S-Sz Movies edited July 28, 2019

S.O.B. (1981) A scathing send-up of Hollywood, S.O.B. (the letters stand for "Standard Operational Bullshit") tells the story of Felix Farmer, a big-time producer who suffers a nervous breakdown after his big-budget, wholesome family film starring his actress-singer wife bombs at the box office. The desperate Farmer hits upon a desperate scheme: He'll buy the film from the studio, re-shoot several scenes to include R-rated material, then re-release the movie himself. But things don't go entirely according to plan.

Julie Andrews attended the UCLA Festival of Books on April 27, 2008 where she addressed the audience about the nude scene depicted in the film - she described how the costume department rigged her costume for the 'ripping off' scene.   The scene is very brief, maybe one second at regular speed.  Still it is a partially nude Mary Poppins.

Sahara (2005)  Master explorer and former US Navy Seal Dirk Pitt and his wisecracking buddy Al Giordino goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War ironclad battleship known as the "Ship of Death" that protects a secret cargo is lost somewhere in the deserts of West Africa. But while the two cross paths with a beautiful and brilliant U.N. scientist Dr. Eva Rojas who is being hounded by a ruthless dictator. She believes that the hidden treasure may be connected to a larger problem that threatens the world around them. Hunting for a ship that no one else thinks exists, Dirk, Al, and Eva must rely on their wits and their daring heroics to outsmart dangerous warlords, survive the threatening terrain, and get to the bottom of both mysteries.

A feel good spylike adventure movie with a good cast.

In the opening scene of the movie, the camera sweeps across a series of newspaper clippings showcasing Dirk Pitt's accomplishments. If you watch closely you'll see two articles of note. One is an article about the raising of the Titanic. This is in reference to the Clive Cussler novel Raise the Titanic where Dirk Pitt brings the ship up (it was written several years before the real Titanic was found to be shattered beyond reach on the bottom of the ocean). The second article is about the discovery of the Oiseau Blanc. This plane was of French origin and was attempting to be the first plane to make a non-stop Paris to New York flight just weeks before Charles A. Lindbergh's successful journey. The plane left France and was never seen again, but several people in northern Maine claimed to have heard an airplane above the cloud cover at about the right time. Interestingly, in Cussler's "Sea Hunters II", he describes how he and his real-life NUMA team of volunteers went searching for the Oiseau Blanc in the forests of Maine, but were unable to find it. He suggests that it likely went down in a large bog. Note that Lindbergh's flight is often mistaken for the first transatlantic flight, his was the first 'solo' transatlantic flight and the first flight from New York to Paris non-stop, but the first transatlantic flight was Alcock and Brown in a WWI Vickers Vimy bomber in 1919, almost eight years before. A flight from Newfoundland to Ireland.

Same Time, Next Year (1978)  A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner. Although both are married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year. Originally a stage play, the two are seen changing, years apart, always in the same room in different scenes. Each of them always appears on schedule, but as time goes on each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.

Good movie, great play.  The movie is too set-bound and it didn't have to be.

The original Broadway production of "Same Time, Next Year" by Bernard Slade opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on 14 March 1975, ran for 1453 performances until 3 September, 1978. The play was nominated for the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play. Ellen Burstyn reprises her role in the movie from the play for which she won the 1975 Tony Award (New York City) for Best Actress in a Drama. Slade also wrote the screenplay for this film based upon his stage play.

The external shots were filmed using a ocean-front cottage that is now part of the Heritage House Inn on the Mendocino coast in Little River, Northern California. Writer Bernard Slade and his wife stayed there a few years before Slade wrote the play and it is this cottage which inspired the "Same Time, Next Year" play. The room was distinctive for having a log fireplace, out-of-tune piano together with much antique furniture. The shell of the cottage was built as a temporary dwelling especially made for filming, the interiors were shot in the studio. When the film was finished, Universal Pictures gave the cottage to the inn and paid for the foundations to be made permanent with the interior fitted-out with studio furnishings from the movie. The building was converted into two cottages, one called "Same Time" and the other "Next Year". The actual cottage today is now listed for rent as the "Same Time Next Year Suite" and is a popular tourist attraction for romantic holidays.

The Santa Clause (1994)  Divorcee Scott Calvin is disgusted to learn that his ex and her husband have tried - and failed - to break it easy to their 6-year-old son Charlie that Santa isn't real. On Christmas Eve, Scott reads The Night Before Christmas... then receives an unexpected visitor on his roof. When he's startled by Scott's calling out and falls, the Santa impersonator disappears, leaving only an 8-reindeer sleigh and a suit with instructions to put it on if he's involved in an accident. Scott does, and is transported around the town dropping gifts through chimneys until he's taken to the North Pole and informed by a group who claim they're elves that he is now Santa. Charlie is proud of his dad's new job, though Scott's convinced it's a dream. Until his hair turns white, his beard refuses to stay shaved, he gains weight inexplicably, even for his sudden love of junk food... Now he's accepted it, there's just one problem: how to keep it secret from his disbelieving family?

During his tour of the workshop, Scott Calvin tries out a tool belt then shakes his head as if to indicate that tools aren't for him. This is a reference to Tim Allen's then-hit TV show, Home Improvement where his character's life (Tim "the tool man" Taylor) revolved around tools.

Watch the trailer for some scenes cut from the movie.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)  During WWII, Chief of Staff, General Marshall is informed that three of a woman's sons have been killed and that she's going to receive the notifications of their demise at the same time. And when he learns that a fourth son is still unaccounted for, the General decides to send a unit to find him and bring him back, despite being told that it's highly unlikely that he is still alive and the area that he was known to be at is very dangerous. So the unit consisting of 8 men are sent to find him but as stated it's very dangerous and one by one, each of them are being picked off. Will they find him and how many of them will still be alive.

Excellent war movie.  Puts you in the battle, you feel the terror.

Scoop (2006)  At the funeral of the famous British journalist Joe Strombel, his colleagues and friends recall how obstinate he was while seeking for a scoop. Meanwhile the deceased Joe discloses the identity of the tarot card serial killer of London. He cheats the Reaper and appears to the American student of journalism Sondra Pransky, who is on the stage in the middle of a magic show of the magician Sidney Waterman in London, and tells her that the murderer is the aristocrat Peter Lyman. Sondra drags Sid in her investigation, seeking for evidences that Peter is the killer. However, she falls in love with him and questions if Joe Strombel is right in his scoop.

This would have been better without Woody in the movie but it is still worth seeing.

The Score (2001)  Nick Wells, a professional criminal, decides to leave the business for good, since he nearly got caught on his last job. His plan is to live in peace with his girl Diane, running his Montreal jazz club. Soon afterward, Max, his good friend and financial partner, comes along with an offer Nick can't refuse: A historical and priceless French scepter has been discovered while being smuggled into the country. It is now under massive surveillance in the Montreal Customs House, and soon to be returned to France. Nick has to team up with Max's man inside, the young, talented and aggressive thief Jack Teller to get the precious item. Only one question remains: Who will trick whom out of their share?

Well acted, suspenseful, great crime drama almost a best film ever.

Seabiscuit (2003)  In an era when Americans were in great need of heroic figures to help them forget their troubles, SEABISCUIT comes to the rescue. The picture relates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters'fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. The film accurately portrays the real people and events of those troubled times and how Seabiscuit "fixed us", every one of us.

This is a tender movie.  Many subtleties in it.  Critics faulted it but it is worth seeing more than once.  Rare case of where the movie is better than the book.

Secondhand Lions (2003)  13 year old Walter has had a hard life, with his no good floozy of a mother getting together with many equally despicable men. Before going on yet another husband-hunting trip, she drops him off at the house of his great-uncles Hub and Garth. They disappeared for quite a while in their youth, and are rumored to have acquired a great fortune, which Walter's mother hopes to get her hands on if he can ingratiate himself enough to the two cantankerous men. Though reluctant to put up with him at first, Hub and Garth grow to accept Walter, and even tell him fantastic stories of what they were up to while they went missing. When his mother returns, Walter must take charge of his own life, and decide what he's going to do with it.

Very enjoyable movie.

The Secret Life of Bees (2008)  Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping.

This is an awesome movie and you should see it, but read the book too.  It is more awesome.

The Secret War of Henry Frigg (1968)  When 5 allied generals are captured in Italy in WW II, it is a propaganda nightmare for the Allies. The generals are all 1 star and refuse to take orders from each other in order to plan an escape. Harry Frigg is a private who has escaped from the guard house dozens of times. He is promoted to Major General (2 stars) and ordered to get the generals out once he is captured. Harry is willing to escape, but then he meets the countess.

Sort of an upscale Immitation General remake.

The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)  Respected liberal Senator Joe Tynan is asked to to lead the opposition to a Supreme Court appointment. It means losing an old friend and fudging principles to make the necessary deals, as well as further straining his already part-time family life. But it could be a big boost to his career, so he takes it on. Helping him prepare the case is pretty southern researcher Karen Traynor, and their developing relationship further complicates and compromises his life.

A good story about the loss of values in the quest for power to make a difference.  Follows the moral directive: What profit a man who gains the whole world and loses his soul.  The movie Wag the Dog explores this also.

The Seven Little Foys (1955)  Vaudeville entertainer Eddie Foy, who has vowed to forever keep his act a solo, falls in love with and marries Italian ballerina Madeleine. While they continue to tour the circuit, they begin a family and before long have seven little Foys to clutter the wings. After tragedy threatens to stall Eddie's career, he comes to realize that his little terrors are worth their weight in gold.

This film and Beau James are the two serious dramas that Bob Hope starred in.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)  With his family away for their annual summer holiday, New Yorker Richard Sherman decides he has the opportunity to live a bachelor's life - to eat and drink what he wants and basically to enjoy life without wife and son. The beautiful but ditsy blond from the apartment above his catches his eye and they soon start spending time together. It's all innocent though there is little doubt that Sherman is attracted to her. Any lust he may be feeling is played out in his own imagination however.

The classic shot of Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grating was originally shot on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd St. on September 15, 1954 at 1:00 a.m., and 5000 onlookers whistled and cheered through take after take as she repeatedly missed her lines. This occurred in the presence of an increasingly embarrassed and angry Joe DiMaggio, Monroe's husband at the time. The original footage shot on that night in New York never made it to the screen; the noise of the crowd had made it unusable. Billy Wilder re-staged the scene on the 20th Century-Fox lot, on a set replicating Lexington Avenue, and got a more satisfactory result. However, it took another 40 takes for Marilyn to achieve the famous scene.

The poster was airbrushed to be more revealing than the take used in the movie.

Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)  Ann is married to John, who is having an affair with her sister Cynthia. Ann's a quiet type and unwilling to let herself go. When John's old friend, Graham, shows up, all their lives change. Graham likes to videotape interviews with women.

This movie was playing in Germany when the wall fell.  Many East Germans went to the theater expecting to see a western style porn flick.  They were disappointed.

The Shape of Water (2017) 1962 Baltimore. Elisa Esposito, found abandoned as a baby with scars on her neck, has been mute all her life, that disability which has largely led to her not having opportunities. Despite being a bright woman, she works a manual labor job as a cleaner at a military research facility where she has long been friends with fellow cleaner, Zelda Fuller, who often translates her sign language to others at the facility. And she has had no romance in her life, her major emotional support, beyond Zelda, being her aging gay artist neighbor, Giles, the two who live in adjoining apartment units above a movie theater. Like Elisa, Giles is lonely, his homosexuality complicating both his personal and professional life, the latter as a commercial graphic artist. Elisa's life changes when Colonel Richard Strickland brings a new "asset" into the facility, Elisa discovering it being a seeming mixed human/amphibious creature found in the waters of the Amazon. Secretly visiting with the creature, Elisa is immediately drawn to him, and despite he having a violent side as part of his inherent being, the two find a way to communicate with each other and end up forming a bond with each other. Elisa has to decide what to do when she discovers that although the reason for bringing the creature to the facility is to test the possibility of him being sent into space, Colonel Strickland, who has always had antagonistic feelings toward the creature, ultimately wants to kill him, this following the systematic torture he has inflicted on him. Elisa may have to balance her feelings on wanting to be with the creature against what may be the greater benefit to him of being set free back into the wilds of the water. Complicating matters are that the Soviets are also aware of the creature, they having a secret agent who has infiltrated the facility.

The creature design is heavily inspired by the film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Michael Shannon's character says they picked it up in the Amazon river in South America, which is the setting of The Creature from the film.

The Shining (1980) A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is "The Shining".

Exterior shots filmed a Hood Mt Lodge in Oregon. In 1981, when I was living in Socorro, NM I was cleaning out the car and found an axe (one of many tools necessary if you are going off road in a desert). I put it over my shoulder and wander into the house with a big goofy smile on my face. My teenage step-sons yelled, "Hey, we saw The Shining." All I can say is Redrum.

Shrek (2001)  When a green ogre called Shrek discovers his swamp has been 'swamped' with all sorts of fairytale creatures by the scheming Lord Farquaad, Shrek sets out, with a very loud donkey by his side, to 'persuade' Farquaad to give his swamp back. Instead, a deal is made. Farquaad, who wants to become the King, sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona, who is waiting for her one true love. But once they head back with Fiona, it starts to become apparent that not only does Shrek like Fiona, but Fiona is keeping something secret.

While this is a "kids" movie there is plenty there for the adults too, including lots of in jokes and making fun of Disney.

Shadowlands (1993)  CS Lewis is the author of the Narnia books - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Known as Jack, he teaches at an Oxford College, during the 1930's. An American fan, Joy Gresham, arrives to meet him for tea in Oxford. It is the beginning of a love affair. Tragically Joy becomes terminally unwell and their lives become complicated.

Life is complicated anyway add in love and it becomes more so.  Yet, life is an adventure, so enjoy whatever comes your way.

She-Devil (1989)  Ruth is a wife and mother who tries to please her husband, even though she is fat. But when her husband falls into an affair with a certain romance novelist, Ruth goes bezerk and demands revenge. First she embarresses her husband when his parents come over to dinner. Then when he leaves her for good, Ruth comes up with a list of everything that belongs to her husband then the revenge is to destroy all of it. Because, she's a She Devil!

Marginally okay movie with a good cast, much better book.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)  When Nazi saboteurs jeeringly predicts to the nation of new depredations via their radio Voice of Terror, the Intellegence Inner Council summons Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone)to help in the crisis. Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce), are visited the first night of their investigation;a man falls dying from a knife wound on their doorstep. His last word leads Holmes into the slums where he encounters Kitty (Evelyn Ankers), the sweetheart of the slain man.

This is the third of fourteen films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson. It is the first in the series to be taken out of the Victorian age and set in modern times. It is also the first to be produced at Universal Studios. (The previous two films were made at 20th Century Fox.)

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)  Sherlock Holmes is engaged by the Home Office to locate a British subject traveling for his law firm to Washington, D.C. The man had flown to New York City and then took the train to Washington. On the outskirts of the city, the man was kidnapped and has not been seen for several days now. Holmes learns from the Home Office that the man was in fact a government agent who was delivering a highly secret, two page document to the US government. In verifying the contents of his flat, Holmes concludes the document had been reduced to microfilm. The question becomes whether he may have had the opportunity to pass the microfilm to someone else on the train before he was taken.

The dubbed German version released in 1959 removed all Nazi references from the dialogue. The story of this edited version is about gangsters trying to get hold of a secret medicine formula that could be dangerous if in the wrong hands.

Shirley Valentine (1989)  Shirley's a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chip'n'egg, wondering what happened to her life. She compares scenes in her current life with what she used to be like and feels she's stagnated and in a rut. But when her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two, Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light.

Pauline Collins wrote this as a one woman play.  In the play, she is at her stove in her flat talking to the wall.  I saw Helen Reddy perfom this in Port Angeles about 10 years ago.  It was awesome.  In non Hollywood fashion, the movie stars the writer in the lead role and it works incredibly well.

You may have to search a bit for the DVD.

The Shootist (1976)  John Bernard Books, a gunfighter approaching his 58th birthday, finds that he has rectal cancer and two months to live. He takes a room with Bond Rogers and her son, Gillom, to wait until death comes. Of course, his very presence starts off events in the town. The Marshal comes, prepared to die in a shootout, Gillom tries to idolize him, Bond first is disgusted and then pities him. Then, realizing that he will die in great pain, he comes up with an idea to go out with a bang.

Contrary to popular belief, John Wayne did not have cancer when he made this film. His entire left lung and several ribs had been removed in surgery on 16 September 1964, and in 1969 he was declared cancer free. It was not until 12 January 1979, almost three years after this movie had been filmed, that the disease was found to have returned. He did use a scene from the movie to promote antismoking in public service ads.

When J.B. Books (John Wayne) arrives at Dr. E.W. Hostetler's (James Stewart) office, Hostetler mentions that it has been 15 years since they last saw each other. The inside joke is that Wayne and Stewart last worked together on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 15 years before.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)  In Budapest, Hungary, the Matuschek and Company store is owned by Mr. Hugo Matuschek and the bachelor Alfred Kralik is his best and most experienced salesman. When Klara Novak seeks a job position of saleswoman in the store, Matuschek hires her but Kralik and she do not tolerate each other. Meanwhile the lonely and dedicated Kralik has an unknown pen pal that he intends to propose very soon; however, he is fired without explanation by Matuschek in the night that he is going to meet his secret love. He goes to the bar where they have scheduled their meeting with his colleague Pirovitch and he surprisingly finds that Klara is his correspondent; however, ashamed with the unemployment, he does not disclose his identity to her. When Matuschek discovers that he had misjudged Kralik and committed a mistake, he hires him again for the position of manager. But Klara is still fascinated with her future fiancé and does not pay much attention to Kralik.

While directing this movie, Ernst Lubitsch drew upon his extensive experiences working in his father's Berlin shop as a young lad. At the film's January 25, 1940 premiere at Radio City Music Hall, Lubitsch remarked, "I have known just such a little shop in Budapest...The feeling between the boss and those who work for him is pretty much the same the world over, it seems to me. Everyone is afraid of losing his job and everyone knows how little human worries can affect his job. If the boss has a touch of dyspepsia, better be careful not to step on his toes; when things have gone well with him, the whole staff reflects his good humor.

Short Cuts (1993)   While helicopters overhead spray against a Medfly infestation a group of Los Angeles lives intersect, some casually, some to more lasting effect. Whilst they go out to concerts and jazz clubs and even have their pools cleaned, they also lie, drink, and cheat. Death itself seems never to be far away, even on a fishing trip.

Robert Altman's adaptation ofRaymond Carver's Short Stories.  Raymond died in 1988 in Port Angeles.  I moved there in 1996.  The home next to mine was owned by Tess Gallagher who was Raymond's widow.  I got to know Tess and she would often refer to Altman as Bobby.  Tess is a poet of sorts but not the writer her husband was.  Still she has many interesting stories to tell.  One day a group of Japanese tourists were milling about her house.  I went to investigate.  I informed them Tess was out of the country.  They wanted me to take their picture in front of her house.  I did.

This is a great movie about the interconnections we all have.  The movie Crash does a more indepth job of highlighting those connections.

Sideways (2004)  A week before the marriage of his great friend, the decadent actor Jack (Thomas Haden Church), the bitter frustrated writer divorced oenologist English teacher Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) travels with him to the wine country of California to spend a week together. While Miles intends to drink wine and play golf, Jack indeed intends to score and get laid with as many women as possible. While hosted in the Windmill Inn, they meet the waitress Maya (Virginia Madsen) and the attendant Stephanie (Sandra Oh), and they spend some time together, visiting different wine makers and and Miles and Maya disclosing their inner secrets and falling in love for each other. 

Sideways is a special movie.  Low budget but very interesting.  Most of us handle middle age rather poorly if at all.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)  Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter, who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator, has the answers to their questions and can help locate the killer. However, Clarice must first gain Lecter's confidence before the inmate will give away any information.

Awesome performance by Anthony Hopkins.

Silver Streak (1976)  George Caldwell is taking a slow restful trip to Chicago on the Silver Streak. Or so he thinks. He's involved in a love affair, a murder, is thrown from the train, wanted by the police, and joins forces with a car thief to re-board the train to save his love.

Charmingly funny crime drama.

Silverado (1985)  In 1880, four men travel together to the city of Silverado. They come across and deal with many dangers before they finally engage the "bad guys" and bring peace and equality back to the city.

Along western but well worth the time.  A bit more idealistic but still quite charming in good triumphing over evil.  Look for John Cleese as a western sheriff.

Sister Act (1992)  Delores is having an affair with her Mafia boss, Vince. Her career as a singer in Las Vegas is going nowhere and Vince won't divorce his wife and she goes to him to break it off, witnessing a murder Vince just ordered. Running from the club, she seeks police protection. They agree to hide her in the one place Vince would never look for her. She finds, to her chagrin, that it is a convent, where she must impersonate a nun. After several false starts, she is assigned to the convent's dismal choir. She challenges and reorganizes them to become a modern singing group. In this she is successful, and as the choir gets better, success brings it's own problems.

The church in which Whoopi Goldberg takes refuge is St. Paul's Catholic Church located at 221 Valley Street (near Church St.) in San Francisco's Outer Mission district. The film was later turned into a stage musical. Whoopi Goldberg appeared in a limited run of the London performance, this time playing Mother Superior.

The Sixth Sense (1994)  Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient. After this encounter, Crowe takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient. This boy "sees dead people". Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy (Cole) much to the dismay of his wife. Cole's mom is at her wit's end with what to do about her son's increasing problems. Crowe is the boy's only hope.

Incredibly good suspense movie.

Sleeper (1973)  Health food store owner and wannabe jazz clarinetist Miles Monroe is involuntarily cryogenically frozen in 1973 after a mishap while in minor surgery. His still frozen body is found in 2173, and unfrozen by scientists Drs. Melik and Orva. In unfreezing Miles, the doctors have committed an illegal act in what is now a totalitarian police state, where records of the past have been destroyed and the resulting history unknown. The society is filled primarily of conformists who look to the state's "leader" for guidance. The doctors, working with an underground group of revolutionaries based in what is called the Western District, ask Miles to help the revolutionaries infiltrate the state's secret and highly important Aires project. Their rationale is that Miles does not exist in the eyes of the state and thus if captured cannot provide any information to them. In Miles' reluctant journey to the Western District, he co-opts the initially unwilling assistance of one of the conformists, poet Luna Schlosser, in trying both to reach the Western District and avoid capture by the police. As a non-political person who believes that all leaders are self-interested, Miles, even when learning the nature of the Aires project, has the primary goals of staying alive and getting the girl, as he is starting to fall in love with Luna, who may have her own thoughts about love and life in this society.

This is a good Woody Allen movie starring Woody Allen (many are not).  Woody's character, Miles is ill prepared to live in any society, let alone one that wants to hunt him down and kill him.  Lots of great moments in the film and very funny.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)  After his wife Maggie passes away, Sam Baldwin and his adolescent son Jonah relocate from Chicago to Seattle to escape the grief associated with Maggie's death. Eighteen months later, Sam is still grieving and can't sleep. Although Jonah misses his mother, he wants his father to get a new wife despite Sam having not even contemplated dating again. On Christmas Eve, Sam, on Jonah's initiative, ends up pouring his heart out on a national radio talk show about his magical and perfect marriage to Maggie, and how much he still misses her. Among the many women who hears Sam's story and falls in love with him solely because of it is Annie Reed, a Baltimore based newspaper writer. Annie's infatuation with Sam's story and by association Sam himself is despite her being already engaged. But Annie's relationship with her straight-laced fiancé Walter is unlike her dream love life in the movie An Affair to Remember.

This is a great chick flick for guys who want to try to understand women.

Skyfall (2012) Bond's mission is to keep a computer drive that has a list of British agents from being used against them. He chases the man who has it and they have a brawl on top of a train. Eve, an agent sent to assist Bond has them in her cross hairs but hesitates to take the shot because she might hit Bond but M orders her to take it. Which she does and hits Bond who falls into the river and is believed to be dead. A few months later, the British government is upset with MI6 for losing the list; specifically with M. She is told that she'll be allowed to retire but she refuses to leave till the while matter is resolved. So she returns to HQ to work on it but as she arrives, there's an explosion. In the meantime, Bond, who is not dead, has been laying low. When he learns of what happened, he returns. And M tasks him with finding the one who has the information. He eventually learns that the man who has it, is someone from M's past and who has it in for her.

I like this movie but a number of my friends did not.

The shooting location of Shanghai makes this the first Bond movie to have filmed in China. Originally, Licence to Kill was to be filmed in China but when the Chinese Government made a number restrictive demands such as veto rights over the script, the viability of the location fell through. 'Skyfall' was once rumored to feature a motorcycle chase along the Great Wall of China, a chase sequence originally intended for 'Licence to Kill', but instead there is a roof-top motorbike chase filmed in Istanbul, Turkey. Another sequence, a fight sequence in the then recently discovered museum of ancient terracotta statues at Xian was also scheduled for 'Licence to Kill' but this sequence wasn't used for 'Skyfall' either. Scriptwriter John Logan wanted to use Shanghai as a filming location because "What we were looking for was opposition to London. We wanted exotic locations that seem so unlike the world that he grew up in, the world that he functions in, in a way trying to find places for Bond to be uncomfortable."

The first James Bond film to be released in the IMAX format. Unlike most films blown up for an IMAX release, the film did not go through their DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, as cinematographer Roger Deakins thought that the film's image quality was high enough to make it unnecessary. Deakins has said they "...shot 2.35:1 [aspect ratio] but because of the size of the chip, you've got so much space top and bottom that basically I shot it for both formats...the IMAX was clean and the image quality is fantastic because you're using the full size of the chip. So I had seen a lot of tests and was blown away by the IMAX. We did a 4K finish and it's down rez'd to 2K after that. It quite surprised me, the fantastic quality." Films shot in IMAX have an aspect ratio of 1.44.1 which takes up the entire IMAX screen. Skyfall wasn't shot in IMAX, but the aspect ratio of the IMAX 'Skyfall' prints is 1.90.1 compared to standard theater 'Skyfall' prints which have an aspect ratio of 2.40.1. The IMAX image is 26% larger at the top and bottom of the frame than the screen image in conventional theaters thereby giving audiences a taller depth of field to view.

Small Time Crooks (2000)  Ray Winkler is a "small time crook" with big dreams. Recruiting his wife and some fellow bumblers, he leaves his job as a dishwasher to open a cookie store next to a bank. And while his wife operates the cookie store, he and his cohorts work in the basement on breaking into the bank. Wealth comes from an unexpected direction, helping fulfill his dreams. But there is an ancient curse about getting everything you wish for.

Fairly good Woody Allen film, inspite of casting himself in the lead.  A bit contrived but many funny moments.

Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)  Carl, a fisherman in the waters off Washington state, has been found dead, drowned in his own nets, but with a serious head wound. Was he murdered? Post-war anti-Japanese sentiments are still running high, and a murder suspect is found in the local Japanese-American community in the form of Kabuo, another fisherman, who had a grudge against Carl's family. Ishmael, the small town's newspaperman, may have the information that would acquit Kabuo, but can he ever put his jilted love for Hatsue (Kazuo's wife) aside?

Excellent movie made from an outstanding book.

Partially filmed in Port Townsend, WA.  There is a Mossyrock, WA but it is far from the ocean and has a population less than 800 as of 2012.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)  The first, and by far most memorable full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" may have been superseded technically by many of the films that followed it. But its simple story of a charming little princess saved from the evil deeds of her wicked step-mother, the queen, by a group of seven adorable dwarfs made history when it was first released in December, 1937 and has since become an incomparable screen classic.

As it's widely known, every country where the movie has been translated has its own set of seven names for the Dwarfs, including Germany, home of the original fairy tale. However, in the original tale (by brothers Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm) the dwarfs have no individual names at all.

Some Kind of Hero (1982)  A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country.

Good story, not especially well done.  Struggles between trying to be funny and serious at the same time.  This movie was a hit with Viet Nam Vets who felt that their country did not welcome them home properly.

Some Like it Hot (1959) When two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the the St. Valentine's Day massacre, they want to get out of town and get away from the gangster responsible, Spats Colombo. They're desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is in an all-girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk who sings and plays the ukulele. Joe in particular sets out to woo her while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. Mayhem ensues as the two men try to keep their true identities hidden and Spats Colombo and his crew show up for a meeting with several other crime lords.

All star cast in this comedy romp.

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) Rocky Graziano is building a career in crime, when he's finally caught and arrested. In jail, he is undisciplined, always getting into trouble. When he gets out after many years he has decided to start a new life. However, he is immediately drafted to the army. But they can't keep him and he goes AWOL. Rocky discovers boxing as a way of earning quick money, and is discovered as a new talent.

Film debut of Steve McQueen, Dean Jones, Frank Campanella, Robert Loggia and Angela Cartwright.

Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)  Hank Stamper and his father, Henry Stamper own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank's wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank's half- trouble-making-brother, Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.

The title comes from lines in the folk song "Goodnight, Irene": "Sometimes I take a great notion / To jump in the river and drown."

This film was the first movie ever shown on HBO when the service premiered in 1972.

Somewhere in Time (1980)  Young writer Richard Collier is met on the opening night of his first play by an old lady who begs him to "Come back to me". Mystified, he tries to find out about her, and learns that she is a famous stage actress from the early 1900s, Elise McKenna. Becoming more and more obsessed with her, he manages, by self hypnosis, to travel back in time where he meets her. They fall in love, a matching that is not appreciated by her manager. Can their love outlast the immense problems caused by their "time" difference? And can Richard remain in a time that is not his?

Son of Frankenstein (1939)  Wolf von Frankenstein returns to the Baronial manor from the United States with his wife Elsa and son Peter. He not made welcome by the locals who are still terrified of his father's works and the monster he created. The local Burgomaster gives him a sealed briefcase left by his father and inside, Wolf finds his father's scientific notes. At the manor house he meets his father's assistant Igor who has a surprise for him: the monster his father created is still alive, though in some sort of coma. Wolf's initial attempts to re-animate the creature seem to fail but when Peter says he saw a giant in the woods, it appears he's met success. When people are mysteriously killed in the village there is little doubt that the monster is responsible.

Due to the lack of a prepared script, much of the picture was written just moments before the actors were to shoot their scenes. This was how director Rowland V. Lee was able to keep Bela Lugosi working throughout filming, and built up the role of Ygor, which never appeared in the original Willis Cooper screenplay. The actor was forever grateful to Lee for allowing him to create what turned out to be one of his very best characterizations. After many delays, shooting finally started November 9, 1938, finishing January 5, 1939, just days before its prescribed release date of January 13. Boris Karloff's daughter was born on his 51st birthday, November 23, 1938.

Son of Paleface (1952)  In this sequel to "The Paleface", Bob Hope and Jane Russell return as the lead characters. Hope plays Junior Potter, who returns to claim his father's gold, which is nowhere to be found. Throw in Russell as "Mike", the luscious head of a gang of thieves, and Roy Rogers as a federal marshal hot on her trail.

Actually better movie than Paleface.  I saw this when I was 9 and still like it.

Sons of the Desert (1933)  So that he and Stan can sneak away to Chicago and attend the annual "Sons of the Desert" lodge convention, Ollie pretends to be sick, and gets a doctor (who turns out to be a veterinarian) to prescribe a long ocean voyage to Hawaii. Decked out in leis and strumming ukeleles, they return home only to learn that the ship supposedly carrying them has sunk. Their hastily- contrived tale of "ship-hiking" their way back cuts no ice with their wives, who've been at the movies watching a newsreel of the lodge's convention parade, starring... guess who?

One of the "boys" better movies.  Stan tells his wife the lost at sea tale.  She asks, "Is that your story?"  He answers, "Yes, it is my story and I am stuck with it."

South Pacific (1958)  Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.

Geat movie from a great play based on Mitchner's book Tales from the South Pacific.  I saw an awesome revival of the play in Dallas a few years ago.  If you have a chance see the play.

Spartacus (1960) Spartacus, a Thracian slave, refuses to allow himself to become the animal the Roman civilization would have him be. His love for Varinia, a slave girl, coupled with his revulsion at the crushing treatment and callous murders of his fellow slaves, ignite in his breast a passion for freedom. They escape and are joined by more runaways, and swell to become a vast army. Contrasted with their impassioned plans for open rebellion are the cool, calculating minds of their Roman adversaries Crassus, Grachus and Batiatus. To Rome, a poorly equipped army of slaves are no more threatening than the invasion of insects which attack the city during the hot, humid seasons. The slaves' cries for freedom and their challenge will be but a more diversion from the musty affairs of state. And so, in a chilling engagement, the superior military might of Rome proceeds to crush the army of Spartacus.

This is a must see film.  Nominated for six Oscars, won four.

Although some reviews noted the story's unreliable correlation to history, many of the film's characters were derived from real figures, including Spartacus (d. 71 B.C.), Marcus Licinius Crassus (d. 53 B.C.) and Caius Sempronius Gracchus (d. 121 B.C.). As accurately depicted in the film, Spartacus was a Thracian slave who broke out of a Capuan gladiators' school to lead a revolt that was eventually suppressed by Crassus, who then crucified his captives by the hundreds. Spartacus was killed in battle - not, as stated in the film, captured and then crucified - after which Crassus ruled Rome in a triumvirate with Pompey and Gaio Giulio Cesare. Gracchus lived decades earlier, and helped organize a social reform movement that lasted only a few years before its reforms were repealed. He was killed in a series of riots protesting the repeals. General Crassus was reported to have been put to death by the Parthians after losing the battle of Carrhae, by being forced to drink a goblet of molten gold, symbolic of his great wealth.

Stanley Kubrick was not given control of the script, which he felt was full of stupid moralizing. After Spartacus, Kubrick always kept full control over all aspects of his films.

The sound of the crowd cheering "Spartacus! Spartacus!" was actually recorded at a 1959 football game in Spartan Stadium, home of the Michigan State University Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State beat Notre Dame in that game, 19-0.

Speed (1994)  Bomber terrorist's elevator plan backfires, so he rigs a bomb to a LA city bus. The stipulation is: once armed, the bus must stay above 50 mph to keep from exploding. Also if LAPD Officer tries to unload any passengers off, Payne will detonate it. Joe Morton co-stars as Jack's superior, and Jeff Daniels supports Jack helping him try to defuse the bomb.

I usually have little use for Keanu Reeves.  I have seen much better acting in amateur theater.  It is as if he is doing a read through.  However, in this movie he plays a cop without a clue what to do.  The rest of the cast does an awesome job of making you believe.

Stage Door (1937)  Terry Randall, rich society beauty, has decided to see if she can break into the Broadway theatre scene without her family connections. She goes to live in a theatrical boarding house and finds her life caught up with those of the other inmates and the ever-present disappointment that theatrical hopefuls must live with. Her smart-mouth roommate, Jean, is approached by a powerful producer for more than just a role. And Terry's father has decided to give her career the shove by backing a production for her to star in, in which she's sure to flop. But his machinations hurt more than just Terry.

Ann Miller was only 14 years old when she appeared in this film. She had lied about her age and procured a fake birth certificate, but the precocious Miller was so tall and beautiful at age 14 that she pulled it off. With this knowledge, today it is quite impressive to see her holding her own while dancing with Ginger Rogers, by then an international star as the dance partner of Fred Astaire.

Lucille Ball always called this movie her big break.

Stagecoach (1939)  A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. The passengers on the coach include a a drunken doctor, two women, a bank manager who has taken off with his client's money, and the famous Ringo Kid, among others.

In 1939 there was no paved road through Monument Valley, hence the reason why it hadn't been used as a movie location before (it wasn't paved until the 1950s). Harry Goulding, who ran a trading post there, had heard that John Ford was planning a big-budget Western so he traveled to Hollywood, armed with over 100 photographs, and threatened to camp out on Ford's doorstep until the director saw him. Ford saw him almost immediately and was instantly sold on the location, particularly when he realized that its remoteness would free him from studio interference.
A device known as a "Running W" was used on the Indians' horses during the sequence where they are chasing the stagecoach. Strong, thin wires are fixed to a metal post, then the other end of the wires are attached to an iron clamp that encircles the legs of a horse, and the post is anchored into the ground. The horse is then ridden at full gallop, and when the wire's maximum length is reached - just when the rider is "shot" - the animal's legs are jerked out from underneath it, causing it to tumble violently and throw the "shot" rider off. The trouble was that the rider knew when the horse was going to fall but the horse didn't, resulting in many horses either being killed outright or having to be destroyed because of broken limbs incurred during the falls. The use of the "Running W" was eventually discontinued after many complaints from both inside and outside the film industry.

Stakeout (1987)  After a brutal murderer escaped from prison, it is ordered that all of his possible contacts are put under survey. His former girlfriend Maria McGuire, who ceased contact with him long ago, is observed by four cops. The night-team is formed by Chris Leece and Bill Reimers, who work as partners normally, too. Maria proves to be a very cute young woman, and Chris, who bugs her appartment as Telephone-Bill, falls for her. Now, everytime he is with her, his partner has to watch his friend enjoy life and he himself has to get out before the other team comes in. But when Maria's ex arrives surprisingly, Telephone Bill and his partner find themselves in deep trouble.

Good crime drama with some humor thrown in.  Great Bond-like begining.

Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez were having a movie trivia contest on the set one day. Estevez asked Dreyfuss to identify the movie that the line "This is no boating accident" was from. Dreyfuss didn't recognize the quote, despite the fact that he was the actor who said it in Jaws. Deciding that this was too good to pass up, this incident was re-enacted for the film.

Stand By Me (1986)  Based on Stephen King's Short story "The Body", "Stand By Me" tells the tale of Gordie Lachance, a writer who looks back on his preteen days when he and three close friends went on their own adventure to find the body of a kid their age who had gone missing and presumed dead. The stakes are upped when the bad kids in town are closely tailing - and it becomes a race to see who'll be able to recover the body first.

This is a great movie about growing up.

Stand Up and Be Counted (1972)  Sheila is a newspaper reporter who returns to her home town in order to write an article about the progress of the liberation of the women. Arriving at the town she is very surprised to see that her sister and also her mother agree very much with the feministic arguments.

Good supporting cast but very poor directing.  A few excellent moments and a good time-capsule of the women's lib movement.  Helen Reddy's song "I am Woman" became a hit because of this movie.  I saw it in Colorado Springs on a camping trip to Monument, Colorado.

Star Trek (2009)  When the Romulan mining ship Narada attacks the Federation starship USS Kelvin, Lieutenant George Kirk substitutes his captain, who is going to meet the Romulan Captain Nero in his vessel to negotiate a ceasefire, in the command of the Kelvin. He orders the evacuation of the damaged starship, including his wife who is in labor while delivering their son James Tiberius Kirk in the hospital shuttlecraft, George Kirk crashes the Kelvin against the Narada. The reckless and troublemaker Kirk grows up and when he meets Captain Christopher Pike in a bar fight, he is invited to join Starfleet. Meanwhile in Vulcan, the outcast Spock grows-up discriminated against for his half-human condition. They meet each other in Starfleet Academy, wherein Spock accuses Kirk of lack of ethics, cheating a test of command. The trial is suspended with the information that Vulcan is under attack, sending Federation starships to Vulcan, including the recently commissioned USS Enterprise. Kirk, who is a stowaway, foresees an alien attack and advises Captain Pike; however, the Enterprise is damaged and when Captain Pike travels to meet Captain Nero, Spock has command and a serious friction with Kirk after the destruction of Vulcan. Kirk is accused of mutiny and stranded on the desert planet Delta Vega. Out of the blue, he is saved from an attack of an alien animal by old Spock who explains to Kirk that Captain Nero blames Spock and the Federation for the destruction of his home planet Romulus by a supernova. Spock explains that he had failed in the creation of a black hole with red matter to consume the supernova and Nero is seeking revenge. Now Kirk has to find a way to save Earth, the next destination of the Narada.

Incredibly good prequel to Start Trek The Original Series.  It creates all the character foundation in a well told tale.  I hope the next installments are as good.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)  An alien phenomenon of unprecedented size and power is approaching Earth, destroying everything in its path. The only starship in range is the USS Enterprise--still in drydock after a major overhaul. As Captain Willard Decker readies his ship and his crew to face this menace, Admiral James T. Kirk arrives with orders to take command of the Enterprise and intercept the intruder. But it has been three years since Kirk last commanded the Enterprise on its historic five year mission... is he up to the task of saving the Earth?

Far from being a great movie, although it could have been.  The producers spent too much time showing images of the sets they built and too little time on the story.  The characters had already been developed from the show.  The script was a rehash of an earlier Shatner ego trip Star Trek: The Changeling.

When Kirk addresses the crew prior to launching, much of the crew were extras who were noted Star Trek fans, including Bjo Trimble, co-organizer of the letter-writing campaign that kept the original Star Trek alive for a third season.

It was understood in the script, but not in the film, that Commander Willard Decker was the son of Commodore Matthew Decker from Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine.  Of course, Decker was a pompus arrogant ass who got people killed....

Leonard Nimoy agreed to appear in the film only after Paramount agreed to a settlement of his lawsuit against them for allowing his TV series likeness to be used by advertisers. The lawsuit began when Nimoy saw the now famous Heineken beer advertisement that features Patrick Phillips.

The producers and the cast were very worried about their appearance after being away from Star Trek for ten years. Special lighting and camera tricks were used to hide the cast's aging, and William Shatner went on a near-starvation diet prior to filming. However, in all subsequent Star Trek movies it was decided to make the aging of the crew part of the story.

Spock was originally not in the movie because Leonard Nimoy was pursuing stage work and other roles to distance himself from the series and his character. Nimoy had become bitter over perceived mistreatment by Gene Roddenberry while making the original Star Trek, as well as not receiving more residuals or licensing royalties for his image as Spock.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)  In the second Star Trek film, Admiral Kirk is now a Starfleet Academy instructor, while Captain Spock serves as a cadet training officer, while being in command of the USS Enterprise. Meanwhile, scientists aboard Space Station Regula I are conducting the Project Genesis experiment, and the USS Reliant is assigned to the Genesis project. While surveying a lifeless planet in the Ceti Alpha star system, Commander Chekov and Captain Clark Terrell beam down to the sixth planet, and find a shocking discovery, in which cargo containers are located. Unknown to the Reliant crew was that the cargo containers housed refugees from the Eugenics Wars of 1990s Earth, with Khan Noonien Singh in charge. Khan later revealed that Ceti Alpha VI exploded, and shifted the orbit of the fifth planet as a Mars-like haven. Khan manages to hijack the Reliant, and manages to steal the Genesis Device. Admiral Kirk takes the Enterprise on a training mission, and is involved in a surprise attack, in which Khan vows to avenge his exile. Unfortunately, Captain Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise from the premeditated arming of the Genesis torpedo, and after his death, his casket (which is a converted torpedo tube) was fired from the starship.

The "Genesis" sequence called for a long and massive explosion. ILM rented the Cow Palace in San Francisco for the effect. They covered the ceiling with a black cloth and placed the camera on the floor looking up at it. The explosion would occur directly above the camera so the fall-out would appear to rush directly towards the point of view. A special high-speed camera was constructed which ran at 2,500 frames per second. One of its components was a spinning prism, which bent the image onto the film as it rushed past, which increased exposure time without having to slow the frame rate.

There are several books in the container that shelters Khan's followers on Ceti Alpha V. Two of the titles are "Moby Dick" and "King Lear", and a lot of Khan's lines are directly taken from those books. In particular, the final monologue of Khan is identical to the last words of Captain Ahab from Melville's book. Other titles visible are "The Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, an anthology of "Paradise Lost" and Paradise Regained" by John Milton, a single copy of "Paradise Lost," the Holy Bible, and one where the title is partially obscured called "Statute Regulating... Commerce". "Paradise Lost" had been memorably quoted in Star Trek: Space Seed.

The closeups of the Ceti eels entering and exiting Chekov's ear were done using a huge rubber replica of Walter Koenig's ear. One morning, the effects crew discovered that the art department had left a true-to-scale Q-tip next to the giant ear.

During filming of some of Khan's scenes, the prop guys decided to have a little fun at Ricardo Montalban's expense. They created a small robot and attached to its head a cardboard cutout of the head of Hervé Villechaize - Montalban's pint-sized co-star from the TV series Fantasy Island. Montalban was quite amused when he saw the prop on the set.

 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)  The Empire is more than halfway through construction of a new Death Star - almost twice as big, but more than twice as powerful. When completed, it will spell certain doom for Luke Skywalker and the Rebels. Han Solo is a prisoner of crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and Princess Leia soon finds herself in the gangster's hands. Luke Skywalker, aided by C-3PO and R2-D2, makes his way into Jabba's palace, hoping to secure his friends' freedom. But the Hutt has no intention of doing so and tries to kill them all. After escaping from Jabba and the sands of Tatooine, they regroup with the Rebel fleet, which is massing for an attack against the new satellite battle station at Endor. Lando Calrissian is pressed into action to lead the Rebel fighter attack, while Han is put in charge of a group of soldiers to take out the shield generator protecting the Death Star. However, Luke surrenders to Vader's soldiers on Endor, and is taken in front of Vader's master - the Galactic Emperor - on the Death Star for final corruption to the Dark Side of the Force. The fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers ambushes the Rebels, cutting them off. Worse, the new Death Star begins turning its giant laser on the Rebel carriers. It appears that nothing will stop the Empire's triumph - unless things start to change quickly.

The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewoks' bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing "Revenge of the Ewok" t-shirts.

Several Ewok lines are in the Filipino (Tagalog) language. Most Ewok lines, however, were inspired by the Kalmuck language, spoken by nomadic tribes living in Central China.

One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor här", which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." (In fact, that line's lyrics are supposedly, "G'noop dock fling oh ah.") Another song sounds identical to a song sung in Caveman.

When preparing to work on the special edition one of the ILM employees was talking to a friend and mentioned in passing that they were extending the musical number in Jabba's palace. The friend happened to be the brother of Femi Taylor, the dancer that played Oola (the slave girl/dancer who is fed to the Rancor) and suggested that they get in contact with her as she was in even better shape than she was when they originally shot the scene. They ended up using her, and the scene is a combination of footage that they already had and the new footage recorded 15 years later. Femi Taylor also has the distinction of being the only cast member from the original movies to reprise her role for the special edition.

Stardust (2007)  The tiny English village of Wall has a secret. Through a gap in the town's old stone wall lies the kingdom of Stormhold, a magical realm of spells, unicorns and witches. One day a boy named Tristan Thorn makes a bet with Victoria, the girl of his dreams, that he can bring her back a falling star that lands beyond the wall. So he journeys through the gap into the wall and into the other world, determined to bring back the fallen star in seven days and win Victoria's hand in marriage. To his surprise, the star in question is not a lump of rock but a plucky celestial princess named Yvaine, who is not at all pleased to be knocked out of the sky and subsequently kidnapped. And a fallen star, it seems, is quite a commodity in Stormhold. Soon Tristan and Yvaine are running from flying pirates, warring princes, and three wicked witches who want to cut Yvaine's heart out of her chest and eat it in order to restore their eternal youth. To win the bet, Tristan will have to hold his own in a dangerous game of swords and sorcery - but this new world has more surprises in store than he could ever have imagined.

This is a delightful film; much of it is better than the book and much of the book is better than the film.  It is a case of a good story teller being able to work in both media.

Miramax originally had the option on Stardust, but when it expired, Neil Gaiman felt uncomfortable giving up the rights to the film to just anyone. After turning down numerous directors and young actresses who wanted it as a starring vehicle, Gaiman finally gave Stardust's option for free to Matthew Vaughn. This was largely due to the fact that Gaiman trusted Vaughn both as a friend and as someone "who stuck to his word," something Gaiman considered a rarity in Hollywood.

All princes wear clothing with a pattern spelling out their number in Roman numerals, composed by smaller Arabic numerals. Furthermore, Septimus wears a vest with the numeral 7 on each button.

The three witches share their names with demonic creatures from Greek mythology. Lamia and Mormo were demons who ate children, and Empusa was a creature sent by the goddess Hecate to eat travelers.

At the end when Una tells Tristan he is the last surviving male heir, the spirits of the brothers float up and away. But one of the dots turns red and goes down into the fire, presumably Septimus, as he was the most evil of the brothers.

State and Main (2000)  Chaos ensues for a film production in a small Vermont town after the discovery of one of the town's landmarks burned down years ago. A moralistic screenwriter may have to put his career ahead of his principles. An authoritative director and his fast talking producer struggle to keep the production together, while the leading actors have their own problems. The leading man has a penchant for young girls while the woman has a problem showing nudity on screen.

A funny movie showing the dark side of film making.

The reason for the Crazy Credit "A complete list of associate producers is available on request" is that, throughout the film, anyone who could help make the film-within-the-film was given an associate producer credit.

State Fair (1945)  The Frakes - father Abel Frake, mother Melinda Frake, and young adult children Wayne Frake and Margy Frake - are an Iowa farm family getting ready to go to the multi-day Iowa State Fair. Wayne isn't looking forward to going as his girlfriend Eleanor can't go. And Margy is just preoccupied with the thought of being in a relationship with a real man, instead of the courtship she has with the boorish Harry Ware to whom she is unofficially engaged. At the fair, Melinda is hoping she made the right decision regarding the mincemeat she has entered for judging. And Abel may have some problems with his potentially prize winning boar, Blueboy, who has a case of love-sickness. Also love struck are Wayne and Margy, Wayne with a big band singer named Emily Edwards who is performing at the fair, and Margy with Pat Gilbert, a Des Moines Register reporter who is covering the fair for the newspaper. Can both the Frakes children's romances extend beyond the length of the fair, especially considering their big city versus farm life differences, Emily's which takes her across the country to perform, and Pat's which may take him to a more lucrative job as a columnist job with a prestigious Chicago newspaper?

I was entirely too young when I first saw this movie and didn't understand it.  It gets better as you get older--remade in 1962 and not as well done.

State Fair (1962)  Remake of the 1945 movie.  Some new songs but not especially well done.  The moved the setting from Iowa to Texas.

The Station Agent (2003)  A story about a man with dwarfism who's hobby is trainspotting doesn't sound like an inspiring tale, but the Station Agent is a remarkable achievement in making it just that. Relocating to a fairly remote area where he has inherited some property, the main character becomes very popular - not because of his cute dwarfism, but because he exhibits an inner strength that enables people to eventually see past his physical deformity.

Superb acting by all the cast, and wonderful contrasts between their inner lives and the outer personas they use to deal with the everyday superficialities of the world (including meeting new people). The film is tender, uplifting, realistic, without ever becoming cheesy or moralising. A joy to behold.

The Stepford Wives (2004)  Joanna Eberhart, a wildly succesful president of a TV Network, after a series of shocking events suffers a nervous breakdown and is moved by her milquetoast of a husband, Walter, from Manhattan to the chic, upper-class and very modern planned community of Stepford, Connecticut. Once there, she makes good friends with the ascerbic Bobbie Markowitz, a jewish writer who's also a recovering alcoholic. Together they find out, much to their growing stupor and-then horror, that all the housewives in town are strangely blissful, and somehow... doomed. What is going on behind the closed doors of the Stepford Men's Association and the Stepford Day Spa? Why is everything perfect here? Will it be too late for Joanna and Bobbie when they finally find out?

I saw the remake first and liked it better; very good cast.

Stir Crazy (1980)  Skip and Harry are framed for a bank robbery and end up in a western prison. The two eastern boys are having difficulty adjusting to the new life until the warden finds that Skip has a natural talent for riding broncos with the inter-prison rodeo coming up.

The first movie directed by an African American to gross over $100 million dollars in North America.

The Sting (1973)  It's September, 1936. The place: Joliet, Illinois. Luther Coleman, his apprentice Johnny Hooker, and their underling Joe Erie's latest swindle has netted them $11,000, enough for an aged Luther to contemplate retiring from grifting. They are unaware however that that money belonged to ruthless racketeer Doyle Lonnegan, whose thugs kill Luther in retaliation. Before Luther's death, he suggested to Hooker that he contact Henry Gondorff, his old friend in Chicago to learn the art of the big con. Hooker does contact Gondorff, who has retired after being burned in his last big con. Gondorff decides to come out of retirement solely to help Hooker get back at Lonnegan for Luther's murder. In pulling off the big con, Gondorff and Hooker require the assistance of a number of Gondorff's old associates as well as a number of small time grifters. In the latter group includes Erie, who wants to do his small part in revenging Luther's death. Beyond Lonnegan or anyone else finding out about the con, there are many potential obstacles in pulling off the sting, such as a controlling and overly cautious Lonnegan wanting to do things his own way, and a number of people chasing after Hooker, including a crooked Joliet vice cop named Snyder, Lonnegan's lower level thugs and a hired hit man. Through the process, Hooker, who sees himself as being a wheeler dealer, may come across a better deal than that provided to him by Gondorff.

This movie was playing for 18 months near my home in Livonia, Michigan.  I did not go see it.  Only after I moved to Johnstown, PA did I finally go see the movie when I was visiting Michigan.

Just prior to Elizabeth Taylor's presentation of the Best Picture Oscar for this film, the streaker Robert Opel darted across the stage as David Niven was introducing her. It was this incident (among others) that inspired singer Ray Stevens to write the song "The Streak" that went to the top of the US charts the month after the awards. Incidentally, Opel was found murdered in his San Francisco gallery in 1979.

The score of the film consists of Scott Joplin ragtime compositions, which were composed between 1900 and 1910. Although The Sting helped bring Joplin's ragtime back into American popular culture, they actually predate the period of the story by 25 years.

The movie was filmed on the backlot of Universal studios and the diner in which Hooker meets Lonnegan is the same diner interior used in Back to the Future in which Marty McFly first meets his father and calls Doc Brown.

The rigged Black 22 at the roulette wheel, where Hooker loses the bet at the beginning of the movie, is the same spot that Rick Blaine uses for both Captain Renault and the Bulgarian couple to set them up to win.

Strangers in Good Company (1990)  A bus breaks down in the wilderness. Seven elderly women,average age 71 and one 27 year old are stranded at a deserted farmhouse. The have only their wits, their memories, and eventually some roasted frogs' legs, to sustain them. Through the long days and nights this remarkable group of strangers share their life stories and exchange intimate thoughts; turning the crisis into a magical time of humor and spirit. Featuring non-professional actors and spontaneous dialogue, this memorable film dissolves the barrier between fiction and reality, weaving a heartwarming tale of friendship and courage.

This movie was mostly ad-libbed by the women, all talking about their real lives.

Strangers on a Train (1951)  Guy Haines is a well known amateur tennis player who wants to go into politics in his post tennis life. He is equally well known in the society papers as a man who wants to divorce his shrewish and cheating wife, Miriam, so that he can marry Anne Morton, the refined daughter of a state senator. To spite Guy, Miriam refuses to divorce him, while she plans to continue cavorting with other men. Bruno Antony is a charming and gregarious man, who lives off the wealth of his father. He's also a sociopath who loves his mentally childlike mother, but detests his father, who he believes is the repressive cause of his problems. Guy and Bruno meet each other one day on a train. Their social chit-chat, directed by Bruno, leads to discussion of what Bruno considers the perfect murders: each of two strangers kill the other's "problem" person, as each killer would have no ties to the person murdered. In their case, Bruno would kill Miriam, while Guy would kill Bruno's father. As Guy and Bruno part company, Guy believes Bruno's talk was just social chit-chat all in fun. However, Bruno believes they have a pact as witnessed by the fact that he does end up killing Miriam. Guy knows Bruno killed her, but doesn't feel he can go to the police with the fantastical story, which be thinks will implicate himself more. The situation gets worse for Guy as Bruno starts implicating himself in Guy's life to pressure Guy into keeping to his supposed end of the bargain. Guy has to figure out what to do so as not to implicate himself, not kill anyone and keep those around him safe, which may be a problem for Anne's sister Barbara who has a physical resemblance to Miriam. The other problem for Guy in going to the police is that Bruno has his personalized cigarette lighter, which he may use to implicate Guy if Guy doesn't comply.

Excellent crime thriller.  I saw this movie when I was eight years old.  I liked the movie but didn't really care for the characters--they were bad guys.  This is a movie worth enjoying more than once.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)  Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War Two, A Streetcar Named Desire is the story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own. After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, for seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that "under Louisiana's Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband." Stanley, a sinewy and brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. They are opposing camps and Stella is caught in no-man's-land. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche's efforts to impose herself between them only enrages the animal inside Stanley. When Mitch -- a card-playing buddy of Stanley's -- arrives on the scene, Blanche begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world, reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche's past in Auriol begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable.

Sunset Blvd. (1951)  In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone wit her butler and driver Max von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was his director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.

I saw this movie when I was eight years old.  I liked it then and like it better now.

In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone wit her butler and driver Max von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was his director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.

The Sword in the Stone (1963)  Wart, a measly servant knave, dreams of becoming a knight but is barely certain he may act as castle lord Sir Ector's even ruder son Kay's squire. Then the sorcerer Merlin and his grumpy speaking owl Archimedes invite themselves and move into a dilapidated tower. Merlin, who can magically access the future, accepts the challenge to prepare Wart for a grand future. So he gives the squirt dangerous lessons by transforming themselves into animals to learn the mental skills fitting a knight and a ruler. For the magic sword in the stone, which can confer the kingdom of all England, then still divided, couldn't be withdrawn for years, and now a tournament in London is to designate a contender instead. Kay is going to compete, but the fat klutz stands no chance.

Disney version of a classic tale.