The Final Take with Parker Mott

3.5 Stars out of 4
(90 minutes)

Twixt is Coppola's return to gothic cinema in a purely experimental form. You've been warned.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt is a movie for novelists and filmmakers, but not audiences.

There’s no plot here, little room for character, and hardly any need for a sensible conclusion. This is Coppola’s retreat to his early days when he worked for Roger Corman doing gothic horror, and his memories it seem couldn’t be any fonder. The result is a fun, brisk, and perversely dark yet highly skilled piece of filmmaker by a once-declared master. Twixt is an excellent return to a previous form from a director who has long needed it. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(103 minutes)

Charlie (Cage) and Peggy Sue (Turner) find love in the past, though one thinks it's the present.

The title, “Peggy Sue Got Married”, is the worst choice Peggy ever made. It’s 1985 and she is on the verge of divorcing high school sweetheart Charlie, who has become an instant hit on television. Peggy, along with daughter Beth (Helen Hunt), goes to her high school reunion all stewed up that her fellow classmates will ask about the absence of Charlie. But Peggy receives more than she bargained for. After being rewarded queen of the reunion, she faints and then inexplicably wakes up in 1960, her grade 12 year. If you couldn’t guess, this is a golden opportunity for Peggy to change her history. Moral of the story: by the end, the title, “Peggy Sue Got Married”, is the best choice Peggy ever made. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(200 minutes)

Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) broods.

“My father always told me: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” — Michael Corleone

It’s not a masterpiece. That’s first off. But I was riveted by The Godfather Part II. It’s a sequel that is more than just that. The Godfather was about a rise, codes among men, offers that should never be refused, and when the Don had died another soon followed. The Godfather Part II (Coppola was keen on having ‘Part II’ follow the title) is much about, I think, what Nina Rota’s Godfather-theme evoked: loss, downfall, sorrow, yet an intrinsic beauty.

There’s little empowerment at first. Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin) threatens the death of Vito Corleone, but Vito after the abrupt death of his mother, escapes from Sicily and arrives in New York – the land of opportunity. Vito is young vagrant, but The American Dream is in his grasp. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(127 minutes)

Coppola has got it back in Tetro.

Something that cannot be refused is that Francis Ford Coppola has been struggling. With his ridiculously conventional and absurd Youth Without Youth and the disliked The Rainmaker, people have supposed that Coppola’s moment in the sun may have set. But Tetro is a counter to that. It offers great performances, a compelling plot, and dazzling cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. – a film worthy of a masterpiece. (continue reading…)