dog day afternoon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Are you ready to see Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as partners in Righteous Kill? Is it the casting pair-up you've been waiting 35 years for? Or does it feel too strange to watch a whole movie in which they're all buddy buddy? Perhaps you were fully satisfied with their showdown as enemies in Heat, even though the esteemed veteran actors had much less screen time together. Personally, I like the idea of them going head to head better, but that's mainly because they're both such huge figures that having them team up seems a bit unfair to the other side. As enemies they're like the Incredible Hulk and the Abomination or Iron Man and Iron Monger, to compare them with recent superpowered showdowns in cinema.

It's difficult to choose the better actor of the two, or even decide who's been the more successful Hollywood player. De Niro's been in a lot more films, but his ratio of bad films to good might have suffered as a result. Meanwhile, they've both arguably become too much of caricatures of themselves, to the point where it's sometimes hard to tell which performances are intentional self-parodies and which are accidental. However, despite the difficulty of pitting De Niro against Pacino for a general comparative showdown, there are a number of easily corresponding roles among them. So, just for fun, I've come up with seven specific character showdowns, chosen my pick for which is the better performance, and invite you all to vote on your favorite, whether you agree or disagree with my own.

After the jump ... De Niro vs. Pacino -- it's on!

Could it be that Sidney Lumet is back? I'm a cynic, and a snobby '70s movie fan, and I've been hesitant about seeing Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- I know I'm terrible; the movie is supposedly really, really good; I'm just being lazy -- so I can't offer that statement. Besides, there are people who don't think he was ever gone to begin with. Still, his latest is his best reviewed film in many years. Our own Erik Davis called it "captivating" and pointed out that Lumet took an otherwise forgettable story and made it "exceptional in every way -- from its execution to its acting" (OK, I really need to see this already). Well, it seems that Funky Buddha Group, which financed Devil, is happy enough with Lumet's work on that film; the company has just agreed to collaborate with the filmmaker on two more movies, with an option for a third.

So what is Lumet's next project, and will it be a disappointment after the greatness of Devil? (a cynic never stops doubting). According to Variety, it's called Getting Out, and it involves a prison break. Written by Lumet himself (and not adapted from anything this time, either), the script deals with, "a man desperate to regain his freedom while entangled in deadly head games with his prison psychiatrist and the woman he desires." Honestly, it doesn't sound too exciting, or interesting. But then, I like Lumet's The Wiz, so maybe you shouldn't listen to me (don't worry, it's not one of my favorites, like Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men and especially Network all are). But who should you listen to? People like our own Jeff Anderson, an obvious Lumet fan, who called Devil one of, "the year's best American films," or do you listen to our own Ryan Stewart, who referred to Lumet as a "non-master" and called Devil, "a pointless and annoying timeline-pretzel ... only to arrive at a Greek tragedy climax that has a plot hole so large you could drive a Hummer through it." You can see why I've been hesitant and cynical, now, can't you?

As Inside Man opens, a man stares into the camera in a too-small room. He speaks in clear, clipped tones. "My name is Dalton Russell. Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself." And bang – as Clive Owen looks out from the screen, director Spike Lee sets the hook for one of the most satisfying pieces of grown-up entertainment big Hollywood's given us in a long time. Both Lee and his anti-hero spend the next 128 minutes playing us, and by the time they're done, we're glad they did. 

Four painters show up at a bank in Manhattan's financial district. The bank doesn't really look like it needs painting, but that's okay; they're actually there to rob the place. They take out the surveillance cameras, round up the staff and customers and get everything under tight control in an eye blink. Then they tell the cops what they've done … and then they're in no hurry at all. NYPD Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) catches the case – and Frazier needs to put a win up on the board, since $140,000 in cash went missing from one of his busts recently and Internal Affairs is sniffing around. Frazier and his partner Mitchell (Chiwitel Ejiofor) head over to the scene, Frazier takes command of the police presence from Capt. Darius (Willem Dafoe) ... and soon comes to realize that the mystery men inside the bank are really calling all the shots.

When the bank's president (Christopher Plummer) is told of the robbery - and which branch specifically is being taken down - calls are made to Madeline White (Jodie Foster), a high-powered fixer armored in a perfectly tailored cream ensemble and a demeanor that's as cold, slick and hard as a frozen lake. Plummer doesn't want her to stop the robbery; that's in the NYPD's hands. What he wants is to make sure that one very specific item in the bank never, ever leaves it. …