Movie Reviews
Titles starting with S
Sunset Story
There’s a place in Los Angeles called Sunset Hall, which bills itself as a “Home for Free-thinking Elders.” It’s filled with aging communists, socialists, wobblies, and other lefties. These are people who have been involved in progressive causes all their lives, and the house is a good place, about as good as a place where you go to die can be. Some of them are far beyond radicalism, like ... 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Superman Returns
Superman always was a stiff, but he’s never been stiffer than he is here. What a bore! Anything they could do wrong, they did wrong. There’s no chemistry between Stooperman and Lois. She’s got a kid. It’s obvious he’s a hybrid, part Kryptonian, part human (which might mean he’s a mule), and almost nothing is made of that. At one point he throws a piano, ... Read more »
Support Your Local Gunfighter
This is a fitfully amusing film about James Garner as a con man who arrives in the little mining town of Purgatory and is mistaken for Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors in an uncredited role), a fast gun someone has hired. He in turn convinces the great Jack (“Wall-eyed”) Elam to impersonate Swifty. Comic complications ensue. Susanne Pleshette seems to be imitating Debbie Reynolds’s overacting ... Read more »
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) Nobody could have played the laid-back drifter who comes to town and reluctantly agrees to clean it up (“I’m just on my way to Australia.”) any better than the great James Garner. It was a role tailor-made for him, and he just always seems to be having a terrific time strolling through the idiots who surround him. The idiot-in-chief is Bruce Dern, a man ... Read more »
The Sure Thing
Here’s a whole lot of people very early in their careers. It was Rob Reiner’s second movie, after This is Spinal Tap. Daphne Zuniga was 19, Anthony Edwards was 23, Tim Robbins was 27 but looked a lot younger. All of them were playing 19-year-old college students. Then there was John Cusack, and a bit of a puzzle. Wiki says he was only 16, and had to get ... Read more »
Surf’s Up
Surfing penguins. Okay. It’s a standard story of an underdog rookie out on the waves being hounded by an egotistical champion. The little rockhopper connects with surfing legend Z, who has been missing and presumed dead. Most of the fun here comes from Jeff Bridges as the rather stoned old pro.