88 Minutes88 Minutes is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jon Avnet starring Al Pacino, Benjamin McKenzie, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman and Neal McDonough. Filming began in the Vancouver area on October 8, 2005 and wrapped in December 2005. The film was released in various territories during 2007.
In May 2007, TriStar Pictures acquired all U.S. distribution rights of 88 Minutes;TriStar Pictures released this movie in the United States theatrically on April 18, 2008.
Plot:
In Seattle, the successful forensic psychiatrist and college professor Jack Gramm is in evidence since he was responsible for the condemnation of the serial killer Jon Forster, influencing the jury to sentence Forster to death row. Forster accuses Gramm of manipulation, inducing one witness and the sister of one of his victims to testify against him.
On the eve of Forster's execution, Gramm receives a phone call telling him that he has only eighty-eight minutes of life left. Meanwhile, someone is copycatting Forster, killing women with the same modus operandi and is being investigated by the Seattle Slayer Task Force.
With the support of associate Shelly Barnes, an FBI agent, plus his friend Frank Parks and his assistant Kim Cummings, Gramm investigates some weird and problematic students, a security guard of the campus and the woman with whom he had a one-night stand as his 88 minutes continue to tick off the clock.
Cast:
* Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Gramm
* Benjamin McKenzie as Mike Stemp
* Alicia Witt as Kim Cummings
* Leelee Sobieski as Lauren Douglas
* Amy Brenneman as Shelly Barnes
* William Forsythe as Special Agent Frank Parks
* Deborah Kara Unger as Carol Johnson
* Neal McDonough as Jon Forster
* Leah Cairns as Sara Pollard
* Stephen Moyer as Guy LaForge
* Christopher Redman as Jeremy Guber
* Brendan Fletcher as Johnny d'Franco
* Michael Eklund as J.T. Ryker
* Kristina Copeland as Dale Morris
* Tammy Hui as Janie Kay
* Victoria Tennant as Kate
* Michal Yannai as Leeza Pearson
* Mike Dopud as Sherif (Uncredited)
Production:
Jon Avnet replaced James Foley as director. Kristin Cavallari originally had a role in this film, but pulled out. Shero Rauf was the digital effects artist for the film.
Filming locations:
The university scenes in the film were shot at the University of British Columbia (UBC) near Vancouver, which stood in for a fictional Northwest Washington University. It attracted much attention on campus (mainly due to Pacino's presence in the film) and filming was interrupted repeatedly because of it. This also could have been because many integral scenes were filmed in the busiest areas of campus during peak class hours. It was common for students to exit buildings after class only to walk into a shooting location.
Scenes were also shot on the campus of UCLA. The filming was secretive and did not draw as much attention as it did at UBC
Critical reception:
88 Minutes was heavily panned by critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 6% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 94 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 17 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
Box office performance:
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $6,957,216 in 2,168 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office and averaging $3,209 per theater. In its second weekend, the film grossed $3,593,890 and fell to #8 at the box office. The film's worldwide gross is $30,667,634 with $16,930,884 from the US and Canadian box office and $13,736,750 from the rest of the world.
88 MinutesDirected by Jon Avnet
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #271 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-16
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 107 minutes
Amazon.com
Al Pacino looks startled through much of 88 Minutes, as though taken by surprise at being cast in a thriller that must've first passed across the desks of Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford. Still, Pacino brings his usual oomph to the role of a Seattle forensic psychiatrist, whose testimony secured the death sentence for a crazy serial killer (Neal McDonough). Wouldn't you know it, the very day the killer is sentenced to die, a copycat "Seattle Slayer" is on the loose, and Pacino starts getting ominous phone calls telling him the exact time of his own death. Tick tock: it's 88 minutes away. The film then serves up more red herrings than a Stalingrad fish fry, as possible culprits pop up every five minutes or so (among them an attractive group of med-school students played by Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, and Benjamin McKenzie). Lapses in logic abound, but if you hunker down and zone in on Pacino's weary-eyed, poufy-haired professionalism, you can enjoy the goings-on. (They even make him run up flights of stairs, which one would have thought beyond him now.) Seattle's frequent stunt double, Vancouver, B.C., stands in as a location, and Jon Avnet supplies the slick direction. The cast is talented (including Amy Brenneman), leading you to guess that a lot of people will do anything just to work with Al Pacino. And you've got to admire Pacino's chutzpah at sharing the screen with statuesque actresses such as Brenneman and Sobieski; they tower over him, but he still holds his own. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
88 Minutes Has My Appreciation
Having been the victim of sexual molestation and then rape when I was only 10 years old, the subject matter and story line of this film is the most compelling of any movie I have ever viewed.
This film is about revenge, it's about the evil depravity lurking in the hearts of certain men and then it's about Redemption.
Jack Gramm is an intelligent, caring, brooding, tender, manic depressive, enigmatic, creative character that is played to perfection by Al Pacino. The character is intelligent and creative in the way that he puts a puzzle together. He is caring and tender with all his female students when they need him most as they learn of a cereal rapist on the loose. Gramm is brooding and manic depressive as he suffers every day because of the murder and rape and torture of his baby sister. Finally he is enigmatic because his only destiny is as a recluse hiding from the certain revenge that one of his convictions may one day bring from his enemies.But Jack Gramm is also youthful and hip. Blending in perfectly with his college students at parties and bars. He is cool to say it plainly.
As he faces certain death at every turn, you will constantly be kept guessing as to who his would be murderer is. There are certainly a fair number of twists. I myself thought for sure Jack Gramm was going to die. Everything continued to mount up against him. In the end thankfully, his expierience and savvy prevailed against the evil forces.
I have to say this film moved me to tears at the finale. Jack Gramm accomplished many things through the course of his career, but in the end what mattered most was the peace he finally could own inside his heart.
Thanks Al and to all that contributed to this Epic Masterpiece
Truth Vs. Justice
Engaging movie. Some plot flaws. (How could a forensic Psychologist who is heavily involved in a major murder case not know that one of his college students is a lawyer for the other side? How could so many time consuming events in a man's day, take place in several locations in a crowded city, transpire in such a short time?)Beware, this film contains many disturbing images.(More than a standard alotment of bloodied tortured women hanging from meat hooks for one film.)
Let's face it folks, Pacino could sit and read the phone book for 88 minutes and it would still be better than most movies playing in the theatres today. Pacino is the Paul McCartney of actors. In addition, he is also very athletic and believable in the role of a younger man. He still "has it" even at age 67. As in many other Pacino movies, Al delivered a couple of inspiring monologues from the script that he made his own. Like when he was talking to a condemned killer on the phone during a live radio broadcast and he said,"Identify the victims!" It almost feels that he writes these signature lines himself. It isn't just the words that are motivating, but it is the way they are delivered.
No matter how much you try to follow the storyline, you will never guess which character commits the violent murders or why. This movie will stay with you for a while as your conscious and subconcious mind strives to sort it out. I would even suggest that you repeat viewing so that you can take in all the plot twists.
There is a running theme of truth vs. justice and an underlying necessity for vigilantism. Can modifying the truth insure justice? Can telling the absolute truth threaten our security as a society and set murderers free? Can telling a few lies help restore truth and justice? Do lies spin us into a more tangled web and reak havok on ourselves and other inocent people. Dangerous concepts for a Saturday matinee. What do you think?
decent, not amazing
when i first seent eh previews at first i was almost thinking this was going to be simular to the 1970s and 1990s "cape fear" ware a man get out of prison stalks someoen who didnt'help him out. parts of tis reminded me of that, it had it moments, it had supsne but towards the last 15- 20 minutes in my opinion it had way to many names to keep up with trying tor ecallwho this whot hat, you start hearing name linda did this, so in so did tha caus of so in so doing this etc and i even ehard people int eh audican say "who is that,, who that again?? wasnt that thsi person etc" people that day were getting cofnsued as well bu up till last 15- 20 minute i thoguh it was decent, had decent ending just to many names to start keeping up with in my opinion
88 Minutes
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