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Fifteen Minutes | 2001 | R | - 6.9.10

A celebrated NY detective (Robert De Niro) and an obscure NY fire marshal (Edward Burns) join forces to track down two killers who videotape their brutal crimes. Also with Vera Farmiga, Kelsey Grammer, Melina Kanakaredes, Tygh Runyan, Avery Brooks, Karel Roden, Oleg Taktarov and Charlize Theron. [1:59]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - Mild kissing. Discussion of oral sex -- a killer places his victims in bed together as if they were having oral sex before they died. We do not see the bodies in such positions but the police talk about the scene when the corpses are found. A call girl strips down to her thong underwear, gets on her knees, and unbuckles a man's pants as she prepares to perform fellatio on him; we see both her bare breasts and exposed body several times. We see a photo of a female corpse in a transparent bra; her nipples are visible. A woman puts her hand on her clothed breast. A shirtless man talks about a woman grabbing his genitals. A woman talks about seeing her sister being raped. A few instances of cleavage. Two men hug and then one man kisses the other on the cheek.


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VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - Several instances of threatening with guns and many shots fired with a few people killed and wounded. Twice a man holds a knife to a woman's neck while grabbing her throat. A man stabs another in the forearm with a knife; the knife sticks in the man's arm and then he pulls it out. A man stabs another man several times; we hear screams and see the bloody knife and the killer's bloody hands (this murder is later replayed on a video camera). A man shoots a gun into a crowd. A man is shot in the chest and killed, dying a slow death (we see blood on his hands and clothes). A man is shot in the chest numerous times and killed; we see blood come out of the many wounds on his chest. A man is stabbed several times and we see blood come out of the wound onto his clothes; he dies. A man snaps a woman's neck, killing her. A man throws a woman on a bed, into a wall and then beats her and stabs her to death; we hear her screaming and we see blood on the killer's face. Then we see the naked female corpse covered in blood (with bloody gashes where she's been stabbed). A man is shot in the chest and blood comes out of the wound. A man is shot in the foot and we see a close-up of the bloody wound. A man with blood dripping down his forehead is taped to a chair, punched in the face and pistol whipped on the mouth (blood drips down his forehead and out of his mouth); we see this scene replayed on television. A man pistol whips a man several times, causing the man's head to bleed profusely. Two men spit in each other's faces; two men also spit blood in each other's faces. A man sets an apartment on fire, torching two corpses (we see bits of the two charred corpses, including a close-up of a very charred face). In another scene, an apartment catches fire and explodes and two people are trapped inside; a man burns his hand and wrist. We see a corpse with lots of blood covering the back of his clothes. A man knocks down two men with a chair. A man punches another man in the face. A man pulls a switchblade on another man. A man puts his gloved finger in a corpse's mouth. A woman talks about seeing her sister getting raped. A man is handcuffed to a tree.

LANGUAGE 10 - At least 50 F-words, several anatomical and scatological references, several mild obscenities, a few religious profanities, several insults.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Murder, sensationalistic television (the media's obsession with sex and violence), victimization, insanity, perceptions of America and anti-Americanism, police and fire investigations, rape, prostitution, envy, uncontrollable anger, sex, suicide, love.

MESSAGE - Killers and sensational TV journalists will get their just deserts in the end.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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