A former classmate of Walt Disney, Chicago-native Margaret Brundage sold 66 original pulp cover illustrations to Weird Tales Magazine from 1933 to 1945, making her one of the only female artists to find regular work in the pulps.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Song of the Day: More (Theme from Mondo Cane) R.I.P. Riz Ortolani
The latest “Song of the Day” is dedicated to a great film composer who passed away today. Riz Ortolani is well-known in the virtual and brick-and-mortar halls of Through the Shattered Lens. In fact, I would say that his work would be a perfect soundtrack for the site if it ever decided to have one.
Ortolani was born in March 25, 1926. Music seemed to be in his blood as his musical career first began as part of an Italian jazz band before he eventually move to composing scores for Italian films. While many grindhouse and exploitation film fans got to know Ortolani through his work on Ruggero Deodato’s famous (infamous in some circles) cannibal exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust ( especially for it’s serene-like opening theme) his film scores ranged through several genres from mondo films, spaghetti westerns, eurospy flicks and Italian giallos.
For someone in elite circles would considered as beneath their notice for doing work in the so-called video nasty genre, ORtoani’s work has been hailed as genius and one of his compositions even won him an Academy Award in 1964. It’s this award-winning song that I’ve chosen to focus on.
“More” from the shockumentary Mondo Cane won Ortolani an Oscar in 1964 and even had an admirer in the Chairman of the Board himself that he would cover the song the very same year.
With each passing year the film and entertainment community loses one more of the earlier generation who were instrumental in making many at this site in falling in love with film and music. Time to appreciate what they’ve contributed to film and music and remind ourselves that sometimes just because something is old and dated doesn’t mean it’s still not better than something newer and more advanced.
R.I.P. Riz Ortolani and thanks for the music and memories.
Even the Ol’ Blue Eyes covered the song…
More (Theme From Mondo Cane)
More than the greatest love the world has known,
This is the love I give to you alone,
More than the simple words I try to say,
I only live to love you more each day.
More than you’ll ever know, my arms long to hold you so,
My life will be in your keeping, waking, sleeping, laughing, weeping,
Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’re gonna be mine.
I know I’ve never lived before and my heart is very sure,
No one else could love you more.
[musical interlude]
More than you’ll ever know , my arms they long to hold you so,
My life will be in your keeping, waking, sleeping, laughing, weeping,
Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’ll be mine,
I know that I’ve never lived before and my heart is very sure,
No one else could love you more, no one else could love you more.
Missed my calling as a mad scientist/super villain/arms dealer
Today’s issue of Matt Fraction’s and Mike Allred’s FF (No. 16) inspired me and led me to think about the military applications of Pym Particles. I am surprised organizations like SHIELD or AIM/HYDRA haven’t approached Hank Pym or Scott Lang to develop weapons utilizing the particles.
Below is a spoiler (art by Mike Allred):
Uatu reveals the full potential of the Pym Particles! They do far more than merely shrinking and expanding objects… they explain the density shifting powers of synthezoid Vision and ionic based life form Simon Williams aka Wonder Man.
I imagine an AIM facility developing smart bullets derived from Unstable Molecules saturated with Pym Particles. This magic bullet would possess the following traits:
- A target lock feature with z-axis manipulation to phase through any obstacle (civilian or barrier) to reach the target or increase its density to diamond hardness to penetrate armor.
- y-axis manipulation will propel the projectile towards the target.
- x-axis manipulation will cause the bullet to expand to the size of a rocket where it will an ionic payload similar to Simon William’s energy discharge.
The bullet would be discharged from custom firearms with built-in molecular assemblers.
The guns would resemble the pistols wielded by the infamous Sentinel-Human Hybrid turned thief & mercenary, Fantomex (art by Rafael Grampá).
6 Monstrous Trailers
Hi! It’s for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film trailers and I know that a lot of you are really going to love this week’s offerings!
The Trailer Kitties are apparently really excited about that remake of Godzilla that’s going to be released in May. How do I know? Well, just check out the trailers that they’ve gathered for us to watch.
1) Rodan (1956)
2) Gamera Vs. Viras (1968)
3) Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971)
4) King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962)
5) Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero (1965)
6) Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
What do you think, Trailer Kitty?
He’s entranced!
Trailer: The Raid 2: Berandal (Official Domestic)
The Raid 2: Berandal premiered today at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. We’ve already gotten two previous trailers and teasers. We now have a third one that just adds to the awesomeness of what I will now dub as the best film of 2014.
The Raid 2: Berandal will make it’s wide release in the United States on March 28, 2014.
Guilty Pleasure No. 16: Keep Off The Grass
It’s been a while since I shared any of those wonderfully dramatic Sid Davis educational films that were designed to encourage our parents to stay in school, stay healthy, and stay American.
With that in mind, here’s Keep Off The Grass. Initially filmed in 1969, Keep Off The Grass tells the story of what happens when Tom’s parents find out that Tom thinks that marijuana is no big deal. At both the insistence of his father and the local cops, Tom takes a serious look at his stoner friends and discovers that they’re all a bunch of losers. As is typical of a Sid Davis educational film, there’s a disapproving narrator who is quick to make sure we all know that all of Tom’s friends kinda sorta suck.
Enjoy Keep Off The Grass!
Previous Guilty Pleasures:
What Lisa Watched Last Night #97: Flowers in the Attic (dir by Deborah Chow)
This weekend, I watched the Lifetime original movie Flowers in the Attic.
Why Was I Watching It?
How could I not watch it? From the minute Lifetime first started to air commercials for it back in November, I knew I was going to watch Flowers in the Attic. What especially captured my attention was the way Flowers in The Attic was referred to as being “the book you weren’t allowed to read.” Even though I hadn’t even heard of the book before I saw the commercials, that tag line hooked me. The forbidden is always so inviting.
Add to that, every time I mentioned Flowers in the Attic on Twitter, Mason Dye (who played Christopher in the film) always favorited my tweet. That was so sweet that there was no way I couldn’t watch the movie.
What Was It About?
The time is the 1950s. The recently widowed Corrine (Heather Graham) returns to her childhood home in Virginia. As Corrine explains to her children, she comes from a rich family but was disowned when she left home. Now, her plan is to make up with her disapproving father and inherit his fortune once he dies. Corrine also claims that the only way for her to win back her father’s love is for her to keep the existence of her children a secret.
Hence, Corrine’s children — teenagers Cathy (Kierna Shipka) and Christopher (Mason Dye) and twins Carrie and Cory — are forced to hide in the attic while Corrine charms her father. The children are watched over by their ultra-religious, abusive grandmother (Ellen Burstyn).
Once in the attic, the children soon realize that Corrine doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to win their freedom. While Cathy and Christopher struggle to come of age without any adult supervision, Grandma occasionally brings up mysterious powdered donuts. Soon, Cathy and Christopher are exploring their desires and the twins are falling ill…
What Worked?
It all worked. This was Lifetime at its absolute best: entertaining, fun, and wonderfully melodramatic. Along with being full of wonderfully gothic Southern atmosphere, Flowers in the Attic featured great performances from Heather Graham, Mason Dye, and Kiernan Shipka. Best of all was veteran actress Ellen Burstyn, who made Grandma into a wonderfully over-the-top monster.
What Did Not Work?
If I have any complaints, it’s that the film’s conclusion felt a bit abrupt. However, a sequel to Flowers is already in production so that ending was actually a perfect set-up for part two of the story.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
Cathy was into ballet, just like me! If I ever found myself locked in an attic for a year and a half, I’d probably use the time to do some pointe work as well.
Lessons Learned
Don’t eat mysterious donuts.
Here Are The PGA Winners and Guess What? It’s a Tie!
Whenever there’s a tight and potentially unpredictable Oscar race like there is this year, we look to the guild awards for guidance. Last night, the Producer’s Guild decided not to provide that guidance. For the first time in the organization’s history, there was a tie for Best Picture as both 12 Years A Slave and Gravity took the top honor. Even further complicating matters is that the Screen Actors Guild gave their award for best film (or “ensemble”) to this year’s other main contender — American Hustle.
It seems obvious that one of those three films will be named Best Picture of the year in March but right now, your guess is as good as mine regarding which one will actually take the top prize.
Here are the PGA winners:
FILM AWARDS
BEST PICTURE (TIE)
“American Hustle”
“Blue Jasmine”
“Captain Phillips,”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
X — “Gravity“
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
X — “12 Years a Slave“
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Epic”
X –“Frozen“
“Monsters University”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“A Place at the Table”
“Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story”
“Life According to Sam”
X — “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks”
“Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington”
TV AWARDS
BEST DRAMA SERIES
X — “Breaking Bad”
“Downton Abbey”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“House of Cards”
BEST COMEDY SERIES
“Arrested Development”
“The Big Bang Theory”
X — “Modern Family”
“30 Rock”
“Veep”
BEST TV MOVIE/MINISERIES
“American Horror Story: Asylum”
X — “Behind the Candelabra“
“Killing Kennedy”
“Phil Spector”
“Top of the Lake”
BEST LIVE ENTERTAINMENT/TALK SERIES
X — “The Colbert Report”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
“Real Time with Bill Maher”
“Saturday Night Live”
BEST REALITY COMPETITION SERIES
“The Amazing Race”
“Dancing with the Stars”
“Project Runway”
“Top Chef”
X — “The Voice”
BEST NON-FICTION SERIES
“30 for 30”
X — “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”
“Duck Dynasty”
“Inside the Actors Studio”
“Shark Tank”
BEST CHILDREN’S SERIES
“Dora the Explorer”
“iCarly”
“Phineas and Ferb”
X — “Sesame Street”
“Spongebob Squarepants”
BEST SPORTS SERIES
“24/7”
“Hard Knocks”
“Monday Night Football”
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”
X — “SportsCenter”
BEST DIGITAL SERIES
“Burning Love” (web series)
“Epic Rap Battles of History”
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”
“Video Game High School”
X — “Wired: What’s Inside”
44 Days of Paranoia #40: The Manchurian Candidate (dir by John Frankenheimer)
With only five entries left in the 44 Days of Paranoia, now seems like the perfect time to look at one of the best conspiracy films ever made. First released in 1962, this film is not only one of the most influential thrillers ever made but it’s also a fiercely sardonic political satire that remains just as relevant today as when it was first released. It was also remade in 2004 and, while we’ll get to the remake, today we’re focusing on the original.
I’m speaking, of course, of the John Frankenheimer-directed classic, The Manchurian Candidate.
The Manchurian Candidate tells the story of Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey). The son of the wealthy and ambitious Eleanor (Angela Lansbury) and the stepson of the moronic Senator Johnny Iselin (James Gregory), Raymond is also a decorated war hero who has been credited with saving an entire platoon during the Korean War. When asked about Shaw, all of the members of the platoon respond with: “”Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”
Of course, that’s not true. It only takes a few minutes of screen time for the audience to realize that Raymond Shaw is none of those things. Instead, he’s a rather depressed loner who is full of resentment towards his mother and his stepfather. Shaw is so socially awkward that even he is shocked when he manages to successfully tell a joke. (“I just told a joke, didn’t I?” Shaw says in amazement.)
While Shaw pursues a career as a journalist, the fellow members of his platoon — including Maj. Marco (Frank Sinatra) — start to have disturbing nightmares, in which they find themselves observing a genteel garden show, during which Raymond is ordered to strangle one soldier and shoot another one in the head. Marco comes to suspect that the platoon may have been captured and brainwashed with communists. With the backing of Army Intelligence, Marco starts to investigate.
Meanwhile, Sen. Iselin has come to national prominence by claiming to have information about a communist conspiracy deep within the U.S. government. As becomes obvious in some of the film’s best scenes, Iselin is less concerned with fighting communists and more focused on keeping Raymond’s mother happy. Eleanor has decided that her husband is going to be the next President and her brainwashed son is going to help make it happen.
I think sometimes we tend to assume that, up until 1967, all movies were safe and predictable. The Manchurian Candidate, however, proves that is simply not true. In fact, with its cynical view of politics and its cast of fragile and damaged characters, The Manchurian Candidate is one of the most subversive films ever made. Rejecting the boring partisanship that typifies most politically themed films, The Manchurian Candidate presents us with a world where both the left and the right are equally corrupt and ultimately equally meaningless. It’s a political satire that transcends ideology and that’s certainly something of which America could use more.
It’s also an amazingly entertaining film. George Axelrod’s screenplay is full of wonderfully snarky moments while John Frankenheimer’s directs with an appreciation for both absurdity and melodrama. Angela Lansbury is both hilarious and chilling as one of the worst maternal figures to ever appear in the movies and she more than deserved the Oscar nomination that she received for this film. However, the entire film is brilliantly acted. Laurence Harvey is both sympathetic and off-putting as Raymond while Frank Sinatra (who previously appeared in another entry of the 44 Days of Paranoia, Suddenly) brings a wonderful blue-collar humanity to the role of Marco. Janet Leigh has a small role as Marco’s lover and the scene where they first meet on a train and have a charmingly nonsensical conversation is wonderfully odd and romantic. Finally, James Gregory gives a hilarious performance as the type of stupid but bombastic politician who will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched C-Span.
If you’ve never seen the original Manchurian Candidate, drop everything you’re doing and go watch it now.
Other Entries In The 44 Days of Paranoia
- Clonus
- Executive Action
- Winter Kills
- Interview With The Assassin
- The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
- JFK
- Beyond The Doors
- Three Days of the Condor
- They Saved Hitler’s Brain
- The Intruder
- Police, Adjective
- Burn After Reading
- Quiz Show
- Flying Blind
- God Told Me To
- Wag the Dog
- Cheaters
- Scream and Scream Again
- Capricorn One
- Seven Days In May
- Broken City
- Suddenly
- Pickup on South Street
- The Informer
- Chinatown
- Compliance
- The Lives of Others
- The Departed
- A Face In The Crowd
- Nixon
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- The Purge
- The Stepford Wives
- Saboteur
- A Dark Truth
- The Fugitive
- The Day of Jackal
- Z
- The Fury
Trailer: The Walking Dead Season 4 “Don’t Look Back”
“I see a bad moon rising.”
It’s just less than a month away until the second half of The Walking Dead season 4 begins.
This fourth season of AMC’s massively popular survival-horror series has had a sort of resurgent year. New showrunner Scott M. Gimple has done a good job in fixing some of the issues that popped up during previous showrunner Gen Mazzara’s tenure during the final stretch of season 3. While Gimple has done a good job the show still has some issues when it comes to stand-alone episodes as we saw with the two-parter that reintroduced the Governor.
The ultimate payoff of that two-parter led to the ending that should’ve been the season finale of season 3. The showdown and final attack on the prison was as exciting as how Kirkman wrote it for the comics. There were even scenes that seemed to have been lifted from the pages. With Rick and those who survived the prison assault now thrown to all points of the compass it brings up some interesting prospects of seeing the group trying to survive on the road not as a coherent veteran team, but in piecemeal.
With the Governor and most of his people dead the show will now have room to introduce some new characters. These characters should be familiar to fans of the comics and it will be interesting how Gimple and his stable of writers will be able to translate them from pages to the small screen.
The Walking Dead returns on AMC on February 9, 2014.
Through the Shattered Lens 