Phoenix: Blutige Stadt (1998)

Phoenix: Blutige Stadt: Directed by Danny Cannon. With Ray Liotta, Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven. A cop (Liotta) with a gambling addiction plots a theft from the bookies who are putting pressure on him to pay off or else.

“Sometimes I question why one movie gets theatrical distribution while another does not. To be fair, I think things generally swing the right way. Movies that call video their home do it for sometimes a much deserved reason: they stink. This is not the case with Phoenix however.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s a breath of fresh air to take a chance on a direct-to-video quickie and have it turn out this good. The story is tight and look at all the recognizable faces in the cast. That helps me out. The whole police officer-gambling junky angle is different – Liotta as the lead carries it off well and Phoenix is just all around better than most cop boilers Iu0026#39;ve seen in the last six months. It sure ainu0026#39;t lacking in clichés of the genre, but that has come to be expected. Phoenix is just a well filmed, nicely acted piece of work from director Danny Cannon who makes amends for the theatrical bomb Judge Dredd. Worth a look on a slow night or for Liotta fans.”