windypoplar This HBO original is pretty straightforward and pretty dumb. Armand Assante, once again doing a poor Stallone imitation, is Ray Wellman a ex-con just out on parole. All he wants is his old girlfriend Lacy, played by a young Marcia Gay Harden, back. Unfortunately for Ray, Lacy has hooked up with stalwart Elliot, played by Sam Neill. Further complicating matters is that Ray's old Cell buddies want some favors and they kidnap Lacy to make sure they happen. Ray and Elliot team up, despite mutual dislike.What follows is violent and slow, but Marcia Gay Harden shows us why she would win Oscar in the future, she's not as polished here, but her raw emotion, sincerity and some rather explicit nude scenes almost make this worth watching. Almost.Rent "Fever" (no the title doesn't fit the film) if your a fan of hers, otherwise skip it and be grateful it's stars went on to better things.Note-this is a hard "R" flick for language, violence and nudity.

Michael O'Keefe This starts out a bit slow with the potential of being a dud. The action does heat up and actually finds a pulse and gets interesting. I admit my whole attention was on Marcia Gay Harden. Ray(Armand Assante)has been in prison for four years and upon his release he expects to go back to his old girlfriend Lacy(Harden)and start living the straight life. One catch...she is now seriously living with a lawyer named Elliott(Sam Neil). From behind bars, Ray's prison rival(Joe Spano) is now calling the shots to frame Ray to force him back into prison. To convince Ray, Lacy is kidnapped causing Elliot to join with the ex-con to find and free her.Supporting cast includes: Gregg Henry, Gordon Clapp, Tim Ransom and Steve Rankin.

helfeleather What a stupid idea. Mr Snag, Sam Neill, is up against tough-fighting, tough-talking, tough leather jacket wearing Armand Assante. Neill is a lawyer and Assante is a streetwise crim just out of prison. Thing is, they're in love with the same woman. But she's been kidnapped by a gang of thugs, and the two guys fight over the best way to rescue her. Assante would have done better to turn up, beat the crap out of Neill, and handle the problem by himself, and spare us Neill's unconvincing performance.

Ablaze-2 Just about every actor in here seems kinda bored with the whole thing, and you probably will be about 20 minutes into it. It's pretty much one to miss.