a free item you admit that you can’t take the time to go through the disk to give people a good overview of the product, I can’t believe your getting paid for this if you even are, did I stumble on a college kids blog site? If the difference is the special features and the a couple of special affects shouldn’t you check them out? I mean they gave it to you for free to do just that, feels lazy to me, thank God-father they separated the disk for you to make it easy. Let me guess you wanted to be a novelist but didn’t see it worth your time to find out where to purchase the idiot’s guide to writing on Amazon.com Consequently they are filming the Godfather part 4 the first scene will be filmed with you being taken out in a hail of gunfire.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
First off, this was not the greatest of reviews. Unlike some people, I don’t have 10 hours to devote to watching every special feature on a DVD. I actually have a day job and then come home, have a stack of DVDs to watch, have to do work on this website… I also actually have friends who I like to socialize with from time to time.
That’s fine if you don’t like my review; there’s no need for you to return to the site. But as clever as your statement about the idiot’s guide to writing on Amazon.com is, it serves no purpose other than to show that you actually spent the time to write a long paragraph to try to ridicule me. I have better things to do, yet I feel obliged to respond. If I read something that I think sucks, I just go away – I don’t feel the need to bash the author.
Thanks for reading the entire post.
January 8th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Okay, first off Rick, the guy’s just writing a review, if he’s done a poor job read another or atleast give contructive criticism. As for you, saying this is a kid’s blog site when you can’t even spell “Special effects” seriously contradicts yourself. Second off Erik, nice review.
January 8th, 2009 at 7:26 am
I suck everyone off
January 8th, 2009 at 7:26 am
hey ther jennifer, youre completely wrong, this guy was just making a point, i hate you all who try to defend the reviewer. also, youre insulting Erik’s handwriting- what is SECOND OFF, never heard of that myself. trying to be clever? STFU!
January 8th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Thanks, Jenniffer, for your support! Good feedback as well, Josh. I like to inspire conversations, though I’d prefer they be about movies than about my writing. ;o)
January 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
U all suck bigg ass cocks biatches i mean this guy doing a reveiw on the best movie evvvvvaaa (The Godfather) Rick u slack ass not noing how to spell go suck off Josh’s dick……..Nice reveiw bruzz:D
January 11th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
So Eric u like my movie because this is the Creator of the godfather moivies.Im glad u liked my movies. and im also glad that u made this spetacular reveiw. no need to listn to these slack arses, because all they do when the get home from work or school, if they even have a job, sit down on the couch and eat food and get fat. i am now in filming ” The Godfather Part IV ” movie and im having a spetacular time, nicolas cage is NOT in the movie as u reveiwed, and Vincent is the new godfather. Ill give You a heads up on the start of the movie..The opping scence starts with vincent moving his stuff into his new home will married with a buetiful wife and two kids. A man comes to vincent and tell him about his problem, his problem with ?? You will have to wait until it is released in theaters..
Your sencily
Fracis Ford Coppola.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
If you have such a busy and super-sized life then go off and do it. Spare me your arrogance. Are you suddenly God’s gift to blogging? Are you suddenly the only reviewer in the entire world with an opinion that means anything? First off, no, You aren’t the only reviewer in the world. Secondly your opinion really doesn’t mean much of anything.
With such an arrogant and conceited outlook I wonder why you are wasting your time trying to belittle us all with your ever experienced opinions. I mean… You have a “day job”, whatever the heck that is. I guess that means you work at McDonalds, right? Good luck with that.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
BTW, I am not Rick.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Hi Killarabs, what the hell is your problem? I’m sorry to have wasted your precious time. Why did you read my review in the first place if I’m not the only reviewer in the world? The entire point of having a blog is to express your opinion and get reactions from it. Thanks for wasting my time for having to respond to comments like these.
And no, I don’t work at McDonalds. I’m so happy there are people in the world who actually enjoy browsing the Internet just looking to write comments such as this. At least Rick’s comment had purpose.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
all the three parts were terrific and inspiring one.
now i m eagerly waiting for 4th one ,and i m hoping it will also be a Oscar award winning movie and inspiring as well
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Al Pacino died at the end of the 3rd 1 and i really hope that if there is a forth one (which will ruin the trilogy because they’ve extended it to the limit) that Sofia Coppola isn’t in it because she really annoyed me
July 26th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
If it don’t be released, i’ll be kickin all y’alls asses. I mean it. douchebags
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:35 am
Men what is wrogn with you people? The movie reviewer did not make anymore comment or something about this film because we all know that this is the last great movie ever made!!!! no need for long reviews heck it does not even need a review!
I envy you Erik men having the coppola restoration and maybe even the Blue ray player for free ^_^ I wish I have your part time job!.
August 27th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I would have thought that being a movie reviewer (a serious one at least) would be a full time job. I would love to have that job and it annoys me that someone who has such a great job would be so lazy about it. I presume that you get paid to review movies / DVD’s so surely it’s only reasonable that you actually take the time and effort to sit down and watch them whether they be good or bad. If you’re serious about being reviewing movies then you must make a good job of it and do the work. You get paid to watch and review movies, you get free DVD’s and yet you have the gaul to complain about having to watch them! I think you should either be a movie critic firstly and fore mostly or not at all. If I was sending out DVD’s etc for critics to watch and review and I read your piece I would be outraged and would ensure that you never got another DVD from my company again. I want your job, there can’t be many better jobs than that! I cannot say that I disagree with any of your comments regarding the movies themselves…in fact I think they are some of the best movies ever made in any genre and that includes Godfather part III which I happen to think closes the story very well and is not as some people believe, a failure. I also own the Coppola Restoration version of the trilogy and I have to say that it is by far the best release to date and worth every penny. The Blu-Ray version I found to be less value for money mainly because the quality really isn’t noticeably different from the DVD yet the price is far greater. The Extras on discs 4 and 5 are fantastic and provide an insight into the world of the Godfather and the making of the movies. They are thoroughly enjoyable and interesting to watch even though generally speaking I find that watching making of features spoils the magic of films by giving away too many secrets.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your comment. If you read my other DVD reviews you’ll find they’re much more detailed. This wasn’t the best of reviews, but I literally had a stack of ten DVDs to get through in a matter of days and this is not a full time job. I make most of my money through a normal, 8 to 6 job, and do this on the side, along with other personal projects and socializing.
But yes, it is nice to get free DVDs and I definitely don’t take things for granted. The special features in this collection were just so overwhelming (and good!).
Erik
August 30th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@RJ, thanks for backing me up!