Watch Before Viewing 88 Minutes

Al Pacino has just 88 minutes to live in the latest Jon Avnet psychological thriller. Before the film hits Irish cinemas, Movies.ie recommends the following similar films to get your heart racing!

Following on from last week’s release of Righteous Kill, Al Pacino reunites with direct Jon Avnet for the thriller ’88 minutes’. Pacino plays university professor Jack Gramm, who
occasionally assists the FBI in matters of forensic psychiatry. His
recent testimony against a freshly convicted criminal seems to be the
reason he has gotten a scary phone call informing him he will die in 88
minutes… Gramm must use his skills in order to track down
who has hatched this evil plot and hopefully prevent his own demise.


Before watching 88 minutes, Movies.ie recommends you check out the following titles:

 

 

 

HEAT

 

 



 


In one of his finest performances, Al Pacino plays Vincent Hanna – a Los Angeles police detective obsessively tracking Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his gang of not-so-merry thieves. As the detective gets closer to tracking them down, the crooks plan another big heist. Hanna soon gets a lead that helps him determine the identity of the criminal mastermind who engineered the thefts, and discovers McCauley is a man as driven and relentless as the detective himself. Although he doesn’t have enough evidence against the thief to make an arrest, Hanna convinces McCauley to join him for coffee, at which point the two engage in casual conversation and discover that their lives are remarkably similar. With outstanding acting, a riveting story and breathtaking action scenes, ‘Heat’ is not only edge-of-your-seat stuff but an insightful look at the relationship between cops, criminals, and the women in their lives.


NICK OF TIME

 

 



 


If you’re looking for a real-time-thriller , chances are your best sticking with television series ’24’ but -for you cinema purists out there – there’s always John Badham’s ‘Nick of Time’. Johnny Depp stars as Gene Watson, a mild-mannered, widowed accountant, and the father of six-year-old Lynn. While in Los Angeles’s Union train station, they are abducted by a mysterious couple posing as police officers, Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) and Ms. Jones (Roma Maffia). They give Gene a loaded gun and these orders: assassinate the “flaming liberal” governor of California (Marsha Mason) within the next 90 minutes, or they will kill his beloved daughter. Gene reluctantly agrees, and he is taken to the Bonaventure Hotel where the governor is making an appearance. Tension mounts as the clock ticks and Gene must outwit his conniving kidnappers.

 

 

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

 

 



 

If your looking for the all-round perfect thriller – look no further than ‘In the Line of Fire’. Aging secret service agent Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood), on duty the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, is still unable to forget his failure on that fateful day, even as he nears retirement in 1993. When Mitch Leary (John Malkovich), a psychotic man calling himself Booth, threatens to kill the current president, Horrigan is the only one who takes the threat seriously. Over time, a cat-and-mouse game develops between the potential assassin and the agent; Horrigan sees the game as a chance to redeem his earlier failure and escape a life that has fallen into alcoholism and self-pity. With his only allies his partner (Dylan McDermott), who realizes he can’t handle being a secret service agent and wants to resign, and a female agent (Rene Russo) whom he alternately annoys and attracts, Horrigan takes on Leary one-on-one in a fight to save the president, his job, and his self-respect. Directed with panache and precision by Wolfgang Petersen, ‘In the Line of Fire’ is an expertly crafted thriller that features spectacular performances by Eastwood and Malkovich.

 

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

 

 



 

And now for something completely different. Director Jon Avnet may be busy making thrillers (88 Minutes and last weeks Righteous Kill), but his best feature to date remains… a chick flick. His directorial debut ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ sees Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy star with Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker in this comic, heartwarming tale of family, friendship and murder in rural Georgia. In a Southern nursing home, a feisty resident and old local fixture named Ninny Threadgoode (Tandy) befriends Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) a depressed housewife and stirs her to action with an inspirational tale. She tells the story of a transcendent friendship between two young women living in Georgia in the 1930s, Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth (Mary Louise Parker), who forge a powerful bond after witnessing a terrible tragedy together. The two women open a cafe (where fried green tomatoes are a house specialty) together in their small Southern town of Whistle Stop and manage to survive the hardships of life, despite racism, prejudice and the pressures of trying to live their lives as individuals in a strict and close-minded Southern society. Their friendship lasts through many ups and downs over the years, helping one of the women through an abusive marriage, and buoying both of them through the gossip and jealousy of those small-minded people who try to control their lives.

 

 

 

Have you a film to add – all comments welcome in the text box below.

 


88 Minutes is in Irish cinemas from Friday, October 3rd.