Email Author Michael Sragow

1998 Stories by Michael Sragow

• Zoom Lens

  published December 9, 1998

  The Shop Around the Corner The classic romantic comedies of director Ernst Lubitsch and screenwriter Samson Raphaelson contrast the thrill... More >>

• The Greatest Story Never Told

  published December 9, 1998

  The Prince of Egypt Directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells. With the voices of Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra... More >>

• Making a Mountain Out of an Anthill

  published November 25, 1998

  Surprise and pleasure come wrapped together in A Bug's Life. This big adventure about tiny critters is the latest piece of robust whimsy from... More >>

• Last Picture Shows

  published October 7, 1998

  The second week of the Mill Valley Film Festival, running through Sunday at various venues in that town and also at Larkspur's Lark Theater,... More >>

• From Chinatown to Niketown

  published September 30, 1998

  In 1974 Robert Towne was seething about the lot of his script for Chinatown, now considered his most famous work. Released that same year, the... More >>

• Silver Mining

  published September 23, 1998

  Like an annual production of A Christmas Carol, the Telluride Film Festival never fails to invoke the Spirits of Past, Present, and Future. For... More >>

• Retouching Evil

  published September 9, 1998

  A pungent, ardent yearning permeated the big theater at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch one balmy evening in July. It felt like artistic... More >>

• Kung POW!

  published July 29, 1998

  Enter the Dragon Directed by Robert Clouse. Written by Michael Allin. Starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, and Jim Kelly. Opens Friday, July 31,... More >>

• The Weir Files

  published July 1, 1998

  Picnic at Hanging Rock Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Cliff Green, from the novel by Joan Lindsay. Starring Rachel Roberts and Helen... More >>

• The Red and the Black

  published June 24, 1998

  Gone With the Wind Directed by Victor Fleming. Written by Sidney Howard, from the novel by Margaret Mitchell. Starring Clark Gable, Vivien... More >>

• But Not Out of Mind

  published June 24, 1998

  Out of Sight Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Scott Frank, from Elmore Leonard's novel. Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez,... More >>

• This Tomboy's Life

  published June 17, 1998

  Mulan Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Written by Rita Hsiao, Christopher Sanders, Philip Lazebnik, Raymond Singer, and Eugenia... More >>

• The Free Willies

  published June 3, 1998

  The Truman Show Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Andrew Niccol. Starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, and Ed Harris. Opens Friday, June 5,... More >>

• Sinatra: The Voice, the Spark, the Image

  published May 20, 1998

  Frank Sinatra never gave a better performance as an actor than he did in The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) as Frankie Machine, a hotshot poker... More >>

• Zoom Lens

  published May 20, 1998

  The Monster Mash The American remake of the beloved Japanese monster movie has the faux sophistication to tell us that the creature should... More >>

• The Good Creepiness; the Bad Creepiness

  published May 20, 1998

  Repulsion Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Polanski and Gerard Brach. Starring Catherine Deneuve. Opens Friday, May 22, at the... More >>

• The Larry David Show

  published May 13, 1998

  Not since the death of Diana has there been a pop phenomenon as cataclysmic as the demise of Seinfeld. The surrounding hoopla has reached such,... More >>

• Exodus

  published May 6, 1998

  The Long Way Home Directed and written by Mark Jonathan Harris. Narrated by Morgan Freeman. With the voices of Edward Asner, Sean Astin,... More >>

• Week 2 of the 41st S.F. International Film Festival

  published April 29, 1998

  Animated by Dr. Freud (Various) Jim Trainor's peculiar The Fetishist is clearly the centerpiece of this program of animation for grown-ups,... More >>

• John Berry: Romantic Rebel

  published April 22, 1998

  "Yeah, man," says director John Berry. "My name was originally John Sold, or Jackie Szold. But why would anyone want to print that? It's totally... More >>

• O Pioneers

  published April 22, 1998

  When Adrienne Mancia, the winner of this year's Mel Novikoff Award, tries to recall her favorite moments from 34 years of film programs at the... More >>

• Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll. Korea.

  published April 22, 1998

  A few decades ago, a controversial Bay Area critic named Pauline Kael -- yes, the same wild original who went on to become Pauline Kael -- wrote... More >>

• The Lying Game

  published April 15, 1998

  Suicide Kings Directed by Peter O'Fallon. Written by Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman, and Wayne Rice. Starring Christopher Walken, Jay Mohr,... More >>

• Travels With Mikey

  published April 8, 1998

  The Big One A documentary directed and written by Michael Moore. Opens Friday, April 10, at the Lumiere in San Francisco and the California... More >>

• Second Time Around

  published April 1, 1998

  The Maltese Falcon John Huston's The Maltese Falcon is a high-water mark of tough-guy storytelling and the most influential movie in the... More >>