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Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description; scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.
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 & ASHES
* * setting: P.Q./other
(2011) Rhys Coiro, David-Alexandre Coiteux, Lina Roessler, Marina Eva, Frédéric Gilles, Jean LaPointe.....War reporter (Coiro) returns home, wounded and feigning amnesia about the unknown fate of his photographer partner (Coiteux), while flashbacks reveal their last assignment covering the conflict in a civil war torn East European country. Sincere drama can feel a bit like a short film that's been stretched out to feature length. The constant jumping back and forth in time can, at times, feel like a crutch to pad the running time, particularly when a lot of the scenes are inconsequential (shots of the actors looking pensive, or basically reiterating dialogue from another scene). Yet the characters, relationships, and the story could easily have used fleshing out. Improves a bit as it goes, but there's a blurry line between artistically minimalist...and thinly developed. Eva is effective as a European girl with whom he strikes up a sort of relationship. Prominently billed LaPointe has just a few lines in one scene. sc./dir: Charles-Olivier Michaud. - violence, sexual content.- 100 min.
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 QUEEN (TVMS)
*
* 1/2 setting: other
(2002) (/U.S.) Jeremy Guilbaut, Chelsea Hobbs, Bridget Fonda, Robert Widsen, Wanda Cannon, Jennifer Clement, Kira Clavell, Meghan Black, Suzy Joachim, Jim Byrnes (voice).....Two teenage would be lovers in a 19th Century European village are torn apart when he (Guilbaut) is kidnapped by the sinister Snow Queen (American actress Fonda) and taken to her distant ice home, and she (Hobbs) follows on a dreamlike odyssey through various regions ruled over by seasonal spirits. TV mini-series, based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, was one of a multitude of similar classics-inspired projects produced for Hallmark Films, a number involving Canadian co-producers. Handsome costumes and sets (especially the eerie Snow Queen's home -- even though it's really only a limited number of sets), and not disagreeable, but not altogether riveting, either. A "family" adventure, more aimed at younger viewers and teens, and undemanding adults. The leads are pleasant but nothing more (given the limits of the parts), though Fonda is quite good, being both cruel and cold, yet also seductive and nuanced, and with some colourful supporting turns, such as Black as the Peter Pan-esque Robber Girl, Clavell, hamming it up as the Summer Queen, and an intriguing polar bear (voiced by Byrnes). Like a lot of mini-series it feels padded (for the first part, you might mistake it for an episode of Road to Avonlea rather than a supernatural fantasy), as though it could've been half as long, simply by editing out repetitious bits, the length not really used to add layers to the characters, or twists and turns to a plot that, though episodic, is pretty simple. Singer-actor Long John Baldry voices a reindeer, and Daniel Gillies appears briefly as a would-be suitor at a ball. Fonda's final screen role (well, to date anyway). 4 hours. sc: Simon Moore. dir: David Wu.
THE SNOW WALKER
* * * setting: N.W.T.
SNOW WHITE: The Fairest
of Them All * * *
Snowlark, a novel by Ronald Sutherland, became
the film Suzanne
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(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.