Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

director (Joel McCrea) is anxious to get serious with his doomy "O Brother Where Art Thou?"
and finds that, in the Depression, and "with death gargling from every doorway", the world still
needs laughs more than lessons.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
(FW Murnau, 1927)
German director Murnau came to America and made Sunrise, a film that still seems set in
Germany, about a man and his wife and the other woman. It had atmosphere and moving
camera shots and enormous sets like no other film. It was the film of the future, and it's still
regarded as a milestone.
Sunset Boulevard
(Billy Wilder, 1950)
In Billy Wilder's procession of Hollywood masterworks, Sunset Boulevard is the masterpiece.
Gloria Swanson rules each second of screen time as a has-been silent-picture queen, locked
in a decaying ivory tower of self-obsession, who believes she can be rescued by a gigolo
scripter, who in turn is trapped by his own heedless opportunism. Sex, death and human folly
are laid bare.
Superfly
(Gordon Parks Jr, 1972)
If Gordon Parks's Shaft was the exemplary blaxploitation hero, then Priest, the coke-dealing
anti-hero of Superfly (directed by Parks's son) was its direst warning, prompting certain
recently revolutionised young urban gang-members to see their future in terms of cocainecommerce,
not consciousness-raising. Curtis Mayfield's historic soundtrack is almost frameby-frame
refutation of the film's theme.
Superman
(Richard Donner, 1978)
Fawned over by Bryan Singer in last year's remake, the original Superman is more succinct
and more harmoniously in touch with the primary-coloured American values that drive the
story. It's hard to imagine anyone else than Christopher Reeve in the tights, exuding the
perfect blend of kiss-curl authority and humanism.
The Sure Thing
(Rob Reiner, 1985)
A refreshing reflection on dating mores that is more than its 80s teen movie trappings
suggest. John Cusack is gawky charm personified as the college student on a road trip
towards a no-strings sexual encounter, but Daphne Zuniga makes her mark too as co-hitcher
Alison, the chalk to his cheese; she sparks his contempt, first, and ultimately his desire.
Suspiria
(Dario Argento, 1977)
Set in a ballet school that is secretly a coven of witches, this is Dario Argento's best-known
film. With tropes filched from Hitchcock but only the barest interest in plot, its extreme
aestheticisation of violence and the panting, whispering rock soundtrack by the Goblins
confirmed Argento's status as a visionary in the realm of macabre surrealism.
Suture
(Scott Mcgehee, David Siegel, 1993)
Ingenious but disorienting thriller that is a film theorist's delight. Dennis Haysbert is the hero
Clay who loses his memory and identity after his car is booby trapped. When the surgeons
stitch him back together, he - and seemingly everyone else - believe that he is half-brother
Vincent. The fact that Clay is African-American and Vincent is Caucasian only adds to the
confusion. Why shoot in black and white? As the filmmakers explained, this is a story about
racial difference.