3 movies you must see before you die
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Short summary of the story: In 1946, a banker named Andy Dufresne is convicted of a murder, even though he proclaims his innocence. He's sentenced to a life term at the Shawshank State Prison in Maine, where another man, Ellis Redding, picks him as the new recruit most likely to crack under the pressure. The ugly realities of living in prison are quickly introduced to Andy. A corrupt warden and sadistic guards are willing to use rape or beatings to insure their dominance. But Andy does not crack, he has the hope of the truly innocent, which allows him to dominate behind the bars in the prison. He uses his banking skills to win favor with the warden and the guards, helping with Norton's illegal business plans and keeping an eye on the investments of most of the prison staff. He is even able to bring some respect back to many of the inmates,
The Shawshank Redemption was for some people what concluded art in the Hollywood movie scene. I’m of the opinion that this movie deserves the #1 spot on this list because of the build up strategies combined with a great dramatic story and some of the best actors. That they even managed to make such an amazing movie from the perspective of people inside a prison is crazy. That’s what makes it to the top of the my Top 3-list.
Genre: Drama
Director: Frank Darabont
Writer: Frank Darabont
Runtime: 2 hr. 22 min.
Oscar nominations: 7
Oscar wins: 0
Other nominations: 20
Other wins: 14
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco
2. The Godfather (1972)
Short summary of the story: The Godfather is the head of the Corleone mafia family in New York and is at the event of his daughter's wedding. Micheal, The Godfather’s youngest son and a WW II Marine is also present at the wedding. Micheal seems to be uninterested in being a part of the family business. The Godfather is a powerful man, and is kind to all those who give him respect but is harsh against those who do not. When a powerful and disloyal rival wants to sell drugs and needs the Don Vito(The family)'s influence for the same, he refuses to do it. What happens next is that a clash between The Godfather’s fading old values and the new ways which may cause Micheal to do the thing he was most unwilling in doing and start a war against all the other mafia families which could tear the Corleone family apart.
Honestly, there’s not one bad thing I can point out after watching this movie except for the video quality, but that doesn’t make the actual movie any worse. Some might argue about how The Godfather deserves the number one place on this list but I personally think that that it should share the first place with The Shawshank Redemption, both movies are incredible in their own ways. To my mind, these 3 things are the parts of movie:
1. The direction - The choices of music, cinematography, look, sound and lighting during the whole movie which created a certain mood of place and especially time.
2. Accessible/Easy-going - There’s nothing that has to be explained in order for the watchers to appreciate to movie. So if you didn’t like it, that’s pretty much it.
3. The acting - One of the deepest casts ever assembled in a movie, Brando (The Godfather) created one of the most iconic characters in history of movies.
Austin Chronicle says: “Just about as great as a movie's ever gonna be... As for the storytelling, The Godfather is an intricately constructed gem that simultaneously kicks ass. 100/100”
Genre: Drama, crime
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo
Runtime: 2 hr. 55 min.
Oscar wins: 3
Other nominations: 27
Other wins: 23
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1S34973zA
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Short summary of the story: The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone in 1959 after the events of the first movie, the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone (The Godfather) from 1917 to 1925.
Not too soon after the release of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola directed the second part of The Godfather. The result was once again extremely successful and the movie ended up as one of the top selling that year. It seemed like Francis and Mario never would disappoint the fans of the movie series. Why this movie deserves the third place is basically because of the same reasons and the first Godfather movie; The acting, the dialogue, the story, the direction and the overall genuine mind behind this masterpiece.
The third part of The Godfather wasn’t just as popular as the other two though, maybe it was because they waited for too long to release it and people had forgotten the old ones, 16 years went before the release of the third one after all.
Genre: Drama, crime
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo
Runtime: 3 hr. 22 min.
Oscar wins: 6
Other nominations: 20
Other wins: 10
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJr92K_hKl0
Sources:
www.IMDB.com/
oscar.go.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption
Would be great if you could add the trailer videos to your blog, so you can watch them here. See if you can work out how to do that, it's quite easy to work out. Blog is looking good!
SvaraRadera