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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Godfather Part III, The: The Coppola Restoration (Blu-ray) (1990)

Godfather Part III, The: The Coppola Restoration (Blu-ray) (1990)

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Released 29-Oct-2008

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Mob Audio Commentary
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1990
Running Time 170:15
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Francis Ford Coppola
Studio
Distributor

Paramount Home Entertainment
Starring Al Pacino
Diane Keaton
Talia Shire
Andy Garcia
Sofia Coppola
Joe Mantegna
Eli Wallach
George Hamilton
Raf Vallone
Case ?
RPI $89.95 Music Nino Rota
Carmine Coppola


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

    The Godfather Part III has been derided by many, perhaps most, of the Godfather faithful, and there are some valid reasons for this. While Part III remains consistent with the style and mood of the first two films, it lacks their substance. The story does not seem as natural, but more contrived, as if it were a vehicle for a nostalgic gathering of familiar characters, almost like one of those nostalgic ‘where are they now?’ specials. It’s a good gangster film, whereas Parts I and II were outstanding films. But there’s nothing so memorable or special about Part III. That aside, it remains part of one of the great film Trilogies, and with Parts I and II having both been restored, the entire Godfather Trilogy is making its high definition debut as a box-set.

    In 1971 Francis Ford Coppola's film, The Godfather, became the highest-grossing film to date, and also brought him an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay with author Mario Puzo, and a Best Director nomination. The film also received an Oscar for Best Picture. In 1974, The Godfather II, was released and was also an outstanding critical and commercial success. With 11 Oscar nominations, and wins for Best Director and Best Picture, Part II remains popular, and both Parts I and II are ranked in the Top 5 films by the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB).

    The story for Part III opens in 1979. The Godfather, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and Kay (Diane Keaton) have divorced, and Michael has moved back to New York. Michael is in his twilight years and very conscious of the fact that he never fully attained his goal of the Corleone family becoming fully clean with completely legitimate business interests. As he reflects on his life, Michael sees that he has become estranged from his two children, and as such, he has gained everything yet nothing. Michael now seeks legitimacy and redemption, he seeks forgiveness and respect both from his family, and the wider community. Michael tries to wash his past clean by only involving himself in legitimate businesses, and severing ties with the old Mafia families, but as he famously realises: "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in". Ironically, it’s his deepening involvement with the Catholic Church which drags him back down.

    In many ways the story is very confusing – a blend of Shakespeare's King Lear and the real life Vatican Bank scandal. In 1978 the Vatican Bank was found to be laundering a crime family’s funds from drug trafficking. These actual events, including the theft, fraud, and deaths, form much of the plot of this film. Trying to squeeze the complicated real events of this scandal and the subsequent death of Pope John Paul I into a story focused on the repentance of the Godfather Michael Corleone makes the plot a little hard to follow at times. All the double crosses and overly complicated political and financial machinations don’t help either.

    That noted, while Part III cannot match the first two films in quality, it remains better than your average gangster film. Part I focused on family and the duties that followed from that with the story of Michael Corleone’s corruption. Part II provided a comparison between the rise of Michael and his father Vito Corleone as Godfather. Part III is a Shakespearian tragedy, interlaced with real events, presented in mobster garb. Part III is a detailed character study of the aging Godfather, and like playing Shakespeare’s King Lear, Pacino is given a lot more to work to do with his character. The Godfather battles his personal demons and the weight of decades of secrets, while juggling the various relationships between his now adult children and a new generation of mobsters. Can the Godfather's generous philanthropy clear his guilt or his family’s name? Michael also has to deal with a further complication, when Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son Vincent (Andy Garcia) begins an incestuous relationship with his daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola).

    As with the first two films, the acting performances are solid. It should be noted that many audience members and critics savaged Coppola for casting his ‘non-actor’ daughter in one of the main roles. She stands out, but I think she does so in a good way. Her acting is so naturalistic that there appears to be no craft, and she comes across as a simple and sweet, albeit naïve young woman - exactly the character she is playing. The problem is that when she shares the screen with other actors dreaming of Oscar success, like the dramatic Talia Shire, Sofia stands out. Perhaps because of the savage reaction, Sofia Coppola followed in her father's footsteps and chose a career behind the camera. Sofia went on to direct some good films, such as The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation. It should also be noted that the introduction of Andy Garcia as Michael's protégé, Vincent, is inspired, as is the casting of Eli Wallach as the sinister Don Altobello, Joe Mantegna as cruel gangster Joey Zasa, George Hamilton as the slick new consigliore B.J. Harrison, and Raf Vallone as the mysterious Cardinal Lamberto.

    The Academy nominated Part III for seven Oscars, but unlike Part I and II, it won none. The nominations were for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Andy Garcia), Cinematography (Gordon Willis), Song (Carmine Coppola and John Bettis), Art Direction, and Film Editing.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The first two Godfather films have been restored under Coppola and Willis' supervision. The restoration was carried out by famed film historian,  Robert A. Harris of the Film Preserve, using 4K (4000 pixel-per-inch scanning technology) at Motion Picture Imaging - the Warner Brothers digital facility. Harris gained fame in the film and DVD community by restoring the classic films Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and My Fair Lady (1964). Part III, however, was made in 1990 and did not need the same treatment.

    Part III has been mastered in 1920 x 1080p, using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The High Definition transfer is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in a native 16x9 frame.

    Part III at first looks similar to the first two films, but on closer inspection is significantly different. Firstly, it has none of the problems with film grain, film artifacts, and dirt as the first two. Secondly there is a subtle variation of visual style. Although at first it seems to have the same sepia-toned, shadowy look, Part III appears to be far more saturated. Part III also is noticeably better in its black level and shadow detail, but still remains rather soft overall.

    The film grain is consistent throughout and there are no problems with the transfer in regards to MPEG or film-to-video artefacts. The vast majority of film artefacts are tiny and not distracting.

    16 sets of subtitles are provided and the English subtitles are accurate.

    This is a BD-50 (50 GB Blu-ray disc), with the feature divided into 25 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    I found the audio on Parts I and II disappointing, largely due to their poor quality and monaural approach. Fortunately, made in 1990, Part III does a lot better. The feature for all three films is presented with English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio (48kHz/24-bit) with the option of French or German dubs presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps). There is also an English Audio Commentary by Coppola presented in English Dolby 2.0 (192 kbps).

    Dolby TrueHD Lossless audio is capable of carrying up to eight discrete audio channels, at a sample depth and rate of 24-bit/96 kHz. The maximum bitrate that can be encoded is 18 Mbps. That noted, the format seemed largely wasted for Parts I and II, as they still sounded fairly mono, flat, and tinny, with a similar sounding fidelity as a DVD, and the surround channels barely used. Part III boasts far better dynamic range, consistency, and makes much better use of the surrounds.

    Also, the annoying variable volume of the audio for Parts I and II does not affect III. With Parts I and II I often I struggled to hear what was being said and was forever increasing or decreasing the volume, as at other times the looped dialogue was booming. The use of looped dialogue is frequent but not as obvious in Part III. There is extensive use of ADR and the audio sync is generally acceptable.

    The original orchestral musical score for the Godfather films was provided by Italian composer, Nino Rota, and his memorable and haunting Italian melodies suit the films perfectly. Additional music is provided by Carmine Coppola.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    The Box Set comes with a bonus disc packed with genuine extras. The extras are comprised of those ported from the 2001 DVD release (presented in standard definition), and a collection of new extras as well (presented in high definition).

Menu

    As with other BDs, a floating menu is available.

Audio Commentary

    Coppola provides a screen-specific commentary for each of the three films, which collectively adds up to over eight hours! I found all of them interesting, and he shares many memories and anecdotes, along with trivia and detailed information about the actors, locations, and film production. I was pleased that he's fairly opinionated (with a well-considered opinion gained from intellect, education, and experience) and seems to share his views freely, which makes listening to these commentaries all the more interesting. These commentaries are the only extra included on each feature disc, as all the other extras are all found on the Bonus Disc.

    I particularly enjoyed Coppola's commentary for Part III. His analogy between the critical attack on his own daughter, and the fate of the character Mary in the film is very interesting. As are his comments on family and reflections on what these films have come to mean to different people.

Bonus Disc: The Godfather Supplements

The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (29:46)

    Featuring interviews and plenty of archive footage, this fascinating featurette looks at how Hollywood and the film industry changed dramatically at the end of the 1960s, and how facing an industry that was "collapsing", a group of young film students sought to revive it with their own vision, inspired by the films from the past.

Godfather World (11:19)

    Comprised of interviews and clips from television shows such as The Sopranos, The Simpsons, South Park, and The Family Guy, this is a fun featurette looking at the incredible influence these films have had on popular culture.

Emulsional Rescue: Revealing 'The Godfather' (19:05)

    A short but detailed featurette looking at the original work of Prince of Darkness, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and how the films have degraded over time. This featurette covers how the restoration of Parts I and II came about, with Steven Spielberg's help, and the long road to the finished version with the wonder of technology and serious computing power.

When the Shooting Stopped (14:18)

    Focusing on the post-production work carried out, here we see how Coppola struggled to realise his lengthy artistic vision on the big-screen, with Paramount insisting on a much shorter cut of the film.

'The Godfather' on the Red Carpet (4:03)

    A strange addition, this is a collection of short interview snippets recorded at the red carpet premiere for the film Cloverfield.

Four Short Films on 'The Godfather' (7:20)

    These are not short films but a collection of interviews discussing various aspects of the films.

The Family Tree and Crime Organization Chart

    A diagrammatic presentation of both the Corleone Family tree and a FBI-style Crime Organisation Chart. Viewers can also drill down using their remotes for more information, such as character bios.

Connie and Carlo's Wedding Album

    A collection of photographic stills from the opening wedding scene of Part I.

2001 DVD Archive

    An extensive collection of extras ported from the previous DVD release:

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    In terms of content, the Blu-ray discs released in the USA and here seem to be much the same, with only minor differences such as subtitles.

Summary

    The Godfather Part III is a good film, but is found lacking when compared with the outstanding Parts I and II. Although sequel fatigue seems to have set in, and a lot of the criticism of the film is valid, Part III deserves another viewing. The video and audio lack the sparkle of some of the more recent high definition releases, but is much improved over Parts I and II.

The video quality is good for its age.

The audio quality is also good for its age.

The extras are genuine and enjoyable.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Review Equipment
DVDSony Playstation 3 (HDMI 1.3) with Upscaling, using HDMI output
DisplayPanasonic High Definition 50' Plasma (127 cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSamsung Pure Digital 6.1 AV Receiver (HDMI 1.3)
SpeakersSamsung

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