SQ - STD
<< Sm-Sp   ||  Index   ||  Ste-Sz >>
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre [1967] Stage Fright [1980] Stake Land [2010]
The Stakelander [2016] Stalker [1979] Stand Off [2011]
Standoff [2016] The Standoff at Sparrow Creek [2018] Star Time [1992]
Star Trek [2009] Star Trek: The Motion Picture [1979] Star Trek Beyond [2016]
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [1982] Star Trek III: The Search for Spock [1984] Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home [1986]
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier [1989] Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country [1991] Star Trek VII: Generations [1994]
Star Trek VIII: First Contact [1996] Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi [2017] Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker [2019]
Starve [2014] Stash House [2012] State of Play [2009]
Star Time [1992]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
A random selection on Screambox turned out to be an odd little gem that's pretty good despite it being blatantly mirco-budget. After the cancellation of his favorite TV show and his social worker leaving for a month, a maturely stunted and socially vacuous young man decides to commit suicide. Enter Sam Bones, a mysterious stranger who makes him a celebrity ..of sorts. Michael St. Gerard and Maureen Teefy did good, considering the budget, but veteran actor John P. Ryan stole the show as the mysterious Sam Bones with some amazingly, well-written dialog. Fun!
Standoff [2016]

            

A young girl seeks asylum in a house while being pursued by an assassin who spotted her photographing a hit. Let the standoff begin. Taking place almost entirely within a house with our three main characters, this is really nothing more than an extended battle of wits which could have been a disaster but for the stand out performances of Thomas Jane, Laurence Fishburne and Ella Ballentine. Exceptional dialogue and subtle but effective directing had me locked into this incredibly tense and, at times, savage experience. An independent gem!
State of Play [2009]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
Two reporters working on seemingly unrelated stories discover they're connected in a big way reaching well into the halls of congress. This is an exciting political thriller that maintains its intensity throughout despite being devoid of any sort of action to speak of. An exceptional all-star cast, you'd be hard pressed to see someone you didn't recognize. It's biggest strength is its ability to present an amazingly complex and ever evolving story without once losing the viewer with fantastic writing and acting. Best of its kind since All the President's Men, imo.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture [1979]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
The Mrs and I are watching the Star Trek universe in timeline order and here we are at the first feature film ...and not a whole lot to it. This spec fx heavy piece (which is basically a remake of the original episode "The Changeling" presented as a new story) spends an abominable amount of time just showing us pretty pictures that, although impressive, is really nothing more than bloated filler to make a 45 min story into a 2+ hour film. That's not to say it's bad. Watching our beloved characters in a feature film is still quite enjoyable. You just need to be patient.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [1982]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
Banished to an uninhabited planet 15 years ago by Captain James Kirk, Kahn and his crew how have a Federation ship. Time to misbehave. With an evil and flamboyant glee, Ricardo Montalban gives us an outstanding performance of the psychotic Kahn, who really holds a grudge. Spec fx were outstanding, the acting, writing and direction were great, space combat was exciting and made sense and more emotion than I've seen in any other Star Trek production to this point. Includes a couple good subplots and revelations, as well. Nice!
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock [1984]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
Kirk, and a few of his crew, steal the decommissioned Enterprise to save Spock before he's lost forever. This is basically a very dramatic story of loyalty, hope, friendship and sacrifice in an outer space setting that's done very well and I really liked it. There's a confrontation with Klingons to add enough trekker stuff in it to make it solidly a Star Trek movie but it's not a high action, space combat piece. I think it's probably gotten a bad rap for that but I felt the events carried the necessary emotion to make an extremely compelling and heartfelt view. Very nice!
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home [1986]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
Earth is being systematically destroyed by a probe and it's up to the Enterprise crew, in a Klingon ship, to save it. Also known as "The One With the Whales", this film replaces the usual space adventure for a 'fish out of water' escapade where our heroes have to deal with 1986 San Francisco, which is both heartfelt and humorous. Since I've lived in the Bay Area for 50 years, the familiar locales made it all the more fun. The scenarios were delightful - like Chekov asking a police officer where he can find a nuclear vessel - and nary a dull moment. Excellent fun.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier [1989]

            

Kirk and crew find themselves at odds with a nomad who wants to steal a starship. This didn't work well on several levels. The dialog is bland, the story is dull, a few silly gags and the costuming is terrible ...they all looked like out-of-shape middle aged men. Well, they probably were, but the point it to make them not look that way. Things picked up a bit once they got to the Great Barrier but it was a real schlog up to that point. This was William Shatner's feature film directorial debut and, unfortunately, it shows his inexperience. Marginally entertaining but that's about it.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country [1991]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
The Enterprise must escort a Klingon diplomat to a peace conference but there's foul play afoot and things get crazy. Leagues above the last entry in the movie series, this one features an elaborate story that takes us through ship invasions, frozen planets, space warfare, assassinations, exploding moons, new cloaking technology, all while addressing issues of racism, tolerance and Shakespeare and presenting it all in a very dramatic fashion making this the most mature Star Trek film thus far. And the new uniforms look great! Loved it!
Star Trek VII: Generations [1994]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
The Enterprise encounters a mysterious energy ribbon known as the Nexus and cross paths with a mad man who is willing to destroy everything to enter it. Oh... and an old friend shows up. This was an enjoyable adventure as we tag along with the familiar and comfortable 'Next Generation' crew, and an old friend, as they deal with time distortion, renegade Klingons, collapsing stars and an emotional Data. The crash sequence was awesome and there's some strong emotional beats in this one ...almost teared up. Excellent Star Trek entertainment.
Star Trek VIII: First Contact [1996]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
An encounter with the Borg sends the new Enterprise back to the 21st century at the moment when warp drive was invented and must prevent the Borg from stopping it. This is definitely my favorite ST film to date. Perfect mix of drama and humor on Earth's surface, with a cantankerous Zefram Cochrane (warp drive inventor), and high tension on board the Enterprise with the Borg slowly taking over the entire ship. Intricate story writing and extremely well constructed, this one worked on all levels and what about that Borg Queen? Now there's a villain!
Stalker [1979]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
In this case, the term stalker refers to a tour guide, of sorts, that leads two men into an area known as "The Zone" to take them to a room that is supposed to grant your innermost wishes. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? In a nutshell, it lasted 161 mins and NOTHING happened. The stalker kept preaching dangers. Where? Are there any? Is he nuts? Who knows? Nothing happens. I don't even know if the wish room works. Camera work was awesome and it is very artistic but over 2 1/2 hours with no pay off? That's just wrong! And the final scene was a big what-the-hell?
Stash House [2012]

            


A man surprises his wife with a new house ...built like a fortress. They soon discover the place is full of drugs and a couple of mercenaries have come to collect a package. Although there were scenes that were a bit contrived, silly, and/or slowly paced, overall, the film was a highly exciting, what-happens-next, thriller. Don't take it too seriously and enjoy the ride.
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek [2018]

            
      Watch for FREE right now!
The six members of a small militia group hideout in their HQ, a lumber warehouse, when there's reports that a militia member shot up a cop's funeral. Then the group figures out it's one of them. Let the finger pointing begin. This is an exceptionally well-written, psychological thriller that had me totally absorbed the entire time. It's rare to have a film that's this intense, and intelligent, when it's basically all dialogue. It keeps the viewer constantly guessing until the surprise ending that changes everything.
Stake Land [2010]

            
   Watch for FREE right now!
Follows the travels of a vampire hunter, known only as Mister, and a teen named Martin as they try to outrun the zombie/vampire plague and large groups of religious fanatics. Sort of reminded me of Zombieland but completely devoid of any humor. They pick up and lose several people along the way making this a very personal and emotional ride that relies heavily on the heartstrings. Nothing new here but it has good action, good tension, some very good personal moments, and an ambiguous albeit uplifting ending. Pretty good.
The Stakelander [2016]
aka Stake Land II
            
   Watch for FREE right now!
This one finds Martin, our protagonist from Stake Land, hunting for a Vamp Queen who killed his family and seems to be able to control the vamps. It played out fine and was generally enjoyable. It's problem is that it was so cliche. I saw everything coming before the characters seem to figure it out ...which doesn't say much for their intelligence or their ability to survive as long as they have. The dialog was standard with nothing witty or literate beyond what was necessary. The scenarios played out as expected. Like the first, it ended on a happy note.
Star Trek [2009]

         

This reboot of the franchise presents Kirk, Spock, Bones, and many other USS Enterprise alumni boarding the ship for the first time under Captain Pike as they hunt down a psycho Romulan from the future who threatens to destroy planets. This is really nicely done with a super complex multiple timeline story that'll make your head hurt if you think about it too much but it's presented in an understandable way. The character dynamics were great and the spec fx are just awesome. Bravo!
Star Trek Beyond [2016]

         
   Watch for FREE right now!

The Enterprise travels to an unexplored nebula system on a rescue mission and runs into problems. Storywise, this is pretty typical for an episode of Star Trek. However, the characters are colorful and played superbly, the level of drama to danger to humor to sentiment is spot on, the action and spec fx are fantastic and there is no denying that this is solidly Star Trek. Top notch entertainment.
Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi [2017]

            

Rey tries to bring back a severely reluctant Luke Skywalker to help in the war. Meanwhile, the First Order is attempting to destroy the last of the resistance. Well, it's a Star Wars movie so fans of Star Wars will probably find it a quite satisfying edition to the franchise and those who are not big fans will probably like it anyway. I've always followed the movies but I've never been a die hard fan. Yet, I found this film to be probably the best of the bunch. There's a lot going on here, it's exciting, and it's very well made.
Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker [2019]

            

A new super fleet of destroyers, each with a planet destroying cannon, has been created. It's up to Rey and the Resistance to stop them. Unlike the hate spewed all over IMDb concerning this film, I though it was just fine. Being as it's taken 42 years to complete all 9 parts of the story, I guess everyone expected something perfect. Well, it's not that. Nor is it the best film in the series but it was fun, exciting, the story worked well, the spec fx were great and it was a logical end to the series ...just not the one everyone wanted, apparently. No complaints here.
Stage Fright [1980]
aka Nightmares
            
   Watch for FREE right now!
This slasher exploitation film, with considerable sex and violence, features a girl who accidentally kills her mother in a car accident and then kills people in a theater production when she grows up. That's not a spoiler ...that's obvious from the start. In fact, I was expecting some sort of twist to show it wasn't her but, noooo. This simple premise is simply an excuse to kill a lot of people with broken glass in bloody fashion and proving that any form of sexual thought or activity insures your doom. It was mildly entertaining in its no-budget audacity but that's about it.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre [1967]

            
  

Roger Corman at his best with this bio-pic about the title event. One of the most historically accurate films I've ever seen, complete with a narrator to fill in the names and dates of all the events and participants. If you haven't seen this Capone era masterpiece, you've really missed one of the best gangster films of all time.
Stand Off [2011]
aka Whole Lotta Sole
            

Taking place in Ireland, a simple hold-up to pay off gambling debts turns into a major mess involving the police, the SAS, the mob, gypsies, and a host of others. The problem with this film is that it's too farcical to be taken seriously and too serious to be a comedy. However, the highly complex story is loaded with misunderstandings and one thing after another making the whole situation worse by the minute. That, and the performances, were plenty enough to entertain me and I liked it.
Starve [2014]

         
   Watch for FREE right now!
A psycho and his Igor style helper hold several people prisoner in an old abandoned school and force them to kill each other with food as their reward. This is a pretty middle-of-the-road horror film with a modicum of violence. However, it's depiction of what people are willing to do when they're starving is probably pretty accurate and quite disturbing. Not a great film, and the acting is sub-par, but it did keep me engaged and there certainly wasn't anything I really disliked about it.
<< Sm-Sp   ||  Index   ||  Ste-Sz >>