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Saturday Night Cinema

Featuring little-known films and blockbusters alike, Saturday Night Cinema has been entertaining KSPS audiences since 1985. Enjoy dramas, comedies, mysteries, musicals and more!

This Week's Movie

Ben Hur

Commentary from Movie Maverick Mike

Ben-Hur, again
#kspscinema #moviemaverickmike
 

No one would ever be foolish enough to remake biblical classic “Ben-Hur”, right?

As noted by your host, 1959’s “Ben-Hur” was the 2nd highest-grossing film of all time at the time (second to “Gone with the Wind”), won 11 Oscars, and named one of the top 10 films ever by the American Film Institute (AFI).

But the Charleton Heston blockbuster was itself a remake of the 1925 silent film of the same name, based on the 1880 novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.”

With this in mind, MGM remade - sorry, “reimaged” - “Ben-Hur” with Russian director Timur Bekmambetov in 2016, at a much more manageable 125 minutes.  (Its enjoyable as long as you treat it as a completely different movie -albeit one with a familiar chariot race).

But nothing will match the original - er, the 1959 original - this weekend on Saturday Night Cinema.

 

www.facebook.com/moviemaverickmike

New Host, Cecelia Sutton

Cecelia is a Spokane native, proudly working at a local nonprofit organization while building momentum in her career as an artist. Cecelia is an avid performer, having participated in the community theater scene regularly since 2020. She made her debut with Bright Comet Theater’s "Lord of The Flies" and has been a regular at Stage Left Theater ever since. Cecelia’s love for film started by inheriting her mom’s love of Tim Burton movies, and her choices in art and theater are heavily inspired by the obscure, the surreal and the macabre. Cecelia is proud to be joining the "Saturday Night Cinema" team and looks forward to being exposed to new films through this opportunity.

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Mike Hoff

Mike has been writing about movies and Hollywood for over 30 years, including radio, TV, newspapers and online. He appears regularly as a movie reviewer on CTV Morning Live in Calgary, and has even appeared on CTV's Fame Factor. He's been a screenwriter, extra and lecturer throughout Alberta and Washington.

Mike's love of movies comes down to a few key moments - being allowed to stay up late as a child to watch James Bond in "You Only Live Twice" on TV, watching "Star Wars" age 12 with a HUGH bucket of popcorn, and seeing a sneak preview of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when no-one knew that it would become THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME - maybe the only time in history only 20 people were in the theatre for this film. Also, "Aliens" on a cool July day downtown, "Rear Window" at a repertoire theater, and tearing up as a young man watching "Fiddler on the Roof" at a film-club presentation in Tacoma.

You can follow Movie Maverick Mike on Instagram or Facebook

Ryan Tucker

Ryan Tucker started from humble beginnings in south central Washington. He was only 8-years-old when he was given his first camera and began his journey into the celluloid. Making short films in the backyard with his younger brother, Ryan quickly discovered Dogma filmmaking (accidentally and unaware of what that even meant).

By 20, Ryan was a self-made “hundred-aire” and decided to spend a ton of money he didn't have on "film school" in California. Once he exhausted all financial options, Ryan returned home to beautiful Spokane. He is now a videographer and editor for Spokane Public Library and hosts a monthly live talk/sketch comedy show at Central Library called Lilac City Live.

Today, you can usually find him collecting vintage video formats such as VHS, Laserdisc, CED, Beta. He relives his favorite childhood movies with all five of his hilarious, sweet children and poorly explains plots to movies to his devastatingly beautiful life partner who made his real-life movie come true.

Mikayla Daniels

Mikayla Daniels is an Alaskan born and raised writer and filmmaker. She holds her MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College and her BA in film from Eastern Washington University.

In 2018 her feature script “Wingman Lost” was chosen as an Athena List Finalist and she wrote an essay that has been published in the new book “When Women Wrote Hollywood”.

Mikayla is a regular contributor to the book reviews section of “The Journal of Screenwriting” and writes TV/Movie reviews and entertainment news for Netflixlife.com. She also is regularly invited to sit on film and writing panels and to judge and screen for film festivals worldwide.

Follow Mikayla on Facebook: @palealaskan

Ignite Your Saturday Nights

Celebrate Quality Cinema & Enrich Our Communities

Upcoming Movies

4/25/26

Ben Hur (1959)

5/2/26

Being The Ricardos

5/9/26

The Outsiders

5/16/26

National Velvet

5/23/26

Anchors Aweigh

6/13/26

My Week with Marilyn

6/20/26

Father of the Bride

6/27/26

Spaceballs