al pacino – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MINESHAFT: THE CRUISING MURDERS (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 13, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale Addison Verrill, al pacino, documentary, gay history, Jeffrey Schwartz, LGBTQ history, Mineshaft, Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders, Tribeca 2026, William Friedkin

No matter what you think you know about director William Friedkin’s movie Cruising, or, for that matter, about New York City in the late 1970s, you’ll learn more by watching Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders. Acting as director, producer, and editor, Jeffrey Schwartz offers up a fascinating, (albiet “kitchen sink”) documentary that explores the 1979 thriller starring Al Pacino, the gay history happening around the making of the film, and the real-life murder that “inspired” his film.

Commentaries

DROP DEAD CITY: NYC in Film During the 1970s – Essay by Yael Friedman (Guest post)

February 6, 2026February 8, 2026 Guest Post al pacino, documentary, Drop Dead City, Dustin Hoffman, federal bailout, martin scorsese, Michael Rohatyn, Motion Picture Production Code, NYC fiscal crisis, Pauline Kael, Peter Yost, robert deniro, urban crisis, Yael Friedman

The wonderful recent documentary Drop Dead City by Michael Rohatyn and Peter Yost about the 1975 fiscal crisis is a fittingly dramatic retelling of this pivotal moment in the city’s history. It is, of course, titled after the famous Daily News headline from when President Gerald R. Ford allegedly told the city to “drop dead,” after Mayor Abe Beame and Governor Hugh Carey arrived in Washington, hats in hand, asking for federal aid. The film shows the disdain for New York held by politicians and folks elsewhere, and the righteous indignation of New Yorkers after seeing the headline. Ultimately, President Ford’s conviction to let New York City fail did not prevail, his coarse morality tale about the role of government and the spendthrift Sodom was disrupted. With aid from Washington and a new austerity plan created by the newly formed Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC), New York pulled back from the brink–––even if to emerge a lesser city in many ways.

Reviews

DEAD MAN’S WIRE – Review by Diane Carson

January 20, 2026January 25, 2026 Diane Carson al pacino, Austin Kolodney, Bill Skarsgard, Colman Domingo, Dacre Montgomery, Dead Man’s Wire, gus van sant, Myha’la, truth-based

Dead Man’s Wire stays firmly immersed in a bizarre, true story. Not surprisingly, especially these days, invented stories cannot match real life for bizarre, mind-boggling incidents. That holds true for director Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire. Based on a true story that took place beginning February 8, 1977 in Indianapolis, Van Sant chooses to thrust audiences immediately into the startling events and to anchor all subsequent scenes in the ongoing nightmare for Meridian Mortgage Company executive Richard ‘Dick’ Hall. For it is Hall who becomes Tony Kiritsis’ hostage when his father M.L. Hall, the company’s unsympathetic CEO, is in Florida, unconcerned about a scheduled meeting with Kiritsis.

Reviews

BREAKDOWN: 1975 – Review by Lynn Venhaus

December 18, 2025December 21, 2025 Lynn Venhaus al pacino, Albert Brooks, Blaxploitation, Breakdown: 1975, documentary, Ellen Burstyn, jack nicholson, jodie foster, Josh Brolin, martin scorsese, Morgan Neville, Oliver Stone, Patton Oswalt, Robert Altman, robert deniro, Saturday Night Live, Seth Rogen, Steven Spielberg, Wesley Morris

In this Wayback Machine, called Breakdown: 1975, we travel back 50 years to a pivotal year that defined daring, imaginative filmmaking, and how coincidentally, it happened between the resignation of President Nixon and the Bicentennial birthday celebration. In Morgan Neville’s well-intentioned documentary, he puts the chaotic 1970s in perspective, touching on how young talented filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman and Steven Spielberg were inspiring a cinematic revolution. Studios took risks, and moviegoers responded in this heralded New Hollywood. As exuberant as this fertile time was, in real life, America was going through dismal days post-Watergate and Vietnam.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Susan Granger

November 30, 2021December 4, 2021 Susan Granger Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, jeremy irons, lady gaga, ridley scott

Ridley Scott’s extravagant melodrama House of Gucci delves into what led to the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci, scion of the Milan-based fashion family.

This sordid saga of love, backstabbing and betrayal begins as Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an accountant at her father’s trucking company, sets her sights on bespectacled Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), whom she meets at a disco party. Although he’s smitten, his suave, snobbish father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) spots her as a crass, social-climbing gold-digger.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Liz Braun

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021 Liz Braun Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, lady gaga, ridley scott

Every bit as plastique and fabulous as a knock-off designer handbag, House of Gucci is a wildly entertaining soap opera about people fighting over money, from director Ridley Scott. .Based on a real-life story of greed and betrayal and tragedy, in the telling here it is busy and beautiful to look at. There are a couple of leaps in the storytelling that don’t quite add up and a complaint might be lodged about some of the more melodramatic bits — but it’s all so visually dazzling and fun to watch that none of these quibbles add up to much.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Diane Carson

November 20, 2021November 21, 2021 Diane Carson Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, jeremy irons, lady gaga, ridley scott

House of Gucci chronicles unpleasant events regarding this fashion brand. Based on Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, the four elements emphasized in her title pinpoint the essence of the drama. Announced on screen as “inspired by true events,” it has, nevertheless, received extensive Gucci family criticism, the book and the film. No wonder, for no one comes off admirably depicted.

Reviews

THE IRISHMAN – Review by Susan Granger

December 5, 2019 Susan Granger 0 Comments al pacino, jimmy hoffa, joe pesce, martin scorsese, netflix, robert de niro, the irishman

Martin Scorsese has created a sprawling, three-and-a-half-hour gangster epic, teaming Robert De Niro with Al Pacino (for the first time),

Reviews

THE IRISHMAN – Review by Brandy McDonnell

November 28, 2019November 29, 2019 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments al pacino, joe Pesci, martin scorsese, netflix, robert de niro, the irishman

Even by their superlative standards, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci – the latter came out of retirement at Scorsese’s behest, give stellar performances, and Industrial Light & Magic’s de-aging effects show just how far that cinematic technology has come in a short time.

Reviews

THE IRISHMAN – Review by. Martha K Baker

November 21, 2019 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments al pacino, Irishman, jimmy hoffa, joe Pesci, martin scorsese, robert de nero

“The Irishman” is a nearly perfect movie. From dialogues to monologues in Steven Zailian’s script, from Rodrigo Prieto’s camera angles and Robbie Robertson’s music to vintage scenes designed by Bob Shaw. Martin Scorsese has directed a movie that can be described only as brilliant. Except for one thing: it is based on a fable.

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