MY 10TH FAVORITE MOVIE VILLAIN (PART 1)

10 of my favorite villains down, 10 more to go. So let's get on with it, my 10th favorite Movie Villain is...

DON EMILO BARZINI (RICHARD CONTE)


TIED WITH

HYMAN ROTH (LEE STRASBERG)


FROM THE GODFATHER SAGA

As most of you all know, "The Godfather" tied with "The Godfather Part 2" are my favorite films of all time. I love them so much that my reviews on the films can't describe my love for them. It has great casting; great characters; great directing; great story etc etc and also has two great Villains who give our main characters problems.



I know a lot of people find Michael the real villain of the films (Hey, even Francis Ford Coppola says he's the Hitler of the Saga) but personally I see him more as a tragic character. He starts out as a young man who wants to have a normal life, but due to the events of his father and the death of his wife, it all has turned him into this monster. If you watch Part 2 carefully you can tell he doesn't want to be this person and wants to have a happy family, but due to so much business and war he spends little time with his family and thinks business comes before family, but worries about losing his Family. He does kill his own brother which a lot of people find evil (I do too) but he did it to set an example on the other families on how serious he takes business. Most of his tragicness is shown in the 3rd film and is probably the only good plot in the 3rd installment, but I'll review it later, explaining why the 3rd film is not with the first 2. Many can also argue that everybody's a bad guy in this film, even though that statement is very true if you read what I said about gangster films when I talked about film on my Top 10 Favorite films I reviewed in 2010" I said (Not only referring to "The Godfather" but other gangster films as well) "The actors, the story, and the characters make us forget they're bad guys, the only bad guys in the film are the traitors and enemies". When I watch a gangster a film I'm so attached in they're world that they're the heroes of the films, or should I say anti-heroes. I'm not trying to glorify the Mob, I'm just saying that's the feeling most us get when we watch a gangster film.

With all that said, let's now talk about the Villain from the first Godfather film...

DON EMILO BARZINI


WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

Don Barzini is the head of the five families in New York. He's friends with many powerful people (Which I'll talk about very soon) and his business is gambling and prostitution and he is joining in the new business, the Narcotics trade. Barzini is a man who moves with the times and as result makes him a successful Don. However, even though he's a powerful man, The Corleone family have more power than he does and as result makes Barzini want to wipe out the Corleones and take their power. Barzini doesn't show up too much in the film, he's basically an off screen villain, but still when you see him, he not only looks threatening but he looks cool too. You see him most of the time smoking a cigar and surrounded by bodyguards, which by the way if you take a picture of him in a public event, kiss your camera or photo good bye. The scene he shows up the most in is the truce meeting to the Mob War where he has a few lines to say as well. Barzini is such a respected man that he even gets invited to The Corleone's Wedding and to Vito's Funeral.

The real power of this Villain is who's he's connected with and how he uses his power. So let's talk about the people he's allied with.

DON BARZINI'S ALLIES AND BUSINESS PARTNERS


THE TATTAGLIA FAMILY


Even though Barzini is the head of all the five Families, the family he gives most of his power too is The Tattaglia family. Don Phillip Tattaglia is an old "Pimp" who's very small minded and makes love to younger woman. Barzini helps him by having them join forces with the head of the Narcotic's trade Sollozzo The Turk (Will get to him later); supplies the family with weapons; and Barzini is the mastermind of Sonny Corleones death who has the Tattaglia's pull the trigger as revenge for killing Phillip's son Bruno Tattaglia and killing Sollozzo which starting a war. Don Tattaglia in the end, gets whacked in a bed with a young prostitute woman by Rocco Lampone and another Corleone hitman.

VIRGIL SOLLOZZO AKA THE TURK
 


Sollozzo is the head of The Narcotics trade who is very good with a knife. He's backed up by The Tattaglia, but he's really backed up by the Barzini Family. Barzini sends Sollozzo to talk the Corleone family to join the trade and give him protection from the police; Vito refuses and as a result, Sollozzo and Barzini try to make the Corleone's "An Offer They Can't Refuse". This guy is such a badass and does so many horrible things to the Corleone family that you know that he means business .He kills the muscle of The Corleone family Luca Brasi by stabbing his hand to the Bar and has a hitman strangle him with a garrote wire and then leave a message to the family with Luca's bullet proof vest with a fish in it, which is a Sicilian message that means "Luca Brasi Sleeps With The Fishes". He kidnaps the Corleone's Consigliere to convince the family to make the deal and he and Barzini send out two hitman to kill Vito. Vito survived the shooting and they tried to kill him again at his hospital bed by sending a few hit man and the crooked Cop Captain McClusky to send away all of Vito's bodyguards, but that attempts fails thanks to Vito's son Michael, however, Michael gets his jaw broken by McClusky.  Sollozzo along with McClusky gets killed at "Louie's Restaurant" by Michael during a meeting, which results with a Mob War.



MOE GREENE


The Barzini's doesn't have a big connection with Moe Greene, Moe Greene’s more connected to Hyman Roth (Which will talk about in the second part). Moe Greene doesn't accept Michael's offer to buy his Casino because he talked to Barzini who he can make a deal with and still keep his business, which not only shows that Barzini is also after Las Vegas, but he will have a great partnership with the king of Vegas himself.

Now that I talked about his Allies, let's now talk about the people from the Corleone family that turned their back on the Don to join the Barzini family.

THE CORLEONE TRAITORS

PAULIE GATTO

Paulie works for the Corleone’s capo Peter Clemenza and serves as Vito's personal bodyguard. He betrayed the Corleones due to his greed (Which his greed can be reveled at the Wedding scene) and joins Sollozzo. He called in sick leaving Vito to be protected by his non threatening son Fredo. Just as Vito is buying fruit two hitman shoot Vito five times while Fredo tries to pull out his gun but accidentally drops it. Sonny finds out through phone taps that Paulie helped “sell out the old man” and as a result gets whacked by Rocco Lampone in the car as Clemenza takes "A leak". After the hit, Clemenza tells Rocco to "leave the gun" and "Take the cannoli". One of the best lines in the whole movie.

FABRIZIO

While Michael was hiding out in Sicily during the Mob War, Fabrizio served as one of Michael's bodyguards who had a dream of living in America. He tries to kill Michael by blowing up his car with Michael and his wife in it, but instead his wife dies before Michael can get in, leading Michael to become what he is in the end of the film and the second film. In a deleted scene to "Godfather Part 2", it is revealed that he tried to kill Michael because the Barzini Family agreed to smuggle him illegally to America if he killed Michael. After the truce meeting and for trying to kill Michael, The Barzini Family brings him to America under a new name called Fred Vincent and he opened his own Pizza shop in Buffalo. In another Deleted Scene, we see Fabrizio close his pizza shop, and as he starts the car, it blows up, which was a hit that Michael ordered as revenge by making him suffer the same fate, that his wife has suffered.

In another deleted scene that was filmed, Michael finds Fabrizio in the first film after he kills Carlo and kills him himself. The scene never made into the first film, nor can it be found, but pictures of it can be found on the internet. The picture of Michael carrying a shotgun was also used as a publicity photo for the film.

SALVATORE TESSIO


Salvatore Tessio was Vito's good friend and is not only his capo but also has helped Vito rise to power. Ever since Michael took control, Barzini has been moving in on his territory and Michael's not doing a thing. After asking to have a family of his own, Michael refuses to grant him his wish and as a result he joins the Barzini family, by setting up a meeting with Michael where he’ll be assassinated. Michael was warned by Vito about this and at Vito’s funeral Tessio tells Michael that the Barzini meeting will be held at his territory under his protection (Not knowing that Michael already knew about the meeting). Let's just say what ever happens to Tessio, Michael made sure that we never see him any more.

CARLO RIZZI



Carlo Rizzi married Vito's only daughter Connie but constantly abuses her making Sonny upset. After getting beat up by Sonny for giving Connie a black eye; Barzini approaches him telling him his family can rid his problem with Sonny once and for all. Barzini sets up Sonny's death by having a prostitute call his house telling Connie she can't see Carlo. Connie destroys the house as Carlo's getting ready to leave and not eat dinner that she just made for him and as a result hits her while she's still pregnant. Connie calls Sonny about the incident with Carlo (Not knowing it's a set up); a pissed off Sonny drives to see her and beat up Carlo but gets killed by gunmen waiting for him at the Tollbooth. Michael makes Carlo admit what he did and after admitting it, he gets strangled by Clemenza in a car that's supposedly taking him to the Airport.




Barzini fate is while he's leaving the Supreme Courthouse at Foley Square, the new Luca Brasi of the family Al Neri disguises himself as a cop to get closer to Don Barzini. He kills Barzini's bodyguard and driver and shoots Barzini in the back and runs off as Barzini tumbles down the stairs.

Barzini may not have to much screen time, but he's the main enemy to the Corleone Family and without him there would be no plot.

"I didn't know until this day, that it was Barzini all along."
Vito Corleone

COOL WORLD

Ralph Bakshi, the Walt Disney of surreal cartoons for adults. His films are bizarre, weird and have odd characters. He directed such animated films such as "Fritz The Cat", "Coonskin", "Heavy Traffic", the original animated film of "Lord of The Rings" and "Wizards". However, there is one film that remains as the black sheep of his films that was so bad that Ralph Bakshi stopped his career as an animator and that film is...



A comic book illustrator and writer named Jack Deebs (Gabriel Bryne) created a famous comic book series called "Cool World". The character that Jack obsesses over wishing that was real is a doodle named Holli Would (Voiced by Kim Basinger). One day he gets zapped into his cartoon world and not only meets the characters he's created but also meets Holli. Fair plot, sounds simple, but there's more too it. Jack meets a live human detective (Played by Brad Pitt) who tells him that he didn't create this place and that it's another world where everything goes except for one law "Noids (Humans) do not have sex with Doodles (Cartoons)". Now I know what you're thinking how did Brad Pitt get into the "Cool World"? Well earlier in the film in the year 1945, he gets zapped into the "Cool World" after seeing her mother die in a motorcycle accident and what zapped him to the world was a powerful spike made by a doodle professor named Whiskers. Brad Pitt also has a struggling relationship with another girl doodle but that plot is very brief. Getting back to Jack Deebs part in the story, he violates the law and has sex with the doodle Holli which turns her human (HUH?). They then go to the real world but for some strange reason both Jack and Holli are flashing back in forth from being human to a doodle.

Let's talk about the plot. The plot is ridiculous and makes zero sense. I know the whole story is centered around by a powerful spike but that part in the story is not really analyzed enough. The plot with Brad Pitt and the other doodle girl felt like a foot note and just thrown in as filler. How they get together in the end is so stupid that it makes me think "Why Couldn't They Do That Before?!" The character Holli is a very confusing character. First she wants to be real and get all the real things that "Noids" get and be like a celebrity, but she also tries to have the world taken over by doodles, WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE WANT?! In fact Holli says that humans can actually feel things and taste things, however, the other doodles constantly get hurt and scream in pain and Brad Pitt lives in the world drinking cartoon drinks and smoking cartoon cigarettes which not only he can taste but the other doddle's can taste them too, again WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE WANT? ! Speaking of Brad Pitt how the hell does he stay young since the film’s taking place in the present and he came from the year 1945? Did he travel through time; does time in the "Cool World" differ from earth time; it's never explained. Then there's Jack, how can he draw a world that already exists? Some people say he's been there before thinking it was a dream, however, when you first see him enter the world, he looks confused that he's seeing (What he thought) his world coming to life. Also in the "Cool World", a pen is considered as the only major weapon that can kill a doodle. Why is a simple pen the only major weapon that can kill a doodle, why not an eraser?

By the way does any of this sound familiar because this film looks like a very bad rip off of the successful animated combined with live action film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".  Let's take a quick look at the similarities.


In "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" there's town called "Toon Town" filled with classic and crazy cartoon characters and buildings with faces.




In "Cool World", there's a cartoon city (That looks like the Ghetto of "Toon Town") filled with crazy toons that make fun of some classic cartoon characters and has buildings with faces that for some reason don't talk or move.


 In "Who Framed Rogger Rabbit?", The main character is a human detective played by a very good actor Bob Hoskins



In "Cool World" The main character  is a noid detective played by an odd but ok actor Brad Pitt



In "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", there's a hot toon who people fall in love with, and the first time we see her, she's performing.



 In "Cool World" there's a hot doodle (That takes the style of Marylin Monroe and looks like Miss America from "Coonskin") that a noid falls in love with and the first time we see her she's dancing in front of an audience



In "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" there's a funny but annoying Rabbit who spends most of the time with the detective.



In "Cool World", there's an annoying but funny Spider named Nails who's Brad Pitt's buddy and carries nearly the same traits as Roger Rabbit.



And finally in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" there's a clever weapon that can kill a toon and that is acid, aka "The Dip".




In "Cool World" you use a pen to kill a doodle.

Do I need to go any further? This film is the ghetto and dirty version of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

The acting in the film is horrible, none of the actors are convincing; they don't give the characters personality and when they do they make them look weird; and on top of that I didn't feel like they were interacting with the cartoon characters. I kept getting the feel of Ralph Bakshi putting the actors in a room; making them say they're lines and do a few movements; and just painted the cartoons around them after the scene was filmed, while also throwing him random stuff that the characters clearly don't see or are surprised by. Just by looking at the actors they act as if they knew the film was going to flop and decided to put very little effort into their acting. By the way, the sex scene with Jack and Holli is one of the worst love scenes I’ve ever seen, mostly because it didn't look like they were doing anything. The only person that's kind of good is Michele Abrams as Jack's secret admirer Jennifer because she really gets into all the surrealness that's happening but her character sadly is just pointless filler.

The animated characters are not likable; they are either extremely annoying or useless. The only characters I sort of liked was the Spider Nails because he would get a funny moment every once and while but he still doesn't stop me from realizing that it's a previous cartoon character that Ralph Bakshi already made and recycled the character with a different name and just threw him in this film. Another example of a character I sort of liked is the cool badass Sparky Sparks who gets a great badass introduction and looks cool enough to be the villain of the film, but instead he's just Brad Pitts personal punching bag. There's also Professor Whiskers who's probably the only Doodle that acts humble, however, he's the creator of a device that makes no sense and how he tries to put logic into it, doesn’t at all sound logical. The design for the “Cool World” actually does look very "cool" (No Pun Intended) because it's dark, edgy and always has Doodles popping out of nowhere doing random and violent things. The world is so surreal that not only did it make it as Number 10 on "Nostalgia Critic's Top 11 MindF--Ks" but everything that looks real looks like a cardboard cut out. The scenes when the humans are switching back and forth to human to cartoon are really nice effects and the cartoons they become are very funny and clever. The only downsides to this is we get to see Gabriel Byrne change into the most ridiculous super hero I've ever seen; we see a human Holli change into a Clown instead of her old doodle self; and on top of that, we see Brad Pitt animated, which I'm not going to lie is pretty scary.

The movie makes zero sense; the acting's bad; the characters are annoying and bland; and the film is clearly a rip off on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". However, the only good thing this movie has to offer is the animation, it's really creative and helps creates this surreal world.

RATING 2/5

MY 11TH FAVORITE MOVIE VILLAIN (PART 3)

Well this is it the final part, I talked about him in the 2nd movie a week ago, now it's time to talk about him in the finale film in the "Child's Play" trilogy and that film is "Child's Play" 3.

 


WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

This is a film a lot of Chucky fans dismiss but personally I enjoy it but I'll save my opinion on the film for when I review it, because we're not talking about the film, we're talking about the villain who's in the film. As you remember when I talked about the alternate ending, Chucky is remade and now has a new body which now gives him a chance to take over Andy's body again. However, the film takes place when Andy is a teenager and since the 3rd installment to the film was coming up a year later, the scene was taken out. Thankfully, the alternate ending can still be shown on TV. So the film picks up eight years later and the "Play Pals Company" is re releasing a new line of "Good Guy Dolls" but one of Chucky's remains were being used for one of the Dolls and as a result, the serial killer of Charles Lee Rays soul has entered a new dolls body and is seeking for a human body.

Chucky gets a really great introduction in this film. His first victim is the company's CEO who gets the Chucky doll. As he's in his office alone at night playing mini golf, Chucky sneaks around in the shadows and makes his first move by having him slip on a floor full of golf balls. Then Chucky uses toys to attack him to suddenly hitting him with a golf club saying one of my favorite Chucky phrases "Don't F--k With The Chuck!". As the CEO is about to phone for help he gets hit by darts and is strangled to death by a Yo-Yo. After when the guy dies Chucky then says another one of my favorite Chucky phrases "Nothing but a good strangulation to get the circulation going" and then looks for Andy on the computer to once again, transfer his soul to Andy's body. This is another one of my all time favorite death scenes in the "Child's Play Trilogy".

Andy is now a teenager and is at Military School (One of the many reasons why people hate this film) and befriends a young kid named Tyler and a teenage boy named Harold Aubrey Whitehurst. He also has a love interest (Another reason why fans hate this film) and a bully. Chucky mails himself to the camp in a "Good Guy" box but instead of Andy getting it directly, his friend Tyler gets the package who is about to deliverer it to his room, until finding out that the package contains a "Good Guy Doll", he takes the doll to the basement planing to keep it for himself. Chucky then catches the audience off guard by breaking out of the box and is pissed off that the kid's not Andy. However, Chucky decides to take over Tyler's body instead. There's really not much to say about Chucky in this film it's just basically him going off on a killing spree and turning a hell hole camp into a nightmare camp, while at the same time trying to take over Tyler body while acting like his friend at the same time (Just like his relationship with Andy in the first film). Seeing his relationship with Tyler really gives you the idea what his off screen relationship was like with Andy in the first half of the first film.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he confronts Andy telling him he's back and he's now after Ronald. Not only is it thrilling to see Andy and Chucky together again but Chucky says more of my favorite Chucky phrases such as "Just think, Chucky's going to be bro", and "I've got fresh meat lined up and I'm not going to let you spoil it this time". I also loves how he finds a "PlayPen" Magazine in Andy's room smiling and says "Andy, how you've grown". Andy then throws a shoe at Chucky making him lose his knife and Andy picks him up and starts bashing Chucky's head to the floor but is interrupted when his bully walks in laughing and takes the doll away from him.



Chucky has so many great killings in this film that I'd guarantee that most of those killings would be on my list of my favorite "Chucky Murders". He lures a Garbage man in a garbage truck's compactor by pretending to be a person who's trapped inside, but then he turns on the truck to have the poor man crushed. He replaces paintball bullets with live ammo and watches how it all plays out (Even though that's impossible); throws a live grenade at Andy's best friend; and even gives the head of the camp a heart attack by just poping out of nowhere holding a knife causing an upset Chucky to exclaim "You've got to be f--king kidding me". My favorite killing in the whole film is when Chucky is found by the barber of the camp who shaves people’s heads saying his catch phrase "Presto, you're bald". Just as the barber is about to shave off Chucky's head, Chucky picks up a razor and quickly slits the guy's throat saying "Presto,you're dead!" while laughing as the guy dies.



The climax of the film takes place in a haunted house ride at a Carnival near the War Games area. As Chucky sabotages the War Games, he runs after Tyler in the carnival; kills the security guard that's trying to comfort him; and Chucky forces Tyler into to the haunted house ride. During the climax, a piece of Chucky's face gets slashed off by one of the robots on the ride, but that doesn't stop him from killing Andy and taking away Tyler's soul. Chucky knocks out Tyler; shoots Andy’s love interest in the leg; and this leads to the final fight between Chucky and Andy while fast on coming ride carts are coming. Andy tries to shoot Chucky to death before he can finish his chant on Tyler; Chucky is still alive and tries to strangle Andy to death but Andy uses Ronald’s knife to cut Chucky's hands off which has Chucky fall into a giant fan chopping him to shreds. This climax is a great final battle and a great final death to a great iconic horror villain, that is until Chucky got married.

I just love Chucky even if the films are over the top; unrealistic; and has silly and dumb moments. I think he's scary; has a creepy and fun personality while being voiced by a really good actor (The guy who played Billy Bibbit in the classic film "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest"); has memorable catch phrases; commits great murders; and puts up a good fight in every thrilling climax of the first 3 films. He maybe an over the top slasher villain, but that’s why I enjoy him so much.

"HI I'M CHUCKY, WANNA PLAY?"
-Chucky

GET READY FOR THE TOP TEN COMING SOON!