Email Author Michael Sragow

1996 Stories by Michael Sragow

• Second Time Around

  published December 25, 1996

  Lolita From the beginning, British comedy fans loved the work of Peter Sellers, for its wit and sure attack and for its fillip of emotion.... More >>

• Love and Martyrdom

  published December 25, 1996

  Some Mother's Son Directed by Terry George. Written by Terry George and Jim Sheridan. Starring Helen Mirren and Fionnula Flanagan. Opens... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published December 18, 1996

  Diabolique Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 exercise in terror is the dankest movie of all time, and one of the creepiest. Water in mudholes,... More >>

• Sex and the Single Parent

  published December 18, 1996

  One Fine Day Directed by Michael Hoffman. Written by Terrel Seltzer and Ellen Simon. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney. Opens... More >>

• Zoom Lens

  published December 18, 1996

  "Wallace and Gromit: The Best of Aardman Animation" This British animation studio's trademark is using plasticene figures instead of ink... More >>

• Cruisified

  published December 11, 1996

  Jerry Maguire Written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Opens Friday, Dec. 13, at... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published December 11, 1996

  Lawrence of Arabia Still the most satisfying attempt in modern movies to interpret spectacular historical events from one man's... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published December 11, 1996

  Deliverance A couple of decades after its original 1972 release, this landmark adventure movie has achieved new relevance as Iron Johns of... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published December 4, 1996

  The Long Goodbye and California Split Panavision meets modernism with glorious results in the kickoff to the Castro's wide-screen series:... More >>

• Peckinpah in Black and White and Color

  published December 4, 1996

  Directed, written, and edited by Paul Seydor. Narrated by Nick Redman, with the voices of Ed Harris, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O'Brien, and others.... More >>

• Past Perfect

  published November 27, 1996

  The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Screenplay by Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio Bonicelli, and Ugo Pirro, from the... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published November 27, 1996

  The Gate of Heavenly Peace The democracy movement that filled Tiananmen Square seven years ago lives on in Richard Gordon and Carma... More >>

• Zoom Lens

  published November 27, 1996

  September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill With its charismatic angst and sprightly melancholia, the music Kurt Weill wrote in prewar Germany... More >>

• Zoom Lens

  published November 20, 1996

  The Club Foot Orchestra Eleven San Francisco-based musicians known as the Club Foot Orchestra have made a specialty of steaming away the... More >>

• Fools for Love

  published November 20, 1996

  The English Patient Directed and written by Anthony Minghella, from the novel by Michael Ondaatje. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published November 20, 1996

  Point Blank With a rugged but never hulking torso, a shock of white hair, and a slablike face marked by a mashed nose and piercing eyes,... More >>

• SF Weekly's Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Filmgoing

  published November 6, 1996

  I go to movies hoping for the kind of excitement that can tune up a person's entire mental and emotional system. One of the few times I got it in... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published November 6, 1996

  2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (like Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow) is pretentious and overelaborate,... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published October 30, 1996

  The Innocents The Innocents is the rare psychological horror movie that can be enjoyed afresh each time you see it. It's a tense,... More >>

• A First-Class Ticket to Palookaville

  published October 23, 1996

  Palookaville Directed by Alan Taylor. Written by David Epstein. Starring William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo, and Adam Trese. Opens Friday,... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published October 23, 1996

  Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision Maya Lin -- the architect of genius who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. --... More >>

• Cooking Without Gas

  published October 16, 1996

  The Chamber Directed by James Foley. Screenplay by William Goldman and Chris Reese, from the novel by John Grisham. Starring Chris... More >>

• Vertigo

  published October 9, 1996

  San Francisco isn't just the setting of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: It's the movie's muse. Along with composer Bernard Herrmann, who transforms... More >>

• Shorter Cuts

  published October 9, 1996

  2 Days in the Valley Directed and written by John Herzfeld. Starring Danny Aiello, Teri Hatcher, Paul Mazursky, Marsha Mason, and Glenne... More >>

• Full Disclosure

  published September 25, 1996

  I first met Mike Leigh 10 years ago, during his breakthrough retrospective at the 1986 San Francisco International Film Festival. It was at a... More >>