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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.
SWAMP DEVIL
* * setting: USA.
(2007) (/U.S.) Bruce Dern, Cindy Sampson, Nicolas Wright, Allison Graham, James Kidnie, Robert Higden, Bronwen Mantel, Kwasi Songui.....Young woman (Sampson) returns to her southern American hometown where her estranged father (American Dern) is hiding out in the swamp, accused of a murder he blames on a plant monster. Made-for-TV horror-thriller isn't exactly good...except when compared to a lot of other Sy-Fy/Space Channel movies. At least it kind of feels like a movie...as opposed to something just knocked out in a weekend. Decent enough performances and some scenes where everyone (actors, writers, director) seem to be putting effort into it...are unfortunately counter balanced by other scenes that are awkward, or where characters don't ask the obvious questions. And the plot itself is thin, familiar, and not helped by the fact that it deliberately telegraphs its twists (presumably trying to generate suspense by having the audience guess what the characters don't). So, again: not really a good movie...but at least those involved don't have to excise it from their CVs in shame. sc: Gary L. Dauberman, Ethlie Ann Vare. dir: David Winning. - violence.- app. 90 min.
SWANN
* * setting: Ont./USA.
(1996) (/U.K.) Miranda Richardson, Brenda Fricker,
Michael Ontkean, David Cubitt, Sean McCann, John Neville, Sean Hewitt,
John E. Nelles, Kyra Harper.....The posthumously published poems of
an Ontario farm wife, Mary Swann, murdered by her husband, makes her a
literary celebrity that an American writer (Richardson) wants to do a book
on, leading to her meeting with Swann's neighbour (Fricker) who's erecting
an exhibit to the poetress at the library. Drama is professionally put-together,
with some nicely done scenes, but there's a great, yawning hole at its
centre that desperately needs filling: you know what happens (sometimes
before the filmmakers want you to), but the why -- of motivation, themes,
scenes, and just what the point is -- is lost. Too bad, because some of
the basic concepts should have worked. McCann quietly steals the film,
and the scenes between him and Fricker are its best. sc: David Young (from
the novel by Carol Shields). dir: Anna Benson Gyles. - sexual content,
brief female nudity.- 95 min.
SWARMED *
setting: USA.
(2005) Michael Shanks, Carol Alt, Richard Chevolleau,
Booth Savage, Tim Thomerson, Christopher Bondy, Ellen Dubin, Jonathan Malen,
Maria Brooks, Balazs Koos.....An experimental pesticide has the unfortunate
side effect of turning any yellowjackets it doesn't kill into super-venomous,
super-aggressive insects...just as a small American town is gearing up
for a big outdoor Bar-B-Q competition. Thriller doesn't take itself seriously
enough to put any effort into the plot or characterization...yet, despite
sliding increasingly into deliberate camp as it goes, doesn't bother to
try and actually be funny-funny. A generally decent cast...but stuck
playing parts that haven't really been written. And there are some discrepancies
in the story -- as if different scenes were shot using different drafts
of the script! The result is a poor, entirely generic variation...of a
sub-genre (killer bugs) that isn't well-regarded at the best of times!
sc: Miguel Tejada-Flores. dir: Paul Ziller. - extreme violence.- 90 min.
SWEATING BULLETS (TV Series)This poor man's "Magnum, P.I." was filmed, depending on the financing, originally in Mexico then Israel -- perhaps the only North American series to be filmed there -- but, originally, most of the guest stars were Canadian. Lot's of shots of bikinied women and bare-chested Stewart, but the series was often lame: technically sloppy with dull plots, violence that jarred with its otherwise frothy tone, and a leading-with-its-groin kind of attitude that seemed anachronistic. On the other hand, some of Stewart's wisecracks were amusing and Dunn and, especially, he, had a lot of charm. You could like the series for its stars more than for its stories. The lead character was supposed to be both an ex-Mountie and an ex-American DEA agent -- the Mountie reference was used in Canadian TV commercials, but the show itself generally only referred to his DEA past, and made only American references...but the media lapped it up, happily reporting it as a series about a Canadian hero -- indicating you really can fool all the (Canadian) press, all the time. Ironically, this tawdry, generally unambitious series may have broken a little ground: showing an on-screen gay kiss (between Lynda Mason Green and another actress) in the episode "Deceit"... something that more socially "progressive" shows at the time like Street Legal and E.N.G. were never willing to do, despite dealing with both homosexuality and lesbianism. Perhaps even more interesting is that the series apparently gained a kind of cult fame in...the former Yugoslavia! Airing during the civil conflicts, as the country was being torn apart from within, and isolated from without (making it one of the few imported programs airing in the country), the series -- with its footloose hero living in a tropical paradise -- found an audience eager, both for escapism, and seeing in "Nick Slaughter" a kind of folk hero icon. Stewart himself later participated in a documentary examining the phenomenom. So, hey, though I dismissed the series as "generally unambitious"...I guess that's all in your perspective! Created by Sam Egan. a.k.a. Tropical Heat. Hour long episodes. Made for CBS's Crimetime After Primetime and shown in Canada on Global and re-run on Showcase. |
SWEET ANGEL MINE *
* setting: N.S.
(1996) (/U.K.) Oliver Milburn, Margaret Langrick,
Alberta Watson, Anna Massey, Joel Sapp, Mike Crimp.....Young Englishman
(Milburn), travelling through rural Nova Scotia looking for word of his
father who vanished years before, encounters a young woman (Langrick) living
in the middle of nowhere, and her strange, possessive mother (Watson).
Film wants to be a creepy suspense-drama, but is more often confused, awkward...and
even a little silly. Not to mention well-trod ground (in fact, Langrick
has already been this route before in Cold Comfort)
with an obnoxious protagonist, too. sc: Sue Maheu, Tim Willocks (from the
screenplay "Love's Executioner" by Willocks). dir: Curtis Radclyffe. -
extreme violence, partial female nudity and brief male nudity, sexual content.-
89 min.
THE SWEET HEREAFTER *
* 1/2 setting: CDN.
(1997) Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Bruce Greenwood, Tom
McCamus, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson, Stephanie Morgenstern.....After
a bus accident kills many of the children in a small town, a lawyer (imported
Holm) with his own emotional baggage, arrives trying to stir up interest
in a class action suit. Wildly hailed as one of the greatest Canadian movies
ever made, it's certainly one of Egoyan's better efforts, but that's not
saying much. You don't go to an Atom Egoyan film for subtlety or plot,
rather you go for atmosphere and heavy-handed symbolism. Some nice performances,
but like all of Egoyan's films, the acting and direction can veer into
overly-mannered and self-conscious...to the point of being giggle-inducing.
Moderately interesting in spots, but slow, without the emotional -- or
intellectual -- weight it wants us to believe it has. A laissez-faire attitude
towards incest is rather...disquieting. Novelist Banks has a cameo as a
doctor, and his real life daughter plays Holm's daughter. Fifteen years
earlier, the CBC movie The Accident covered similar
terrain. sc./dir: Atom Egoyan (from the novel by Russell Banks). - female
nudity.- 112 min.
SWEET KILLING *
setting: USA.
(1993) (/France/U.K.) Anthony Higgins, F. Murray Abraham,
Leslie Hope, Michael Ironside, Andrea Ferreol.....American (Higgins)
kills his wife (Ferreol), only to have an imaginary person he fabricated as an his
alibi...actually show up in person (Abraham) -- well, eventually -- and
harass him. Slow, ill-conceived suspenser (the "hero" is a murderer!) has
inane dialogue, bad characterization and a simplistic plot. Abraham and
Hope (as the love interest) almost rise above their material, though. But
why does Telefilm Canada help finance a movie set in the good ol' U.S.
of A.? sc: Eddy Matalon, Dominique Roulet (from the novel Qualthrough
by Angus Hall). dir: Eddy Matalon. - sexual content, brief female nudity.-
91 min.
SWEET WAR see Tendre Guerre
A SWEETER SONG *
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1976) Jim Henshaw, Susan Petrie, Susan Hogan, Peter
Jobin, Allan Migicovsky, David Bolt.....Accident-prone sports photographer
(Henshaw) must choose between the free-spirited woman who loves him (Petrie)
and the woman (Hogan) who regards him as just a friend. Wandering, counter-culture
comedy starts out weakly, with unfunny prat falls and a general obviousness,
but gets better, and more off-beat, as it goes along. A likeable, product-of-its-time
sort of flick, and its unabashed Canadianisms would be almost unheard of
today...like the Canuck film spoof, which is a hoot. And, yup, that's Nick
Mancuso as the gigolo. Music by Jove. Sadly, Henshaw, who co-wrote this
nugget of Canadiana, later went on to write let's-pretend-we're-in-the-U.S.A.
programs like some of the Harlequin movies and
Friday
the 13th: The Series. Alas. sc: Jim Henshaw, Allan Eastman. dir: Allan
Eastman. - partial female and male nudity, explicit sexual content.- 91
min.
SWEET SUBSTITUTE *
1/2 setting: B.C.
(1964) Robert Howay, Angela Gann, Carol Pastinsky,
Lanny Beckman, Robert Silverman.....Story of teens who think of girls,
and sex, and cars, and sex, and, well, sex, when they should be studying.
Once considered controversial for its frank subject matter, this black
& white drama now seems like an early version of
Porky's
or a zillion other teen sex comedies...except for the arty, cinema verite
style and the serious climax. Some promising if unpolished performances,
but almost every scene goes on too long, and the thin story just rambles
about. sc./dir: Laurence Kent (a.k.a. Larry Kent). 85 min.
A SWITCH IN TIME *
1/2 setting: other
(1988) Tom McCamus, Laurie Paton, Jacques Lussier,
Lee Broker, David Hemblen, Gabriela Salas.....Trio inadvertently get
thrown back in time where they end up ruling a primitive tribe and must
battle the Roman empire. It probably would have worked better if it had
been played as a straight adventure, instead of trying to be funny -- 'cause
it ain't. Cute gimmick of having the Roman characters actually speak latin,
though. a.k.a. Norman's Awesome Experience. sc./dir: Paul Donovan.
- partial female nudity.- 90 min.
SWORD OF GIDEON (TVMS)
* * 1/2 setting: other/USA.
(1986) Steven Bauer, Robert Joy, Rod Steiger, Michael
York, Peter Dvorsky, Laurent Malet, Colleen Dewhurst.....Israeli anti-terrorist
team (led by Bauer) is sent out to avenge the terrorist murders of Israeli
athletes in Munich in '72. O.K. suspenser suffers from its own ambiguity:
it's not structured enough to be fiction, not convincing enough to be fact.
Dvorsky stands out. Twenty years later, though, Hollywood would make its
own version of the same book -- the Oscar-nominated "Munich". 4 hours.
sc: Chris Bryant (from the book Vengeance by George Jonas). dir:
Michael Anderson.
"The Swords", by Robert Aickman, was one of the stories adapted for The Hunger movie, pilot for the TV series.
THE SWORDSMAN *
1/2 setting: USA.
(1992) Lorenzo Lamas, Claire Stansfield, Michael Champion,
Nicolas Pasco, Raoul Trujillo, Michael Copeman, Eugene Clark.....Psychic
American cop (Lamas), plagued by medieval dreams, investigates the stealing
of an ancient sword and an underground fencing competition. Imported Lamas
takes a step up from his awful Snake Eater films...a
very small step. Nice looking but badly done, though Copeman is good (as
usual) as an eccentric psychiatrist. The movie clip on the TV is from one
of Kennedy's previous efforts. Sequel: Gladiator
Cop. sc./dir: Michael Kennedy. - violence, casual male nudity.- 99
min.
SYLVAN LAKE SUMMER *
* setting: Alt.
(1990) Robyn Stevan, Christianne Hirt, Allan Grant,
Spencer Rochfort, Shaun Clements, Johanna Newmarch, Lochlyn Munro, Tassy
Jackson, Henry Woolf, Christine McInnis, Andrew Rhodes.....Story of
various characters, mainly young adults, at a summer resort, and focusing
on a transplanted city kid (Stevan). Usual teen-pic hijinks (minus the
sex and cussing) mix with more serious elements in this rambling serio-comic
film that plays like a collection of independent stories which only occasionally
intersect. Well-acted. sc: Don Tuckey. dir: Peter Campbell. 97 min
SYNAPSE *
(1995) Karen Duffy, Saul Rubinek, Matt McCoy, Lynne
Cormack, Torri Higginson, Chris Makepeace, Barry Morse, Nigel Bennett.....In
an oppressive future, the mind of a petty thief (Makepeace) is transferred
into his dead girlfriend's body (Duffy) as part of an experiment, but she/he
escapes and joins up with some rebels. Confusing, cheap-looking science
fiction thriller has poor writing and direction. Too bad, because the story
elements could have worked and it had a better cast than most cheapo sci-fiers,
particularly Morse and Bennett and Higginson (the latter two in small parts).
Good costume designs. a.k.a. Memory Run. sc: David Gottleib, Dale
Hildebrand, Allan A. Goldstein (from the novel Season of the Witch
by Hank Stine). dir: Allan A. Goldstein. - extreme violence, sexual content,
brief female nudity.- 89 min.
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