Sk-Sn
Go to Bottom
Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description; scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.
SKATE! *
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1987) Christianne Hirt, Colm Feore, Rosemary Dunsmore,
Patricia Hamilton, Stuart Hughes, Cec Linder, Wanda Cannon, Stephen Marshall,
Tom Butler, Tom Harvey.....Talented young figure skater (Hirt) is exposed
to the back stage obsessions and manipulations of the professional figure
skating world. Technically well-done made-for-CBC TV drama is too cold
and clinical, but has some strong performances. Hirt is exceptional in
her first major role. Won three Geminis including Best Movie/Special. a.k.a.
Blades
of Courage. sc: Suzette Couture. dir: Randy Bradshaw. 98 min.
SKI SCHOOL
* 1/2 setting: B.C.
(1990) Dean Cameron, Tom Breznahan, Patrick Labyorteaux,
Stuart Fratkin, Darlene Vogel, Ava Fabian.....Hi-jinks at a ski resort
-- and you thought they stopped makking these kind of films. The
cast seems better than their dreadful material, which isn't hard. Followed
by a sequel. sc: David Mitchell. dir: Damian Lee. - partial female nudity,
sexual content.- 87 min.
SKI SCHOOL 2
* * 1/2 setting: USA.
(1994) Dean Cameron, Heather Campbell, Brent Sheppard,
Bil Dwyer, Wendy Hamilton, William Sasso, Noah Heney, Doug Copithorne.....Ski
bum (Cameron), learning his ex-girlfriend (Campbell), whom he never got
over, is getting married to Mr. Wrong (Sheppard), decides to intervene
with the help of his buddies. Comedy is less obnoxious than a lot of its
type with a decent cast and some genuinely funny jokes (even witticisms)
among the usual sophomoric gags. sc: Jay Naples. dir: David Mitchell. -
partial female nudity, sexual content.- 90 min.
SKIN DEEP *
1/2 setting: Ont.
(1995) Natsuko Ohama, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Dana
Brooks, Melanie Nicholls-King, David Crean.....Lesbian filmmaker (Ohama),
working on a psycho-sexual thriller about tattoos, befriends an enigmatic,
troubled person (Malicki-Sanchez) for insight into the fascination with
body art. Well-intentioned drama -- and sort of suspense flick -- seems
like one of those things where the filmmakers either know too much about
their subject matter, and fail to convey that to their audience, or not
nearly enough. Has some interesting character ideas, but doesn't quite
pull them off convincingly. Suffers from its low-budget, with uneven performances
and an, at times, choppy narrative. Malicki-Sanchez and Brooks, as the
manager of a local drag club, come across best. sc: Midi Onodera, Barbara
O'Kelly. dir: Midi Onodera. - sexual content, partial female nudity, representative
male nudity.- 82 min.
SKINWALKERS
* * setting: USA.
(2006) (/U.S./German) Jason Behr, Elias Koteas, Rhona Mitra, Matthew Knight, Natassia Malthe, Sarah Carter, Kim Coates, Tom Jackson, Shawn Roberts, Lyriq Bent, Barbara Gordon, Rogue Johnston.....Prophecy says a 12 year old boy (Knight) will bring about a cure to all Skinwalkers (ie: werewolves), causing conflict between two opposing werewolf factions -- a vicious gang that likes being werewolves (led by Behr) and want him dead, and those protecting him who wish to reclaim their humanity (led by Koteas and Mitra, the latter as the boy's initially unsuspecting human mother). Mix of supernatural horror and a kind of John Woo-esque modern western (the action often involving gun fights in city streets between the characters in their human forms), has a slick look and a surprisingly respectable cast all around (Canadian save imports Behr and Mitra) -- heck, when Wendy Crewson can appear in only one scene, or Carl Marotte (as a sheriff) can appear briefly without any dialogue at all, you know they've got an embarrassment of actors on hand. All of which makes it a shame it isn't better! There are one or two twists, and a few attempts at emotional scenes, but overall it fails to rise above a generic, bare bones fight-and-flight plot, with characters that never really become interesting (Behr, as the villain with slight flashes of conscience, comes closest to having an intriguing personality). And for all the monsters and mayhem, it rarely manages genuine thrills or chills. Despite being co-produced by the Stan Winston Studios (a U.S. special effects company) the skinwalker effects are basically just humans with wolfish make-up that's not very convincing. Bottom line: it's not egregiously bad...just bland. The U.S. release was apparently trimmed of some gore, profanity and raciness (not that the racy scene is that racy even uncut!) -- but not to the point of significantly affecting the running time. The uncut version (which is what I'm reviewing), though arguably warranting an "extreme violence" warning...is still pretty mild by modern horror movie standards. sc: James DeMonaco, Todd Harthan, James Roday. dir: Jim Issacs. - extreme violence; brief sexual content; casual male nudity.- 89 min.
SKIP TRACER *
* 1/2 setting: B.C.
(1977) David Petersen, John Lazurus, Rudy Szabo, Mike
Grigg, Al Rose, Sue Astley.....Cold-hearted skip tracer -- or repo
man -- (Petersen) slowly begins to question his occupation while vying
for the Man of the Year honours at his company. Interesting low-budget
drama with memorable scenes suffers from weaker supporting performances
and a sluggish rythm. A lot more could have been done with the premise
in this minor classic of Canadiana. Interestingly enough, the thug in the
hockey mask predates the American "Friday the Thirteenth" movies.
sc./dir: Zale R. Dalen. - brief female nudity.- 94 min.
SKULL: A Night of Terror a.k.a. Don't Turn Out the Lights
SLEEP MURDER *
* 1/2 setting: Ont./Nun.
(2004) Jason Priestley, Kristin Booth, Natar Ungalaaq,
Makka Kleist, Marnie McPhail, Joris Jarsky, Richard Donat, Jeremy Akerman.....Toronto
lawyer (Priestley) goes to Iqaluit simply to quickly plea bargain a case
of an Inuit man (Ungalaaq) accused of a senseless murder...but then begins
to question whether it's quite that open and shut when all the physical
evidence points to guilt, but the client has no memory of the crime. Booth
plays the psychiatrist called in to assess the man. Made-for-CTV drama
is "inspired" by a true incident and starts out promising. It's slick-looking
and moderately intriguing at times, but at other times seems to be spinning
its wheels, story-wise, as if they had trouble figuring out how to fill
90 minutes (even with the wholly fictional romance between Priestley and
Booth's characters). Priestley is personable enough, and Ungalaaq effective,
though Kleist steals the show a little as the head of a boarding house.
Though based on a real case, the names have been changed...as has the final
verdict! This was originally scheduled to air in 2003. sc: David Fraser.
dir: Andrew Currie. - violence.- 91 min.
THE SLEEP ROOM (TVMS)
*
* * setting: CDN./USA.
(1988) Leon Pownall, Donald Moffat, Marina Orsini,
Macha Grenon, Nicola Cavendish, Eric Peterson, Gabirelle Rose, Frank Moore,
Diego Matamoros, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Nicholas Campbell, Blu Mankuma, Daniel
Kash, Bruce Dinsmore, France Castel.....Drama about the infamous mind
control experiments conducted in a Montreal psychiatric hospital by Dr.
Cameron (Pownall) and the trial, decades later, when the victims sued the
American C.I.A. who had helped fund the experiments (as part of the MK
Ultra project). Essentially two different movies, the first chronicles
Cameron's experiments in the 1950s, and his various patients; the second
part follows an American legal team (Orsini and American actor Moffat)
in the 1980s as they represent the Canadians against the C.I.A. The first
half is exceptional, with Pownall superb playing a character who isn't
(quite) the obvious black hat/mad scientist. Despite the grimness of the
story, it's compelling, told with subtlety and mood, with shades of "One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (with Grenon as the rebellious patient) and
fine performances from a cast that, with the exception of Grenon, are mainly
character actors. By comparison, the second part is weaker despite following
a more sure fire template (the David against Goliath court room drama).
A bit broader in its presentation, lacking some of the finer human drama
points of the first, it improves as the film's target shifts (a bit) from
the C.I.A. to the way the Canadian government sided with the C.I.A. against
its own people (and some well aimed kicks at the Mulroney administration)!
A "shocking true story" that genuinely needs to be told (as opposed to
the usual serial killer movies). Like all true stories, there are confusing
bits, stories left untold (by focusing on the American trial, it leaves
unanswered who finally got the Canadian government to provide compensation)
and questions as to the production's accuracy -- particularly when the
end blurbs reveal that Orsini's real life counterpart was a man!
The first half, in particular, is a nice reminder of the kind of superior
dramas the CBC can still, occasionally, turn out when it puts its mind
to it. Four hours. sc: Bruce M. Smith (from the book In the Sleep Room
by Anne Collins). dir: Anne Wheeler.
SLEEPING DOGS *
1/2 setting: USA.
(1998) (/Czech) C. Thomas Howell, Scott McNeil, Heather
Hanson, Ciara Hunter, Paul Jarrett, Richard Toth, Sean Fuller, Darren Dalton.....In
2029, after a botched job, a thief and a woman (McNeil and Hanson) inadvertently
stow away on board a space ship that gets taken over by a psychotic criminal
(Howell) and his psychotic gang. Familiar Lloyd A. Simandl production --
he's churned out a bunch of these very low-budget films (Dead
Fire, Escape Velocity) seeming recycling
the same sets, costumes, lighting, machine guns, plot ("Die Hard" in space)
and attitude: lots of cussing, lots of sadism (no one shoots someone once
if they can shoot him six times), and where dialogue seems more there just
to pad things between the shoot outs. Hanson is okay and American import
Howell hams it up (it's not a great performance, but he seems to be enjoying
himself). Actually, Simandl apparently has two careers -- as a producer
of violent sci-fi shoot 'em ups and erotic soft porn...but the latter
films don't seem to crop up on TV or in the local video stores as frequently
as the former (darn it!). sc: Christopher Hyde. dir: Michael Bafaro. -
violence, partial female nudity.- 90 min.
SLEEPING DOGS LIE
* * setting: Ont./USA.
(1999) Wendy Crewson, Joel Keller, Leon Pownall, Michael
Murphy, Eric Peterson, Shawn Doyle, Leslie Yeo, Shannon Lawson, Art Hindle,
Cedric Smith.....A private eye (Keller) becomes embroiled in the mystery
surrounding the disappearance of theatre impresario Ambrose Small in the
'20s when he's employed by the millionaire's wife (Crewson). Fact-based
(or, at least, fact-inspired) made-for-CBC TV suspense-drama suffers from
unappealing characters, thin characterization, and a failure to really
create the murky mood of conspiracies and paranoia that it's trying for.
Crewson is badly miscast as a (cliched) femme fatale and baby-faced Keller's
"decent" hero is a thug who beats up protesters and slaps women around
-- ironic, since he's a fictional construcction and so could have been written
as a much more sympathetic (and fleshed-out) figure. It wants to be "Chinatown"
more than a sleazy, true-crime-drama, but doesn't pull it off. Ironically,
by playing Small's disappearance as a straight crime-thriller, it loses
some of the eerie -- even supernatural -- flavour that probably made the
case so notorious to begin with. sc: Raymond Storey (from the book The
Strange Case of Ambrose Small by Fred McClemment). dir: Stefan Scaini.
- violence, sexual content.- app. 90 min.<
SLEEPING WITH STRANGERS
* * 1/2 setting: B.C.
(1993) Adrienne Shelly, Kymberley Huffman (a.k.a.
Kim Huffman), Neil Duncan, Shawn Alex Thompson, Scott McNeil.....Story
of two rival small town hotels in B.C., the owners (Duncan and Huffman
on one side, Thompson on the other) locked in a romantic triangle, and
what happens when a sort-of involved movie star and rock star (Shelly and
McNeil) arrive. Amusing romantic comedy, though a little too obvious at
times, benefits from a good cast and its refreshing lack of pretention.
sc: Joan Carr-Wiggin. dir: William T. Bolson. - sexual content.- 105 min.
SLIPSTREAM *
1/2 setting: Man.
(1973) Lew Askew, Patti Oatman, Eli Rill, Scott Hylands,
Danny Friedman.....Stubborn, independent d.j. (Askew) alienates those
around him, including his conformist-minded producer who doesn't like what
he plays. Handsome drama, but really slow and pointless. It wants to be
profound, but has little substance to support it. Won three Etrogs including
Best Picture. sc: William Fruet. dir: David Acomba. - casual nudity.- 93
min.
SMALL GIFTS *
* * setting: N.B.
(1993) Jessica Steen, Jeremy Ratchford, Richard Waugh,
Elizabeth Brown, Brenda Devine, Gerard Parkes, Don Francks, William Dunlop.....As
Christmas approaches, a young rural couple (Steen and Ratchford) struggle
to make ends meet among oddball friends and relatives. Slight but light-hearted
comedy-drama is amusing with good dialogue and performances, especially
the two leads. The CBC let this sit on the shelf for a year. It received
Geminis for Best Actress (Steen) and Script. sc: David Adams Richards.
dir: Eric Till. 88 min.
SMALL PLEASURES *
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1993) Lily Zhang, Reimonna Sheng, Andy X. Xu, Phillip
MacKenzie, David Chant, Rick Wong.....Story of two Chinese immigrant
women (Zhang and Sheng) in Toronto and their various troubles and relationships.
O.K. low-budget drama has largely inexperienced performers, but is well
paced with some memorable moments (like the Blue Danube waltz) and avoids
the pittfalls of being too obvious or cliched. Lock's first feature, and
he shows genuine promise. Supposedly the first feature made by a Chinese-Canadian.
sc./dir: Keith Lock. 84 min.
SMALL SACRIFICES (TVMS)
*
* setting: USA.
(1990) (/U.S.) Farrah Fawcett, Gordon Clapp, Ryan
O'Neal, John Shea, Sean McCann.....True story of a U.S. mother (Fawcett)
convicted of trying to murder her own children, then claiming it was a
vagrant. Fawcett isn't entirely convincing (but since her character is
supposed to be lying, maybe she is) in this sensationalistic drama. 4 hours.
sc: Joyce Eliason (from the book by Ann Rule). dir: David Greene.
SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(2011) Peter Stormare, Aaron Poole, Jill Hennessy, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Ari Cohen, Martha Plimpton, Jackie Burroughs.....A rape-murder in a small town unused to such crimes (and bordering a Mennonite community) creates inner turmoil for the local police chief (Stormare) aiding the O.P.P. investigation. He's trying to put his own anger management issues behind him...yet the primary suspect is the local ne'er-do-well (McIntyre) who's sleeping with the chief's ex-girlfriend (Hennessy). Moody, sumptuous-looking drama boasts a solid cast (particularly import Stormare, and Hennessy in a too small part) and striking visuals, but the filmmaker's so focused on the type of movie he's trying to make...he loses sight of the movie itself. It's comprised of self-consciously "arty" scenes that are supposed to seem meaningful: wordless scenes and vistas, and where even many of the dialogue exchanges barely comprise a minute or two...and are often non-sequiturs, meant to contribute to the mood more than develop a narrative. The result is choppy and disjointed where scenes could be rearranged, or even dropped, without impacting on anything! Given how paper-thin the story is, cynically speaking, a lot can feel like it's just there to boost the already brief running time (even resorting to slow motion occasionally). The crime isn't really supposed to be the point, being more a character drama...yet by the end, most of the characters, their motives, and their histories, remain vague and ill-defined. A shame -- 'cause the movie looks good. An intriguing use of a kind of Gospel/folk-punk soundtrack (by Bruce Peninsula), though even it can feel like a crutch after a while. sc./dir: Ed Gass-Donnelly. - partial female nudity.- 75 min.
SMITH AND SMITH(TV Series)Minimalist, low-budget television proved what could be done with talent and a little chutzpah. This series introduced the character of Red Green (played by Steve) who would later be featured in the very successful The Red Green Show. Half-hour episodes, originally on the independent Ontario station, CHCH. |
"Smoke Bellew", a story by Jack London, was part of the source for the cable TV movie Legends of the North and then the movie series The Adventures of Smoke Belliou.
SMOKED LIZARD LIPS *
* setting: Man.
(1991) Andree Pelletier, Margaret Anne MacLeod, Victor
Cowie, Simon Magana, Kyle McCulloch, Chip Chuipka, Greg Klymkiw, Joe Mercreds,
Christina (Tina) Keeper.....Near future story of a depressed Manitoba
town that agrees to take in a deposed dictator, and how he begins manipulating
the town's folk and members of the local Indian band. Low-budget serio-comic
pic is delightfully silly at times, and manages some more serious moments,
but also tends to drag. A good premise, but the energetic direction gets
in the way of character. John Paizs has a cameo but top-billed Pelletier
(as the dictator's wife) is given little to do. sc./dir: M.B. Duggan. 98
min.
SMOKESCREEN a.k.a. Palais Royale
SNAKE EATER *
setting:
USA.
(1988) Lorenzo Lamas, Josie Hill, Robert Scott, Cheryl
Jeans, Ronnie Hawkins.....Unorthodox U.S. cop (Lamas) takes on some
inbred rednecks after they murder his parents and kidnap his sister. If
I say the acting, writing and directing in this ultra low-budget, distasteful
action flick comes across as a really bad high school play, you'd probably
think I'm exaggerating. Just don't say I didn't warn you. A sequel was
made before this film was even released! sc: Michael Paseornek, John Dunning.
dir: George Erschbamer. - violence, partial female nudity.- 95 min.
SNAKE EATER II: The Drug Buster
* 1/2 setting: USA.
(1991) Lorenzo Lamas, Michele Scarabelli, Larry B.
Scott, Harvey Atkin, Jack Blum, Richard Jutras, Ron Palillo.....Our
hero is placed in an asylum after a vigilante attack on some drug dealers,
but manages to continue his vendetta anyway. Added to the mix of violence,
profanity, misogyny and really low-brow antics is some silly humour, and
at least they hired union actors this time, which helps, but not by much.
And, yes, Palillo is Horshack from the old U.S. TV series "Welcome Back,
Kotter". sc: Don Carmody, John Dunning, Michael Paseornek. dir: George
Erschbamer. - violence.- 94 min.
SNAKE EATER III: ...His Law
* setting: USA.
(1992) Lorenzo Lamas, Minor Mustain, Tracey Cook,
Scott "Big Bam" Bigelow, Holly Chester, Chip Chuipka, Tracey Hway.....Cop
Kelly (Lamas) takes on bikers. The further astonishingly inept, incredibly
moronic and truly tasteless exploits. Most of the cast seem to be friends
of the crew, except Cook who probably deserved a Genie Award for managing
to deliver a good performance despite the material (and she appears in
a love scene). sc: John Dunning (from the novel Rafferty's Rules
by W. Glenn Duncan). dir: George Erschbamer. - extreme violence, partial
female nudity, sexual content.- 91 min.
SNAKE TREATY a.k.a. Red
Earth, White Earth
SNOW CAKE
* * * 1/2 setting: Ont.
(2005) (/U.K.) Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Hampshire, James Allodi, Callum Keith Rennie, David Fox, Jayne Eastwood.....After a random tragedy, a melancholy Englishman (Rickman) finds himself, somewhat reluctantly, embroiled with a high functioning autistic woman (Weaver) and her worldly neighbour (Moss) in small town Wawa, Ontario. Quirky, leisurely dramedy is good looking (and atmospherically set against a spring thaw background) and boasts excellent performances from the principals (and Hampshire is surprisingly endearing in a small but pivotal role) subtle direction and a script that takes aspects that can seem like movie cliches (the hero weighed down by a past tragedy, a stranger in town, autism, etc.) yet mixes them together in a manner, and with scenes, that seem fresh and original. Pathos-tinged...yet equally comic and wryly amusing. And Weaver even says "zed"! Moss received the Best Supporting Actress Genie (arguably the big surprise...is that the film didn't pick up more awards!) sc: Angela Pell. dir: Marc Evans. 112 min.
SNOW JOB (TV Series)Awkward TV series was mainly notable for the fact that it was actually set in Canada (unlike most "Canadian" shows aired on CTV until recently). Half-hour episodes. |
THE SNOW WALKER
* * * setting: N.W.T.
SNOW WHITE: The Fairest
of Them All * * *
Snowlark, a novel by Ronald Sutherland, became
the film Suzanne
Go to Top
(2003) Barry Pepper, Annabella Piugattuk, Kiersten
Warren, James Cromwell, Robin Dunne, Jon Gries.....In the 1950s, a
cynical bush pilot (Pepper) reluctantly agrees to transport a sickly Inuit
woman (Piugattuk) to Yellowknife, only to have his plane crash in the middle
of the tundra wilderness, and they must rely on each other to survive.
Lavish-looking, old fashioned adventure-drama, benefiting from the breathtaking
landscape, a strong performance from Pepper, and an appealing one from
Piugattuk. Doesn't -- quite -- fulfil its own ambitions vis-a-vis the lead
character's spiritual growth, and the ending is a tad downbeat, but overall,
well-paced and absorbing. Actor turned writer-director Smith apparently
spent years, off and on, working on the script and, years earlier, starred
in another Farley Mowat adaptation, "Never Cry Wolf". sc./dir: Charles
Martin Smith (from the story "Walk Well, My Brother" by Farley Mowat).
- violence; sexual content.- 109 min.
(2001) (/U.S.) Miranda Richardson, Kristin Kreuk,
Tom Irwin, Vera Farmiga, Clancy Brown, Vincent Schiavelli, Jose Zuniga,
Michael J. Anderson, Warwick Davis, Tyron Leitso.....A beautiful young
princess (the beautiful Kreuk) engenders the jealous wrath of the evil,
sorceress Queen (Richardson). Lush, live-action re-telling of the classic
fairy tale is an atmospheric, surprisingly dreamlike (and surprisingly
effective) interpretation that avoids some of the overproduced but stodgy
flaws of other "classics" TV movies by the American producers Robert Halmi
Sr & Jr. Though its "fairy tale" flavour means that those expecting
a down-to-earth, kitchen sink take might be disappointed...conversely,
there's a nice reality to some of the central performances. And those expecting
a re-make of the cartoon will also be disappointed (no singing and dancing
this time, folks). Though a family film, there's a decidedly grown up edginess
at times, such as Richardson making a stew of (what she believes to be)
Snow White's heart, or a few scenes that film students would have a field
day analysing for any psycho-sexual sub-text. Nicely acted by Richardson,
Irwin (as Snow White's beguiled dad) and Canadian Kreuk (in her first major
role). American co-scripter/director Thompson wrote the movie "Edward Scissorshands".
sc: Caroline Thompson, Julie Hickson (from the story by the Brothers Grimm).
dir: Caroline Thompson. 88 min.