Ed Pansullo Movies

Adapted from a true story, dockworker Joey Coyle (John Cusack) finds over $1 million, which fell from an armored car. Instead of returning the money, he embarks on a spending spree unchecked by the wishes of his friend (Michael Rapaport) and hires a crime ring to launder the money. The detective assigned to the case (Michael Madsen) follows his increasingly distinct tracks. ~ John Bush, Rovi

In this high-energy satire of the music biz, Ivan Alexov (John Cusack) and Josh Tager (Tim Robbins) lose their jobs as security guards, and they decide to start their own video production company. Their first gigs are less than inspiring, including a rappin' commercial for a chicken-and-waffle place, a living will, and a right-wing Presidential-hopeful's (Clu Gulager) gala dinner. Eventually, they get to direct a heavy-metal music video which becomes a huge surprise success. But now the politician needs to get back a private videotape from the boys, and the Secret Service is put on their trail. This chaotic romp has cameos from more music celebs than you can shake a tape reel at, as well as a hopping little soundtrack by Fishbone. This is also the film that introduced a conservative folksinger/politician character who later got his own movie, Bob Roberts. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi

Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) has seemingly smoothed out his differences with his Beverly Hills superior Bogomil (Ronny Cox), but there's trouble ahead for both men, not to mention two other holdovers from the first Cop film, officers Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton). The "untouchable" heavy this time out is masterminding a series of violent robberies, committed by leather-freak hoods Dean Stockwell and Brigitte Nielsen. Unaccumstomed to this nastiness, Bogomil entreats street-smart Foley to help find the miscreants. But mean-spirited chief of police Lutz (Allen Garfield) will brook no interference from outsiders-especially the profanely insouciant Mr. Foley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Punk rock's first great embodiment of the motto "live fast and die young," Sid Vicious joined The Sex Pistols when they were already established as the most controversial rock band in British history; and it soon became apparent that he couldn't play his instrument, had a magnetic attraction to chaos, and possessed a dangerous thirst for booze, drugs, and violence. Sid & Nancy opens shortly after Sid (Gary Oldman) joined the band, when he meets an obnoxious American punk groupie named Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb). Nancy claims that she can get drugs, and Sid naively gives her his money. Nancy doesn't show up with the goods, but when Sid runs into her a few days later, she has a tall tale about getting ripped off - and Sid sympathizes with her. Before long, Sid and Nancy have fallen in love, and while they argue with uncommon vehemence, they also depend completely on each other. When The Sex Pistols break up, Sid has few prospects and an increasingly voracious appetite for heroin, and Nancy's attempts to "manage" his career only hasten his downhill slide. Former Clash leader Joe Strummer wrote the film's theme song, "Love Kills," and The Pogues, The Circle Jerks, and Pray for Rain contributed to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In an "urban cowboy" story, a father decides to take a stand against neighborhood gangsters even at risk to his life. After Louis Thibadeau (Charles Durning) witnesses a gangland-style execution he agrees to help the police nail and jail the murderers, knowing full well the gangsters will not idly sit back and allow him to testify. When a female lawyer friend (Pam Grier) runs across one of the hoodlums in a court case, she warns Louis that he doesn't stand a chance of collecting social security at the moment. Louis sends his children away for the duration and digs out his supply of weapons from his days as a Marine, waiting at home for the assault to come. Following more or less the same build-up as Straw Dogs, this is a milder version of the same theme. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Alex Cox's directorial debut was a wickedly funny and willfully bizarre story that became a major cult item once it began making the art-house rounds a year after its release (an initial run in a string of Southern grind houses and drive-ins, where it was billed as an action film, was a resounding failure). Having lost his job and his girlfriend, punk rocker Otto (Emilio Estevez) meets a guy named Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who offers him $25 to drive his wife's car out of a "bad area." When a handful of angry people start chasing Otto, he realizes that something is up, and he discovers that Bud repossesses cars for a living. With few immediate prospects, Otto joins Bud at the repo yard and is soon "ripping" cars with the best of them. When an anonymous source posts a $20,000 reward for a missing 1964 Chevy Malibu, it turns out that what's valuable isn't the car itself, but what's in the trunk, which is very hot, glows brightly, and kills anyone who comes in contact with it. A vaguely surreal modern-noir science-fiction comedy with echoes of Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Repo Man is packed with more incongruous sight gags than anyone can absorb in one viewing; keep your eyes peeled for the air fresheners, the generic newspaper box, and the watches without hands. Harry Dean Stanton gives a superb comic performance as the intense but laid-back Bud, Emilio Estevez delivers perhaps the best work of his career as the petulant but goofy Otto, and Tracey Walter is hilarious as the spaced out repo-yard man Miller. Iggy Pop wrote and performed the theme song and The Circle Jerks appear as a lounge band. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi