|
|
|
The following DVDs
starring actor Andy Garcia are available through
Amazon.com. |
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - As noted
critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The
Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualize the public's
collective dream of Chicago gangsters." In other words, this
lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler
from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and
so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical
reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in
comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the movie pits four
underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables)
against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De
Niro as a dapper caesar holding court (and a baseball bat)
against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive
federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered
by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean
Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman
(Andy Garcia), and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who
holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie
approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as
the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at
Connery's apartment, and the train-station shootout partially
modeled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian
classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fueled by
Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and
obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the movie gives you
reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a
first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables
may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - Ocean's
Eleven improves on 1960's Rat Pack original with supernova
casting, a slickly updated plot, and Steven Soderbergh's
graceful touch behind the camera. Soderbergh reportedly relished
the opportunity "to make a movie that has no desire except to
give pleasure from beginning to end," and he succeeds on those
terms, blessed by the casting of George Clooney as Danny Ocean,
the title role originated by Frank Sinatra. Fresh out of jail,
Ocean masterminds a plot to steal $163 million from the
seemingly impervious vault of Las Vegas's Bellagio casino, not
just for the money but to win his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) back
from the casino's ruthless owner (Andy Garcia). Soderbergh
doesn't scrimp on the caper's comically intricate strategy, but
he finds greater joy in assembling a stellar team (including
Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Carl Reiner) and
indulging their strengths as actors. The result is a film that's
as smooth as a silk suit and just as stylish. --Jeff Shannon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - When a Man
Loves a Woman is a dumb title (not another classic pop song,
please) for a very smart movie. A kind of gender-switch take on
The Lost Weekend, it's about a woman (Meg Ryan) whose alcoholism
almost destroys her family. That may sound like just another TV
movie, but When a Man Loves a Woman is so authentic in detail
and emotion, that everything about it seems fresh, urgent, and
engrossing. That's because the film is grounded in the actual
experience of co-writer Al Franken (assisted by Rain Man
scripter Ronald Bass). Franken is best known for his affiliation
with Saturday Night Live and Politically Incorrect, and as the
author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other
Observations. You may recall that Franken is the creator of
Stuart Smalley, 12-step programmer extraordinaire. Well, if you
want to know how Stuart was born, you can start here. This is no
comedy, however. In fact, one of the most painful realizations
comes when attractive, "good-time girl" Alice Green (Ryan) and
her husband (Andy Garcia) begin to realize how much of a role
alcohol played in their marriage and in bringing them together
in the first place. The issues and experiences confronted in
this movie go far beyond the stuff you see on Oprah. --Jim
Emerson |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - A second
look reveals some exit-wound-size holes in the plot, but there's
nothing second-rate about the performances or the pacing of this
serial-killer whodunit written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail
and I, The Killing Fields). Andy Garcia plays a cop whose failed
marriage and recent spell with the bottle has brought him
upstate from L.A to live near his half-sister (Kathy Baker) and
one-time partner (Lance Henriksen). But he has barely unpacked
his bags when a routine homicide call takes him to a spectacular
local dump. There, amid heaps of detective-movie typewriters and
colorful bags of garbage, he kicks up a severed hand. This leads
him to reopen an unsolved psycho-killer file--codename
"Jennifer"--that in turn reopens some old sores in the
department. In the noir tradition, Garcia falls hard for his key
witness, who happens to be blind (Uma Thurman, playing against
the luster Pulp Fiction would Monroe-ize two years later) and in
one stroke puts her life, and his career, in exquisite jeopardy.
The plot weaves in and out of logic, but the dialogue track
keeps you leaning in for the details. Along with the taut and
suggestive work by Garcia and Henriksen (as usual, all skull
beneath the skin), Jennifer 8 boasts a giddy-to-behold gargoyle
performance from John Malkovich as an internal affairs cop whose
head cold only sharpens the resentment he feels listening to
rogue cops insult his intelligence. --Lyall Bush |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - Call it
"Desperate Movie," because this ludicrous thriller deteriorates
into unintentional comedy. For reasons that are never explained,
a sociopathic killer (Michael Keaton) is the only available bone
marrow donor for the cancer-stricken son of a San Francisco cop
(Andy Garcia), who must capture the killer alive after a
laughable escape in a labyrinthine hospital. The ensuing manhunt
relies on plentiful plot holes and ridiculous shortcuts (like
Keaton's use of a surgical laser to cut leg irons, or accessing
hospital schematics from a prison computer). Self-consciously
shot in film noir style, the cat-and-mouse routine leads to a
briefly impressive car chase, but the premise (which even the
movie's original press notes described as "intriguing, if
unlikely") is based on "moral ambiguity" that doesn't translate
from script to screen. Instead of forcing Keaton's typically
"sick genius" to prove his ingenuity, the film pits him against
a squad of cops who couldn't find a beer in a crowded pub.
--Jeff Shannon |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com - The
dominant themes of director Sidney Lumet's distinguished career
are in full force in this moral melodrama involving a young
district attorney (Andy Garcia) who takes on a career-making
case only to uncover his father's possible involvement in
pervasive police corruption. Balancing personal ethics and
political compromise in a high-wire act of power and its abuse,
Lumet relies on dialogue and superb performances (including
those by Ron Leibman, Richard Dreyfuss, and Lena Olin) to
achieve a devastating impact. The script (based on the novel
Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley) is too smart and Lumet's
direction too sure-footed to fall back on the black-and-white
exploits of conventional criminals and their crimes. The movie's
moral framework (like that of Lumet's earlier film Q&A) is more
realistic, dealing in the gray areas between right and wrong
where misdeeds can arise from the best intentions. At the center
of Garcia's dilemma is his father, a seasoned New York cop
played so convincingly by Ian Holm that you'd never guess the
actor was British. Although it received mixed reviews when
released in 1997, Night Falls on Manhattan ranks among Lumet's
finest films. --Jeff Shannon |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
