The Coen Bros.

The coen bros.  are some of my favorite directors. One theme I have noticed in their films , aside from the excessive amounts of violence, was the concept of the American dream. In Raising Arizona the dream was having a family, although the main characters in the film took it a little too far seeing as they kidnapped a baby. A second idea of the American dream that was in two of the films was the concept of wealth. The other films we watched were Fargo and No Country For Old Men both films carried the ideology that money is needed to complete one's self. any way thats what o thought of the coen bro movies we watched

Hey Bada Bing A.K.A Director study post 2: The GodFather II

The film proceeds the events that took place at the end of the first Godfather film with the death of Vito Corleone and his son Michael becoming the new Don. I find it interesting that the film ends up telling not just one but two stories. One being the rise of Vito and the formation of his family and the other being Michael ascending into his role as the new Don. The movie opens with a funeral procession in the old country that is interrupted with gunshots and Vito's brother Paolo being killed. Afterwards Vito and his mother approach Don Ciccio the man who is not only responsible for the death of Vito's brother but also his father for whom the funeral procession was for. Vito's mother begs for mercy for Ciccio not to kill Vito because he is weak and will not seek to do any harm to Ciccio. when he (Ciccio) denies the request Vito's mother takes him at knife point and tells Vito to run before being shot and killed by one of Ciccio's men. Vito is smuggled out of their village and ventures to America as a lone child after arriving at Ellis Island Vito is given his new surname Corleone the name of his home town in Italy. the movie jumped of a young Vito sitting in a small room singing in Italian to his grandson Anthony's first communion  and the after party where Michael as the new don giving out favors. Later Michael is seen talking to the senator of Nevada trying to squeeze more money out Michael for his family hotels and states that he hates Italians for coming to this " Clean country with you oily hair and your silk suites it's a disgrace towards to the true American people".  Michael then talks to his younger sister Connie who wishes to have money to journey to Europe and to get married , Mikey denies both of her requests and states that if she disobeys him and marries this man who he knows nothing about she will disappoint him.  More problems present themselves for the Corleone family as Kay reminds Michael of something he once told her that " The Corleone family will be completely Legitimate in 5 years " and she says that was 7 years ago.  Although things to have settled down after the party an attempt on  Michael's life is made and Michael tells his best friend and lawyer Tom Hagens that he, not Fredo will take over as the don if anything should happen to him.  The film then jumps back to Vito 17 years after leaving Italy already having a child his eldest Sonny and gets his first exposure to the life of the mafia while witnessing a member of a mafia group known as the black hand extorting money from a theatre group for protection and again when he is hurriedly handed a bag by his neighbor and finds out it contains a bunch of guns. Towards the end of the first half of the movie Vito is exposed to accepting and repaying "favors" which as we all know becomes a  large part of his mafia family's main attraction.  The movie's first half reaches its last stretch when Michael goes to visit and old associate of his father named Hyman Roth who have made plans to reach of the Corleone's empire. Although at the end it is revealed that Roth was the one who tried to have Michael killed and Michael has something arranged to take care of him towards at the end of the film and to try and figure out who the traitor in his "family" is. Which is foreshadowed but I won't say who.  

PART II 

For the second part of Vito's story it starts out as a flashback told by his wife to Michael who wants to learn what his "Pa thought deep in his heart".  Vito first helps out a widow get back into her apartment by having a by having a conversation with her landlord and is told after a reasonable offer made to him the landlord replies "who the hell are you to come to give me orders ? watch out or I'll kick your Sicilian ass right into the street".  After learning that Vito is the Godfather the landlord is not only terrified by apologizes and hurriedly tries to leave Vito's establishment. The movie then jumps back into the present and a federal trail interviewing Michael and  trying to prove he a mafioso and trying to shut down the mafia.  Later Michael is conversing with his older brother Fredo who is upset that Michael is the don, he isn't and is banished from the family as it is revealed that Fredo was a part of group behind the hit on their eldest brother Sonny from the first movies. The film continues to bounce from the trial against Michael and his family the council takes a heavy blow from one of their "key" witness who ends up screwing them over by completely denying everything he had previously said in a sworn statement and that all the claims against him are false and are fabricated by the FBI. Michael's victory over the council is short lived however as Michael's wife Kay says she "has no love for him" and is leaving with the kids. This was one of my favorite scenes in the movie which happens  about 40 minutes in the second part of the film . I was unable to embed the clip to the scene due computer suckiness but the way to find it it to go to youtube, and enter Michael and Kay-the whole scene in the search bar it should be the video at the very top of the page. Vito's story is continued through breaks in Michael's story and includes events such as buying their first house , having people whacked and eventually killing Don Ciccio, confirming the old man's fears that when Vito grew up strong he would seek revenge against the man who murdered his family 

Overall I enjoyed the film  and i found Michael to be a rather interesting character who valued the mafia family over his actual one where as his father was incredibly devoted to his family his real one.  Also found it interesting that although Vito became very attached to the world of organized crime but only got into on order to create a better life for his family whereas Michael forsake his family in order to improve the situation of his organization.