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Movies / On DVD / 88 Minutes
88 Minutes

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88 Minutes (2008)

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Reviews Counted:120

Fresh:6

Rotten:114

Average Rating:2.6/10

Consensus: 88 Minutes is a shockingly inept psychological thriller that expertly squanders the talent at hand.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:03-10-2008

Synopsis: In 88 MINUTES, Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino), a Seattle-based college professor and forensic psychiatrist, is informed by an enigmatic caller that he has exactly that amount of time to live. The... In 88 MINUTES, Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino), a Seattle-based college professor and forensic psychiatrist, is informed by an enigmatic caller that he has exactly that amount of time to live. The threat is linked to Gramm's role in putting a convicted serial killer (Neal McDonough) behind bars nearly a decade earlier, and sends the scholar/consultant on a desperate run to avert his imminent demise. Entering into Gramm's dangerous orbit are his dutiful assistant (Amy Brenneman), an FBI agent (William Forsythe), and his admiring young students (most notably Alicia Witt), all of whom add layers to the tense mystery. Shelved for years, 88 MINUTES was finally released in U.S. theaters during 2008, marking director Jon Avnet's first feature-film project since 1997's RED CORNER. (Avnet was brought in as a replacement for original helmer James Foley.) Pacino clearly knows his way around a thriller (see HEAT and INSOMNIA), and approaches his beleaguered character with typical gusto, while his costars, particularly Forsythe and Witt, also offer up energetic turns. Though the high-concept plot is secondary to Pacino's agitated performance, even those who drift from the storyline will appreciate the Hollywood veteran's over-the-top acting, especially if they are diehard fans of the iconic actor. [More]

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Unger, Neal McDonough, William Forsythe, Melinda Clarke

Director: Jon Avnet

Director: Jon Avnet
Screenwriter: Gary Scott Thompson
Producer: Randall Emmett, Gary Scott Thompson, Jon Avnet
Composer: Edward Shearmur
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for 88 Minutes

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Wears its stupidity with pride, like a kid who's super-excited about stuffing pencils up his nose.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
04/17/08
Matt Pais
Matt Pais
Metromix.com

With its lumbering efforts at black humor and phony pretense to moral complexity, 88 Minutes is an ugly specimen on just about every front.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
04/17/08
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

Pacino never looks very frazzled, even as his lethal deadline approaches. He only gets louder.

Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | comment Comment
04/17/08
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm

If one is the loneliest number, two is company, three is a crowd and four is an orgy, then eighty-eight must be the universal symbol for unwatchability.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
04/17/08
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

It takes eight minutes, tops, to know that even by the conventionally lax standards of watch-and-toss serial-killer movies, 88 Minutes is a stinker, the more so for the thespian excesses of the accomplished cast.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
04/17/08
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

If you lower your expectations and keep a sense of humor, even that large popcorn will seem worth the money.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
04/17/08
Rafer Guzman
Rafer Guzman
Newsday

brightened only by its fleeting moments of unintentional humor

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/16/08
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

A stronger word than preposterous is needed to describe the, well, preposterous lengths director Jon Avnet and company go to engorge this movie with idiotic action, incomprehensible twists and loads of other nonsense.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
04/16/08
David Germain
David Germain
Associated Press

It's always a shock when a movie turns out to be this bad.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/16/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

88 Minutes plays like a script Tom Cruise rejected back in the ’90s, forcing Pacino to run -- across campus, across town, through parking garages, up and down stairs.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
04/16/08
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

88 Minutes will add a little more luster to a career that has not been adequately appreciated perhaps because of the suspiciously seductive power of a little man with an outsize talent.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 4 Comments
04/16/08
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

How Al Pacino found himself roped into this wacky movie is another mystery entirely and one that doesn't take much research past the words "yacht payment" to solve.

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment Comment
04/16/08
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

Okay, so Al went slumming and all he got was a paycheck and movie for his fans to ignore. All is forgiven. Just don't do it again Al. Please don't do it again.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/13/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Pacino and company mark time in this preposterous copycat killer thriller.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/11/08
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even Zinnemann (High Noon) and Badham (Nick of Time) knew that to heighten suspense of a story spanning real time, the film's running-time must be the same or close, but Avnet and scripter unnecessarily extend their inane saga from 88 to 106 minutes.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/10/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

The picture easily snatches from Revolution the prize as Al Pacino's career worst.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
04/09/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For sheer silliness, nothing in 88 Minutes tops the fact that Witt's English ex-con husband boasts the ridiculously fanciful name Guy LaForge, presumably because "Fakey McMake-Believe" was already taken.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment 1 Comment
04/01/08
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

click for full review

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment Comment
07/21/07
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Shockingly inept from start to finish...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
07/10/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Avnet embala o roteiro burocrático em uma direção igualmente sem inspiração, deixando a tarefa de tornar o filme interessante para Al Pacino e Alicia Witt, que trazem energia para a narrativa.

comment Comment
03/31/07
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6
all

Latest News for 88 Minutes

January 21, 2009: Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...

October 03, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Does Just That; Whilst Brideshead Revisited Is Resisted
In the UK cinemas this week we have two literary adaptations with Simon Pegg as an irksome hack in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited... More...

September 09, 2008: While 88 Minutes is no 3:10 To Yuma, this beat-the-clock escape artist fare that's light on logic and heavy on the shoe leather, sustains sufficient breathlessly nerve-jangling lockdown for the duration, despite a couple of weirdly situated plot holes. Opens in new window
More...

April 22, 2008: Pacino, De Niro Take Lumps for Recent Choices Opens in new window
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino might be among the greatest living American actors -- but have they forgotten why they started acting in the first place? More...

See All

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