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Reviews
Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999)
Ugh--fudgetaboutit!!
The true life story of an American mobster. If you're a fan of "The Godfather," then this film might be worth watching as it's alleged that Mario Puzo borrowed from Joseph Bonanno's life story. You can see many similarities from "being chased out of Sicily," to "the extravagant wedding," to "the confrontation of the local made man who's collecting with the up-and-coming godfather," etc. Other than that...fudgetaboutit! Told through the cliché flashback, Martin Landau's voice-over narration is excruciating. Director Michel Poulette should have taken notes on how Coppola handled flash-backs in "GF2." Not that the story is all bad--just long! It reads more like a documentary. Then what about this whole issue that these men are "bound by honor," yet the Bonanno's sell out to create this Hollywood tale? Peter Bonanno said he wanted Hollywood to show the truth instead of a fictionalized Mafia movie. Excuse me? What about "Casino?" or "Goodfellas?" or "Gotti?" or...you get the idea. Looks to me like these ex-Mafia gents aren't greasing the politicians anymore, but instead Hollywood producers to make themselves appear like American icons. Fud-get-about-it!!
Mean Streak (1999)
Racism: a 2 way street
Stop me when you think you've seen this one.....Bigoted "white" terrorizes innocent "black" and in the end, the lesson we learn is that we are all of one race. Politically correct film for a politically correct time? Not that racism is a good thing, not at all, but MEAN STREAK (a good looking film, technically speaking) is but another poor attempt by Hollywood in only tackling part of a very heated subject. If we only see what Hollywood (and the media) portrays, then we must assume that only whites are racist and non-whites, the victims. As Scott Bakula responded to the comment that his new FBI partner was in charge of investing hate crimes: "I thought all crimes were hate crimes." To get at the real root of racism, Hollywood and society in general must acknowledge that racism is a 2 way street.