Summer may be officially over, but at my house it has become the Indian Summer of Al Pacino. All summer we've watched Al Pacino movies. We're still not finished, so we've moved into fall. I never realized just how many movies Mr. Pacino has done.

Recently I've watched "The Merchant of Venice" and "City Hall". I've never wanted to watch "The Merchant of Venice", due to it's inherent anti-semitism. But after seeing Pacino's portrayal of Shylock, I came away with a much different interpretation. His delivery of the "I am a Jew" speech is absolutely breathtaking. And the final scene, with the door to the synagogue being closed to Shylock. . .what a moment.

I don't think Shakespeare was as anti-semitic as I'd thought. He did a marvellous job of skewering the hypocritical christians in the play as well as Shylock. No one comes out all good or all bad; just shades of grey.

"City Hall" featured another of my favorite actors: John Cusack. Seeing him go toe to toe with Pacino was a real treat. He's one of the few actors I've seen who can maintain a palpable screen presence while opposite Pacino. Good story, nice NYC setting, and even some mafiosos. You have to see Pacino's character (the mayor of NYC) speak at the funeral of a little African-American boy to believe it. I never thought of him as a gospel preacher before!

I finally did see "Godfather" parts one, two and three. While I liked he first one, I really preferred the second. I'll never see Lake Tahoe in the same way again.

"Godfather Part III" taught me an important lesson in nepotism: DON"T CAST YOUR OWN DAUGHTER IN YOUR FILM!!! While I love the movies Sofia Coppola has directed, I would never have cast her as Micheal Corleone's daughter. She seemed way over her head. I don't know how old she was at the time, but I would have liked to see Winona Ryder in the part. She has those marvellous eyes and serious acting chops that would play well with Pacino as Michael Corleone.