1974-1975: My Top Ten Favorite Movies

1232   8.5   9 

After lightning struck once with the first Godfather, it was almost impossibe to believe that it could strike twice in the same series, especially with the absence of Marlon Brando, James Caan & Abe Vigoda (oh c'mon! Y'know his presence added a certain dimension to the whole of the movie.....).
Yet strike it did.
And with even more intensity than could be expected.

In this second chapter, Francis Ford Coppola continues the saga of la famiglia Corleone, along with an interjecting prologue story starring a Sicilian speaking Robert Deniro.



The Godfather Part II is a piece of cinema that is so good, that I believe that if all sequels could match the quality ratio that this one did with its predecessor, the world would be a much better place, in a way we probably couldn't even imagine. Heck, I'd bet that there probably wouldn't be any more wars.
Like,
ever.
Yep. That's the power of a good sequel.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1444   7.1   8.3 

Let's be honest here....
at some point in life,
we're ALL gonna need a bigger boat.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1197   8.4   8.9 

Whenever I watch this movie, I'm always reminded that, for me, this is about as good as it gets (...sorry). Randall McMurphy is a mischievious criminal who first ends up becoming a leader of squirrelly rebellion & then, eventually, a friend to Billy & the rest the cracked eggs residing in the Cuckoo's Nest.
Jack's performance in this movie is not of a self-centered man of a salty background who becomes overly or angelically transformed, but as someone steeped in his own irresponsibility, with a hard to reach ability to care that is gradually bought up to the surface by the only type of people who could cause such a subtle & internal catalyst: a group of guys who are crazier than he is.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

435   7.9   8.2 

I love LOVE this movie. The tension & diasterous desperation of Dog Day begins & ends with Al's depiction of John Wojtowicz. Watching him trying to salvage the failed robbery attempt, you can just feel the downhill fatal end result oozing out of Pacino's character before it ever occurs. For me, this is the real start of Al's explosive charisma that's he's become famous for, but before it evolved into the caricature of himself that it is now.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

383   7.2   7.5 

As someone whom is often very frustrated with most horror flicks, I was very pleased that this movie's plotline came off as very genuine. While most slasher flicks tend to make it's audience yell things to the screen like "Idiot! Run outside, not to the upstairs!" or "Don't go in there, you moron!", this movie actually made the situation of the onscreen victims seem logistically believable. Therefore, their fright & inevitable demise doesn't come off as deserving as the mindless teenage victims featured in other films, who make the viewer feel that their stupidity justified their grisly end. The intent of TCM's story was aimed more at making the observer feel the fear thru the fright of the victim, not just thru the singular idea of a mad demonic slash-object-wielding maniac.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

557   8.1   8.5 

Jack Nicholson's only role as a detective in a "modern" noir film that doesn't try to be anything else other than a modern take of a noir film. It is because of this, that the 1970's sensibilities that are just a natural result of being a film of this era, along with it's "twisted" twist ending, that Chinatown comes off as being a work more layered & "edgy" than a standard mystery film. Which ends up giving this movie a much more distinctual feel that surpasses the genre in which it respectfully tries to remain faithful to.
And when you think about it, aren't those the type of qualities that usually make a classic film a classic?

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

235   8.1   8.1 

A classic suspensful thriller by Francis Ford Coppola that hardly gets any mention when discussing great films, probably b'cuz it was released the same year as The Godfather Part II, & therefore it kinda got overshadowed. The Conversation is a movie that you just can't go wrong with as it's a work by a director at the height of his prime, & stars the always dependable Mr. Gene Hackman in the central role along with the late great John Cazale, an actor who in his short film career, never starred in any movie rated less than an A+.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

71   6.7   6.9 

A community of pink houses with white picket fences & wives who all "properly" know their roles. A tale of the American Dream coming in the form of battery powered domestic bliss.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

14   6.4   6 

I remember this 'historical" diaster pic getting murdered by critics at the time of it's release.
But as a kid, I thought that as far as thriller escapist fares go, this movie, just like many of the other 70's diaster flicks of the time, was pretty bad-ass.
But, then again, this is coming from someone who, considering my age at the time, thought that stop-motion effects were the sh#t.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

27   6.5   6.6 

Boy.....



.... remember back when stop-motion was the sh#t?

The Mighty Celestial's rating: