The Daily Weekly News, Politics, and Media

Afternoon 'Don't Forget Your Sunscreen' Edition
Posted May 16; 03:00 pm

Reverb Music & Nightlife

Too Many Shows Tonight
Posted May 16; 01:56 pm

Voracious Food News and Reviews

What's Better Than One Award-Winning Brewer?
Posted May 16; 04:11 pm

Thread Count Arts, People, and Style

Why We Need Daily Newspaper Arts Coverage
Posted May 16; 08:48 pm

Buzzer Beater Seattle Sports

Don't Drink And Drive a Golf Cart
Posted May 16; 05:51 pm


Slideshows

Newsletters

Stay up-to-date with the Seattle Weekly. We'll e-mail you a detailed rundown of what's on seattleweekly.com once a week.

Signing up is simple and you can opt out anytime. Give it a try.

Web Feeds

Use one of the buttons below to subscribe to Seattle Weekly's full Web feed. Or choose from our full list of Web feeds.

- For Newsreaders

- For Home Pages

Free Classifieds Seattle, WA

Sunshine State

By Tim Appelo

December 4, 2002

SUNSHINE STATE
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, $24.95


JOHN SAYLES FANS will purely love his ambling, old-fashioned leftist ode to the folks of Florida—and so will fans of The Sopranos' Edie Falco. She plays a noble but plumb-wore-out motel owner courted by malevolent developers of her beach-town home (and by well-meaning developer Timothy Hutton, who walks around with his habitual quizzical look—the one that says, "Didn't I used to have a great future?").

Falco makes the role real, and quite distinct from what you've seen from her—she seems to change the very shape of her facial expressions. The movie doesn't have a strong narrative through line, but every character in the ensemble drama has an absorbing story: the Falco character's mom (Jane Alexander), who pours her thwarted ambition into school plays; Angela Bassett as a local golden girl whose mom (Mary Alice) sent her away after football hero "Flash" Williams (Tom Wright) impregnated her decades ago (and now he's back home, too!); Mary Steenburgen as a spoiled wife obsessed with a silly Seafair-like pageant, Buccaneer Days. Alan King and a passel of golf buddies eloquently mouth off about Florida's changes like a Greek chorus.

Sayles has made better movies, but none since The Return of the Secaucus Seven can boast this one's wealth of characters. There are practically no DVD extras beyond a Sayles commentary track, but so what?

Tim Appelo


ONLY 21 DAYS left till Xmas! What to buy? Out Dec. 3, Lilo & Stitch is a good family bet with its delightful non-CGI animation, as are an entire series of titles in "Walt Disney Treasures" with Goofy, Mickey, and company. Sure to be a big seller, Goldmember's best feature should be commentary from Mike Myers and his director, Jay Roach (stare at Beyonc頩n the music videos if you must). Unfortunately, Mel Brooks supplies no chat track for The Producers, although there's an accompanying extra or two (including deleted scenes). Among art films reaching disc, 1972's Siddartha has been transferred from a restored print. Another title that played Seattle this year, Zhang Yimou's Happy Times is maudlin but sweet. Henry Miller fans can enjoy Quiet Days in Clichy, which was banned for its sexual content back in supposedly freewheeling 1969.

B.R.M.

bmiller@seattleweekly.com

Comments (0)

Reader Comments

No comments.

* indicates required fields. Please enable browser cookies before filling out this form. All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Add Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.




(Characters are case sensitive)

Comments may take a few moments to process and appear on the site. Please do not click the "Add Comment" button again while your comment is being added.

More "New on DVD"

More >>
Most 
Popular

now click this

Travel
Pacific Northwest Getaways

Seattle Home Search
1000's of Listings and Detailed Neighborhood Information

Seattle Weekly Online Career Fair!
Where People & Jobs Find Each Other.

Sound Living ®
Seattle Metro Real Estate


To Do List

Saturday, May 17

Dead Meadow, SubArachnoid Space, Whalebones, Patrol
Man, the stoners haven't had a pairing this perfect since Comets on Fire pl... More>>
El Corazon, Sat., May 17, 7:00pm, $10 adv./$12

Peter Bagge
Artist Peter Bagge will show off a form of panels from Hate, his pioneering... More>>
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Sat., May 17, 6:00pm-9:00pm

Thee Emergency (CD release), the Valley, the Hands
With Dita Vox at the helm, Seattle garage-rock band Thee Emergency speciali... More>>
King Cobra, Sat., May 17, 8:00pm

174 more things to do today>>
Find a Restaurant

 
A work of love from charismatic man-about-town Waid Sainvil, Waid's is the only Haitian restaurant o...
Off the Delridge Way exit from the West Seattle Bridge, Skylark Cafe & Club is a genuine blue-collar...
The Northlake Tavern is proud to tell you that its small pie weighs more than two-and-a-half pounds ...
Entering Can Can is like walking into Moulin Rouge—not the Parisian tourist trap, the Baz Luhrmann m...
Find a Concert

Saturday, May 17
Our Top Picks
Check out our Digital Jukebox!
Find a Movie

Find a Theater

Find a Club

The groan-inducingly named Thai One On in Lake City dims its lights and switches on the speakers at ...
Seattle resident Gabe Morgan was once in a constant mental, physical, and psychological battle with ...
I haven't eaten much steak this summer because I'm usually broke. When I discovered Ozzie's Wednesda...
Pure, unadulterated joy is the look permanently affixed to the face of a man doing the mambo to the ...
It's Saturday night between 10th and 11th on Pike Street, Capitol Hill's bustling new epicenter. The...
national

Headlines from Coast to Coast

SF Weekly

Viva Farolito!

Former pros from Latin America help make an "amateur" soccer team unstoppable. More >>

Village Voice

The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo

A nutty polygamist pastor rebuilds his church--with help from New Yorkers. More >>

Miami New Times

Love is No Contract

A Florida man sues his girlfriend-for dumping him. More >>

Houston Press

The Myth of the Bachelor's Degree

A growing number of educators face a hard truth: not every kid is college material. More >>