Just re-watched both Donnie Brasco (1997) and then, for comparison purposes, City Hall (1996).

Brasco, I think, was Pacino's last "great" picture (altho he was pretty good in The Insider).

You really feel that he absolutely is the character he portrays, unlike Johnny Depp who I always felt was mis-cast and not believable as an Italian FBI agent.

In City Hall, though, which, while predictable, isn't a bad movie - although I'll confess to enjoying anything that Pacino is in that involves NYC, the Mafia, police corruption, etc. - I felt like I was watching Pacino "act", and not very well.

He gives a Pacino-like over-the-top and not believable eulogy at a little boy's funeral, and seems pretty wooden and unemotional throughout the rest the film.