Insomnia (2002)

Because there is so much to cover - the Alaskan environment, its community and way-of-life, the effect the extended daylight hours of the region has on Al Pacino's cop and his investigation into a girl's murder, not to mention his tense relationship with his partner and his burgeoning one with an eager young Alaskan cop-in-training played by Hilary Swank - Christopher Nolan's exceptionally well-acted thriller, with its fine production values, ends up feeling thin as ice where it really demands to be grand and sweeping.

★★★☆☆

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Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Look at online photos from the real incident at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1972, and photos of the real robber John Wojtowicz - in the movie, Sonny Wortzik, played by Al Pacino - and you'll be impressed by the likenesses, but exactly why these events led to such a painstakingly recreated film treatment by Sidney Lumet is lost in time: hailed for its portrayal of desperate 1970s New York, the film in fact revels in two other things - the comic chaos of the bungled robbery turned fourteen-hour hostage situation, and the fact Wojtowicz apparently wanted the stolen money to fund a lover's gender-affirming surgery - and, though well acted, is ultimately as chaotic and unrewarding as the robbery - a dull little mess - itself.

★★★☆☆

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Serpico (1973)

Sidney Lumet's biographical film, based on the book by Peter Maas, is the always interesting story of Frank Serpico and eleven years of his career as an undercover policeman, a period in which he took a stand against police corruption - against both the grass eaters and the meat eaters -  and he is an impressive man, thanks to Pacino's great performance, but the film never manages to convey the sense of danger he no doubt faced.

★★★★☆

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Cruising (1980)

Because he resembles the murder victims, a policeman (Al Pacino) is sent undercover into the S&M gay sex clubs of NYC to flush out a serial killer, but forget the danger posed by a brutal knife-wielding maniac — what effect will all the gyrating mustachioed bears in leather — with whips, chaps, handcuffs and gimp masks — not to mention coffee dates with a new gay neighbour, have on the young policeman and upon the relationship he has with his girlfriend (Karen Allen), left-in-the-dark about her lover's undercover nocturnal adventures...you'll never know because although there is one fleeting scene that suggests the policeman willingly gets trussed up in masochistic fashion and a line of dialogue that suggests the couple's love life has changed, the movie prefers to skirt ambiguously, frustratingly around this pivotal and at-the-time sensational subject matter.

★★★☆☆

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Scarface (1983)

In this Oliver Stone-penned, Brian De Palma-directed ugly 1983 update of a 1932 Howard Hughes crime thriller, a Cuban refugee, Tony Montana, trades hitman services for a Green Card then ruthlessly works his way to the top of Miami's drug world, a world of violence so unrestrained it can seem ludicrous, but it is only a matter of time before Montana becomes a victim of his own lawless excess and he and all his little friends come plummeting back down with a splash.

★★★☆☆

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Jack and Jill (2011)

As the credits roll, voxpops are shown of actual twins discussing twindom as though the preceding movie, which has Adam Sandler playing fraternal twins Jack and Jill, was a celebration of twin-love and not an unfunny embarrassment for everyone involved (but especially mortifying for Katie Holmes as Jack's wife and Al Pacino in a career-low, appearing as himself.)

☆☆☆☆☆

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The Devil's Advocate (1997)

You would be forgiven for giving up on this movie after its dire opening scenes of wooden acting and leaden courtroom drama but the movie starring Keanu Reeves as a hotshot small-town lawyer who finds himself in New York living the high life under the tutelage of Al Pacino's nefarious law firm boss develops into a satisfying mystery thriller that draws parallels between courtroom right and wrong, and heaven and hell, and is at times reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby.

★★★★☆

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88 Minutes (2007)

In this cheap, gimmicky mystery thriller, a crazy of some sort leaves a message telling Al Pacino he has just 88 minutes to live, which is not much time for him to find out who is responsible and why, so the suspects oblige by circling impossibly close spouting only clues because there is no time for anything else and the result is about as satisfying a mystery as a game of Cluedo.

★☆☆☆☆

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