When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro square off, Heat sizzles. Written and directed by Michael Mann, Heat includes dazzling set pieces and a bank heist that USA Today calls 'the greatest action scene of recent times.' It also offers 'the most impressive collection of actors in one movie this year' (Newsweek). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore and Ashley Judd are among the memorable supporting players in this tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Heat goes way beyond the expectations of the cops-and-criminals genre - and into the realm of movie masterpiece.

 

Any Given sunday:

Life is a contact sport and football is life when three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday. At the 50-yard line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D'Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy Sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who's sure Tony is way too Old School. An injured quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a flashy, bull-headed backup QB (Jamie Foxx), a slithery team doctor (James Woods) and a running back with an incentive-laden contract (LL Cool J) also provide some of the stories that zigzag like diagrams in a playbook. And throughout, there's the awesome spectacle of motion, sound and action orchestrated into "Oliver Stone's most electrifying film in years. A dazzling spectacle" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

 

City Hall:

In a performance both volatile and graceful, Al Pacino reteams with Sea of Love director Harold Becker as New York Mayor John Pappas in City Hall, a savvy thriller that's the first film ever shot inside the lower Manhattan structure that's ground zero for the city's government. That and other NYC locations provide the vivid settings as an idealistic mayoral aide (John Cusack) follows a trail of subversion and cover-up that may look back to the man he serves and reveres. Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, Martin Landau, Tony Franciosa and David Paymer add more starry brilliance to this gripping tale of power. And the power behind the power.