• The Saint
• Salvador
• Le Samourai
• Save the Last Dance
• Saviour of the Soul
• Saving Private Ryan *HOT*
• Scary Movie
• Schizopolis
• The Score
• Scream 2
• Scream 3
• A Scream From Silence
• The Searchers *Classic*
• Security Unlimited
• Seven *HOT*
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Shadow of the Vampire
• Shaft
• Shaft (2000)
• Shanghai Noon
• Shaolin Soccer
• Shiri
• Shower
• Shrek
• The Siege
• The Silence of the Lambs *HOT*
• A Simple Plan
• Singin' in the Rain *Classic*
• Sissi
• The 6th Day
• The Sixth Sense
• Sleepy Hollow
• Snake Eyes
• Snatch

• Snow Falling on Cedars
• Solaris
• Someone Like You
• The Soong Sisters
• South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
• Space Cowboys
• Speed *HOT*
• Spriggan
• Spy Game
• Spy Kids
• The Spy Who Loved Me
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Stigmata
• Stir of Echoes
• The Stormriders *HOT*
• Street Trash
• Stuart Little
• Stunt Man, The
• Summer of Sam
• Summer Snow
• Sunset Boulevard *Classic*
• Superman
• Supernova
• Suspiria
• Suzaku
• Swan Princess, The
• Sweet and Lowdown
• Swordfish
• Swordsman II

The Saint (1997)
Starring: Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzija
Director: Phillip Noyce
Plot: A professional thief, also a master of disguise, falls for a young female scientist while trying to steal her cold fusion formula for a rich, power-hungry Russian politician.
Review: There may have been a lot of potential in The Saint franchise, a part made famous by Roger Moore and one that was once paralleled to that of James Bond, but with what we have here, it's just dead on arrival. Director Noyce, who's proved he can make excellent, smart action thrillers with Clear and Present Danger and The Bone Collector, just can't seem to come to grips with the tired script no matter what he tries to keep our attention. Kilmer does a pretty good job through all the disguises and manages a rather sympathetic character, but when the role asks to put his heart on his sleeve, it just doesn't work. The fact that Shue, as the love interest, plays a ditzy physicist doesn't exactly engender any warm feelings, either. By focusing so much on the romantic angle, on the badly-drawn emotional problems of its hero, the story loses its only chance at keeping our attention. The fact that the rest of the plot is inane, banal and cliché-ridden, lacking any interesting action pieces or any suspense whatsoever, doesn't help its case either. The main fault is quite simply that it's all rather shallow and often just plain silly. As a thriller, The Saint never actually thrills, and can only be chucked up as a disappointing re-invention of the classic character.
Entertainment: 3/10

Salvador (1986)
Starring: James Woods, James Belushi, John Savage
Director: Oliver Stone
Plot: During the bloody civil war in El Salvador of the early 1980's, a cynical, down-on-his-luck American photojournalist slowly faces the reality of the carnage and chaos while trying to work both sides.
Review: Salvador is a semi-fictional account of real-life reporter Richard Boyle's experiences, chronicling the major events of the military junta's bid for power, its battle against its own people, and its (imagined?) fight against communism. But more than just a political drama, the film is also a character study of an amoral loser who's seen too much and done too little, who finds his priorities, his awakening conscious, and his big mouth have put him in a precarious, dangerous situation. Woods embodies this character to perfection: the laissez-faire attitude, the con-man approach, and the explosive diatribes, all feel perfectly natural for such a sleazeball personage. His rants may be driven by the filmmakers' need to make certain they get their political point across, but Woods manages to create a character whose sudden outbursts are actually expected and credible. Belushi's one-note character, following our anti-hero into one mess after another, seems to have been added purely for comedy relief, or maybe he's a thinly concealed metaphor for the American public - belligerent without having a clue, ready to accept anything. As for the rest of the cast, they are merely concepts, from the journalist looking for the ultimate picture to the military officers, innocent civilians and guerillas, only there for the story to play off of. Director / co-screenwriter Stone (Platoon, Any Given Sunday) took a big chance in producing such a gritty and anti-Reagan picture early in his directorial career, and his abilities as evident here still needed work, but thanks to a strong ideological sense, solid script, and a bravura performance by Woods, Salvador is an unpolished, hard look at America's foreign policies.
Drama: 8/10

Le Samourai (France - 1967)
Starring: Alain Delon, Francois Perier, Nathalie Delon
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Plot: A professional hit-man hired to kill a nightclub owner and double-crossed by his employer is relentlessly pursued by a hard-nosed police captain who refuses to accept his perfect alibi.
Review: French New Wave director Melville brings his ode to the Hollywood crime genre with Le Samourai, a minimalist thriller that is an atmospheric exploration of the genre. Obviously heavily influenced by the American film noir of the '40s, with the femme fatale, seedy underworld characters, and the dark, gloomy Paris streets and dimly lit interiors that reinforce the dark tone of the tale, it also has a European flavor all its own. There are some exciting moments, such as the veritable game of cat and mouse through the Paris subway, or the final assignment, but mostly the film manages to build its suspense slowly, almost nonchalantly. Melville's taut, methodically paced style leaves nothing but the bare essentials of the crime movie as its framework, eschewing any sense of empathy to the characters on screen, and even the usual emotive music, making the story almost an abstract study of crime and alienation. Indeed, even the instances of action are sparse, belying the feeling that violence and tension are ever present just beyond the corner. The dialogue is also kept to a minimum, concentrating instead on a narration based on visual cues, an emphasis on details and careful editing to further the story and give a feeling of entrapment, claustrophobia, and desperation. Delon's understated, ultra-cool performance as the mysterious hit-man was the template for the modern-day assassin, emotionless, living by his own code of honor, expertly traversing the moral wasteland of society. The rest of the cast is also perfectly suited as stoic, empty shells going through the motions of their existence. Though a little slow perhaps for those used to more modern fare, Le Samourai is an influential French neo-noir that's well worth the effort of locating.
Drama / Entertainment: 8/10

Save the Last Dance (2000)
Starring: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas
Director: Thomas Carter
Plot: After her mother dies in an accident, a young ballerina renounces her dreams when she is forced to live with her estranged father in Chicago and enroll in an inner-city school.
Review: Is Save the Last Dance be the Flashdance for a new generation? Yet another take on the classic Romeo and Juliet? Who cares: the hip-hop soundtrack and dancing are full of infectious energy that is well captured on screen, especially the final audition mixing ballet and a more modern choreography, and there lies most of the success of the film. The drama is less successful, with the usual fish-out-of-water storyline, and the typical melodrama associated with it. Black-white relations are also touched upon, but the moralistic attitudes of the secondary characters, and the shallowness of the script when it comes to the real issues, leaves one unimpressed. The film's real saving grace, though, is its two main actors who may not be completely convincing, but who still manage to light up the screen with their presence. To be fair, Save the Last Dance doesn't really care about being a drama so much as an entertaining look at Hollywood's idea of the hip-hop culture, and it works.
Entertainment: 6/10

Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon
Director: Steven Spielberg
Plot: After disembarking in Normandy during the D-Day invasion, a small squad is ordered by high command to wander the war-torn French countryside to find, and bring safely home, a private whose three other brothers have already died in the conflict.
Review: Saving Private Ryan starts with a bang, an overwhelming, harrowing first 20 minutes that evokes all the horror and terror of the Allied side of the Normandy invasion, an unrelenting, frightfully violent segment filmed at a combatant's eye view that brings the Hell of warfare square into our laps better than any war film ever made. The tone and cinematic style changes soon afterwards as the small squad take on their mission in the French occupied zone, only occasionally rivaling the same intensity, until the explosive, tragic finale. From short skirmishes in ruined villages to all-out assaults, the tension and events never fails to grip us. Apart from its well-staged and adrenaline-pumping battles, the film is also filled with more quiet memorable moments, from the soldiers' obvious camaraderie to the desperate buffoonery of a German prisoner begging for his life. Though there is an obvious current of patriotism throughout the narrative, there is also one of moral ambiguity, one tapered with a clarity of human behavior, from fear and despair, to courage and determination, that makes this one stand above similar films. Here, as he did with Shindler's List, Spielberg proves that he is a master filmmaker, and was justly awarded an Oscar for Best Director for his efforts. The camera never spares us the atrocities inherent to the battle, be they spectacular like a soldier being blown to bits by a badly-timed sticky bomb or another being engulfed in flames, or mundane like the friend beside you slowly dying from a sniper shot while everyone looks on, helpless. The Award-winning cinematography, from the claustrophobic, kinetic shots to the lazy spans of the countryside, only adds to the impact of the story. Hanks, once again, finds the perfect balance in his role, showing a convincing portrayal of a decent, normal man faced with extraordinary circumstances. The rest of the characters are well-formed and believable as distinct individuals, all played with perfect acuity by the excellent cast, making their sacrifices all the more relevant. An amazing testimonial to courage and the madness of war, Saving Private Ryan is an unforgettable experience and one of the best war films ever produced.
Drama: 9/10

Saviour of the Soul (Hong Kong - 1991)
Starring: Andy Lau, Anita Mui, Aaron Kwok
Director: Corey Yuen
Plot: Two bounty hunters in love must separate when a formidable assassin with incredible powers decides to extract revenge on the one who killed his master.
Review: Saviour of the Soul is a semi-entertaining mixed bag of fantasy action and tear-jerking melodrama done on the cheap. There are some efficient minimalist sets and some nice visuals here that use a very strong sense of deep colors to get us into the comic-book inspired style. In fact the comic-book roots and adapted elements are clearly evident throughout and it can be at times quite entertaining, especially the fantasy action sequences, full of super powers, wire-work enhanced flying sword fights, and some rather imaginative bits. No wonder since director Yuen is best known for his action choreography (Enter the Eagles, Fong Sai Yuk) and, though the film doesn't quite reach anywhere near his better films, these are practically the only interesting moments in a very drab film. The main problem is that the story vacillates badly between terrible melodrama, a painfully ridiculous love story, and lots of comic buffoonery, with the slapstick gags and silly situations undermining the occasionally semi-serious tone. Worse, there's not even enough action to really carry the film through these parts. Considering the fine actors involved, ones that usually light up the screen, this is a rather disappointing ho-hum effort. If you can sit through lots of barely amusing and downright silly filler, Saviour of the Soul can be a decent time-waster.
Entertainment: 4/10

Scary Movie (2000)
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Shannon Elizabeth, Cheri Oteri
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Plot: A send-off of Scream, as an inept masked psychotic killer goes after a group of silly, stereotypically messed-up teenagers.
Review: The story of Scary Movie follows the plot of Scream quite closely (with some scenes from I Know What You Did Last Summer) and throws references from many popular films - The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, The Exorcist, etc all pass through the blender. The Wayans Bros don't try to one-up their precursor in the script or wit department relying instead on exploiting and goofing off famous movie scenes and situations to make its mark. Much like Airplane, the film is more a collection of uneven skits than a full-fledged film, but one that knows, and provides, exactly what teenage audiences want to see. The problem is that the film tries so hard to be a crass spoof, a Farrelly Bros.-type gross-out film, and a teenage sex farce that it ends up feeling desperate and forced. All this doesn't mean the film isn't funny: though many parts fall flat and others are just plain stupid, there are also some hilarious scenes, including some jokes that are so dumb you'll be embarrassed to laugh at them. Scary Movie won't win any awards and may pass into oblivion on video, but if you can leave your brain and your sense of what's tasteful at the door, it's a mostly amusing, if juvenile, low-brow comedy.
Comedy: 4/10

Schizopolis (1997)
Starring: Steven Soderbergh, Betsy Brantley
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Plot: An office worker scrambles to write an important speech for a new age guru while his coworker's paranoia over a possible spy, and his wife's affair with his double, affects his perception of reality.
Review: Writer / director Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brockovich) makes his first fringe film with Schizopolis, and it's easily one of the best-looking and technically inventive basement-budget films you'll ever see. The film goes against all pretense at a mainstream production, presenting an inspired piece of absurdist comedy with some experimental bits, visual gags, and just plain weird stuff that's really only possible on small indie projects like this one. This is a veritable smorgasbord of gags, unshaped ideas, and unconnected sequences, one with constant winks at the audience, and an ever-present tongue-in-cheek humor. It's also a collection of sketch comedy routines featuring visual gags and slapstick, with some absolutely hilarious, laugh-out-loud moments, full of bizarre conversations that play on our movie expectations (either some characters partake in nonsensical dialogue, or talk in another language without the help of subtitles). There's some substance hidden beneath all this, an obvious satire on 20th century society beneath all the jokes and funny situations, as the film pokes fun at the media, at our own 9-to-5 existence, at the whole film-making process, and especially at religions and "new age" movements (Scientology in particular). Sure there's a story here, one that's convoluted, lacks sense and plays with our perceptions, but all of it is secondary to the ideas set forth. Soderbergh, also playing the main protagonist and acting for the first time, does a great job in front of the camera as well as behind, and shows some perfect comic timing as well as a carefree attitude towards his dual role. The schizo filmmaking evident in Schizopolis isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but those willing to come into this clever, lighthearted comedy with an open mind are in for a real treat.
Entertainment / Comedy: 8/10

The Score (2001)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando
Director: Frank Oz
Plot: Seeking retirement, a professional thief reluctantly sets up a large-scale heist involving an expensive scepter kept in the Montreal Customs House with a young, hot-headed partner despite his many misgivings.
Review: The '70s style crime thriller seems to have made a comeback lately, and none are so indicative of this as The Score, a small-scale production with good intentions. Concentrating on the character interactions, the minutiae of the preparations, and the test of wills between the brash young Turk and the seasoned veteran, director Oz (In and Out) has managed a decent, old-fashioned heist flick for his first "serious" film. Surprisingly enough, there's not much tension throughout the set-up, the story instead concentrating on De Niro's character, his jazz club, and his misgivings for this particular job. Yet, even this lack of momentum doesn't deter much from appreciating the film: This is an actor's movie, and with a cast of this caliber, that's by far the best reason to watch this story unfold. Brando hacks it up to the extreme as a foppish go-between, De Niro plays with his usual cool, and Norton gives his performance just the right mixture of cockiness and control. In fact, De Niro and Norton play off each other well, an important element in such a dialogue-driven film. Mind you, these aren't Oscar performances, for sure, but there's a cool, calculated impetus that makes it all quite watchable. Only Angela Bassett, as De Niro's girlfriend, is grossly underused as a simple prop for its main character. The outcome is never really in doubt, but it's an entertaining, if sometimes slow-moving, ride to its final showdown, a well-executed extended robbery sequence that's actually quite suspenseful. On a last note, the production also shows off Montreal as Montreal (instead of another anonymous American city) to its best advantage, even if it sticks pretty much to the historical Old Port. The Score isn't a particularly memorable film, but as classy entertainment that shows off its leads in the best of lights, it works pretty well.
Entertainment: 6/10

Scream 2 (1997)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Director: Wes Craven
Plot: A college student and her friends are the object of obsession for a mysterious serial killer trying to imitate, and surpass, a similar murderous incident that happened to them a year before.
Review: As in the first installment, Scream 2 knows its another entry in the '90s teenage slasher movie genre, and plays well with the conventions, adding some originality and flair to the proceedings with the more-than-occasional winks to the audience. The film is everything a sequel is supposed to be: it has more dead bodies, a bigger setting, more characters, and more plot twists. Surprisingly, the blood and gore is kept mostly low-key, the script relying more on the suspense and mystery of the story. The suspense is often contrived and conventional, and the script knows how to push all the right buttons to be a crowd-pleaser - why break a successful formula? Still, the intrigue is first-rate and the climax, though a bit stretched, is still quite satisfying. A sequel that holds well to the original, and is surprisingly fun to boot.
Entertainment: 7/10

Scream 3 (2000)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Director: Wes Craven
Plot: Survivors of past serial killings must once again face the killer in the ghost mask, this time in the back lot of Hollywood where a production of "Stab 3", based on the original murders, is being filmed.
Review: Scream 3 continues the style of the first two, parodying the teen slasher genre to mostly good effect, with some good scares, some great cameos, and a few fun moments. The problem is that the film has started to cannibalize on itself, and it's clear that the makers are running out of ideas. The same group of characters are back, once again going through the movements and routines we've seen played out in Scream 2, only it seems they've mostly forgotten the lessons learnt in the last film. Scream 3 tries to one-up the first two installments, but by the time the "surprise" ending comes along, one which tries to tie it all up together and bring the trilogy to a close, it all just seems a little too stretched and unsatisfying. The series (and the genre itself) has all the indications of getting a little tired, but Scream 3 is still head-and-shoulders above its competition, and a decent ending to a good series.
Entertainment: 5/10

A Scream From Silence (Mourir à tue-tête) (Quebec - 1979)
Starring: Julie Vincent, Germain Houde, Paul Savoie
Director: Anne Claire Poirier
Plot: Two women, a director and her editor, set out to make a feminist film on the subject of rape by taking a real incident as their basis and can't help but react and discuss the implications of what they bring to the screen.
Review: Shocking when it was shown on Canadian TV in 1979, A Scream From Silence still holds much of its power even after more than 20 years. The opening half-hour sequence showing a woman being raped in first-person perspective is so disturbing that one cannot help but react with feelings of anger, hatred and even fear at the proceedings. Things are even worse after the event, when the victim's violation continues this time by society that now sees her as a Victim and treats her as if she was the one responsible. Produced by the National Film Board on what was probably a shoe-string budget, the film still tries to have a certain artsy appeal which, at the very end, hinders its final impact. Still, mixing a blend of cinéma vérité, documentary footage, and staged condemnation of male-dominated society, A Scream From Silence is a hard-hitting drama that will not soon be forgotten by the people who can stomach its subject.
Drama: 8/10

The Searchers (1956)
Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood
Director: John Ford
Plot: After years of wandering, a Confederate soldier returns to his family home only to see his brother's family butchered and his young niece kidnapped by a Comanche tribe. Enraged and embittered, he spends the following years searching for her, and seeking revenge.
Review: Arguably the best of the John Ford / John Wayne collaborations, and one of the best of the genre. Director John Ford and his crew's long experience in westerns seems distilled into The Searchers, and it shows: the script is terrific, the action and confrontations tense, and the photography, the vistas, are absolutely beautiful. Wayne has one of his best roles here as the anti-hero, an Indian-hater, a loner, whose obsession for revenge drives him on a five-year long search. Much like most of the westerns from that era, none of the Native Americans are depicted in a good light and are barely given more than a one-dimensional exposition, but as the story of a man coming to grips with his own life, bigotry, and fears, it is a truly engaging story.
Drama: 8/10

Security Unlimited (Hong Kong - 1981)
Starring: Michael Hui, Sam Hui, Ricky Hui
Director: Michael Hui
Plot: The comedic misadventures of three employees of a private security company in Hong Kong who try their best to fulfill the assignments they are given.
Review: The most popular installment of a series of films starring the same group of working-class characters. Security Unlimited is really a combination of short skits where we see the heroes either on a bizarre work assignment or at home in even more silly situations. The hilarious ending segment, though, brings many of the plot threads together. The Hui brothers are great at physical comedy, and have terrific comic timing. Many of the sight gags, in fact, remind one of American silent-era slapstick, though the humor itself is very Hong Kong. Some of the jokes work better than others, but the film is always fast-paced, amusing and very creative in its quest for laughs.
Comedy: 8/10

Seven (1995)
Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow
Director: David Fincher
Plot: A retiring police detective and his new partner work overtime to catch a methodic serial killer who is using his victim's sins as a template for their murder.
Review: Director Fincher (Fight Club, The Game) knows how to create a bleak, terrifying atmosphere and intense situations and it has never been more obvious than in Seven, a crime drama that pushes the limits of the genre and succeeds brilliantly. The excellent cinematography sets the mood throughout the film with shadowy interiors, stark contrasts, subdued colors and claustrophobic spaces as well as great camera shots and frame set-ups. As for the impeccable script, the twists and turns of the plot are never predictable, with a mounting tension and a constant sense of foreboding, of dread imbued in every scene. The themes of social alienation, of the pervasiveness of sin, are the main focus of the story, showing us a world drenched in wickedness and apathy to the cruelty present in our everyday lives. As such, there is no "evil" in the sense we usually expect to see in a Hollywood film, but only one of human failing, of "sin". In fact, the film never flinches from its depictions of gruesome scenes or events and yet the violence, though sometimes shocking, is never really gratuitous but necessary to give a rise from the audience's complacency. Bravura performances by all involved, including Freeman in a mesmerizing role as the cool, calculating veteran detective, but most especially by Pitt in what is probably his finest and most convincing performance. Intense, bleak, and always visually and intellectually fascinating, Seven is a dark crime thriller that goes beyond the usual Hollywood film noir entertainment to bring us a truly fascinating, and terrifying, experience. 
Drama: 9/10

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) 
Starring: Jane Powell, Howard Keel
Director: Stanley Donen 
Plot: A rancher goes to town and decides to marry a local woman. Returning to his home in the mountains, she discovers he has six brothers all working and living together. She sets out to teach them to be proper gentlemen so they can find wives of their own.
Review: As is expected from one of the great American musicals of the '50s, the film is full of singing, dancing, and more than its fair share of silly plot. The storyline and attitudes of the men towards women are quite appalling for our more modern tastes, but the men slowly learn better as the film progresses. One or two songs are classics here, but the other ones are quite forgettable. The main reason to see this film is to watch the fabulous, classic barn-raising dancing scene, where the seven brothers face-off with the other men of the region - 20 minutes of pure Hollywood magic.
Entertainment: 7/10

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Starring: Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich
Director: E. Elias Merhige
Plot: To produce the best vampire film ever made during the silent-era, a famed German director hires a real vampire as his star without revealing it to the rest of the crew who start dropping off one by one.
Review: German director F.W. Murnau's classic 1922 silent black-and-white Nosferatu, a barely disguised adaptation of Dracula, has long been deemed one of the most influential films in movie history. Enter Shadow of the Vampire, an homage to the art of film-making and an all-together fictional re-telling of the making of the horror classic, one where lead actor Max Shreck is not only playing a vampire, but really is a vampire. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, this is an artsy film from the get-go, an auteur film that will have film fans and people in-the-know chuckling, but that's also entertaining, humorous enough, and often almost campy to be enjoyable to all types of audiences. The tense, symbiotic / parasitic relationship between the actor / vampire and the director brings up some of the most interesting moments, but the confrontational duel of wills, the jabs at the similarities of the two "monsters", is unfortunately kept short. And therein lies the film's biggest disappointment: it touches on many interesting themes, but doesn't explore them deeply enough, keeping it all as smart, but light entertainment. The film is shot in both rich, dark colors and scratchy black-and-white of the original feature, recreating some of the classic Expressionist sequences of Nosferatu, then doing a prefect transition to the "present", giving the whole proceedings a stunningly surreal look. Malkovich does another over-the-top performance as director Murnau, but it's Dafoe who really steals every scene, if not the movie itself, with his low-key, mesmerizing performance as the age-old Nosferatu. Indeed his glaring at the camera, his clicking nails, his sad observations on the fate of vampires, and his witty one-liners all make for one of the most memorable vampires to grace the screen. The rest of the cast is also terrific, playing their roles with equal melodrama and campy edginess. Shadow of the Vampire is a delicious, clever outing that ends up seeming too short by half, but with so much going for it, length is a minor fault.
Entertainment: 7/10

Shaft (1971)
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn
Director: Gordon Parks
Plot: Shaft, the "great spade detective", is hired to track down the kidnapped daughter of a Harlem gang lord but finds himself in the middle of what could be a crime war between Harlem and the Mafia.
Review: Shaft is one of the "best" of the classic blaxploitation flicks (along with Dolomite and Superfly). It's badly acted, full of macho posturing, cheaply made, crude, with a silly plot and some terrible one-liners. So why was it so successful? Probably because of its main character, one of the first black action stars, a hard hitting, no-shit, "cool cat" aptly played by Roundtree. Combining that with the film's liberal doses of sex and violence, the immensely popular "us blacks vs. them whites" theme, and its able direction and pacing made Shaft eminently watchable. The finale is also on par with some of the better '70s caper flicks. The film has aged badly though, especially in its use of New York slang and bizarre treatment of a whole community, but as a send-back to an earlier time, it's an entertaining outing. Isaac Hayes' classic groovin' theme won an Oscar.
Entertainment: 5/10

Shaft (2000)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale
Director: John Singleton
Plot: A tough, black New York police detective goes after a young, wealthy and racist killer and a psychotic drug dealer while trying to find the only witness to the murder.
Review: Whether intended or not, the film often feels like a '70s flick with a soundtrack to match. But where the original film was bold and different, this new incarnation is just more of the same, with less spirit and no energy. It's been modernized by the use of more violence, more swearing to replace the lack of good dialogue, and an absence of any sexual reference, which was one of the main selling points of the character. Still, like the original, this new Shaft is way-cool, has a bad attitude, disses like the best of them and has a slick wardrobe. Singleton (Boyz N' the Hood) proves he's an able director, and Jackson shows he's a good choice for the role, but neither of them really shines here. The film itself starts off well, with all the pieces seemingly in place, but the uneven and wholly un-original script, full of predictable twists just can't meld them together. Worse, the film is full of shallow stereotypical characters, tired action sequences, and a pair of interesting but underused villains. The film isn't without its moments, and undiscriminating viewers will be entertained, but if the producers are trying to re-establish a Shaft franchise, they're going to have to make the next one much better than this.
Entertainment: 4/10

Shanghai Noon (2000)
Starring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu
Director: Tom Dey
Plot: A Chinese imperial guard is sent to the American West to rescue the Emperor's daughter kidnapped by a Chinese traitor and his cowboy cronies.
Review: Shanghai Noon is another cultural mismatch / buddy formula film in the vein of Chan's previous Hollywood outing, Rush Hour. Once again, Chan is the physical element of the duo while his partner, played to perfection by Owen Wilson, more than makes up for his little dialogue. The film isn't a blockbuster comedy, but it is a light-hearted romp through Western clichés, with its share of chuckles, some great chemistry between the two leads, some funny dialogue, and good pacing. The fish-out-of-water jokes seem a bit tired, but Chan always manages to goof it up enough to make it watchable. As always, there are a few good martial-arts sequences, but they don't even come close to the energy and originality of Chan's Hong Kong films such as Project A or Drunken Master 2. Lucy Liu is a very pleasant surprise, going beyond the standard woman-in-distress by appearing strong and capable, and even kicking high with the best of them. Owen Wilson really steals the show, though, with the best lines and some great comic timing. Unfortunately, the film reminds us of better ones, such as Maverick for one, and (the obvious basis for this script) the Sammo Hung / Jet Li production Once Upon a Time in China and America. In the end, Shanghai Noon is an enjoyable film, but nothing really special.
Entertainment: 6/10

Shaolin Soccer (Hong Kong - 2001)
Starring: Stephen Chow, Vicky Zhao Wei, Ng Man Tat
Director: Stephen Chow.
Plot: Deciding to put his Shaolin kung-fu skills to better use, a vagrant collects his old classmates and forms a soccer team to go up against their coach's nemesis at the national tournament.
Review: Shaolin Soccer is a definite hit for one of Hong Kong's greatest stars, an original mix of martial arts and soccer that will delight fans of both sports-themed stories and kung-fu flicks. The film starts with the typical creation of the underdog team, seeing them go through the necessary melodrama parody and some amusing training sequences. But the real payoff are the energetic, imaginative and definitely over-the-top soccer matches, full of excellent wire-work and some imaginative superhuman plays. Compared to present Hollywood offerings, the computer effects used in these instances are often rather poor, perhaps, but their inventive use is well integrated into the various scenes and only furthers the often hilarious comedy. If there is fault, and one found in most Chow films, it's the inconsistency between scenes, with the humorous situations sometimes feeling more like short skits instead of part of a continuous narrative. Like most of his comedies, the laughs are varied, from the slapstick and low-brow-vulgar to the clever and heart-warming, and some of the humor may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's still some of the best stuff coming out of Hong Kong these days. In any case, though the pace and mood isn't always consistent, Shaolin Soccer is definitely a funny, vastly entertaining spoof on the world's most popular sport.
Entertainment: 8/10

Shiri (Korea - 1999)
Starring: Suk-kyu Han, Min-sik Choi
Director: Je-kyu Kang
Plot: Two South Korean agents track down a female North Korean killer who is involved in the theft of a new, devastating explosive intended to be used in a terrorist scheme to blow up a soccer stadium.
Review: A huge hit in Korea, Shiri can best be described as an action-thriller with very definite Korean sensibilities. The movie advances at a good clip, the action is well staged, there are some good plot twists, and the background political climate, that of continuing tensions between North and South Korea, is fascinating. The film also delves into a bit of melodrama to very good effect, making the struggle and situation personal. The problem is that in trying to do a Hollywood-style Cold War thriller, the film has fallen into many of the clichés of these Hollywood productions, including some weak plot points and some repetitive action sequences. That aside, Shiri is a good, intelligent thriller that puts most of the American ones to shame.
Entertainment: 7/10

Shower (2000)
Starring: Zhu Xu, Pu Cun Xin, Jiang Wu
Director: Zhang Yang
Plot: After having left his village for the big city, a man returns to his father and brother who run a public bath house, a social center for the male community, that is about to be torn down.
Review: A light-hearted comedy / drama on the culture shock between modern society and traditional Chinese culture, Shower is an amusing, unpretentious film. It is the portrait of a small community removed, if only temporarily, of the happenings of the world outside. The interaction between the colorful characters, all well interpreted, is what really makes the film enjoyable, each with their own story, and all grouped together solely because of the bath house that brings them together. This is not a deep film by any means, and the comedy elements far outweigh the dramatic moments, but the drama does prove to be touching in the end. A well executed, occasionally touching, crowd-pleaser.
Comedy: 6/10

Shrek (2001)
Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Plot: To rid himself of unwanted fairy-tale tenants, a cranky ogre accepts the terms of the heartless ruler who put them there and goes off on a quest to save a princess from a fire-breathing dragon with the help of a talking donkey.
Review: The idea of cracked fairy-tales isn't new - The Princess Bride stands as a wonderful example of this - but Shrek, from the makers of Antz, takes it all to the levels of camp by being obsessed at throwing as many brazen stabs at conventions as it can possibly fit into its running time. The story is full of genre-bending twists, poking delicious fun at numerous fairy-tales, presenting our beloved childhood stories and characters (from the Gingerbread Man to the Three Blind Mice) in a whole new light. Disney, for one, seems to get a particularly good ribbing. The film is relatively "clean" as it pertends to being a family film, and there's plenty here to amuse both adults and kids, though the script does add many mature double-entendres and some clever visual cues. It all makes for an energetic, sometimes even hilarious romp into fantasy, with some obviously modern sensibilities. The computer animation sits between the "realistic" and the cartoony - the fantasy elements and environments are quite impressive, pushing the envelope in this area yet again, but the humans still look and move like plastic puppets. An important part of the film's success is the appropriate choice of the four main vocal leads, but it's Murphy, as the wise-ass Donkey that never shuts up, that really steals the show. The film does lose steam 2/3 into the film, as the story aims for the romantic "happily ever after" still required, losing as it does much of its charm and unpredictability. The final rousing pop song performance is meant to end the film on a high note, but it can't hide the fact that the whole proceedings seems to be missing some soul. Still, though the film isn't quite as original or as sharp as it would like to make its audience think it is, there are enough great scenes, inventive zaniness and clever visual gags to make Shrek a very entertaining outing.
Entertainment: 7/10

The Siege (1998)
Starring: Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Bruce Willis
Director: Edward Zwick
Plot: When New York becomes victim of escalating terrorist attacks, local FBI agents run against the clock to find the remaining cells as the US military declares martial law on the city.
Review: From the very beginning, The Siege tries to be more than just an action film, or even a political thriller, as it admirably tackles more complex issues such as U.S. foreign policy, the weakness of our own defenses against this type of attack, inter-agency rivalry, and even the question of "what are we willing to sacrifice, how far can we go to protect ourselves?". Washington is the perfect choice for the role, tempering off professionalism and desperation as the liberal mouth-piece of the script. Willis, however, has the best multi-faceted role as a general reluctant to impose martial law but who is willing to go to extremes to do his job, playing the antagonist against his will. Bening, as the female CIA agent with personal connections to the events, has a difficult role and doesn't always appear convincing. Director Zwick (Glory, Courage Under Fire) deftly captures the intensity and difficulty of the situations at hand, from the personal interactions between agents and agencies to the military campaigns, never letting up on the suspense inherent in the material and the realism of the progressively desperate events. Some scenes play extremely well, and are quite powerful and chilling, such as the city bus exploding as the media watches on. Others, like the relationship between Bening and her Arab contact, seem more heavy-handed. Worse, after such a strong setup, the finale is quite anti-climactic, and the preachy speech at the end leaves a bad taste. Thankfully there's a lot of thought-provoking stuff in The Siege, as well as all the elements for a slick first-rate thriller, and it's hard to ask for more from Hollywood.
Entertainment / Drama: 7/10
Note: The film has become increasingly popular and timely in the wake of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York, and is doubly chilling in its capture of the relevant topics and its realistic depictions of terrorist cells and rural destruction. Upon renewed viewing, its subject and events are only that more meaningful and scary.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn
Director: Jonathan Demme
Plot: A young FBI trainee is assigned to get the help of an imprisoned psychiatrist, a genius, manipulative psychopath, to catch a serial killer who skins his young female victims.
Review: The Silence of the Lambs plays well as both a detailed procedural thriller and as a modern horror picture, with a terrific, taut screenplay, full of good character development and great plot twists. The cinematography also enhances the superb script, presenting each scene with an unflinching look at the gruesome and the macabre, from the mutilated bodies, to the cold stare of Hannibal, to even the most bland daily events leaving the audience with a constant feeling of unease. Foster has picked another perfect role for her acting skills, and Hopkin's bravura performance has made of his character Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lector one of the most memorable villains in recent memory. Intelligent, riveting and exquisitely shot, and worthy of the many Oscar awards it garnered, The Silence of the Lambs is the model on which suspense thrillers will henceforth be judged.
Drama: 8/10
Entertainment: 9/10

A Simple Plan (1998)
Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda
Director: Sam Raimi
Plot: Three small-town men try desperately to keep their new found loot a secret after stumbling upon a crashed plane carrying a dead man and a bag with four million dollars in cash.
Review: The story is a depressing, suspense-ridden tale of greed, betrayal and small-town dreams. Bill Paxton does a decent job playing the straight man of the trio, and Billy Bob Thornton is excellent playing his dim-witted bumpkin brother. Director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) extends his repertoire with this suspenseful tale based on the novel. Gone is his usual outrageous cinematography, opting here for more sedate shots. The film is well directed, the story, cinematography and actors good, and the ending devastating, yet all the pieces don't seem to gel into place to make a truly convincing, or memorable, film.
Drama: 7/10

Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Director: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Plot: A group of famous silent film actors and their film studio in 1920's Hollywood must make the transition to sound by re-staging their swash-buckling production into a musical. 
Review: One of the best (if not the best) musical to come out of Hollywood, including the title sequence that may well be the most popular song from a musical ever to grace the screen. Gene Kelly is at his peak here, dancing with Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and the sultry Cyd Charisse - its just wonderful to watch. The story is just as much fun as the rest of the film and bridges the different musical numbers very well, on top of giving a light-hearted (if simplistic) look at an exciting time in Hollywood history. Mingling inventive choreography, beautiful sets, and an engaging story, Singin' in the Rain is just wonderful Hollywood entertainment.
Entertainment: 9/10

Sissi (Austria - 1955)
Starring: Romy Schneider, Karlheinz Böhm, Magda Schneider
Director: Ernst Marischka
Plot: A young princess falls for her cousin the Austrian Emperor but their love is thwarted by his mother's insistence on an arranged marriage with the princess' older sister.
Review: The Austrian equivalent of a Hollywood family romance, Sissi is a lavishly produced, easy dramatization of the early life of the empress Sissi. This is more a fairy-tale rendering than an actual account, of course, and the plot and events turn out far more like a Harlequin romance than a period piece. Yet there is a certain charm here, most of which is provided by its young star Romy Schneider who takes the role to heart. The rest of the cast, however, is rather wooden by comparison in their exaggerated, theatrical performances. With a blend of history, little-girl romance and royal spectacle, Sissi ends up as fair family viewing.
Family: 5/10

The 6th Day (2000)
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Duvall
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Plot: A helicopter pilot returns home only to find that he has been replaced by a clone and that an evil corporation is set on killing him to keep the fact secret.
Review: The 6th Day is another cookie-cutter high-tech action / thriller, with one clever idea that isn't used to its full potential. The surprise, though, is that the action is disappointing, especially coming from Schwarzenegger and director Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies). It's not so much that the sequences are bad, but there's nothing really special or exciting, and they aren't as prevalent as past Arnie films. The time is taken instead to present a future where cloning is made possible and almost necessary, including some vaguely interesting (if simplistic) views on the controversy of cloning humans. Robert Duvall has a complex supporting role as the head scientist in moral conflict with his work, but his scenes seem to be from another movie. As for Schwarzenegger, his acting skills seem to be getting worse, and it's painfully obvious on screen that he's getting too old for this type of film. Despite this, the film does move along nicely, and there are enough throw-away lines, amusing touches, escapades and laser blasts to entertain fans of the genre.
Entertainment: 6/10

Sixth Sense, The (1999)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment
Director:M. Night Shymalman
Plot: After seeing the death of one of his patients, a child psychologist tries to redeem himself by helping a boy with his fears. The only problem is that the boy is constantly being haunted by dead people...
Review: Though it has all the makings for a horror film, The Sixth Sense plays more like a drama than a thriller. And that's not a bad thing. Taking a supernatural premise, writer / director Shymalman discards standard horror shocks and scares, bringing us instead a story of redemption and of overcoming one's fears. Bruce Willis plays his role of child psychologist well enough, but it is child actor Osmont who is the centerpiece of the film, easily stealing the show by convincingly portraying the terrified boy. A good drama that just happens to be a good supernatural tale, too.
Entertainment: 8/10

Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci
Director: Tim Burton
Plot: At the turn of the 18th century, constable Ichabod Crane is sent to a remote village to solve mysterious decapitations said to be the work of a headless horseman.
Review: The eerie, almost nightmarish style of director Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands) is perfect for such a dark fantasy, combining some disturbing storytelling bordering on the horror genre with a period mystery, and all wrapped with his usual wicked sense of fun. The great cinematography, unnatural sets, bluish colors, all blend in to make for a menacing, brooding look to the film. All the actors fit in with the style of the fairy tale, especially Johnny Depp who does his character justice, playing the part of the urban dweller faced with a supernatural threat with a charm and expressiveness that fit the mood of the film. Though the story itself is nothing special, as an interesting take on the classic legend by Irving Washington, and as far as pure entertainment goes, Sleepy Hollow is a wonderful, enjoyable film.
Entertainment: 8/10

Snake Eyes (1998)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, Carla Gugino
Director: Brian De Palma
Plot: The secretary of defense gets assassinated during a highly televised boxing match and a corrupt police officer becomes the only one able to unravel the growing conspiracy.
Review: The film starts off with a bang, with an exciting premise, a great mystery, and an interesting anti-hero. But all the potential of the film soon fizzles out as the story develops turning Snake Eyes into a predictable second-rate conspiracy thriller. In fact, the film seems to have been shot in reverse, with the over-the-top crowd-pleasing climactic scene opening the film and the slow build-up coming at the end. It's especially disappointing considering the first-rate cast - Cage is terrific as the charismatic loser cop, and Sinise does his best with a poor script. With a good visual style, Snake Eyes is entertaining and quite watchable, but there's no real originality or suspense here, and it's just not up to the talents of Brian De Palma (Scarface, The Untouchables). Great epilogue, though!
Entertainment: 5/10

Snatch (2000)
Starring: Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt
Director: Guy Ritchie
Plot: A small-time London boxing promoter hits the big time when he gets involved with a fighting gypsy while every crook around him is somehow trying to get their hands on a huge stolen diamond.
Review: Snatch has some obvious resemblance to director Ritchie's first effort Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, true, but, apart from the much higher production values, more-familiar faces, and bigger scale, the film also has its own story to tell. Just like his previous effort, the film gives a one-two punch to British cinema - this is an energetic crime / comedy full of action and double-crosses that never shirks from the ridiculous, the slapstick, or the plain vicious, mixing its laughs with some very tense moments. With the use of frenetic editing, imaginative camera angles, and a constant darkly comic tone, Ritchie has created, if not an original endeavor, one that is at the very least very well conceived and quite entertaining. Hat's off to the script as well that manages somehow to make a complex plot with so many twists and turns, and so many different storylines, still relatively easy to follow and constantly engaging. One of the delights of the film is the interaction between its stars, a bevy of terrific A- and B-grade actors all doing some great comic performances as ludicrously shady, eccentric characters, from Pitt's gypsy boxer, to Del Toro's jewel thief, to Vinnie Jones' brutal, even-tempered mercenary. Some of their accents may be a little hard to understand at first (and Pitt's purposely unintelligible brogue absolutely impossible to decipher without subtitles) but it's worth the effort to catch the snappy back-and-forth dialogue between them. Stylish, fast-paced and irreverent, Snatch is a violent, hilarious, and extremely well-executed caper comedy that's well worth a view.
Entertainment: 8/10

Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Max von Sydow
Director: Scott Hicks
Plot: Only a few years after the Second World War, a small-town journalist is entangled in the trial of a Japanese-American who is accused of having killed a fisherman.
Review: Snow Falling on Cedars tries to cover a lot of ground, and mostly manages to bring it vividly and compellingly to the screen. The film is, at its heart, the story of two young lovers separated by culture and by the War, and how their small-town community is destroyed by the Japanese - American deportation and incarceration in concentration camps during World War II, a subject that is rarely alluded to. Director Scott Hicks uses a different style here than his previous film Shine, providing some achingly beautiful, intimate moments, and some heart-wrenching ones as well. The court-room scenes act as a microcosm of the community itself, where emotions take the upper hand, and where the suspicion, fear, prejudice and guilt that have so long been left unsaid finally comes pouring out. The film, though, is at its best when it looks back at the characters' past, presented in almost dream-like sequences. Hawke is well suited for the part, and Kudoh is absolutely charming. As to Max Von Sydow, he is perfectly cast as the aging defense attorney. Though it has the trappings for it, Snow Falling on Cedars' strength is not as a murder-mystery, presented more as an excuse for the background story revolving around it, but as a delicate and touching drama of love lost and the slow road to redemption.
Drama: 8/10

Solaris (USSR - 1972)
Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Yuri Jarvet
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Plot: Sent to investigate strange happenings, a cosmonaut arrives on a nearly-deserted space station in orbit around a mysterious ocean planet. He soon realizes that some alien power has the ability to take their most painful memories and give them physical form when his long-dead wife re-appears.
Review: More a philosophical and sentimental science-fiction journey than the typical space opera, Solaris (based on a novel by acclaimed writer Stanislaw Lem) is director Tarkovsky's answer to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film which he deemed too cold and calculating. Here, Tarkovsky (The Sacrifice) has crafted a visually poetic tale of memory, loss, and longing, one that tugs at our own nostalgia and tries to involve us as much by what is said as by its long silences. The science-fiction elements (indeed, even the at times confusing plot) are there only to provide an output for the philosophical drama that plays amongst this handful of people, faced with their own subconscious. In fact, it is quite limited in its special effects, ones that are nonetheless efficient in creating a sense of alienation. For such a large running time, though, there's surprisingly little dialogue or activity of any kind, with Tarkovsky indulging in the cinematic, in the slow (at times dreadfully so) camera pans of Nature scenes, of communal life. It is intentionally languid, always well shot, capturing the ambiance of being lost from society, of the slow desperation of its characters. It is as if the narrative focuses on the emotional and humanistic aspects of life, forcing a contrast with the stoic researchers and their quest for that immoral grail, Science. At odds with most genre films, this is a rather pessimistic view of man's efforts to reach the stars, one that asks: how can we explore space when we can't even understand ourselves? There are no answers to be had here, no heroics, and little of what Hollywood has entertained as "sci-fi"; this is a serious, if somber, meditation on Man's place in the Universe. It's not easy to sit through this glacially paced endeavor, but those with enough patience will be rewarded for the effort. Winner of the Jury Grand Prize at Cannes.
Drama / Science-Fiction: 7/10

Someone Like You (2001)
Starring: Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, Greg Kinnear
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Plot: After losing her new boyfriend and moving in with a handsome womanizer, a television producer becomes famous by publishing anonymously an article that compares men's sexual behavior to that of bulls.
Review: Like most recent Hollywood romantic comedies, Someone Like You is a light, predictable affair with a heart of marshmallow. Based on the novel "Animal Husbandry" by Laura Zigman, the rather banal script seems to re-hash old battle-of-the-sexes themes without bringing anything new to play. It doesn't help that the film seems to lack any focus, and that, without a proper build-up, the obvious ending feels forced. Still, there are the requisite clever dialogue and snappy come-backs, and the parallel with the comic "scientific" bovine theories and cow scenes adds a little necessary twist to the proceedings. The saving grace for most films of the genre is the cast, and Judd and Kinnear are fine in their respective roles, if a little wooden and heavy, but Jackman as the womanizing co-worker and roommate who's trying to mend his own broken heart is simply the best thing in the movie, displaying an easy charm that makes the scenes with him and Judd work well. Marisa Tomei, who seems be popping up more and more in minor roles, again does wonders in a thankless role. Someone Like You is about what one would expect from another cookie-cutter romantic comedy, a sometimes tired, sometimes charming, and always predictable vehicle for its lead actress.
Entertainment: 4/10

The Soong Sisters (Hong Kong - 1996)
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Vivian Wu
Director: Cheung Yuen-ting 
Plot: The three daughters of an American-educated Chinese revolutionary grow up to play pivotal roles in the history of modern China, each in their own particular way.
Review: As a historical-based epic co-produced by China, The Soong Sisters has met with heavy censorship and one wonders what the original film could have been. As is stands, the film is full of great scenes that are worthy of Hollywood epic productions, with some lavish period recreations, well-staged large-scale events, and some beautifully cinematography, all punctuated by a ponderous musical score. The story seems to force itself to keep a fast pace, which is detrimental in such a wide-ranging epic, never allowing us to get engaged with the happenings or the characters except through a series of blatantly theatrical instances. The film wants to portray the protagonists as political players on a large historical canvas, but it feels as if the characters are only buffeted by larger events. The filmmakers have even added some fictional moments to enhance the personal dramas, with only partial success. However, by turning the three sisters into respective embodiments of "money", "power", and "country", it delivers three barely rounded characters that act more as themes for the filmmakers than individuals. The film does try hard to juggle different elements, but by trying to reduce so much complex political history into mainstream melodrama it loses much of its power. The large cast gives some solid performances, especially Cheung who ends up being the main protagonist and manages to shine through by doing her best with the material. As for Wu and Yeoh, their parts are so small one wonders how they got primary billing. Despite its short-comings, this is an interesting film on one of China's most important periods and the impeccable larger-than-life stagings, as well as Cheung's performance, makes it all the more watchable.
Drama: 6/10

Space Cowboys (2000)
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland
Director: Clint Eastwood
Plot: 40 years after their dreams of space flight were cut short, a team of retired test pilots must fly the shuttle to stop a Russian communication satellite from crashing to Earth. 
Review: Calling Space Cowboys "Grumpy Old Astronauts" is tempting, but, thanks to Eastwood's usual laid-back and good directing sense, the film manages to avoid the usual pratfalls and low-brow comedy routines. Sure, there's the expected geriatric jokes and situations, and more of Eastwood's "growing old" sentimentality that was first in evidence in Unforgiven, but most of the film is quite a lot of fun on this drama / comedy level, never pushing too hard in either direction. The cast is solid, affably charming, well balanced, and has some good chemistry together, but it's Sutherland that has by far the most interesting role, and all the best moments. Seeing the characters go through the rigorous NASA training, face their past, and eventually beat their younger counterparts would usually be enough for a film of this type, but the film suddenly switches gears as the team starts their mission. Of course, everything that can go wrong goes wrong, and there's some thrilling moments here along with some first-rate effects, but the Armageddon-like situations, some of which had the audience howling in disbelief, seems too out of place with the rest of the story. In the end, the script tries too hard to play it safe and keep things a bit too simplistic (and predictable) to make the film really special. Still, the film is engaging and provides some good, varied moments, making Space Cowboys an entertaining summer romp.
Entertainment: 7/10

Speed (1994)
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper
Director: Jan De Bont
Plot: In revenge for putting a stop to a nefarious bomber's attempt to collect ransom, a police officer must now save the passengers of a Los Angeles bus that has been rigged to explode if it slows below 50 mph.
Review: On the outside, Speed seems to be a typical summer-time action picture, promising the typical heroic characters, thrills and action. Surprisingly, it delivers much more: from a simple concept and straight-forward plot, the film evolves into a spectacular one thanks to a clever, intelligent script filled with great suspense, intense, fast-paced narration and amazing stunts. One gets caught into the story from the get-go, as one nefarious predicament follows another, and our heroes are thrown from one incredible situation to another. Sure, the plot twists and the exciting predicaments get elevated to almost ridiculous proportions, but thanks to a no-nonsense, serious-toned approach the proceedings still stay utterly convincing. In terms of filmmaking, first-time director De Bont (Twister) manages to use all the techniques he's learnt as an assistant in other productions, combined with some excellent, tight cinematography and editing to produce a film that knows exactly how to keep its audience at the edge of their seats. Though his acting abilities are often questioned, Keanu Reeves is particularly good in his first major role as the young, dedicated and focused cop. Bullock also does the best and most endearing turn of her career, a role that shot her to stardom, while Hopper does his typically convincing role as the dastardly villain. As pure, manic entertainment, Speed is easily one of the best and most satisfying American action films ever produced.
Entertainment: 9/10