Albino Alligator (1996, R)

This film had almost no special effects, very few scene locations (most of it was in a room and the street outside) and a very small cast (though almost all of them were famous actors), and all of the work went into the story.  Some of the lines were cheesy, but others were pretty clever and I liked most of the turns the story took (not to say that they were happy turns, but good story material).  The first few minutes of the movie were well spent establishing the basics of the situation and it was done in a very time-efficient way.  Soon we get to the part where the rest of the movie takes place.  The premise from this point on is that a trio of criminals (attempted thieves fleeing a crime) enter a New Orleans bar at closing time and hold the few staff and patrons hostage.  It's largely a tension-building story as each of them has different motivations, concerns and things they would think to do or say.

The film was directed by famed actor Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, Shrink).  The trio of criminals consist of a weak leader played by Matt Dillon (Rumble Fish, There's Something About Mary), a sociopath played by William Fichtner (The Longest Yard [2010], Contact), and a level-headed semi-intelligent man played by (one of my personal favorites) Gary Sinise (Impostor, Reindeer Games).  The bar owner is played by M. Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner, Little Big Man) who I always find charming on film, and the bartender/waitress is played by Faye Dunaway (Bonny & Clyde, The Thomas Crown Affair [1968]).  Dunaway's character talked back to and mocked the newly-arrived crooks, which I imagine was supposed to make her look sassy and/or strong, but I thought it was unamusing, annoying and supremely unintelligent.  Later she mellowed out and became a very worthwhile character to the story.  Among the bar patrons were Viggo Mortensen (A History Of Violence, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy) and John Spencer (The West Wing television series).  The law officer in charge outside on the street was played by Joe Mantegna (Thinner, !Three Amigos!).  It turns out Albino Aligator is not the name of the bar, as I had presumed, but rather a reference that is made clear about midway through the story.  It's properly tense and it makes sense.

I tend to like closed-room movies.  I don't know if that's a real term or not (I know "closed-room mystery" is a term, and this idea is similar but different), but if most or all of a story takes place in a small area and is based largely on tension and human interactions, it requires and displays more storytelling skill.  Some famous examples of this would be Speed (takes place on a bus) Glengary Glen Ross (takes place in and around an office) and Phone Booth (takes place in a desert... just kidding, it takes place in a phone booth).  Some you may or may not be familiar with are Devil (2010, on an elevator), Night Train (2009, on a... oh, you get it) and The Killing Jar (2010).  Albino Alligator is a pretty solid story of this type, so if you like tense human-interaction/conflict stories, you should like this.  However, though Alligator was probably the "better" film, I think I got more enjoyment out of The Killing Jar: it has many similarities and I think is just a little neater (especially at the end, though the ending is less creative) and also has several face's you'll recognize, but probably not as many names other than Michael Madesn [Kill Bill, Sin City and probably 100 more small roles that any given person has seen]).  Keep in mind that while Alligator leaves almost all of the gore to your imagination, Killing Jar shows it.