I'm sick of seeing it quoted like it's this unfathomable masterpiece.

It's not even the best gangster movie of all time! - Goodfellas, Casino, Scarface, A Bronx Tale, The Departed all shit on it. Especially Goodfellas; that's the creme de le creme of gangster movies - authentic storytelling, lively and memorable characters, beautiful shots, hilarious dialogue, it's a classic.

Godfather is very slow and I find the pay-offs very mild. Doesn't justify its length. The characters are mostly very bland and unimaginative or that well performed; they're all just sort of, there, just serviceable. The dialogue - serviceable. The storyline and how it plays out... meh. Average. There's nothing spectacular about it beyond maybe the cinematography. But I don't think a film should be called the greatest ever or greatest mob movie ever because Italy is beautiful. Or because it has some romantic shots or romanticized the mob, or 'was one of the first'...

Who cares if it was one of the first? That doesn't make it the best. Being the best does.

Then I hear the defence sometimes of, 'yeah but it was in the 70s' like to excuse its average qualities. That's such a lame defence! Some of the greatest movies (to this day!) were made in the 70s...

As I say, it's not even the best movie of that decade! Just in terms of; storytelling, dialogue, creativity...

> One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
> Taxi Driver
> The Deer Hunter

So many.

What makes it even more obvious to me that so many people just go along with the crowd, and think they should call it the greatest ever, is... well, a close friend watched it with me, and he concluded it was one of the greatest ever too. And I contended he's just appeasing critical consensus, and when I asked him what's so great about it... he just got defensive, he couldn't give me straight answers! Know why? Because nothing is that great about it!

If someone asks me what's so great about my favourite films, I can go into detail on specifics. I don't get defensive, because I genuinely believe it, so I can be like 'how long ya got?'

I've yet to watch Part 2, I hear some say it's a better.

But, as a film fan, who after years and years of just... not; I finally watched 'the greatest movie ever' and it's a legit 6/10. Hopefully part 2 is at least a 7.5.