Movie Reviews
Swimming Upstream
Based on a true story, from the 1960s. Sports movies tend to follow a pattern. That doesn’t mean they can’t be stirring and exciting and insightful and involving, but the better ones find a way to depart from that pattern. This one seems fairly standard: The only blonde child in a family of 5 is real good at swimming, but his sports-mad alcoholic father favors another son who is only ... Read more »
Swimming Pool
ritically well-received, but Lee and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. If you understand the ending, please write and explain it to me.
Sweet Sixteen
Ken Loach is an unabashedly Socialist writer and director who has made quite a few films in England and never been tempted to go Hollywood. He specializes in the working class in the UK, and if you liked films like Ladybird, Ladybird, or Bread and Roses, (which we did), you’ll probably like this one. It is a tough life with few options ... Read more »
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
It’s probably been a year since I first heard that Tim Burton was directing this, possibly my favorite musical of all time. That was okay, he’s certainly weird enough to handle it. Then I heard about the casting. Johnny Depp? Helena Bonham-Carter? (Who just happens to be Burton’s girlfriend?) What the fuck is this? Both terrifically talented people, no question, but my question was ... Read more »
Super Size Me
Morgan Spurlock came up with an ingenious idea: Eat nothing but McDonald’s food for 28 days and see what happens. He’s a very fit guy. His girlfriend is a vegan chef so he gets healthy meals at home, but he still eats meat, which pisses her off. Now, I’m a sucker for David and Goliath stories, and apparently this really shook up Mickey D. Spurlock covers a lot of ground, none of it ... Read more »
Susan Slept Here
Dick Powell’s last film, the 11th for Debbie Reynolds. About the only thing that caught my interest was in the first ten seconds, when the RKO Radio Pictures logo came up. I’m sure I’ve seen it a thousand times, but always in black and white. It was a real shock to see it in color. Other than that, this is a lame story about an older screenwriter (Powell was 48) who gets involved with a ... Read more »
Super 8
I got a strong sense of dejay view in this one. It’s not directed by Steven Spielberg (he is the producer), but the director, the ubiquitous J.J. Abrams, obviously knew what was expected of him. It will remind you of The Goonies, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and of a sort of hardcore E.T.: The ... Read more »
Sunshine Cleaning
It’s funny, because I recently read a novel on this same subject: The Mystic Art of Removing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston. It used to be (and probably still is, in small towns) that if one of your loved ones killed himself, was murdered, or died and wasn’t found for a week in your home, the coroner was responsible for removing the corpse, and you were ... Read more »
Sunshine
How many times do I have to tell you, novelists, screenwriters, and directors? You may think you’re a professional, you may have plenty of novels and movies under your belt. You think you can handle it. But I’m telling you, for your own good … do not mess with “hard” science fiction without an adult, professional guide to show you the way! You can hurt yourself! ... Read more »