88 Minutes (2007)

Now I'm not going to say this is the best movie ever made but it is interesting to watch.88 Minutes stars Al Pacino,Alicia Witt, Ben McKenzie,Leelee Sobieski,Amy Brenneman,William Forsythe,Deborah Kara Unger, Neal McDonough. The plot it would be hard to talk about without giving it away it's one of the movies you have to watch to get the plot the writers must have study about the mind games because the movie is full of it from the start to the finish.The score for the movie is bone chilling the feeling of anything could happen at any moment that's what the music does for the movie so it's one of the highlights for the movie.The climax of the movie will surprise you and where the movie is really showing it's strength.The Acting I agree is a mix at best but I have seen worse but the acting I'll say is Decent at best but Al,Leelee, Alicia and Neal's performances were not as bad people made it out to be Al made it work with his character along with him being on edge, Leelee shows she can actually act Neal was creepy each time he was screen. That being said I have to see 88 Minutes isn't a masterpiece but not a real bad movie it has something to make it worth the watch it just need time to be given the chance to take it for what it is worthI give 88 Minutes an 7 out of 10

88 Minutes (2007): Dir: Jon Avnet / Cast: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Kara Unger: Fast paced thriller about time. Al Pacino plays a college professor. Nine years prior his testimony imprisoned a serial rapist and now he receives threatening phone calls claiming that he has only 88 minutes to live. Paranoia follows as he begins to suspect everyone resulting in numerous plot turns until it reaches an effective finale. Well directed by Jon Avnet despite tendencies to jerk viewers around. Avnet previously made Fried Green Tomatoes and the rotten Up Close and Personal. Pacino is adrenaline all the way as he struggles to maintain his sanity and figure out whom he can trust. Alica Witt plays one of his students who assists him in his search for answers but her presence is cardboard and practically unnecessary until the conclusion. Leelee Sobieski as a student who challenges Pacino's theories is effective. She is later present in a parking garage where she claims she was assaulted. Next to Pacino, she had the next best role in the film. Amy Brenneman who tracks information for him is pretty straight forward. Then there is Deborah Kara Unger as yet another hottie that should make Pacino feel youthful. It is very similar to Crank in structure yet it also still works on its theme of paranoia and whether truth and facts will surface again. Score: 8 ½ / 10

On the evidence of this, Al Pacino cannot polish a turd. It's a largely nonsensical cut-and-shut job of a movie with some very poor dialogue, and I would recommend that you avoid it. It has nothing new to say about any of its tired themes, the set pieces are half-hearted and there is no sense of threat whatsoever. The majority of Director Jon Avnet's work has been in television, but the top TV offer moved on some time ago from this sort of material. Serving up standard ingredients and expecting the audience to swallow them is the province of a host of disposable, second-rate American cop shows, and I suspect that some of them would turn their noses up at this. Writer Gary Scott Thomson's movie credits are similarly thin, all you need to know is that his best known movie credits are for the 'Fast and Furious' series – but mostly just for the characters ('nuff said).If you want to watch Al Pacino strutting his best stuff, avoid 88 Minutes and check out Christopher Nolan's excellent 'Insomnia' or some superb scenery chewing in 'Any Given Sunday'. If it's crime drama you are looking for, TV has much better to offer in the form of 'The Wire', 'Wallander' or 'The Killing'.

Al Pacino stars in 88 Minutes as forensic psychologist Jack Gramm. The movie opens in the late 1990s, with women in Seattle being sliced and diced by a serial killer. Someone is arrested for the crimes, and Dr. Gramm's expert testimony helps win our serial killer the death penalty.Flash-forward nine years, to the present day. The killer (Neal McDonough) is still on death row, but the day has come for his execution. Dr. Gramm, meanwhile, continues to lecture graduate students, consult on murders and go about his life in Seattle, but women are still turning up mutilated and dead in his city.Is there a copycat killer, or did he help convict the wrong guy all those years ago?Dr. Gramm does not doubt himself for a second, but then he gets a disturbing phone call, telling him he has 88 minutes to live. Six minutes later, he gets another call telling him he has 82 minutes to live. Three minutes after that, he gets another call telling him he has 79 minutes to live.