[8] David Mamet adapts his stage play and James Foley directs an all-star cast in Glengarry Glen Ross, a fascinating multi-character study of the toll capitalism takes on the human soul. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin play real estate salesmen who are called into the office and given one night to turn their old sales leads into gold — or they’re …
[9] Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as a television actor and his care-taker stunt-man. The men are close-knit and more dependent on each other than either are able to admit. During the span of just a few days in 1969, they come to terms with the mortality of life and careers while unwittingly stumbling under the shadow of the infamous …
[7] In this remake of a Swedish film, an L.A. detective and his partner get loaned out to a town in Alaska where night never falls for half the year. While they’re hunting a killer, the detective accidentally kills his partner and tries to cover the truth about the incident. But then the killer starts to blackmail the detective, all while a young local officer does …
[6] Al Pacino stars in the true story of Frank Serpico, a New York City cop who discovers a city-wide bribe scheme police are profiting from and rejects becoming part of it. But in doing so, he loses the trust of all the other cops and becomes a laughing stock… and then a target. I love Sidney Lumet movies and I love Al Pacino, but …
[7] An unusual sequel of sorts, The Godfather Part II spends equal time in the past and the present, exploring the early life of Vito Corleone (with Robert DeNiro taking over the mantle from Marlon Brando) while also following the continuing story of Vito’s son Michael (Al Pacino reprises his role). Thematically and emotionally, the movie plays like a long and redundant epilogue to the first …
[7] While I enjoy parts two and three, I have the same general problem with both of them. Why do they exist? The first film tells a complete story, but part two (with its shuffling of prelude and epilogue) plays like an index and part three is very clearly a coda (Coppola even wanted to name it “The Death of Michael Corleone”). However good they …
[5] Visually striking but emotionally hollow, Warren Beatty’s film version of Chester Gould’s comic creation is an underwhelming would-be blockbuster. The only character you can get invested in is Madonna’s Breathless Mahoney. Everyone else, including our strong-jawed hero, is as two-dimensional as the comic strip they came from. It’s kinda fun to spot well-known actors in cameos throughout the movie — keep your eyes peeled …
[7] Al Pacino plays a New York police detective who goes deep under cover, posing as gay to root out a serial killer preying on gay men. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) stirred controversy for his depiction of the leather subculture. The gay community feared straight America might see the film and assume all gay men were leather daddies with Tom of …
[4] I really like Oliver Stone about half the time, but the show-offy style he used with Natural Born Killers and J.F.K. doesn’t service Any Given Sunday. Those other films, with their multiple perspectives and drug-induced visions, felt right to employ rapid editing and multiple media. But Any Given Sunday is (or should have been) a reality-based ensemble drama about the rigors and tribulations of …
[8] Director Sidney Lumet showcases a true story ripped from the headlines, about two amateur bank robbers who started a media sensation that exploded further when the public learned of their unusual circumstances. Al Pacino stars as the master-mind of the heist plan that goes to hell and Charles Durning costars as the police captain who tries to manage the 24-hour siege. What’s most remarkable …
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