On C List of Movie Reviews

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City Hall (1996)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 6/04, 5/05, 7/20

5/05: Forget everything in City Hall.

Instead, focus your eyes on Al Pacino who's at his thrilling best as the corrupt mayor John Pappas. His funeral speech is powerful and moving. Unfortunately, the movie is slow except when Al Pacino appears.

Nevertheless, the story is interesting with a lot of politics involved. It's a labyrinth to navigate through. Although inconsistent, John Cusack plays an intriguing character, and Danny Aiello does enough to make his role work. Bridget Fonda isn't bad; it's better than her usual.

All in all, Al Pacino is at his vintage best in City Hall.

7/20: Peter Burton is back from True Colors and is ready to redeem himself after selling out many people to be a major player in Congress.

However the size of John Cusack's role is for City Hall, it's instead Al Pacino who's captivating from start to finish. The funeral speech is among the greatest scenes of his career. As a result, he should've gotten an Oscar nomination. On the other hand, Danny Aiello is a perfect New Yorker.

The story is interesting. There's a lot of corruption going on, and multi-million dollar deals are made between a couple of men in power because they happen to be friends and it's a favor either way. It only takes one bizarre shooting incident to bring them all down through paper trail.

All in all, the only reason to see City Hall is Al Pacino, period.

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