Description

He's a consummate politician who walks a mile in your shoes, feels your pain. But there may be more to populist New York City populist mayor Al Pacino than meets the eye. Year: 1996 Director: Harold Becker Starring: Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello Special Features: Interactive menus, Scene access Video Format: A: Standard; B: Widescreen Sound: English: Dolby Surround 2.0; French; Subtitles: English, French Region Coding: 1 (U.S. and Canada) ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Another Fine Pacino Vehicle
This film was made and was in theaters after "HEAT", but before "Devil's Advocate" and I must say that I actually liked it more than "Donnie Brasco". Pacino's John Pappas, actually made me wish that there were such a politician in the big apple after the passionate and vigorous speech given at the funeral in Harlem. The fact that at the end we find out that he was not as "kosher" as we were led to believe in the beginning, along with Danny Aiello's corrupt Anselmo, makes a person lose their faith in the movie's public officials as we do in real life after we've put so much faith and trust in them and we have the good script to thank for that. As for the rest of the cast, John Cusack has never been better as Kevin, the rightous deputy mayor along with Aiello and Fonda (too bad only a hint of affection between her and Cusack). Overall, the underrated "City Hall" is entertaining and suspenseful and a great "Pacino movie". Favorite line: Kevin: "The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know."

Good but I expected more
"City Hall" is one of those movies that I watched expecting the best. It had a great cast and crew of which I have seen excellent films from. But all I got in the end was a lukewarm film. The premise is great. Political corruption always makes for an interesting movie and it certainly is interesting. Sadly it suffers from its own plot. So much time is spent trying to uncover this scandal that occurs in this film that there is no time to get to know any of the characters. Al Pacino plays the mayor of New York and while he handles the role passionately the script does not allow his character anytime to develop as with Cusak, Fonda, Aiello. The cast is supurb. In fact I do not believe I have seen better from John Cusak who rarely gets a stab at complex films such as this and Bridget Fonda and Danny Aiello both give excellent supporting performances. The intereaction between Cusak and Fonda also seemed really fake as well not by the actors fault but the screenwriters. There is no chemestry where one would expect. It isn't all that bad of a film. Fans of the actors should definately rent it especially for a really good Pacino monologue (they had to throw that in somewhere). The film had the director and the cast but what it needed was a better script.

Al Pacino, John Cusack, and Danny Aiello are great!
This is one of the best crime-drama movies during the late 1990s. It was filled with a great cast, a huge storyline, and many of the players involved gave great performances. Pacino was great; he should have been nominated for something. John Cusack was good too, as long as the viewer doesn't mind his Louuu-siana accent. He may come off as annoying if you can't stand this dialect. The way that Pacino's character interacted with Cusack's character was believable, dramatic, and slightly comical at times. Danny Aiello was superb as always. David Paymer was great in a supporting role. Bridget Fonda was good but not memorable.
There were times when this picture mentioned so many characters, probably too many. It may take a second viewing to remember, "which Zapatti was which?" After so many cross-references, one has to stop and think just to recap.
The ending didn't have a lot of sting. It was built up for so long in a good way and then was a little bit of a letdown. This was one of the few letdowns in the film
I think that since the movie wasn't billed as a huge, blockbuster big screen hit, it made some forget that this movie even existed. Pacino was great but the film's lack of "splash" in the theaters may have accounted for no nominations. It was semi-successful in the home market, and viewers are still learing that this title is out there. Made in 1996, it still stands up seven years later and should still be popular for many years from now.

So, make yourself some lemon pudding (you'll see) and rent this movie! Overall, a great picture.
4 ½ out of 5!!!

A GOLDSMITH CLASSIC
Jerry Goldsmith's combines essences of George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein in this inspired soundtrack. The sites and sounds of New York seem to waft over the senses as the flowing strings and French horns play. Piano and percussion highlight gang conflict. Classic stuff!

Grab a bagel, sit back, relax and enjoy this one.

Practice Run
Composer Jerry Goldsmiith's score for the drama City Hall is a real letdown. It sounds a lot like the music he would use later for LA Confidential. Sure, there are a few subtle differences here and there, but for the most part, the scores are too similar for my tastes. I am not used to Goldsmith doing this all that much. Even the stuff of his that isn't quite as good, usaully has some originality to it. The music for City Hall must have been a warm up for the latter film I mentioned. Most of the City Hall soundtrack spends its limited running time just reworking the main title-this tactic is not uncommon in a majority of film music-to use a certain amount of repetition-it's just usually not done this much for a single film. Horns, piano, and the drum are pretty much it.

The CD has 12 tracks and a running time of 30:14. My recommendation would be be to skip this, and seek out the the 2 soundtrack albums for LA Confidential, instead. At least the score sounds a bit more developed and there's a bit more musical variety ... Read more

Description

Part horror film, part drama and part expose, Poison weaves three stories into one outrageous jigsaw puzzle that juxtaposes a disturbing sensuality with an offbeat moral conscience. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Interesting first film by an exciting director
After the beautiful "Far From Heaven" and the dazzling "Velvet Goldmine", I was curious to see Todd Haynes' first film. Despite being made on a shoe-string budget and featuring unknown actors, "Poison" still manages to be a visually innovative, provocative and intelligent film. The film is made up of three seperate stories interwoven together. In "Hero", which takes place in the early 80's and is filmed in documentary style, a young boy kills his father, and the community tries to figure out why. In "Horror", which looks like a campy old black and white horror film, a scientist manages to turn the human sex drive into a serem, and then becomes a sexually predatory leper when he accidently drinks it. In "Homo", a man in prison in the early 20th century becomes obsessed with a fellow inmate who he watched being abused years before in a reformatory. Initially, the stories seem to have nothing in common, but the more the film goes on you start to see the connection ... they all focus on the darker side of human sexuality, and its consequences. Overall, this is an interesting first film by a terrific director who is just starting to hit his stride.

Interesting take on the dark side of sexuality
After loving "Velvet Goldmine" and finding "Far From Heaven" visually stunning, I was curious to see Todd Haynes' first film (which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, and probably launched his career). Even working with an apparently very low budget and unknown actors, Haynes still manages to create an original and thought-provoking film. He weaves together three stories, which are all different in terms of time period and tone, but that all deal with the darker side of sexuality, and the devastating consequences it can have. In "Hero" (shot like a documentary, and taking place in the early 80's), a young boy kills his father, and the more the story is explored, the more it is revealed that both of his parents' sexual behavior probably brought about the tragedy. "Horror" takes place in the 1950's, is shot in black and white, and has the feel of a campy horror movie. In that story an ambitious scientist is somehow able to turn the human sexual drive into a serem, but when he accidently ingests it it turns him into a sexually predatory leper. In "Homo", which takes place in an early 20th century prison, an inmate becomes sexually obsessed with another inmate who he watched being abused years earlier in reform school. The stories are all brilliantly weaved together, and the longer the film goes on, the more the viewer is able to see the common threads. Overall, it is interesting to see the first film of a director who is just beginning to hit his stride.

Best film adaptation of Genet to date
Todd Haynes's penchant for postmodern parody (recently displayed in the deliberately garish melodrama _Far From Heaven_) can be seen in _Poison_, his first feature film. Haynes invokes obscure Poverty-Row horror films and television documentaries, among other cinematic forms. Some of the images are lovely, some are ugly, and some are extremely difficult to watch. All represent, in one form or another, French writer Jean Genet's view of sexuality -- pessimistic and frequently angry, but never entirely bleak.

This film was one of the infamous "NEA 4" projects that led then-Senator Jesse Helms to impose standards of decency on the National Endowment for the Arts. _Poison_ may be best known for the scandal it generated inside Washington's corridors of power, but it's still a brilliant film.

Now, the bad news: Video and audio transfers on this DVD are poor, with numerous print flaws, artifacts and distortion. But the full-frame transfer accurately represents the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The only extras are a slightly decrepit trailer and a solid, informative audio commentary from the director, the producer and the editor.

Three Cerebrally Interjecting Stories...
Haynes attempts to present a concept through three different stories or perspectives, "Hero", "Horror", and "Homo". The three stories interject one another in crucial moments leaving the audience thinking about what Haynes is trying to tell us. In "Hero", a child is painted as a trouble maker who shot his abusive father when he was attacking his deceitful mother. The second story, "Horror", depicts a scientist who is in the search of truth, but by mistake becomes contaminated as a leper. "Homo" presents the story of a gay convict who has grown up in institutions and jails where he meets another guy who went to the same reformatory school as him. The film will leave the audience pondering and reflecting what the stories had in common.

Question
It is rather a question, I don't know how to do it through another way.
Has the DVD subtitles in Spanish? I want my friends that can't understand English to see this movie. Thank you ... Read more

Description

Writer/director Wes Craven (Scream 1, 2 and 3) returns to the darkest shadows of Elm Street in the seventh film in the Freddy Krueger series. Winner of a Golden Scroll for Outstanding Achievement from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, this spine-tingling tale reunites original Nightmare stars Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon as "reel" Freddy invades the real world, with deadly results. But don't worry, Freddy fans. It's only a movie...or is it? ... Read more

Reviews (128)

Very good!
This is very original, with the original Wes Craven spice. This enters when Heather is working on the seventh Freddy Kruegar movie with Robert Englund (who plays himself and Freddy Kruegar) and Wes Craven, when Freddy is trying to reach into the real world by Heather's son. She then tries to stop Freddy once and for all, before he kills again. Very good, very scary. Rated R for violence-related gore and language.

Gee, I wonder where he got the idea for Scream 3 from....
Don't get me wrong, this is a great movie and all, but it just can't compare to the predecessors. Even the ones that came after the original still were better than this one. At the times when I would expect someone to die, they didn't. In the past, just about everyone in the movie died except for maybe one person. In this everyone lived excpet maybe one person. It was a massive disappointment. I think he could have done a better job of ending the series. Plus it just shows how unoriginal Wes Cravens Scream3 is. It is pretty much the same idea. Movie on a movie set. Yawn. It could have been better.....so much better.

really great
this one is probably the best of them all.when i was about to get this movie i thought it would have like a whole lot of violence like the 2nd-6th.but it didnt.but whenever heather langenkamp's son,Miko Hughs,came in the movie just got kinda......cheesy.cause the kid dont know how to act at all.but other than that the movie was cool

Very Original!
As a new Nightmare movie is being made, actress Heather Langenkamp finds herself being stalked by "Freddy Krueger". Weird things start to happen when "Freddy" tries to leap from the movie, to the real world.

The idea for the movie is very original, because the setting is set in the "real world". In this movie, Freddy gets a new look, and the way it ended leaves a possible sequel. If you don't know what Robert Englund (he plays Freddy Krueger) looks like without the make-up, go see this movie!

Definitely the best since the first
A wonderfully done film with great performances by Heather Langenkamp and Miko Hughes. Miko Hughes performance sent chills down my spine. I can not believe this the same young actor who had an reoccuring role on Full House, one of the worst TV series ever. He is up there with Haley Joel Osment and Elijah Wood for great young actors. Heather Langenkamp pulls of the role to a "T". Her nightmares and the confusion they are causing between the lines of reality and dreams is something she has obviously done before, but she is more believeable now. The most chilling scene is when Miko Hughes, who plays Dylan, attacks his Mother, Heather Langenkamp, with his own version of Freddy's glove. In my opinion if a kid can pull off doing such a role, they cause more chills than adults, because in these kind of films you expect it to be an adult. Truly, a well crafted film, one of Craven's best. GRADE: A- ... Read more

Reviews (92)

JACK FROST a holiday classic!
Cheap, silly, goofy characters and an extremely low budget all but help to make JACK FROST the EVIL DEAD of the 90's. The director must of known that the premise of a killer snowman wouldn't be taken seriously by an audience no matter how good the script was, so instead he plays the movie for laughs with lots of camp and B-style effects. On top of that, JACK FROST actually introduces us to really memorable characters who we come to enjoy. And once Jack Frost himself appears he's like a cold chilly version of Freddy Kruger with good smart remarks and a nasty attitude. What makes JACK FROST even funnier is watching as the prodcution values and acting get worse and worse towards the end. It goes from a good B movie to a really bad B movie all in 90 minutes! Its awsome! As long as you keep an open mind and learn to enjoy cheap fun, JACK FROST is a holiday treat. I have yet to see Part 2, but I have recently ordered it from amazon and can't wait to see it!

if you want a good laugh.......
Its hard to say if this movie is good or bad. All I can say is that i deffinantly reccoment it. If you like hilarious horror movies than you will love Jack Frost. I saw this movie last summer with a friend. We were searching for a funny horror movie and when we saw the great cover of it at blockbuster we knew we had to watch it. The movie is basically about a mass murderer named Jack Frost who was just caught and about to sentenced to execution. However of course things dont quite work out as planned. Jack Frost gets into an accident and somehow transforms into a killer snowman. Jack in the form of a snowman continues to be a psycho killer. He goes after a family with an exremely annoying child who unfortunantly is not killed and the people in this town. What makes this movie so funny is the way the snowman kills people. At one point he kills a woman with christmas lights and as a snowman rapes a teenage girl in a bathtub. oh yeah where did the carrot go around this point? Also while he kills these people there is strange upbeat music in the background. The acting in this is also horribly funny. i reccomend this movie for anyone who gets a laugh out of cheesy horror movies because id have to say this is about the cheesiest i have ever seen.

He's chillin' and killin'!
Dang this movie is sure campy and extremley bad as a movie, yet it is very entertaining all the same. I first rented on VHS wjile spending a week at my grandparents house, after viewing it, I just had too have it on DVD. Too bad it got trashed by the critics!

The plot is: a serial killer named (oddly enough) Jack Frost gets doused with some genetic liquids during a lite blizzard and dissolves into the snowy ground (this is the only actual scary scene in the whole movie). Inside the snow is where a
strange mutation takes place: the spilled genetic fluids combined with Jack's personality turns Jack into a MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN! After that, Jack sets out to kill the man who caught him in the first place: Sherrif Samuel Tyler!

The dry humor and death scenes is what ALMOST makes this B-grade flick a classic. There was this one scene where Jack thrusts an ax down some old guy's throat, and "walks" off saying, "Gosh, I only axed ya for smoke!" That was priceless! In another scene, Jack busts into the sherrif's house and calls himself things like "F*ckin' Frosty" and "The world's most pissed off snowcone!" I can't stop laughing at that scene!

I almost had to be sent to the hospital after watching JACK FROST, because it's so d@mn funny!

Great B-Movie With Style
I just finished watching this movie, and I have to say it was a great B film. The pure camp, humor, and fun of it all makes takes this right up there with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and the slick direction, and clean, well shot feel of it all make it an easy watch.
The movie is obviously cheesy, and plays for laughs most of the time. But it still comes through in the gore department every once in a while. And while it isn't a total splatter fest, there are some nice death scenes, all with some good one liners from the title Killer Snowman.
It also helps that the director has real style, and uses the camera, and the cheap budget to his advantage. Even the fakest looking scene (like the van flipping in the begining) works, because the director uses his mole hill, and exploits it, creating one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Plus, even the Jack himself looks VERY fake, he still gets some nice shots in the movie.
Acting wise, well, it's all very B grade, with over acting, and under acting done perfectly for the parts at hand. No characters are all that deep, and most of the time you could care less weither they live or die. Although there is one somewhat likeable character who gets an extremely grissly end to their life. Still, decent acting. And Shannon Elizabeth even comes out seeming like a decent, if not stiff, actress.
For some great B movie fun, with some style, some gore, and a whole lot of humor, check out Jack Frost. Who knew a Killer Snowman could be so fun.

A Second Chance to be the Coolest Dad...Whoops, Wrong Film!
Although often touted as a horror comedy, the most amusing aspect of this 1997 direct-to-video clunker is the fact that it is often confused with its saccharine family-flick namesake, a commensurately clunky and similarly themed Michael Keaton vehicle released in theaters the following year. Interestingly, the titular character of each film is a snowman that has somehow come to life. However, those planning a nice evening with the youngsters will be in for quite a shock if they purchase or rent the wrong movie. The snowy dude in Keaton's film is a benevolent father figure who wants to help out his real-life family; the icy hombre in the 1997 horror flick is animated by the soul of an escaped convict with a penchant for rape and murder.

Outside of the amusing thought of 1997's JACK FROST getting an accidental showing at a kiddie party, this film has very little to offer. The special FX are amateurish, the script is so inane that it is nearly impossible to suspend one's disbelief for the duration, and much of the acting is horrid. While some films can be admired for their cheesiness--Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD (1981) comes immediately to mind--JACK FROST falls way beneath even THAT standard. Writer-director Michael Cooney seems unable to decide if he wants to spoof the horror genre--there are scenes that mimic horror clichés but few, if any, that parody or satirize them--or simply make, á la Wes Craven's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984), a scary film with humorous characters and an amusing premise. The film vacillates between both styles without gaining sufficient footing in either, and the result is a slushy thematic jumble that is neither scary nor entertaining.

JACK FROST is not without a few near-redeeming qualities, however. There are lots of amusing Python-esque puns and jokes sprinkled throughout the film, the kind of verbal gags that make you simultaneously chuckle and...well, GAG. And this film also marks the cinematic debut of gorgeous actress Shannon Elizabeth, who here has some, ah, revealing moments with the eponymous snowman. Unfortunately, these elements do not elevate the film enough to make it worth wasting an hour-and-a-half of one's life.

Don't be fooled by the artwork on the DVD's packaging--that cool skull made of snow does not appear in the film. In truth, 1997's JACK FROST is an ice-cold stinker that few discerning horror fans will want to add to their collections. ... Read more

Description

As fast-paced and entertaining as "Get Shorty", this mob comedy stars Joe Mantegna, Kevin Pollak and Joe Pantoliano as inept small-time hoods who have six hours to carry out a "hit" for "the boss." As if Angelo Martinelli (Mantegna) isn't having a bad enough day as it is, it's his 50th birthday, his girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) is seeing other men, and his father, "the boss," has given him orders to kill Carmine Dellarosa by five o'clock. The only question baffling Angela is, who the heck is Carmine Dellarosa? As Angelo enlists his gang of losers to help find him, they wind up in even more hilarious and bizarre circumstances every step of the way. Joe Mantegna, Kevin Pollak, Joe Pantoliano, Jennifer Tilly ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Boring !!!
Despite the stars in this movie, it is a very boring affair. Hoods is about a wise guy played by Joe Mantegna who is assigned by his father to kill somebody by the name of "Carmine Delaroza" who turns out to be a 9 year olds kid. Despite being sold as a comedy, this movie is not funny. The DVD is in full screen. No closed captioning (despite there is a CC on the back of the jacket). No Dolby 5.1 either. The picture quality is OK. Avoid this. Not worth it. ... Read more