Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?

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Now Godfather does not bother me
Does its rating bother you, tell the truth



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Saying Godfather is the best movie is like saying Stairway to Heaven is the best Zeppelin song. It's a boring, pedestrian take, but I can't find an argument against it. It's a solid movie.
Here are a few that come to my mind:
  1. It wasn't groundbreaking.
  2. It didn't push cinema forward. (Or worse yet, if it did, it did versus being so special it didn't but should have!)
  3. It looks great but the aesthetics are not "pure" (Not in the artistic sense of the utmost standard of saintly beauty.)
  4. It doesn't lift your soul, meaning it's not spiritually enriching.
  5. It's not metaphysical, transcendental, or mystical, ergo it offers the same "materialistic" qualities most movies do.
  6. It's restrained by the classical American boundaries of filmmaking. (Forget any avant-garde boundary-pushing!)
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Welcome to the human race...
Something has to top the list, not much point getting worked up over it unless it's like The Birth of a Nation or some nonsense.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
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I'm fairly confident The Godfather is in my top 3 or 4 films directed by Francis Ford Coppola in the 70s.


Interesting that this thread title came up in a year following Jeanne Dielmann topping the S&S poll. Which, looking back on it, The Godfather... only ever managed to place in the top 10 once, in 2002, when they allowed for The Godfather and The Godfather part 2 to be counted as a single movie (they changed right back to two different movies in 2012). It was at number 4, just ahead of Tokyo Story and behind The Rules of the Game.


The two Godfather movies are well made and entertaining, but really don't do anything for me in a way that prompts me to revisit or even really think about them (I get more out of FCC's other two movies from that decade).



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What are the alternatives? Most people will never watch them. I love "On The Waterfront" more, and I love "Mikey and Nicky" probably a little more than "The Godfather" - a more naturalistic, grittier, funnier gangster movie starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. I would even check the views on YouTube after posting them on sites where I could see how many views/read...






It's obviously an amazing movie, Coppola is god tier director. It's not my number 1 but it doesn't annoy me if someone has it as their number one. I get far more annoyed if something like The Dark Knight is #1. Or if someone nominates three lord of the rings films as their top 3 films of all time

That said, they're other people's lists, the only list important to you, is yours.



So on every single list
It's actually not #1 on every single list.. and the number of lists it's #1 on is diminishing..



Welcome to the human race...
I mean, remember when S&S put Jeanne DIelman at the top of their list and we had to sit through all that discourse about how wrong it was that a three-hour Belgian arthouse movie about a woman doing housework overtook more famous classics like The Godfather?



Personally, I've got no issue with anyone wanting to take on a sacred cow like a Godfather or a Kane or, in art house circles, Dielman. If you don't think it deserves the praise , explain why,.via what the movie offers. Deduce what the movie is trying to do and break down how it doesn't do this well enough to be so well considered. Offer examples of films that do this better and why those films do it better.


All too often though, those who complain about these thingssimply resort to blaming biases or conspiracies in favor of these films ( political or simply critical). They usually show a complete ignorance as to what the film is even setting itself up to do. Hardly have the language to articulate where it comes up short. No attempt to wrestle with what the film is providing. Or a refusal to understand its influence.


Basically, it seems that those who get angry at these basically pointless lists are most likely to be the kinda of movie viewers who can't actually articulate why something works or why it doesn't. So they just kick at these hierarchies that exists outside of them because they feel left out...or something equally lame.



Personally, I've got no issue with anyone wanting to take on a sacred cow like a Godfather or a Kane or, in art house circles, Dielman. If you don't think it deserves the praise , explain why,.via what the movie offers. Deduce what the movie is trying to do and break down how it doesn't do this well enough to be so well considered. Offer examples of films that do this better and why those films do it better.


All too often though, those who complain about these thingssimply resort to blaming biases or conspiracies in favor of these films ( political or simply critical). They usually show a complete ignorance as to what the film is even setting itself up to do. Hardly have the language to articulate where it comes up short. No attempt to wrestle with what the film is providing. Or a refusal to understand its influence.


Basically, it seems that those who get angry at these basically pointless lists are most likely to be the kinda of movie viewers who can't actually articulate why something works or why it doesn't. So they just kick at these hierarchies that exists outside of them because they feel left out...or something equally lame.
@Corax it's time for your art debate thing that you do



It used to be my all time favorite movie. But then Saddam Hussein died and it just wasn't the same. Kim Jong-il tried to fill the void but that guy was a bit of a poser if you ask me.



In all fairness, while SuperMetro's post doesn't go much into depth on why other films are better than The Godfather, I don't think they're blaming biases or conspiracies for its status. I think they're post is mainly "While I love The Godfather, I love other crime/1972 films just as much or more". It's not an egregious take or anything.
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In all fairness, while SuperMetro's post doesn't go much into depth on why other films are better than The Godfather, I don't think they're blaming biases or conspiracies for its status. I think they're post is mainly "While I love The Godfather, I love other crime/1972 films just as much or more". It's not an egregious take or anything.

I'm speaking generally. Those who have a habit of attacking these lists are also frequently total shit explaining why the actual movie doesn't deserve the praise. It's nearly always about elements outside of the film (hipsters, poseurs, snobs, feminists, whatever dumb boogeyman they dredge up instead of actually having an argument).



Saying Godfather is the best movie is like saying Stairway to Heaven is the best Zeppelin song. It's a boring, pedestrian take, but I can't find an argument against it. It's a solid movie.
As a big Zeppelin fan, I can confirm that there is some truth to the statement, although my favorite to listen to is When the Levee Breaks. The problem is simple: it got so big that everyone started saying it, so it became a rock standard for tools to repeat. Despite that, both appear on their best album as side finales, and even after all the ungodly Radiohead worship I still consider LZ4 the greatest album I've heard. Despite this, IMO the best song ever is Bohemian Rhapsody.

As for The Godfather, I have a very good reason for putting it as my number 1: it's the one movie where I can't find little things to complain about. Example: even though I typically complain about the lack of character development a female lead love interest may have, best example being Strangers on a Train, Kay acts as a more effective avatar for the audience going through the most hurtful aspects of Michael's changes. Also, there are so few of those general tiny continuity errors that it's amazing that this movie even got made without doing that so often. I looked it up.

I'm aware of the predictable standard of this number one choice, especially since the follower is another pretentious choice: Citizen Kane, which I put there for the standard of being such an incredible masterwork for a practical one-man band directing, writing, producing and starring in it as the lead. He had a lot on his plate and delivered everything, and this was the first movie he ever directed. I have to admire that kind of dedication, as such an undertaking may cause a normal director to severely screw up. So I always make sure I have proper justification for a common choice before I go preaching greatness, otherwise I would just be another dishonest tool.

Another example is how I consider The Conversation to be another perfect Coppola movie for a very odd reason. Coppola made his bones with stories that were to-the-point despite their length, and The Convseration mastered the art of slow-paced storytelling and psychological thrills, which was completely new to Coppola at the time.

HOWEVER!

I wouldn't be here if I didn't love discussing varying opinions more than just preaching my own. I treat the phrase "variety is the spice of life" like a standard of living, and would get terminally bored if everyone agreed with me. The fun of it is to see whether you can convince anyone something, or whether someone can teach you something new. Because whenever anyone learns something new, a whole new world is open, especially in the world of critical judgement.



I'm speaking generally. Those who have a habit of attacking these lists are also frequently total shit explaining why the actual movie doesn't deserve the praise. It's nearly always about elements outside of the film (hipsters, poseurs, snobs, feminists, whatever dumb boogeyman they dredge up instead of actually having an argument).
Funny as left wingers are always attacking movies for the same type of reasons (only in reverse). I guess we are really all alike



Funny as left wingers are always attacking movies for the same type of reasons (only in reverse). I guess we are really all alike

If someone wants to bring a political point of view into their way of viewing a film, that's fine, as long as their politics aren't stupid, conspiratorial, reactionary nonsense.


But frequently those who let politics lead their charge into discussions of art, often seem unable to help themselves from being ridiculous and annoying.


And, no, neither one side or the other has a monopoly on this kind of nuisance.



Lawrence of Arabia is my #1. I think everyone knows this. I don't mind other people being wrong.

As to pizza, of course its #1. Is there really any argument?