Hoo-ah! After seven Oscar nominations for his outstanding work in films such as The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, it's ironic that Al Pacino finally won the Oscar for his grandstanding lead performance in this 1992 crowd pleaser. As the blind, blunt, and ultimately benevolent retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Pacino is both hammy and compelling, simultaneously subtle and grandly over-the-top when defending his new assistant and prep school student Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) at a disciplinary hearing. While the subplot involving Charlie's prep-school crisis plays like a sequel to Dead Poets Society, Pacino's adventurous escapades in New York City provide comic relief, rich character development, and a memorable supporting role for Gabrielle Anwar as the young woman who accepts the colonel's invitation to dance the tango. Scent of a Woman is a remake of the 1972 Italian film Profumo di donna. In addition to Pacino's award, Scent of Woman garnered Oscar nominations for director Martin Brest and for screenwriter Bo Goldman. --Jeff Shannon
A shady L.A. detective (Sheffer) finds himself lost in a darkly nightmarish world of evil when he solves the mysterious puzzle box that releases the diabolical demon Pinhead! As those around him begin to meet tragic fates he sets out to conquer the horrifying Pinhead and escape eternal hell!
Michael Crichton's bestselling novel was both a high-tech thriller and source of controversy with its hot-button plot about a man's charge of sexual harassment against a female colleague and former lover. The movie, directed by Barry Levinson, turned these issues into a prurient thriller dressed up in glossy production values, virtual reality computer graphics and steamy sex between Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. Having cornered the market on roles for men whose brains are located south of their waistline, Douglas is well cast as the computer-industry guy who loses a plush promotion to the opportunistic Moore, and he's perfected the expression of paranoid panic. If you don't think about it too much, this is one of those films that can draw you into its manipulative web and really grab your attention. Disclosure is more entertaining than thought provoking (because the filmmakers basically danced around the story's potential controversy), but there's enough star power and visual glitz to make this an enjoyable ride. --Jeff Shannon
A comedy about an overbearing mother who becomes her son's partner in crime-fighting. Tutti Bomowski's visit to her policeman son Joe is extended when she witnesses a drive-by shooting and is required by the cops to remain in the area. Soon she's helping Joe apprehend criminals - and still finding plenty of time to interfere in his romantic affairs.
Despite all the pot-smoking in Idle Hands, the message here seems to be that too many bong hits will take you on a one-way trip to the devil's playground. That's what happens to Anton (Devon Sawa), a wasted teen who's so perpetually zonked on weed that he doesn't notice his parents have been slaughtered by an evil force that then possesses Anton's right hand, taking on a wildly homicidal life of its own after Anton chops it off with a butcher knife. The first victims are Anton's pals Mick (teen-movie stalwart Seth Green), who gets a beer bottle embedded in his skull, and Pnub (Elden Henson), whose head is lopped off by a rotary saw blade, and later reattached with a barbecue fork and duct tape. (Did we mention that Mick and Pnub turn into undead jokesters? It's that kind of movie.) This unoriginal idea is little more than an excuse for gross-out effects and easy one-liners, and then Vivica A. Fox appears as the demon-buster who knows how to kill the hand once and for all. It's fun to a point, and certain to be a popular Halloween hit with its intended teenage audience, but you can't help wishing this movie had tried harder to be something more than a collection of crude and gory gags. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
With the Civil War over Frank and Jesse James (Bill Paxton and Rob Lowe) retreat to the family farm where they witness the murder of their younger brother while Yankee soldiers turn their backs. The James boys feel they have no choice but to seek their own justice. They join the younger brothers to form a gang of rebels that wage a bloody war against its corrupt enemies in robbing their banks stagecoaches and train. In retaliation their adversaries hire famed detective Allan Pinkerton (William Atherton) to stop them. When his nephew is gunned down by the James Gang Pinkerton vows he will not rest until the day the notorious brothers are brought to justice at the end of a rope.
A shady L.A. detective (Sheffer) finds himself lost in a darkly nightmarish world of evil when he solves the mysterious puzzle box that releases the diabolical demon Pinhead! As those around him begin to meet tragic fates he sets out to conquer the horrifying Pinhead and escape eternal hell!
Hellraiser: Inferno (Dir. Scott Derrickson 2000): A shady L.A. detective (Sheffer) finds himself lost in a darkly nightmarish world of evil when he solves the mysterious puzzle box that releases the diabolical demon Pinhead! As those around him begin to meet tragic fates he sets out to conquer the horrifying Pinhead and escape eternal hell! Hellraiser: Bloodline (Dir. Kevin Yagher 1996): Spanning three generations this horrifying story chronicles the struggle of one
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