the reel dope

Movie reviews for: The Wheeler Dealers, Lillies of the Field, The Haunting, and Beach Party.

sneakers

the year: 1992

the genre: suspense


the cast: Robert Redford (Martin Bishop); Sidney Poitier (Donald Crease); Dan Ackroyd (Darren "Mother" Roskow); David Strathairn (Irwin 'Whistler' Emery); River Phoenix (Carl Arbogast); Ben Kingsley (Cosmo); Mary McDonnell (Liz); James Earl Jones (Agent Bernard Abbott)


the plot: A burglar, a spy, a fugitive, a delinquent, a hacker, and a piano teacher... and these are the good guys. Martin Bishop is the head of a group of experts who specialise in testing security systems. When he is blackmailed by Government agents into stealing a top secret black box, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all existing encryption systems around the world.



don't miss: Carl trying to get a date.



watch for: the jacket Robert Redford wears. It's the same one he wears in The Natural.



listen for: "Uh, could we maybe just go back to the "they might kill us" part?"


extra bonus points: if you can name what each of the gang wants from the NSA in exchange for the encryption chip.



also listen for: "We got bupkis! We turn ourselves in now, they'll give us twenty years in the electric chair!"

to sir, with love

the year: 1967

the genre: drama


the cast: Sidney Poitier (Mark Thackeray); Christian Roberts (Denham); Judy Geeson (Pamela Dare); Suzy Kendall (Gillian Blanchard); Lulu (Barbara Pegg)


the plot: Engineer Mark Thackeray arrives to teach a totally undisciplined class at an East End school. Still hoping for a good engineering job, he's hopeful that he won't be there long. He starts implementing his own brand of classroom discipline: forcing the pupils to treat each other with respect. Inevitably he begins getting involved in the students' personal lives, and must avoid the advances of an amorous student while winning over the class tough. What will he decide when the engineering job comes through?



don't miss: the museum fieldtrip.



watch for: Lulu's chart-topping hit from the film.



listen for: "I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right."



did you know: The London bus that appears in several sequences at the start of the film, LLU 829, and in some later sequences, still survives today as a preserved vintage vehicle, and can be seen at the East Anglia Transport Museum, Carlton Colville, Lowestoft, England.



extra bonus points: if you know what Columbia Pictures market researchers discovered as the reason for the film's unexpected success in the U.S.