Righteous Kill

I would like to apologize that I am posting this late, but I was out for a good majority of the day at my Aunt’s house so I didn’t get the chance to post this review there. Now that I have the chance, let’s finish off this month with the 2008 buddy cop movie, “Righteous Kill.” Ken Fox started off his review by saying, “Two actors past their prime spin their wheels playing two over-the-hill New York City detectives on the trail of a serial killer with a poetic streak. The entire movie is one big build-up to a twist that, while not exactly cheating, plays is an awfully cheap trick.”

The movie starts with a confession. Looking straight in the video camera, “Turk,” played by Robert De Niro, an over 30 year veteran of the NYPD, recounts eleven cold-blooded murders, none that were committed during the line of duty. Fox points out that “Instead, they were the work of an unbalanced rogue cop who, unbeknownst to everyone around him, has become a lethal vigilante, a "street sweeper" ridding the city of rapists, murderers, thugs and pedophiles the justice system has failed to keep off the streets.” A flashback shows the part that triggered this extravaganza of “righteous kills.” Four years prior, Turk and his partner, a detective who is called by his district nickname, “Rooster” (Al Pacino), watches hopelessly as Charles Randall (Frank John Hughes), a man who they both know raped and killed his girlfriend’s (Melissa Leo) 10-year-old daughter, is cleared by a jury of his friends. Furious at the injustice of everything, Turk decides to cross the line and put a gun in Randall’s apartment, thereby setting him up to take the blame for a crime he actually didn’t commit. Rooster, who evidently loves and respects his partner, has his reservations but goes along with it. Not long afterwards, a brutal, unimportant pimp is found shot in a back alley, followed by a pedophile priest and a rapist who got off on a small point. In each incident, a short poem narrating the victims’ sins is found at every crime scene, making Lieutenant Hingis, played by Brian Dennehy, to believe he has serial murderer on his hands. Unaware that the killer is one of his own, Hingis pressures Turk and Rooster to find the killer fast, and they’re soon joined in their case by Detectives Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg, the older brother of Mark Wahlberg) who has been working on a similar case. Perez, however, has a feeling there’s something not quite right about Turk, and soon realizes that all the victims are somehow connected to this veteran cop. Turk’s girlfriend, Detective Karen Corelli, played by Carla Gugino, a detective on the NYPD crime scene unit with a taste for rough love, also begins to suspect that the killer might be someone in that department, especially after she makes a connection between the gun found in Randall’s home and the guns the so-called “Poetry Killer” has been leaving behind.

There’s a subplot involving a drug-dealing blackmailer named Spider, played by rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who’s been cleaning money through his Harlem nightclub, but like the main investigation, it doesn’t really go anywhere. Fox pointed out, “The movie's sole raison d'etre is a big, Shyamalan-sized twist that will probably piss off audiences more than blow their minds. To get there, writer Russel Gewirtz -- who also wrote Spike Lee's gimmicky but far superior INSIDE MAN -- director John Avnet sacrifices mystery, suspense, sensible editing and everything else one expects to find in a police thriller just to keep the audience off-guard.” It’s not worth it, and the first real teaming up of De Niro and Pacino (the two scenes in “Heat” apart) is entirely wasted. De Niro seems tired, Pacino’s only half interested, and the resolute New York City mileu only is there to remind you of better days and much better movies.

I don’t really recommend this movie to De Niro and Pacino fans, especially since “Heat” was a much better movie. I think it was because they didn’t share that much screen time with one another, and that’s what made it a great movie. “Righteous Kill” is like a giant slap in the face to those who liked “Heat” thinking that the pairing would work if they shared the entire runtime together. Maybe it would work if it was done right, and hopefully if they do a movie again together where they are on screen the entire runtime of the movie, than it will be done right. They just need to find a good director in order to do that.

Thanks for joining in on “Al Pacino Month.” I hope you enjoyed each of the review, and I’m sorry if I didn’t review movies that you were expecting, but remember, these were movies that I only saw. Look out next month…wait a minute, next month is February. That means it will be time for “Black History Month Part 3.” Stay tuned next month for that because it will be a fun month.

The Recruit

“The Recruit,” released in 2003, shows that the training process of the Central Intelligence Agency is like a fraternity beginning, but more dangerous. At one point wanna-be agents are given a time limit to walk into a singles bar and report back to the parking lot with a partner willing to sleep with them. Strange, isn’t it? As for the Company’s years of embarrassments and enemy spies in the ranks? Do you think you can quickly think up of any historical event in world history that is given a stamp of CIA success? The senior teacher is Walter Burke, played by Al Pacino in a performance that is just plain fun to watch, bad-tempered, dull, with a wrinkled charm. He recruits an MIT smart-aleck named James Clayton, played by Irish actor the women go crazy over, Colin Farrell, who turns down a huge offer from Dell Computers because he wants to know more about the fate of his late father, a CIA agent, or maybe because he uses a Macintosh.

Clayton is taken to The Farm, a country hideaway somewhere in Ontario, copying for Virginia, where during the entrance exam he instantly falls for the lovely and fragrant Layla, played by the hot Bridget Moynahan. He also meets Zack, played by Gabriel Macht, a former Miami cop who speaks English, Spanish and Farsi.

The training process has a series of Bond-like sequences where the agents learn certain skills like blowing up cars: (a) throw the bomb under the car and (b) detonate. They are also taught about recyclable listening devices, weapons usage and how to shadow someone. Roger Ebert mentioned, “And they are told of an agency superweapon that (I think I heard this right) can plug into an electric socket and disable every digital device connected to the grid. Agents: Be sure Mr. Coffee has completed his brewing cycle before employing weapon.”

The beginning scenes in the film are entertaining, of course, because Pacino works his character for all its grayish charm, and Colin Farrell is not only extremely likable but fascinates audiences with his permanent four-day beard. His chemistry with Layla is real enough, but come on: When he walks into the bar to pick up someone, doesn’t he think that it is obviously a coincidence that Layla is already there? Ebert mentions, “Mata Hari would make mincemeat of this guy, but the girl shows promise; as Marlene Dietrich usefully observed, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily."” Still, it’s fascinating to see these young novices learning about their job, and to hear Pacino’s observations, which are to the point (“I don’t have answers. Only secrets.”), tough (“They show you your medal. You don’t even get to take it home”), satisfied (“Our cause is just”) and helpful (“Nothing is what it seems. Trust no one.”). Burke wisely sticks to political generalizations, so that the film can play in foreign theaters. The closest it comes to current events is in the mention of Farsi, which is the native language of Iran, although, as Michael Caine likes to say, not many people know that.

Ebert comments, “The first two acts of the film are fun because they're all setup and build-up, and because the romance between James and Layla is no more cornball and contrived than it absolutely has to be.” The third act is a mess. It assigns Pacino with the thankless role of the Talking Killer (not the he necessarily kills). That’s the guy who has to stand there and explain the difficulties of the plot with any real CIA veteran would just kill the guy mercilessly. By the time Burke finishes everything, we’re realizing that the songs “Nothing is what it seems” and “Trust no one,” if taken seriously, reveals the entire story. There is however a nice little misunderstanding at the end that earns a laugh.

Ebert said, “The movie was directed by Roger Donaldson, who does political thrillers about as well as anyone; his "Thirteen Days" (2001), about the Cuban missile crisis, and "No Way Out" (1987), about a scandal in the Pentagon, were gripping and intelligent, and "The Recruit" is so well directed and acted that only a churl such as myself would question its sanity.” It’s the type of movie you can sit back and enjoy, as long as you don’t make the mistake of thinking too much.

Anyway, if you think this movie is for you, then go ahead and watch it. I’m not very fond of Colin Farrell, but if you want to watch it for him, then go ahead. My main reason was Pacino followed by Moynahan, and it’s a great film that shows the inside of the CIA. Definitely check it out because it is good, but only up until the third act.

Watch out for this Friday because it will be the conclusion of “Al Pacino Month.”

S1m0ne

“Simone,” released in 2002, is the story of a director near the end of his career, who takes over his friend’s computer program that lets him to create an actress out of a simulation program. She becomes a huge star and the center of the media’s attention, and he’s stuck: The more audiences love her, the less he can tell she is entirely his work. The movie makes a dilemma within a pessimistic comedy about modern Hollywood. It’s sporadically funny but never really takes off. Out of the corners of our eyes we glimpse the missed moments for some real satirical digging.

Al Pacino plays the director, Viktor Taransky, once smart, recently the maker of a line of failures. Only his daughter Lainey, played by Evan Rachel Wood, still believes in him – a little. His former wife, Elaine (Catherine Keener), the boss of the studio, has lost all hope for his career and stops his latest work when the up and down star (Winona Ryder) explodes.

Into the life of the desperate man comes another one, Hank Aleno, played by Elias Koteas, who has made a computer program that creates “synthespians.” Viktor isn’t interested – but then, when the man leaves him the program in his will, he starts playing around with the software and the beautiful, talented and (above all) cooperative Simone is the result. She needs, Viktor rejoices, no hairdresser, makeup, driver, car, trailer, stand-in or stunt woman – no, not even for the fall from the plane. She is always on time, never complains, says the words just as they’re written and has no problem with nudity.

Viktor creates Simone’s performance on a computer that is all alone in the middle of an otherwise empty sound stage. The other actors in the movie are told Simone will be added to their scenes electronically. The premiere of the first movie is a huge success, and obviously paparazzi from the supermarket tabloids follow Viktor in hopes of photographing Simone. No luck.

The movie was written, produced and directed by Andrew Niccol, who wrote “The Truman Show” and wrote and directed “Gattaca,” both films about the border between science and personality. “Simone” is not in the same ballpark. He wants to edge it in the direction of a Hollywood comedy, but the satire is not sharp enough and the characters, including his ex-wife, are too usual.

Also there’s a huge problem: Simone always remains…just Simone. The computer simulation always looks like it will come to life and never does. Roger Ebert stated in his review, “One can imagine software bugs that recklessly import other online personalities into Simone: Matt Drudge, for example, or Harry Knowles, or Danni Ashe. One can imagine Simone suddenly being possessed by Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and breaking up a serious dramatic scene with video-game violence.” You could imagine… well, almost anything except that she stays a well-behaved simulation. Ebert asks, “When Simone "appears" on a chat show, for example, it's kind of funny that she sticks to well-worn subjects like dolphins and smoking, but why not go the extra mile and put her on the Howard Stern show?” Pacino, an amazing actor, does what he can to bring Viktor to life. But the screenplay’s too thin and prevents him from taking the characters beyond a certain point. Most of the major moments are handled with sitcom effortlessness, and the hungry gossip reporters are presented as they always are, a wolf pack with no humor or originality. Even Keener, as the studio boss, simply plays an ex-wife who is studio boss: There’s no twist, nothing unexpected.

Ebert guesses, “The problem, I think, is that in aiming for too wide an audience, Niccol has made too shallow a picture.”The Truman Show" and "Gattaca" pushed their premises; "Simone" settles for the predictable. The story elements echo the sad experience of the team assembled to make "Final Fantasy," the summer of 2001 sci-fi movie that failed at the box office. That movie was made up entirely of "real" characters generated by computers, including Aki Ross, the heroine, who, all things considered, is a more intriguing woman than Simone (whose appearance is provided by the actress Rachel Roberts). The "Final Fantasy" team labored four years and achieved everything they dreamed of, and were rejected by the public. Much more interesting than a director who has unimaginable success fall into his lap.”

Rachel Roberts is a really hot model, but other than that, if you want to check it out, then you may, but I don’t really recommend it. If I remember correctly, this is the first Pacino movie I saw, and I have to say, it’s ok. Not great, not horrible, just ok. You may not like it, but the best part of the movie is just to see Pacino yell at the computer simulation, even though he is the one putting words into her mouth. It’s still funny to check out though, especially if you want to be a director or actor and want to get a taste of what goes on in the media.

Check in this Wednesday for the next review of “Al Pacino month.”

Insomnia

He appears to be tired once he gets off the plane. Troubles are arising around him. An investigation by Internal Affairs in Los Angeles may kick him off the police force. Now he has landed in Nightmute, Alaska, land of the midnight sun, investigating a devastating murder. What makes Detective Will Dormer going are fear and exhaustion. They get worse.

Al Pacino plays this cop, looking like a man who has lost every ray of hope. His partner Hap Eckhart, played by Martin Donovan, is younger, more flexible and might be prepared to tell the internal affairs investigators what they want to hear – information that may bring this cop down. They have been sent to Alaska to help with the local investigation, flying into Nightmute in a two-engine prop plane that flies low over torn ice ridges. They’ll be helping a local cop named Ellie Burr, played by Hilary Swank, who is still hot since she is new to the job.

Roger Ebert mentioned this in his review:

"Insomnia," the first film directed by Christopher Nolan since his famous "Memento" (2001), is a remake of a Norwegian film of the same name, made in 1998 by Erik Skjoldbjaerg. That was a strong, atmospheric, dread-heavy film, and so is this one. Unlike most remakes, the Nolan "Insomnia" is not a pale retread, but a re-examination of the material, like a new production of a good play. Stellan Skarsgard, who starred in the earlier film, took an existential approach to the character; he seemed weighed down by the moral morass he was trapped in. Pacino takes a more physical approach: How much longer can he carry this burden? The story involves an unexpected development a third of the way through, and then the introduction of a character we do not really expect to meet, not like this. The development is the same in both movies; the character is much more important in this new version, adding a dimension I found fascinating. Spoilers will occur in the next paragraph, so be warned.

Ebert went on to say, “The pivotal event in both films, filmed much alike, is a shoot-out in a thick fog during a stakeout.” Dormer sets a trap for this murderer, but the suspect hides away in the fog, and then Dormer, noticing an unclear figure appear in front of him, shoots and kills Hap, his partner from LA. It is easy enough to restraint the murder on the escaping murderer, except that one person knows exactly who did it: the escaping murderer himself.

Ebert also mentioned, “In the Norwegian film, the local female detective begins to develop a circumstantial case against the veteran cop. In a nice development in the rewrite (credited to original authors Nikolaj Frobenius and Skjoldbjaerg, working with Hillary Seitz), the killer introduces himself into the case as sort of Pacino's self-appointed silent partner.”

The face of the murderer, the first time we see it, comes shockingly, because by now we have forgotten that the late Robin Williams was in this movie. He plays Walter Finch, who does not really call himself a murderer, although his murder was brutal and cruel. Everyone should be forgiven one slide, right detective? Dormer, who can’t sleep in the town where the sun never sets, is stuck: If he arrests Finch, he exposes himself and his own cover-up, and the local detective seems to suspect something.

Unusual, for a thriller to center on issues of morality and guilt, and Nolan’s remake doesn’t avoid the necessary Hollywood requirement that all thrillers must end in a shoot-out. There is also a scene involving a chase across floating logs, and a scene where a character is stuck underwater. Ebert commented, “These are thrown in as--what? Sops for the cinematically impaired, I suppose.” Only a studio executive could explain why we need unthinking action, just for the action’s sake, in a film where psychological suspense is at a high level.

Pacino and Williams are excellent together. Their scenes work because Dormer, in regarding Williams, is forced to look at the mirror of his own self-dishonesty. The two faces are polar opposites of one another. Pacino is wrinkled, tired, dark circles under his eyes, his jaw limp with fatigue. Williams has the smooth, open face of a true believer, a man convinced of his own issue. In this film and “One-Hour Photo,” which played at Sundance 2002 and was released later that year, Williams reminded us that he was a considerable dramatic talent – and that while, over the years, he had chosen to appear in comedies that critics didn’t like, his serious roles were almost always good ones.

Why Nolan decided to remake this film is easy to understand. Ebert said, “"Memento" was one of a kind; the thought of another film based on a similar enigma is exhausting.” “Insomnia” is a film with a lot of room for Nolan, who establishes a typical far-north location, a world where difficulties of the big city are smoothed out into clear choices. The evidence that it is always daylight is important: The problem of this cop is that he feels people are always looking at him, and he has nowhere to hide, not even in his nightmares.

Pacino said that Williams was his idol and that whenever Pacino was being funny in anything, he tried to be like Williams, since Pacino used to do stand-up comedy when he was younger. This is the only film that Pacino and Williams worked together on, and it wasn’t funny, which would have been nice if they had starred in a comedy. Pacino said that Williams was a sweetheart and he really liked working with him. Swank said that Pacino came from the school of “Do it as many times as you can,” and even said to her, “Just play.” Swank also said that Williams was the smartest person she had ever met. Williams had the trait of telling stories and jokes in between takes, and Williams would move on to the next joke so quick that Swank was still on the first one. She even asked him, “Do you ever get tired?” Obviously he didn’t since he gave so much to people.

Anyways, you must watch this movie. It’s very scary, but that’s what makes it so good. I would probably consider this one of my favorites, since this is really good. Stay tuned next Monday for the next entry of “Al Pacino Month.”

The Devil's Advocate

Well today I’m going to look at a really crazy movie, “The Devil’s Advocate,” released in 1997. Janet Maslin started her review by saying, “Meet Faust in fancy cowboy boots: Kevin Lomax, the lawyer played by Keanu Reeves in Taylor Hackford's unexpectedly seductive ''Devil's Advocate.''” Kevin is at the final stretch of his high-concept case (Maslin goes on to say, “Slick yuppie is co-opted by slicker New York Satan”) that has been turned into a generous-looking, brilliantly entertaining ethics play with the shadows of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Wall Street” and a handful of other movies of selling out to Manhattan’s excitements.

This time it’s Satan as the big boss at a law firm, with Al Pacino having great, clever fun with the screenplay’s witticism. “Look at me, underestimated from Day One!” shouts this executive, who has an interest for fashionably stylish black. “You’d never think I was Master of the Universe, now wouldya?”

His idea of such control definitely surpasses Tom Wolfe’s.

With an enjoyably light touch, the screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy (adapted from a novel by Andrew Neiderman) names Pacino’s character John Milton, because he knows a few things about Paradise Lost. The movie takes place in Gainesville, FL, and they first find the determined Kevin, who thinks he has a lot to learn. Kevin, played by the actor who is the exact same character in each movie, Keanu Reeves, as a smart and charming hotshot, is first seen successfully defending a nasty schoolteacher (Chris Bauer) against a case of mistreating a student (Heather Matarazzo from the sitcom “Now and Again”). Then, with his gorgeous and hot wife, Mary Ann, played by Charlize Theron, he celebrates this undecided victory. High on his own career path, Kevin is in the mood to say yes when a lawyer offers a huge check and tries attracting him to Manhattan.

The firm that calls Kevin has business in places like the Middle East, the Balkans, Central America and West Africa. It has a receptionist named Caprice. It has a drop dead beautiful temptress called Christabella, played by Connie Nielsen. Also, it has the monstrously modest penthouse home of Milton, complete with Purgatory paintings and a big roaring fire. Maslin commented, “Bruno Rubeo's deft production design, handsomely photographed by Andrzej Bartkowiak with the same burnished look he has given many Sidney Lumet films, gives this place a stark minimalism that is one part sleek efficiency, one part torture chamber.” Running water flowing off the open edge of a terrace is one of the film’s many ways of suggesting souls on the edge.

The Lomaxes are given a huge apartment and Mary Ann stays home the way Rosemary did, painting the place while Kevin exceeds in his lawyer career. Meanwhile, Kevin stays busy and becomes highly persuaded by the cases that are given to him. One involves Delroy Lindo as a strange figure accused of sacrificing goats in his ghetto basement. Another has Craig T. Nelson as a developer living in a Trump-like, flying splendor. The film’s more harmful tricks include using Donald Trump’s real apartment as a set, since Versailles was perhaps unbelievable and making Senator Alfonso D’Amato at a party scene for Satan’s law firm.

Meanwhile, Mary Ann starts having problems. She misses Kevin. She is followed by Milton, who talks her into doing something dull to her beautiful blonde hair. She receives the same amount of unhelpful decorating advice from neighboring corporate wives (Tamara Tunie and Pamela Gray) and discards her favorite color, though Mary Ann’s bright green appears sadly in a later hospital scene. During one outing with these women, complete with shopping, chardonnay and talk of plastic surgery, Mary Ann suddenly sees a horrifying vision.

I agree with Maslin when she said, “The film uses morphing and Rick Baker's monster effects strikingly, but it also keeps its gimmicks well tethered to reality: an afternoon like Mary Ann's might be enough to make anyone see demons.” Later, Kevin’s drifting eye gives in an uncomfortable love scene where two different women in his life are suddenly made impossible to tell apart. Maslin said, “Mr. Hackford uses diabolical editing at strategic moments to confuse identities in this way.” Even though there isn’t small irony in a huge Hollywood film’s finger-waving about the temptation of wealth and power, “The Devil’s Advocate” does avoid awkward moralistic and old-fashioned ideas of good and evil. Maslin notes, “It helps that Kevin is no naif, and that his churchgoing Mama (Judith Ivey) sees Manhattan as ''a dwelling place of demons'' well before that perception becomes unavoidable. It helps that the film finds Faustian deal making and yuppie ambition not very different.” What also helps is that here, the final lawyer joke in the movie, it becomes very clear why Kevin’s legal talents are Satan’s tools of choice. Pacino’s ill-behaved Milton eventually says that nobody on Earth could do his command better than a well-trained group of attorneys. If those attorneys are as treated as Kevin threatens to become, so much the better. As Milton likes to point out, “Vanity is definitely my favorite sin.”

A few semesters ago when I was in college, I took a class where we read some of Milton’s work, most notably Paradise Lost. If you have a college course where it’s titled “Milton,” the class has to include Paradise Lost, since that’s his most famous work, and you have to read it. It’s a good book, and I recommend you read it. As for this movie, if you want to watch it, do so, but be careful because it’s really crazy. Not to say that it’s not good, it’s a good movie, but really insane. Watch the movie if you want to know what I mean. Just be careful when watching it and always brace yourself. If you have read Paradise Lost, then you'll probably be able to point out the references this movie has to the book.

Look out this Friday for the next installment in “Al Pacino Month.”

Donnie Brasco

Now we get to a 1997 movie that is based on a true story, “Donnie Brasco.” Roger Ebert started his review by saying, “Norman Mailer told us tough guys don't dance, but in the movies, it's mostly tough guys who do dance.” We’re so doubtful of close emotional relationship between men that the movies are only comfortable showing them if the guys are cops, jocks, soldiers or mobsters. Underneath all of that, “Donnie Brasco” is the story of two men who learn to love one another, within the structure of a teacher-student relationship. It’s not about love, it’s about need.

The movie opens in New York coffee shop that’s a regular place for the gang. A young man named Donnie (Johnny Depp) comes in and talks disrespectfully to an older man named Lefty (Al Pacino). Lefty can’t believe what he just heard: “You're calling me a dumbski? You know who you're talkin' to? Lefty from Mulberry Street!” If what he said actually means anything.

However, this actually means a lot to Donnie Brasco, whose real name is Joe Pistone, and who is an undercover agent for the FBI. He eventually earns Lefty’s trust, and it becomes clear that Lefty desperately needs someone to trust. He has cancer, his son is a junkie, and his mob career is not excelling. Donnie is a good looking boy who is an excellent listener, and Lefty is in dire need to be a mentor. Ebert comments, “In another world, he would have been your favorite high school teacher.”

“If I say you’re a friend of mine, that means you’re connected,” Lefty explains to Donnie. “If I say you’re a friend of ours, that means you’re a made guy. If I introduce you, I’m responsible for you. Anything wrong with you, I go down.” The movie is based on a 1978 book inspired by the real “Donnie Brasco” case (its author is still alive in the government witness program). The story plays like a friend to “GoodFellas,” with the same tradition, the same violent Mafia code, the same wavering between sudden violence and strange comedy. (At one point, Lefty is called to a meeting with his boss and expects to be murdered. Instead, he’s given a present - a lion, because he likes to watch wild animals on videos.) Ebert said in his review, “he British director Mike Newell, whose biggest hit was "Four Weddings And A Funeral" might seem like a strange choice for this material, but he's the right one, because the movie is not really about violence or action, it's about friendship.” We can see right away why Lefty is drawn to Donnie, but it takes a little longer to see why Donnie begins to like Lefty. After all, a guy risks his life because he trusts you. You can’t help feeling like a rat if you’re double-crossing him.

Michael Madsen plays the boss Lefty reports to. He’s tall, tough, harsh – a scared too, because when he gets taken up a notch, the job includes a $50,000 monthly payment to the guy above him. A lot of the time these guys spend hanging around their social club, playing cards and complaining that business is bad. In the movie, Mafia guys don’t get away with anything: With them, it’s work, work, work, just like how it is with everyone you see.

Donnie has some ideas for them, which includes a club in Florida that he thinks might make them some money. But opening night there is a mishap, and although they believe there is a betrayer with them, what they do not suspect is that an opponent mob section was responsible. Ebert mentioned, “Every time I see a Mafia movie, I wonder how any Mafiosi can still be alive, given the rate of sudden, violent attrition and the willingness to shoot first and find out the rest of the facts later.”

The Florida project and the other jobs are a setting for the relationship between Donnie and Lefty, which is complicated because the FBI agent has a wife (Anne Heche) and kids (Delanie Fitzpatrick and Katie Sagona) hidden away in the suburbs, who go for weeks at a time without seeing him. He can’t even tell them what he does (nor would they believe him). “I pretend I’m a widow,” his wife tells him.

Eventually all of the pieces, personal and criminal, come down at one moment when Lefty will either will or will not act on what he knows, or thinks he knows. As the two men face their moment of truth, we are reminded what great acting the movie contains. We expect it from Pacino, who is on ground he knows well, and is sad and gentle as a man who is “just a spoke in the wheel,” a loyal soldier who lives and dies by the rules. For Johnny Depp, “Donnie Brasco” breaks new ground. He looks a little older here, a little sleepier, and he makes the transition from betrayer to friend one faint step at a time.

The violence in this movie is horrible (a scene involving the removal of bodies is mostly graphic). However, the movie has many human qualities and contains what will be remembered as one of Pacino’s memorable scenes. At an important moment in his life, he puts some things in a drawer. He starts to leave, then thinks again, turns back and leaves the drawer partly open. What this implies and how it plays creates the perfect ending for the film, which fades to black – only to start up again with unnecessary footnotes. Doesn’t matter, it’s still a great scene.

Another thing that made this film memorable is the quote, “Forget about it.” This is another amazing Mafia movie, which is also another one of my favorites. Definitely see this movie if you haven’t because you will love it, I promise you.

Stay tuned Wednesday to see what will be the next entry in “Al Pacino Month.”

Heat

There is a part at the middle of Michael Mann’s 1995 movie, “Heat,” that light up the movie’s real subject. As it starts, a Los Angeles police detective named Hanna (Al Pacino) has been finding a high-level crook named McCauley (Robert De Niro) for days. McCauley is smart and cautious and seems impossible to catch. So, one evening, tailing McCauley’s car, Hanna turns on the flashers and pulls him over.

McCauley carefully hides the loaded gun he is loading. He waits in the car. Hanna comes up to him and says, “What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?” McCauley says that sounds like a good idea.

The two men sit across from one another at a Formica table in a diner: Middle-aged, tired, with too much experience in their areas of work, they know exactly what they represent to one another, but for this moment of peace they drink coffee.

McCauley is a professional thief, skilled and gifted. When Hanna cleverly suggests otherwise, he says, “You see me doing thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a ‘Born to Lose’ tattoo on my chest?” No, says the cop, he doesn’t. The conversation comes to end. The cop says, “I don’t know how to do anything else.” The thief says, “Neither do I.” The scene focuses on the truth of “Heat,” which is that these cops and robbers need each other: They occupy the same area, sealed off from the mainstream of society, defined by its own rules.

They are enemies, but in a sense they are more personal, more involved with each other than with those who are supposed to be their friends – their women, for example.

The movie’s other topic is the women. Two of the main players in “Heat” have wives, and in the runtime of the movie, McCauley will fall in love, which is against his policy. Hanna is working on his third marriage, with a woman named Justice, played by Diane Venora, who is sour because his job obsesses him: “You live among the remains of dead people.” One of McCauley’s crime partners is a thief named Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), whose wife is Charlene (Ashley Judd).

McCauley’s own policy is never to get involved in anything that he can’t lean-to in about 30 seconds. One day in a restaurant he gets into a conversation with Eady, played by Amy Brenneman, who asks him a lot of questions. “Lady,” he says to her, “why are you so interested in what I do?” She is lonely. “I am alone,” he tells her. “I am not lonely.” He is actually the loneliest man in the world, and soon figures out that he needs her.

This is what Roger Ebert said in his review: “This is the age-old conflict in American action pictures, between the man with "man's work" and the female principal, the woman who wants to tame him, wants him to stay at home. "Heat," with an uncommonly literate screenplay by Mann, handles it with insight. The men in his movie are addicted to their lives. There is a scene where the thieves essentially have all the money they need. They can retire. McCauley even has a place picked out in New Zealand. But another job presents itself, and they cannot resist it: "It's the juice. It's the action." The movie intercuts these introspective scenes with big, bravura sequences of heists and shoot-outs. It opens with a complicated armored car robbery involving stolen semis and tow trucks. It continues with a meticulously conceived bank robbery.”

McCauley is a mastermind. Hanna is the guy assigned to guess his next motive.

The cops keep McCauley and his crew under 24-hour surveillance, and one day follow him to a lonely warehouse area, where the thieves stand in the middle of a gigantic space and McCauley summarizes some plan to them. Later, the cops stand in the same area, trying to figure out what plan the thieves could possibly be thinking of. No target is anywhere in sight. Suddenly Hanna figures it out: “You know what they’re looking at? They’re looking at us – the LAPD. We just got made.” He is correct. McCauley is now on the roof looking at them through the lens, having succeeded in tricking them.

De Niro and Pacino, veterans of a handful of amazing movies in the crime genre, have by now spent more time playing cops and thieves that most cops and thieves have. There is always talk about how actors study people to model their characters on. At this point in their careers, if Pacino and De Niro go out to study a cop or a thief, it’s likely their subject will be created themselves on their performances in old movies. There is absolute accuracy of effect here, the feeling of roles assumed automatically.

Ebert mentioned this about the women: “What is interesting is the way Mann tests these roles with the women. The wives and girlfriends in this movie are always, in a sense, standing at the kitchen door, calling to the boys to come in from their play. Pacino's wife, played by Venora with a smart bitterness, is the most unforgiving: She is married to a man who brings corpses into bed with him in his dreams. Her daughter (Natalie Portman), rebellious and screwed up, is getting no fathering from him. Their marriage is a joke, and when he catches her with another man, she accurately says he forced her to demean herself.”

Ebert goes on to say: “The other women, played by Judd and Brenneman, are not quite so insightful. They still have some delusions, although Brenneman, who plays a graphic artist, balks as any modern woman would when this strange, secretive man expects her to leave her drawing boards and her computer and follow him to uncertainty in New Zealand.”

Michael Mann’s writing and direction raise this material.

It’s not just an action movie. Above everything else, the dialogue is complex enough to let the characters to say what they’re thinking: They are expressive, insightful, fanciful, and poetic when necessary. They’re not stuck with clichés. Of the many imprisonments possible in this world, one of the worst must be to be hesitant – to be unable to tell another person what you really feel. These characters can do that. Not that it saves them.

This is one of the greatest movies ever made, and easily another one of my favorites. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. It’s just great to see these two powerhouses in this movie finally together. Definitely check it out because you will love it, I promise you. Stay tuned on Monday to see the next installment in “Al Pacino Month.”

Scent of a Woman

It’s time to talk about one of the greatest films ever made, “Scent of a Woman,” released in 1992, which had the famous, “Hoo-ah!” quote.

The colonel sits alone in his room, drinking and nursing his self-pity. He is a mean, angry, sarcastic person. We get the feeling he has always been lonely, but not as lonely as he is now, when he is stuck inside being blind. He lost his ability to see late in his life, through his own lack of common sense, and now he gets intoxicated and waits for victims. However, a ray of hope arrives because two fugitive threads in his personality: He is a romantic and also has a grudging sense of humor.

The colonel is named Slade but does not like to be called “Sir,” and is played by Al Pacino in one of his best and riskiest performances. This is risky because at first the character is so rough we can’t stand him, and only slowly do we begin to understand how he works and why he isn’t as miserable as he looks.

He definitely looks like a sad, sorry jerk that first day when Charlie goes to housesit for him. Charlie, played by Chris O’Donnell (pre-Schumacher Batman movies, which destroyed his career), is a student at the exclusive local prep school. He’s a scholarship student who originates from the West who doesn’t have money to waste and is happy to have a weekend job, watching over the old guy. Charlie is in a lot of trouble at school. There’s going to be a penalizing hearing on Monday about whose idea was the prank to damage the headmaster’s, played by James Rebhorn, new Jaguar, and Charlie, who knows who it was, doesn’t want to be a snitch. He could get expelled for that.

Roger Ebert said in his review, “Martin Brest's "Scent of a Woman" takes Charlie and the colonel and places them in a combination of two reliable genres. There's the coming-of-age formula, in which an older man teaches a younger one the ropes. It's crossed here with the prep school movie, which from "A Separate Peace" through "If," "Taps," "Dead Poets Society" and "True Colors," has always involved a misfit who learns to stand up for what he believes in.”

The two genres make a good combination in “Scent of a Woman,” maybe because the one thing Charlie needs in school is a role model, and the one thing the colonel has always known how to do is provide one.

The screenplay is by Bo Goldman, who is more interested in the people than the plot.

Charlie thinks the weekend will be spent in the colonel’s depressing little cottage, watching the old guy drink and hearing his insults. The colonel has other ideas – more than Charlie can even begin to guess. He buys them a couple of tickets to New York and says that they are going to party in the big city. Particularly, he wants to instruct this young boy with his ideas about women and how they are the most wonderful beings in all of God’s creation.

Ebert mentions, “The colonel's ideas are not Politically Correct. On the other hand, he is not a sexist animal, either; he has an old-fashioned regard for women, mixed with yearning and fascination, and the respect of a gentleman who has lived his life in the military and never known a woman very well. He almost believes he can inhale a woman's scent and tell you all about her - what color her hair is, or her eyes, and whether she has a merry light in her eyes.”

All of this is done against the backdrop of very serious drinking, which Charlie sees with astonishing alarm. The movie does not make the mistake of making the colonel and the student friends with instant companionship. Charlie stays far away. He is a little scared of the colonel, and very afraid of what might happen to him.

They rent a limousine. They purchase a suite at the Waldorf. They talk. The colonel lectures. Charlie, who distrusts him, answers politely, and remains cautious. The colonel does not notice.

They drink. They go to the hotel ballroom, where Charlie sees a beautiful young woman, played by Gabrielle Anwar, and the Colonel insists her in conversation and talks her into dancing the tango with him. He’s a pretty good dancer. Ebert describes him as, “He is even better as an old smoothie.”

There is something so moving about him. His entire life, he tells to Charlie, he has dreamed of waking up next to a good and beautiful woman. The limo driver takes them to the address of a highly recommended call girl. Charlie waits in the car. The movie could have spoiled everything by going inside with the colonel, but it stays outside with Charlie, and when the colonel comes out again he says very little, but in it we can guess that he regards woman as the undiscovered country of everything good and encouragement, a country he will never live in.

They arrive at a disaster, and Pacino and O’Donnell take on something that is just as powerful as the showdown between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Man.” It’s the best scene – the real conclusion of the movie, however Charlie’s story still has to find its own conclusion, when they both go back to the prep school. By the end of “Scent of a Woman,” we have come to the usual conclusion of the prep school movie. However, rarely have we been taken there with this much intelligence and skill.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you are definitely missing out on it. Check it out because it's one of the greatest movies ever made, and another one of my favorite movies. Stay tuned this Friday for the next installment in "Al Pacino Month."

Dick Tracy

For over a decade (actually, ever since “Star Wars”) American movies have been getting closer and closer to comic books. I guess it wouldn’t be a surprise that Warren Beatty’s attempt to win the summer-movie sweepstakes finally takes us all the way. More than “Batman” or “Superman,” “Popeye” or “Flash Gordan,” “Dick Tracy,” released in 1990, has been stylized into a live-action comic strip – Owen Gleiberman describes it as “a lavishly eye-popping Day-Glo gangster movie.” The film’s light pleasures include insanely color-coordinates sets. Stylizes close-ups taken straight from the Sunday papers, villains who look like mutants (Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles and William Forsythe as Flattop keep putting their spongy, alien mugs into the camera), and a hero whose most distinguishing feature is his yellow trench coat that looks like a banana peel.

Beatty and 80s pop singer Madonna are at the top of the actors list, but they aren’t the stars of “Dick Tracy.” The color format is. From first shot to last, the movie is a tender rainbow of the primary colors red and blue, bright greens and pinks and oranges, and (obviously) raincoat yellow.  Gleiberman says, “The whole film looks good enough to eat.” Plenty of the action is wrapped in velvet shadow, but that just makes you notice more of how Tracy’s coat matches the yellow trashcan in an alleyway, or how the impossibly tall big-city buildings seem to shine from within, or how the streetlights and fairy-tale moonbeams bounce affectionately off rain-swept streets. It’s like if the 30s underworld melodrama has been colorized by Andy Warhol.

Beatty and his team of colleagues have sharp the brilliantly cheap urban night world of Chester Gould’s classic comic strip. Gleiberman points out, “Indeed, there's something almost fetishistic about Dick Tracy's gorgeous visual design. The movie is like one of those aestheticized yuppie diners that serve white wine with meat loaf.” As an exercise in American pop surrealism, the picture succeeds brilliantly, yet it also feels weak and distanced.  “Dick Tracy” is less a movie than an incredible slide show. What’s missing is the passing vulgarity that gave the original Tracy comic strip its rude, no-nonsense thrust.

As the story develops, the troublemaker gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) has deep-sixed his enemy, Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), and calls himself king of the local mob. Who can save the city? Tracy can! But can the lone-wolf detective save himself from the bad-girl maneuverings of Breathless Mahoney, played by Madonna when she was still hot, a beautiful torch singer desperate to be searched by our hero?

Gleiberman says, “The plot would have been more involving had someone put a kinkier spin on the '30s melodramatics. The screenplay team of Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. (Top Gun, Legal Eagles) has come up with another of their perfunctory, freeze-dried jobs. These guys are outline writers posing as scriptwriters. They know how to pile up scenes (the movie is all transitions), but they haven't figured out a way of making anything matter.”

Beatty looks like as if he’s still hiding from Barbara Walters. Here he is, controlling the most high-profile movie of the year, and he plays Tracy as a charming, polite nobody, a Clark Kent with no Superman inside him. The idea behind the casting seems to have been Warren Beatty = Superstud = Storybook All-American Hero. But if Dick Tracy is anything, he’s an extreme customer with roaring resolution. Beatty’s plead has always been his gentleness, his half-drowned helplessness. He’s such a gentle actor that he just disappears inside the trench coat.

Madonna does better. Gleiberman notes, “Her rendition of Stephen Sondheim's acridly sexy ''I Always Get My Man'' gives the picture some atmosphere, and when Breathless has to coo sweet nothings at Tracy, Madonna's eyes speak sleazy volumes.” However, she’s not on screen that much.

Other than Tracy, the main character is Big Boy Caprice. Gleiberman describes, “As Pacino plays him, hunched and beady-eyed, he's a ghoulish vulgarian, like someone running a deli counter inside a morgue. Pacino's abrasive scenery chewing certainly gives the picture a jolt of energy.” Still, there’s not that much charm to this ranting performance.

Since Big Boy is strictly business (he takes no vicious pleasure in evil), Pacino can’t give the picture a smirking, wicked center, the way Robert De Niro did in “The Untouchables” or Jack Nicholson did in his amazing one-man parody of evil in “Batman.” Gleiberman says, “When comic-strip movies become too literal-minded, they deny their characters any human shadings.” After all, actors aren’t the same as drawings on a newspaper page. All the visual stylization in the world can’t make them so. “Dick Tracy” is an honest effort but finally a bit of silliness. It could have been used a little less color and a little more flesh and blood.

Hope everyone liked today’s review. Stay tuned on Wednesday for the next installment on “Al Pacino Month.”

Scarface (1983 film)

Brian De Palma’s 1983 movie, “Scarface,” has become such a classic film over time and the protagonist, Al Pacino as Tony Montana, is such an iconic pop cultural figure that few people would believe that he was actually nominated for a Razzie as the Worst Director in 1984. “Scarface” is yet another film that was maybe misunderstood when it was released, but has made such a solid cult following over time (it influenced a lot of rappers and hip-hop artists during the 90s) and is recognized by IMDB as one of the top 250 films. When we look at all the gangster films, this may not be as good compared to “The Godfather Part 1 and 2” or “Goodfellas,” but it still is up there with the top 10 of its genre and has become immensely popular over time. Esteban Gonzalez said in his review, “Despite having never seen the film in its entirety before, I was familiar with the ending.” Everyone knows the famous line “Say hello to my little friend” from this film even though there are those people who have never seen this movie before because the ending to “Scarface” is hands down one of the most famous ending scenes in cinema history.  “Scarface” has so many memorable lines that it’s downright impossible to choose one, and that is because the script was written by Oliver Stone who loosely adapted it from a previous movie. This is such a memorable film thanks mostly to Al Pacino’s masterful performance as Tony Montana. Gonzalez admits, “He has made so many great films in his career, but I think this character will always stand out a bit above the rest. For some critics, his performance may be over the top, but I think he nailed it and that is why Montana has become such an iconic figure over time.” There is something about him that has exceeded time and cultures. It is an epic and ultimately violent stylized film and that is why Al Pacino’s over-the-top and loud performances are done so well. “Scarface” has a runtime of 170 minutes but it never fails to entertain you for a second.

During the Mariel harbor opening in Cuba, more than 100,000 Cuban refugees were sent to the United States, one of them happening to be a communist-hating ex-military, Tony Montana. He has huge dreams and large ambitions that when he arrives, he has to start off at the low like everyone does when they first start a job. He and his friend, Manny (Steven Bauer) begin washing dishes when they are approached by Omar Suarez (Murray Abraham) to make a business deal with some dangerous Colombians involving some drugs and money. Tony and Manny survive their mission and Omar introduces them to his boss, Frank Lopez, played by Robert Loggia, a drug kingpin in Miami, who hires them on the spot. Frank has everything: a big mansion, nice cars, and a beautiful wife named Elvira, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Everything that Tony dreams of having when he arrives in the United States. Tony is determined to never stop until he gets everything that he wants and in doing so helps his sister Gina, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who he has been separated from when he was in his prison time in Cuba. The only problem is that he will have to make a lot of enemies when he is climbing the ladder.

Gonzalez mentioned, “I really don't know what DePalma's true intentions were for Scarface. I don't believe he was trying to glorify Scarface because he was portrayed in a dark and negative light, but over time he has become sort of a role model for some people.” Perhaps Al Pacino’s performance was so powerful that it made it easy for audiences to relate to this ambitious character. De Palma was able to make the audience care for this unbalanced and explosive character. On one hand, he refused to kill women and children, but on the other hand, he was able to kill his best friend without hesitating. “Scarface” looks like it walks on the fine line between glorifying the character and showing how dangerous ambition and excesses can be. This depressing mood set in the film can be seen through Elvira, someone who has it all but seems completely unhappy with her life. Even when Tony seems to lose himself completely by this unrestrained behavior once he gets everything he wanted. He hates seeing Gina with other men involved in the same business because he knows how dangerous this life is. Gonzalez says, “That is why I think DePalma was never trying to portray Scarface in a glorifying light, but over time his character has become admired by worldwide audiences.” The film has a lot to say about ambition, loyalty, and betrayal, but above all, it is a stylized mega-violent film that doesn’t have the technical achievements that “The Godfather” had. It still stays as one of the best gangster and immigrant films of the 80s, and one of my all-time favorite films.

Pacino said that one day he was walking down Sunset Boulevard and saw the original “Scarface” from the 30s, saying that this is a picture and a movie, even admitting that Paul Muni is one of the greatest actors he had ever seen. Pacino then called producer Martin Bregman up and told him about the original movie, and Bregman then made the remake. Pacino had to work with Bauer on the Cuban accent. During Pfeiffer’s screen test, she had to do the scene where she threw dishes, and when the test was over, they looked around and saw blood everywhere. People were checking to see if Pfeiffer hadn’t cut herself, but she looked over at Pacino and saw his hand was bleeding. After cutting Pacino in her screen test, he started to like Pfeiffer.

In the end, I will have to tell you that if you haven’t seen this film, what are you doing reading this review then? Go out and see this film because it is one of the best films you will ever see. I promise you this. This movie gets a high recommendation from me, as it does deserve.

Watch out for next Monday to see what I will put as the next entry in “Al Pacino Month.”

Scarface (1932)

If you were to hear Scarface, you would immediately think of the classic Al Pacino movie as merciless Tony Montana who says so many F bombs in that movie. Matt’s Movie Reviews said, “Yet after watching the Howard Hughes produced, Howard Hawks directed 1932 gangster morality play original, Pacino et al. will become a faded memory when compared to this originator of violent gangster pictures, which has inspired crime illuminati’s Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and of course, Brian De Palma, who directed the 1983 remake.”

Loosely based on the abuses of famous gangster Al Capone, who was the king of the main streets of Chicago during the prevention era of the 1920’s, “Scarface” focuses on the rise and fall of vicious criminal Tony Camonte, a new class of gun-yielding gangster who lives by the faith “Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it.”

Camonte was played by celebrated 1930’s character actor Paul Muni, with the entire splendor he could gather together. This was to be expected. Matt stated, “With such a flashy character, an equally flashy performance is needed, and Muni provides an exceptional example on how to play over the top without losing his characters emotional grounding.” Strangely enough, the only actor that could pull this off as well as Muni would be Pacino.

The beginning of this film has Camonte playing hitman for mob boss Johnny Lovo, played by Oswood Perkins. However, his superior goals for power quickly see him climb to the top of the Chicago mafia, taking out Lovo and stealing his girlfriend, played by Karen Morley, at the same time. However, his brutal love for his sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak) puts everything on the line when she falls in love with Camonte’s right hand man, Rinaldo (George Raft).

When watching “Scarface,” you must understand that this film is a product of its time. It’s illustrations of Italian American’s in particular relies strongly on stereotype, even in its use of speech, with “eh?” put at the end of each sentence. For instance, “I gotta do this; I gotta do that, eh?”

Matt stated, “Also, while the films violence is tame compared to the intense standards of today’s cinema, one must also appreciate that Scarface circa 1932 was a very violent film for its time, which brought on the wrath on censors and saw producer Howard Hughes battling the Hays Office and regional censor boards, delaying the films release for up to a year. So viewing the film in a historical context is a must.”

However, this does not discourage from the fact that “Scarface” is a largely entertaining film because of its daring, over-spending, gripping plot developments, and strong emotional centre, mainly the relationship between Camonte and his sister, which is developed further in the 1983 remake.

When you look outside of Muni’s performance, the most memorable element of “Scarface” has to be Howard Hawks’ brilliant direction and use of visual symbolic touches: a dead body bent on the corner of Under and Taker Streets. The use of the letter “X” as a visionary about death. The use of shadow (thanks to cinematographers Lee Garmes and L. William O’Connell).

Matt ends his review by saying, “A trend setter and instigator, dated in some parts, ageless in many others, Scarface is essential viewing not only for lovers of crime movies, but for lovers of cinema.”

In the end, see this movie because it’s one of the best. It’s a classic 1930s movie that you should definitely check out when you have the chance. Do you want to know what I thought of the famous 1983 remake? Stay tuned this Friday to find out.

...And Justice For All

Welcome back to “Al Pacino Month,” where we are going to look at another one of my favorites of all time, “…And Justice For All,” released in 1979. This couldn’t be a more sarcastic title, perfectly criticizing the violence and lack of justice shown in this excitingly brilliant courtroom drama. Mike Massie stated in his review, “With phenomenal dialogue and character development that recent films somehow forget to include, and with an Academy Award nominated performance by the wondrous Al Pacino, “…And Justice for All” is a must-see film, eloquently released on DVD to outshine it’s most recent emulator, Michael Clayton.”

Famous for his high regards for truth and real justice, Baltimore lawyer Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) is assigned to defend Judge Fleming (John Forsythe) in a lawsuit. The thing is that Kirkland hates the judge, who has an unusually malevolent love of statuses that frequently hurt Arthur’s clients. In a political move to discourage the idea that hidden deals and negotiations might take place to clear Fleming, Kirkland is blackmailed into defending him in the caste of viciously attacking and raping a young woman. To add even more bad stuff onto this situation, Arthur opening attacks the Judge’s honesty and is confident that he is guilty. His partner Jay Porter, played by television actor Jeffrey Tambor (who you might remember from "The Ropers," "Hill Street Blues," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Arrested Development," and now "WordGirl" and "Transparent") is quickly going insane, and Arthur’s clients are submitting to tragic fates during unfair imprisonment.

Massie says, “From the jazzy and upbeat intro music (gaily carried on throughout much of the film) to the final sarcastic scene on the steps of the courthouse, “…And Justice for All” makes no mistakes cynically battering and brutalizing the legal system. Corruption runs rampant amongst the colorful characters frequenting the courts, and the last thing anyone actually receives is justice.” Judges shoot guns to get order in the courtroom, committees investigate every wrong lawyer, and deals are struck and traded similarly with the stock market. However, past simplay making fun of right and wrong and whether they have anything to do with determining innocence and guilt, the film amazingly builds up characters that are outstandingly brilliant and memorable.

Pacino perfectly plays Kirkland, a skilled lawyer who struggles with his old grandfather (director and acting teacher, the great and memorable Lee Strasberg), saying on the good side of the suicidal Judge Rayford (Jack Warden), keeping a relationship with his girlfriend (Christine Lahti) who sits on a committee that unsuccessfully investigates corruption, and giving accidentally false hopes to his clients that perish in prison. He stays the underdog throughout the film, being stepped on by Fleming, falling victim to regrettable timing, and even being shorter than his fighting girlfriend. Massie admits, “Even our first impression of Arthur is witnessing him in a jail cell after being held in contempt of court for assaulting a judge; these devices allow the contrastingly thrilling climax to be even more powerful and poignant.” “Being honest doesn’t have much to do with being a lawyer,” Arthur says during a conversation with his grandfather.

One of the things “…And Justice For All” does better than most is to connect the audience with hilarious, steel-humored dialogue and plenty of deep emotions and events that combine within the plot. While the main storyline is not completely complex, the several subplots that come in and out and support the main theme give the film a feeling of completeness – not a moment is wasted (despite scenes that don’t move the film forward) and the pacing is accurate. As the plot thickens, we become absorbed in the tragic and absorbing story of a man finding truths and justice in a world overrun with corruption and lies. Massie ends his review by saying, “It’s as thrilling as a ride in a helicopter with insufficient fuel – and when you watch this Norman Jewison masterpiece, you’ll know what I mean.”

Probably the most memorable scene is at the end of the movie when Arthur snaps during the case and says, “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! This entire trial is out of order! They’re out of order!” With a great buildup to that line, it’s definitely worth the wait when he says that at the end. If you love courtroom movies, then this is right up your alley, especially if you’re a Pacino fan. Check this one out because you are missing an amazing film.

Stay tuned for Wednesday for the next installment in “Al Pacino Month.”