City Hall

As you watch “City Hall” (1996), there’s a feeling this plane is on autopilot. Al Pacino is the mayor of New York. He plays it like pretty much every speechifying New York Guy character he’s ever played. John Cusack is deputy mayor. His Louisiana accent and backwoods backstory are more a distraction than a distinction. (Former South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings has a cameo, BTW.) The tired plot’s a retelling of the young idealist learning the hard way that political morality is painted in shades of gray, not black and white. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t have any soul.

 

Intersection

If “Intersection” had been made in 2014 instead of 1994, it would have been called “White People Problems.” Handsome, successful architect (Richard Gere) struggles to reconcile empty marriage to beautiful, successful socialite (Sharon Stone) and complicated affair with beautiful, successful journalist (Lolita Davidovich). Don’t you just hate when that happens? Privilege plus angst equals meh. Anyway, the whole thing is gorgeous to look at (especially Ms. Davidovich) but totally devoid of depth. Which pretty much sums up Gere’s career in a nutshell. Which is why this movie holds some importance. This, not “Pretty Woman,” is the definitive Richard Gere film.