WilliamForsythe Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Recently, many remarks have been cracked about running times of movies and the title 88 Minutes. "Is it too much to hope for that 88 Minutes will actually be 88 minutes?" our own James Rocchi asked me not too long ago. 88 minutes is a great running time for a movie, especially for busy critics with lots of movies to see and too many deadlines. You're in an out well before the welcome has worn out. Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons is considered a masterpiece at 88 minutes, even cut down from its original 132. Bill Murray knew the power of 88 minutes when he turned in his final cut of the classic Quick Change (1990). The Woodsman (2004) would have been unbearable at anything longer than 88 minutes. And whatever else you have to say about them, Scary Movie, Sexy Beast, Spy Kids, The Big Bounce, Transporter 2, Wristcutters: A Love Story and Horton Hears a Who! never seemed too long.

But, alas, 88 Minutes runs 108 minutes, and it's too long. Al Pacino (with a poofy, rooster-head haircut) plays high-profile forensic psychologist Jack Gramm, whose testimony was almost solely responsible for the conviction of accused murderer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough). Today, Forster is going to the chair, while maintaining his innocence, and while identical murders are still being committed throughout Seattle. At 10:17 a.m., Gramm gets a call, saying he has 88 minutes left to live. That call comes about a half hour into the movie, and the 88 minutes passes by in an awkward, compressed 70 minutes, give or take, followed by the expected conclusion and credits. Couldn't a cleverer filmmaker have set the movie in real time, and then used flashbacks to do all that boring preliminary stuff? Wouldn't the film have been much better if it just started with a bang, with that phone call?

I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have to say that whoever worked on the poster for Al Pacino's new thriller 88 Minutes did one heck of a job on photoshopping the 67-year-old actor -- the man doesn't look a day over 40. The Movie Insider now has the new poster for John Avnet's (Fried Green Tomatoes) film about a man who has the aforementioned 88 minutes to solve his own murder -- a plot that sounds a lot like the noir classic D.O.A, but with just enough differences to avoid a lawsuit.

Pacino plays Jack Gramm, a womanizing forensic psychiatrist and college professor. After testifying against a serial killer and putting him on death row, Gramm receives a phone call from the condemned killer, who tells him that he only has 88 minutes left to live. Gramm is then forced to re-visit the gruesome case in hopes of stopping a copycat and hopefully saving his own skin.

Joining Pacino are Leelee Sobieski, William Forsythe, Deborah Kara Unger, and Alicia Witt -- judging by the sheer number of chicks in the cast, I guess Pacino really is a ladies man in this flick. The script was written by Gary Scott Thompson, who was also the writer for 2 Fast 2 Furious and Hollow Man II. I have to be honest with you; those two credits alone are enough to make me think that this movie might not be up to Pacino's usual standards -- although lately it seems like those have been slipping ever so slightly as well. 88 Minutes hits theaters on April 18th.

You could be forgiven for reading today's casting news and thinking it was 1987. Two of the eighties' most reliable manly men, Tom Berenger and Michael Biehn, are teaming up for the crime thriller Stiletto. The film will be directed by actor/writer/producer/director Nick Vallelonga, who you might remember as "Prison Inmate Sitting Behind Henry" in Goodfellas. No? "Courtroom guard arresting Sean Connery" in Family Business? I'll move on. Stiletto stars Stana Katic from TV's Heroes, as "an assassin whose seemingly random killings puzzle her lover, her clients and the detective following her rising body count." Berenger will play her boyfriend, "whose rise in organized crime is offset by his love for her and his Mafia co-hort," played by Biehn. I assume it's a platonic love with Biehn -- any Sopranos fan knows mobsters aren't too understanding of alternative lifestyles.

Actor Paul Sloan wrote the script -- his first -- and will also play the detective trailing Katic. Dominique Swain (remember her from that Jeremy Irons version of Lolita? Yowza!), Kelly Hu (Again...yowza!) Diane Venora (loved her as Pacino's wife in Heat), Amanda Brooks, William Forsythe, and model human Tom Sizemore round out the cast. I've been saying for years that a Berenger comeback is long overdue. Nominated for an Oscar for his stellar work in Platoon, perfect in Major League, he still does tons of films, but I wonder where he went off Hollywood's "Big Time Star" radar and into the realm of B-movies. Maybe Sliver had something to do with it. Same goes for Michael Biehn, who made something of a triumphant return as Sheriff Hague in Grindhouse. Maybe if Eli Roth's proposed expansion of Thanksgiving actually takes place, Biehn will have another plum role -- he was great in the trailer. Either way, the guy's always got work as long as James Cameron is making films.

Report #1: Newcomer Daeg Faerch will be playing the young Michael Myers in Rob Zombie's Halloween remake.

Report #2: Longtime character actor Malcolm McDowell will be playing Mike's nemesis, Dr. Loomis, a role made famous by the adorably overacting Donald Pleasance.

Report #3: Hulking (and generally silent) actor Tyler Mane will be playing "The Shape" himself: The grown-up and perpetually P.O.'ed Michael Myers.

And yes, now comes Report #4, because Rob Zombie seems to think that if he doles out his casting tidbits one droplet at a time, it'll get the horror fans all extra-jazzed for this sadly inevitable remake. And here I am, playing along:

You guys know Dee Wallace-Stone? Heck. sure you do: She was in the original Hills Have Eyes and The Howling and Cujo -- OK fine, she was the mom from E.T. Toldja you know who she is! According to a report at MyZombieSpace, Dee has been signed to play Mrs. Strode, mother to main character Laurie Strode. (No, we don't yet know who'll be playing Laurie Strode. It's Bob Zombie's way of keeping his blog popular.)

We do have some additional cast members to share, though: Pat Skipper will be playing Laurie's dad, William Forsythe will be playing an abusive jerk and Sheri Moon Zombie will be playing Michael Myers' mom -- 'cuz it's good to be the director's hot wife.