|
"SCHOOL OF ROCK" -- Get your butt back to school! Jack Black is the new teacher, and he carries this fun film with a heart that's still beating with rock 'n' roll. Every rock movie cliché is on hand and works just great under Richard Linklater's able direction. -- Tom Mangan DVD
"SCREAM 3" -- The guy in the Edvard Munch mask is back, but screenwriter Kevin Williamson is not. Gone are the real insight into horror movies, the hipness quotient and much of the salient humor, making this just another slasher/stalker movie that the first two "Screams" ironically poked fun at. Decent enough, but not up to the standards of the series.
"SEABISCUIT" -- The story of horseracing's most famous animal brings together an unlikely trio (played by Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper and Tobey Maguire) whose lives are forever changed by a horse considered too small, ungraceful and slow to compete. It captures the heart of a nation, although Hollywood sentimentality occasionally overwhelms a wonderful story and terrific performances. A keeper.
"SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE" -- F.W. Murnau's (John
Malkovich) obsession with realism and creating the
scariest film of all time leads him to cast an actual
vampire (Willem Dafoe) when filming his classic
"Nosferatu." A genuine creep-out marked by an
Oscar-worthy performance by Dafoe, an atmosphere and
look consistent with the original, and -- unfortunately --
overly slow pacing.
"SHATTERED GLASS" -- Based on the true story of magazine writer Stephen Glass, who got caught playing fast and loose with the facts. Hayden Christensen plays the doomed Glass, Steve Zahn plays the journalist who nailed him. Hank Azaria is part of a fine cast and a fine movie.
"SHICHININ NO SAMURAI" ("Seven Samurai") -- A true masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa. Farmers recruit Samurai Ronin to fight bandits. Remade as "The Magnificent Seven." We review both.
"THE SIXTH SENSE" -- Bruce Willis is a child psychiatrist trying to help Haley Joel Osment deal with the visions of the dead he's seeing. Except, these visions aren't the imagination of an overactive child; they're real. Willis and Osment contribute absolutely bravura performances. This is the kind of movie that reminds you why you love movies in the first place.
"SLEEPY HOLLOW" -- Although a few liberties have been taken with the Washington Irving classic, this is nonetheless a riveting story. 17th-century detective Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is sent to a quiet upstate New York town to investigate some bizarre murders and discovers supernatural forces that are at odds with his methodical age-of-reason mindset. A little more of director Tim Burton's vision and less Hollywood would have made this a more hellacious ride.
"SMALL TIME CROOKS" -- A wonderful little film with Woody Allen as an inept crook and Tracey Ullman as his former stripper wife, who try to rob a bank and end up cookie millionaires instead. Then they meet the big-time crooks of the hoity-toity set. Excellent writing and Allen's usual great direction of a wonderful cast, including the great Elaine May.
"THE SOUND OF MUSIC" -- One of the great screen musicals (better than the Broadway show), with Julie Andrews' nonpareil voice ringing from the screen. Delightful music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, fine direction by Robert Wise and beautiful Austrian locations. The DVD package is a treasure chest.
"STARDUST MEMORIES" -- Starts with a filmmaker's dream of being stuck on a train with miserable, silent people, while he sees the train with the happy, partying people pulling away from him. Brilliant scenes with Charlotte Rampling. About a filmmaker looking none-too-happily at his own career.
"STAR TREK: INSURRECTION" -- The curse of the odd-numbered Trek movies continues. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) is forced to choose between the Federation and a gentle race of Luddites called the Baku when the nasty Son'a (led by a wonderfully droll F. Murray Abraham) are attempting to relocate the Baku so that they can loot the planet of an isotope that could be a galactic Fountain of Youth. Platitudes galore, and a small-screen sensibility make this more of a lecture from a verbose old geezer than a cool sci-fi actioner.
"STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 -- THE PHANTOM MENACE" -- The beginning of George Lucas' epic space cowboys tale, starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and many others. A lot of fun. It's fascinating to see Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi in their youth and to meet the mom of Luke and Leia. A must for "Star Wars" fans, of course.
"THE STORY OF US" -- The chronicle of a marriage in its final stage of dissolution, Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer make an excellent couple trying to figure out how things went wrong - and how they're going to break it to their kids, who are away at camp. A particularly strong performance by Rita Wilson makes this a movie about people we can all relate to - until a Hollywood ending torpedos the best intentions. A terrific movie until the last ten minutes or so.
"SUPERNOVA" -- A paint-by-numbers sci-fi effort with some genuine whiz-bang special effects and a good performance by James Spader as the taciturn, brooding hero. Too many cliches spoil this broth, and the good points don't make it worthwhile to plunk down hard-earned cash to see this one.
"SUPERSTAR" -- Goofy, silly, fun. Molly Shannon brings her Mary Katherine Gallagher character from "Saturday Night Live" to the big screen. Sustains nicely at feature length.
|