Jack: Robin Williams plays an overgrown child. It’s like the role was made for him! Fran Drescher doesn’t help things either. When you hate a Robin Williams movie as a kid, you know it’s bad. Ugh.
Grade: F
Tucker: The Man and His Dream: Once upon a time a guy (Jeff Bridges) tried to compete with The Big Three and create his own line of cars with innovations like a rotating headlight that follows your steering wheel. That man was squashed by The Big Three, though admittedly his car did have some issues which hurt things. Based on a true story; it’s easy to root for Tucker even though you know what’s going to happen in the end.
Grade: B-
The Rainmaker: Matt Damon plays one of John Grisham’s idealist young attorneys who takes on a corrupt insurance company with the help of Danny DeVito. Solid cast and a solid plot, but nothing all that memorable either.
Grade: B
The Godfather: Part II: Camps are about equally divided on which of the two movies is better. I prefer the first one as I felt it was faster paced with more tension. Still, the character development of Michael Corleone is powerful and depressing. Diane Keaton puts in a strong performance as well as she watches Michael’s ascension to power. Robert DeNiro is also quite good, introduced here in the second film.
Grade: B
The Godfather: It took me until I was 24 to watch this and I expected to be disappointed by all the hype. I was not. I watched it with a friend and we were white-knuckling our chairs multiple times. Marlon Brando is fun as the Don, but it’s a young Al Pacino who really shines. It’s easy to follow him through and understand the choices he makes and Coppolla has us simultaneously rooting for and being scared by him at the same time. I also love James Caan’s performance. In fact, the entire cast is pretty much brilliant. This movie not only defined an entire genre of movies, it also redefined real mobsters, who were never this slick in real life but aspired to be so after watching this. Oh, and it also helped Mario Puzo; from what I’ve heard, his books are not that great.
Grade: A
Other Francis Ford Coppola Movies You May Have Seen
The Godfather: Part III
Apocalypse Now
Dracula
The Conversation
The Outsiders
Peggy Sue Got Married
Rumble Fish
Supernova
New York Stories
The Cotton Club
Death By Troggles 
I still haven’t seen either of the Godfather movies even though I have them sitting at home. I should probably take care of that someday.
You should take care of that yesterday.
Coppolla wouldn’t be near the top of my list, and yet The Godfather and the sequel are two of my favorite movies. I prefer the first as well but it’s a fairly close call; it would really have helped if Richard Castellano had come back as Clemenza to perform the role that Frankie Five Angels ended up performing for the story. I still can’t believe he held out for more money, despite being a smaller player in one of the greatest franchises in film history.
Yes, I remember missing Clemenza quite a bit.