Two overlooked movies

I just saw a pretty good movie which I didn't hear much about, and that reminded me of another recent movie with a similar title (both 7-letter trochees beginning with S). The first is Stander, which is a true-crime number about a cop who pulls bank robberies, gets sent to prison, escapes, and pulls more bank robberies. This all happened in the early 80's, and the film does a good job of capturing the era, including the moody directorial style. There's a nicely done scene showing our hero at the Soweto riots (another enjoyable feature of the film is the Seth Efrican exints the characters have), and the relatively unknown Thomas Jane (Mr. Patricia Arquette, if I'm not mistaken) does a great job (including the exint). Check it out!

The other film was perhaps not so overlooked (maybe I just missed it): David Mamet's Spartan, with Val Kilmer as a tough guy/fixer shafted by his own people. The clipped Mamet dialogue is very effective, as is Kilmer's eerily blank affect. Kilmer's been in some clinkers, and he's not the most versatile of actors, but here he's just right. No Seth Efrican exint though. Check it out too!