It’s A Women’s World

There has always been and will always be a fascination with celebrity homes. People want to know how the rich and famous live and daydream about it. I admit, I am a person who loves to look at photos of celebrity homes and large mansions in general. I don’t daydream about owning one, after all, someone has to clean those giant places! Of course, for the amount of money that is spent on celebrity homes, I’m quite certain they have someone doing the cleaning for them. If I had millions, I would not doing my own cleaning either. In the meantime, I have to stick to scrubbing my own floors.

I find it very interesting and perhaps even a bit disturbing that there are some sites that list the addresses of many celebrity homes. Sure, the public loves to gawk and drool, but I’m not sure I would like the whole world to know where I lived if I was a celebrity. Many celebrity homes have excellent security and will not even allow the public to get any closer than driving or walking by. Some generous celebrities have allowed photos or virtual tours of their homes that people can gasp over. I’ve “walked through” some celebrity homes online that simply leave me speechless. I cannot even fathom having the money to be able to build even a handful of the less extravagant celebrity homes I’ve seen. I can only imagine what their monthly mortgage payments must be. Of course, they don’t need to worry about things like that. Their bank accounts continue to rise while mine continues to deteriorate.

While not all of us can afford the celebrity homes, they have a tendency to be in the same vicinity of one another. Celebrities are often times neighbors with other celebrities. Not that this is a huge shock. I would want to live next door to someone who understands my lifestyle too. I was visiting Hollywood and Beverly Hills a year ago and spent an entire day driving past celebrity homes. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous - anyone famous, but had no such luck. I’m not sure what I would have done had I actually seen someone. They would have just heard me squealing as I drove by. Of course, when driving past these celebrity homes and driving in very ritzy neighborhood, we rented a very classy convertible to be seen in. You know, just in case someone happens to be leaving one of those celebrity homes and wants to say hello.

The Godfather movies are part of the culture and always feature high in any list of favorite movies including my personal list. I often re-watch the DVDs. They influenced Mafia crime films for some time and every one is compared to the Godfather trilogy. They are stylish, violent and gritty with excellent performances from all the leads. The violence is not actually over the top but is used when the story demands it. How accurate a portrayal of Mafia life it is, only the Mafia men can say. Interestingly, the word Mafia is never used.

Francis Ford Coppola directed all three movies. That means his style permeates throughout the Godfather trilogy and we get continuity. Every aspect contributes to the quality of the films, including the cinematography and the music. Marlon Brando gives a terrific performance and manages to rein in the mumbling. If you sit an inch from the screen, you can make out what he’s saying. It’s all part of his charm.

Everyone is fascinated by the Mafia and we get most of our impressions from the movies, especially the Godfather trilogy. They are portrayed as God fearing people with a tremendous loyalty to family. No one is allowed to go against family. They go to church and have big family gatherings with lots of hugs and kisses. The women cook and make cozy homes for their men folk, and don’t bother much with minor details about where the money comes from. Children are treasured, especially the sons who are treated like Princes. In this mix, there is Michael.

Michael Corleone, son of Brando the Godfather and played by Al Pacino, is the only character in the entire Godfather trilogy who undergoes a change. He doesn’t want anything to do with the family business at first, but avenges the attempt on his father’s life. From then on, he is hooked and he becomes more ruthless than anyone, even murdering his brother-in-law. In the final part of the Godfather trilogy, he looks back on his life and wonders if he made the right choices.

Most people cite the second film as their favorite. The middle of a trilogy is usually the most difficult to film. You can set things up in the first and bring things to a conclusion in the last. The middle film of the Godfather trilogy is like a bridge. We get an insight into Don Corleone in this movie, as we see his early life in Sicily and 1920s New York. Robert De Niro plays Brando’s younger self, an excellent choice. The Godfather trilogy is classic cinema, but not for horse lovers.