After a career slump that plagued him through most of the 1980s, Al Pacino made a stellar comeback in this taut 1989 thriller, playing a weary New York police detective who falls in love with the woman (Ellen Barkin) who is the prime suspect in the murder case he's investigating. Expertly written by Richard Price and directed by Harold Becker, the story is designed to keep its central characters (and the viewer) in a state of constant suspicion and arousal-an emotional combination that sends dangerous sparks flying between Pacino and Barkin. Their chemistry is intense, and their love scenes are some of the hottest of any movie of its decade. But Sea of Love is not merely concerned with cheap titillation. It's a riveting whodunit with scenes of nail-biting suspense and memorable dialogue that make it as interesting to listen to as it is to watch. Barkin had made a similarly sexy impression in The Big Easy, and here she gives one of the best performances of her underrated career, matching Pacino's excellence scene for scene. The ending's a bit of a letdown because the murder solution comes somewhat out of the blue, but it's the acting and suspense that you'll remember most-qualities that make Sea of Love one of the best films of its kind. -Jeff Shannon.

They had a credible motive for murder. a lifetime of injustice.

Even under the heavy censorship of 1946 Hollywood, Lana Turner and John Garfield's libidinous desires burn up the screen in Tay Garnett's adaptation of James M. Cain's torrid crime melodrama. Platinum blond Turner is Cora, a restless sexpot stuck in a roadside diner married to mundane middle-aged fry cook Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) when handsome drifter Frank (Garfield) blows her way. It's lust at first sight, a rapacious desire that neither can break off, and before long they're plotting his demise-but in the wicked world of Cain nothing is that easy. Garnett's visual approach is subdued compared to the more expressionistic film noir of the period, but he's at no loss when he films the luminous Turner in her milky-white wardrobe. She radiates repressed sexuality and uncontrollable passion while Garfield's smart-talking loner Frank mixes street-smart swagger and scrappy toughness with vulnerability and sincere intensity. Co-star Hume Cronyn cuts a cold, calculating figure as their conniving lawyer, a chilly character that only increases our feelings for the murderous couple, victims of an all-consuming amour fou that drives their passions to extremes. -Sean Axmaker, Amazon. com.

It's a hard crime story about a Philadelphia shop owner who has enough of the criminals' violences and ravages. He organizes a patrol of civil people. It all starts to go wrong because his team's actions are taken as racial discrimination. Starring Tom Skerritt, Patti LuPone, Michael Sarrazin and Yaphet Kotto. 92 minutes long - also known as 'Fighting Back'.

edward james olmos,sean young,Matteo Juarez is a retired detective hired by a local businessman to follow his wife Jennifer. She has a split personality and seems to be putting herself in danger without knowing it.

The second version of the film adapted from a Hemigway short story was originally made for TV but deemed too violent for the medium. Excellent performances from a stella cast make this an enjoyable ride and it is interesting to see Ronald Reagan turning in one of his vest performances in this his last film.

Sean Penn wrote and directed The Crossing Guard, a character-driven drama about a divorced couple (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) whose relationship never recovered following the death of their daughter at the hands of a drunk driver (David Morse). When the latter's character, a deeply regretful and changed man, gets out of jail, Nicholson, as the vengeful dad, decides to go after him. As a director, Penn is not so good with fluid storytelling and camera clichés, but he is amazing as an actor's director. The onscreen re-teaming of former real-life lovers Nicholson and Huston is more than just a voyeuristic exercise: Penn ingeniously uses the duo's palpable friction to bring a horrifying reality to the pain of a dead relationship. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Director John Dahl has made more ingenious thrillers than Roadkill, but few with quite its sense of terrible consequences arising from a minor prank. On a road trip, jailbird Fuller (Steve Zahn) persuades his younger, student brother Lewis (Paul Walker) to pretend to be a girl on a CB radio; they set a pushy trucker up with a date with an obnoxious guest at the motel where they stay for the night. The results are far from funny-the guest ends up dead and they find themselves being chased for a while by a large sinister truck. And then, when they have picked up Veena (Leelee Sobieski), the girl with whom Lewis is in love, it all gets worse, much worse. Dahl has picked up on one of the most sinister aspects of hostage situations, which is that quite minor concessions in negotiation can often be more meaningful than they seem. If the film has a weakness it is that the irresponsibility of the two young men is eminently plausible and not especially sympathetic, and the trucker, rather like the faceless driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, is never more than a monstrous force of nature. Along the way, though, Roadkill delivers an appropriate number of thrills and sudden reversals, which all makes for an exciting journey into terror. On the DVD: Roadkill on disc has commentaries by the director, by the writers and by stars Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski; it also has a fascinating wealth of alternate endings including one in which the whole third act of the movie goes in a radically different direction. It has a widescreen anamorphic visual ratio 2. 35:1 and vibrant Dolby 5. [+]