REVIEWS IN A HURRY More movies that begin with S. Previous (R)                 Next (T)
			Stigmata (1999, 103 min, R) ** - Directed by Rupert Wainwright, starring Rosanna Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, and Jonathan Pryce.  Atmospheric but shallow anti-Church “Exorcist” knock-off.  A handsome priest (Byrne, of course struggling with celibacy) investigates the wounds of Christ and other supernatural occurrences surrounding a pretty atheist (Arquette).  Pryce is a stuffy bishop, taking the place of the “give me your badge and gun!” police chief.  The actors do what they can, but picking on the Church in this day and age almost seems lazy.  The Straight Story (1999, 112 min, G) ***1/2 – Directed by David Lynch, starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, and Harry Dean Stanton.  Moving, beautifully-shot, and simply told tale of a legally-blind and dirt poor farmer (Farnsworth) who hears his estranged brother is dying.  Unable to afford even a bus ticket, he decides to make the trip cross-country on his lawnmower, and changes the lives of those he meets.  Improbable?  It’s based on a true story.  Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Super Size Me (2004, 96 min, R) ***1/2 – Directed by Morgan Spurlock.  Vastly entertaining documentary about a man (Spurlock) who spends a month eating nothing but McDonald’s.  While suffering all manner of health problems, Spurlock examines the history, marketing, and nutritional value of the fast food industry, which reveals plenty about the American character.  Winner of the Best Director award at the Sundance Film Festival. Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song (1971, 97 min, R) ***1/2 – Directed by and starring Melvin Van Peebles.  Groundbreaking step in both independent film and African-American cinema.  A young prostitute (Van Peebles) on the run from the law takes an allegorical journey through the black community.  The film’s historical significance more than makes up for its rough production values. The Sting (1973, 129 min, PG) **** - Directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw.  A nostalgic, whimsical metaphor for a fairy tale Great Depression, two con men (Redford and Newman) set out to avenge a dead mentor by duping a vicious mobster (Shaw).  A movie that carries its greatness casually, director Hill paces the movie leisurely and nonchalantly frames every deep-focus shot and figure perfectly.  Characteristic of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the cast is low-key and subtle but, of course, the real star is the ragtime score by the great Scott Joplin, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch.  Multiple Oscars, including Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay.
Speed (1994, 115 min, R) ***1/2 – Directed by Jan de Bont, starring Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper.  Ingenious action thriller about a mad bomber (scene-stealing Hopper) who holds a bus ransom by using a bomb that will detonate if the bus goes slower than 55 mph.  Almost three movies in one, the bus incident is only the second of three episodes in the bomber’s vendetta against a SWAT officer (Reeves) who thwarted him once before.  The big budget Hollywood machine at its finest, with sharply-drawn, likable characters and terrific stunt sequences. Spies Like Us (1995, 102 min, PG) ** - Directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase.  An early “Saturday Night Live” foray onto the big screen that is more like two seasons of sketches following the same characters strung together than an actually movie.  In this case, it’s two bumbling spies (Aykroyd and Chase, with virtually identical personalities) sent to Russia as a diversion for real spy work.  It’s a quintessential “good parts” movie, in which there are good bits and bad bits, but nothing holding it all together.  The couples pairing off before the end of the world is brilliant, and I laughed at the Russian spies who can apparently teleport and the movie poster for “Dr. Zhivago” hanging in a gulag.  But other gags, however inspired in the writing process, don’t quite work; playing the board game “Summit” to determine the fate of the world should be funnier than it is, and none of the chases are amusing or necessary. (’04) Stanley Kubrick:  A Life in Pictures (2001, 142 min, Color & B&W, NR) *** - Directed by Jan Harlan.  Lively and informative, if sometimes superficial, documentary biography of one of the greatest of all filmmakers, whose work includes “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “Barry Lyndon,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Paths of Glory,” and “Dr. Strangelove.”  The movie follows Kubrick’s boyhood and early career in New York and his move to England for complete artistic control, and includes interviews with family, friends, actors who worked with him, and other filmmakers, including Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg.  “A Life in Pictures” is also not above having some fun with Kubrick’s public image of a cool, calculating, nearly-mad control freak. Stargate (1996, 119 min, PG13) ** - Directed & co-written by Roland Emmerich, starring Kurt Russell and James Spader.  A movie with a huge pricetag and a limited imagination:  let’s fly to the other end of the universe and have a shoot-out.  A scientist (Spader) and a team of soldiers (led by Russell) do battle with pharaoh-esque alien slave-drivers to free Egyptian slaves (Americans use violence to protect Middle Easterners from their own backwardness?).  While lacking the feature film’s production values, the television series “Stargate SG-1” and “Stargate: Atlantis” have at least injected the premise with more wit, depth, character, and camp. (’04.)