That’s it! That’s a wrap!
We hope everyone has enjoyed Oscar Sunday!
Now that the Oscars are over with, it’s time to start a new year in entertainment! Thank you everyone for reading us over the course of 2019 and the first two months of 2020!
Now, let’s make 2020 the best year ever as we continue to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the Shattered Lens!
Love you!
Parasite made history and Bong Joon-ho proved himself to be one of the most charming people alive. That was the best thing about Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony.
Yes, Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger did ramble on a bit in their acceptance speeches but ….. I can’t complain. They’re both so sincere in their spaciness that you can’t help but be a little bit charmed by them. Plus, Renee’s a Texas Girl so I’ve got her back.
The show itself was incredibly dull. It was nice to see so many deserving winners but, beyond Parasite making history at the very end, there really weren’t any huge moments. There were no major fashion disasters. The speeches were all pretty much gracious. It was the way an awards ceremony should be but let’s be honest. One reason we watch award shows is so to see rich and famous people screw up. When that doesn’t happen, it just turns into a bunch of people patting themselves on the back.
Best Documentary Feature went to American Factory. The best documentary of the year was Apollo 11, which wasn’t even nominated. The documentary’s director called on the workers of the world to unite and it felt as vacuous as 70s-era Godard.
Brad Pitt finally won an Oscar for acting. (He already has one for producing.) My hope was that he would drop to one knee, produce a ring, and ask Jennifer Aniston to marry him again. Instead, he gave kind of a boring speech. Those of us who were hoping that stoner Brad Pitt would show up tonight were a bit disappointed. Brad shaved and washed his hair before the ceremony and was basically on his best behavior.
This was the 2nd year in a row that show didn’t have a host and …. eh. I enjoyed it when they went hostless last year but this year, the show felt like a formless mess. There was no one to steer the ship or to set the mood and, as a result, the ceremony felt somewhat directionless.
I get that we’re supposed to get excited whenever any former SNL cast member shows up to present an award but I always instinctively cringe whenever Will Ferrell or Maya Rudolph step out on stage. Both of them are such attention hogs that their arrival usually means that the show is going to come to a dead halt while they run a joke into the ground. This year, Ferrell wasn’t quite as bad as usual but Rudolph had me totally cringing. Speaking of stage hogs, I was actually surprised at how quickly Rebel Wilson and James Corden got through their bit. I assume they wanted to hurry up and get backstage so they could get out of their cat costumes. (Just imagine — Rebel Wilson actually had an important supporting role in one of the best picture nominees but, instead of celebrating that, the Academy made her put on her cat costume.)
Billie Eilish won the night with her reactions to …. well, everything.
As I said, this year’s ceremony was dull. Beyond Parasite winning and making history, this was probably the most boring ceremony since 2010. Interestingly enough, history was made there as well, when Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director. Why do good things always happen during boring broadcasts?
So, for next year, I hope we’ll see a return of a host, a return of tone deaf fashion choices, and hopefully a few undeserving winners, at least enough to liven up the ceremony a little.
For now, though, congratulations to the cast and crew of Parasite on winning Best Picture and making history, all in the same night! Woo hoo!
This was a long but rewarding week. Between all the weird political stuff going on and the Oscars, I think we managed to pack about a year’s worth of news cycles into just one week. But as Elizabeth Holmes once said, “Screw it, let’s test some blood.”
Here’s what I did this week:
Films I Watched:
Television Shows I Watched:
Books I Read:
Music To Which I Listened:
Award Season Links:
News From Last Week:
Links From Last Week:
Links From The Site:
More From Us:
Best Picture — Parasite
Best Director — Bong Joon-ho for Parasite
Best Actor — Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Best Actress — Renee Zellweger, Judy
Best Supporting Actor — Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Supporting Actress — Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Best Original Screenplay — Parasite
Best Adapted Screenplay — JoJo Rabbit
Best Animated Feature Film — Toy Story 4
Best International Feature Film — Parasite
Best Documentary Feature Film — American Factory
Best Documentary Short Subject — Leaning to Skate In A Warzone (If You’re A Girl)
Best Live Action Short Subject — The Neighbors’ Widow
Best Animated Short Film — Hair Love
Best Original Score — Joker
Best Original Song — Rocketman
Best Sound Editing — Ford v Ferrari
Best Sound Mixing — 1917
Best Production Design — Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Cinematography — 1917
Best Makeup and Hairstyling — Bombshell
Best Costume Design — Little Women
Best Editing — Ford v Ferrari
Best Visual Effects — 1917
So, this is weird.
This trailer just dropped today and I watched it and I thought the movie looked like it might be fun. It’s called A Rough Draft and it’s about a video game designer who gets sucked into some sort of multi-dimensional portal or something like that. I mean, the plot sound stupid but the trailer looked like it could be entertaining. If nothing else, it looked like it might be the Asylum version of Ready Player One and y’all know how much I love The Asylum.
But then I did some research and I discovered that this movie was released in Russia in 2018 and apparently, the Russian critics hated it and it was a total bust at the box office. A Rough Draft is based on a popular Russian novel so it was a widely anticipated release but the general consensus was that it didn’t live up to what people were hoping for.
I mean, that happens, right? The trailer still looks like fun.
Then I discovered that the film is now available to stream on Prime. Apparently, it just dropped like two days ago, with absolutely no fanfare. So, I guess I’ll watch it next and discover whether or not it’s actually any good.
Until then, here’s the trailer:
Welcome to horrorth….Wait a minute, it’s not October….it’s …February? Yes. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is like a failed marriage, aging football player, or your dad posting a video on YouTube; it should’ve stopped awhile ago. Kiernan Shipka is a great actress, but it’s like she’s been shackled to the Detroit Tigers. It doesn’t help that the director Rob Seidenglanz could make the Titanic sinking feel like watching C-Span.
The entire episode from the Party City inspired costumes to the bad middle school sets to the pedestrian camera angles….it was just awful. Although I do like seeing a Lead Character as a self-centered incompetent, it’s refreshing and accurate for life. Am I going to watch and review this season? Of course I will, but I will be sharing the pain with Lisa who will review episodes 3-6. We may even do another Livetweet … Fingers Crossed!
We left off last season with Nick trapping the devil inside his brain and got carried off to Hell to save humanity. Well, I guess to heck with all that heroism because Sabrina misses her boyfriend and she REALLY doesn’t care about anything or anyone else.
First, going to take Nick out of Hell, puts everyone at risk who is strong-armed into going with her on this unnecessary adventure. Second, if they get Nick back and he dies, Lucifer is unleashed upon our world. Third, I don’t need a third; this is dumb.
Sabrina decides that she wants to go to Hell and get Nick out. Fine. She of course does the reasonable thing and just takes herself into Hell and doesn’t risk her friends lives. No, she risks everyone: Harvey, Theo, and Rosalind. Side Note: Rosalind was blind for a while, but can see now…that’s weird. Sabrina pushes her friends around and then they agree to go to Hell with her. One note, the second Sabrina isn’t around all of her friends they start singing and start a band. They need to read some self-help books about toxic friends.
The group goes into hell and it really looks like a British Columbia beach. They run into Theo’s uncle who’s being tortured in Hell. Of course, Sabrina insists that they stop and help Theo’s uncle. NO, Sabrina’s an Owner of Lonely Heart and she’s gotta get Nick back or there’s gonna be trouble hey na hey na. During the journey, we see that Lilith is ruling Hell in a Party City outfit and 10 dollar crown. For some reason, Lilith is angry at Sabrina and it’s not clear why. There’s also this boring intrigue competition for the throne of hell and can you blame them?! It’s British Columbia beach front!!!!
Sabrina confronts Lilith… because I just don’t know why. Sigh. Sabrina ascends to the Hell Throne – I’m assuming that’s what it’s called. However, Sabrina is just going to run Hell part-time like an Uber side-hustle because she’s got debate team, mathletes, and 4H; so, this is the LAST extra-curricular. Period. Lilith will advise Sabrina in her part-time Hell-gig. This is the best of the worst: Sabrina gets Nick out of hell and them…. puts him in a … dungeon. Yep, after all that, she puts him in a dungeon. Fine. There’s a lot of exposition that there’s some “Old Ones” coming to town and I keep thinking it’s going to be Wilford Brimley. Maybe, Sabrina will come down with Dia-beetus? 
While we think about what won at the Oscars, we can also think about some of the movies that will be coming up over the next couple of months!
For instance, let’s consider the upcoming film, Resistance. Resistance is being distributed by IFC films and it stars two past Oscar nominees, Jesse Eisenberg and Ed Harris. The film deals with how, as a young man, the French mime Marcel Marceau was a member of the French Resistance. Eisenberg plays Marceau while Ed Harris will play American General George Patton. It’s an inspiring story and it has all the elements for a good and powerful film.
Resistance will be released on March 27th. Here’s the trailer:
<– Birds of Prey (Dir by Cathy Yan) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina S3 E1–>
Once upon a time, there was this comic book company called DC. DC was fortunate enough to be owned by Warner Bros. back in 1968. I’ve always thought of this as a good thing, despite not being the best of fans. It meant that any tv show or movie would have the full backing of Warner Bros., and DC would never need to shop around for production and/or distribution rights for their work. So, when Superman finally happened in 1978, it was a watershed moment in the history of Comic Book films. It would take more than a decade for the WB to finally make a film about a second DC Hero with Tim Burton’s Batman.
But over the last 30 years, we’ve had:
That’s not counting films like Steel, but generally, outside of 2011’s Green Lantern, the support for DC’s character base outside of what they needed for Justice League really wasn’t strong, in my opinion. So getting a movie that stands outside of the usual top tier is worth trying, even if it stutter steps the way Suicide Squad did.
So, Birds of Prey, fully known as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn) isn’t perfect, but I enjoyed it and give me a bit of hope for what comes next from DC/WB. The film focuses on Harleen Quinzel (Margot Robbie, reprising her role from Suicide Squad), who suffers a bad break up from The Joker. To cope, she gets herself a new place and a new pet hyena (a good throwback to the Paul Dini / Bruce Timm Batman: The Animated Series version of the character). When she runs into mobster Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor, Doctor Sleep), he gives her a mission to recover a precious diamond from Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Bosco), a young pickpocket. Also thrown into the hunt for the diamond is Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell, True Blood), who works for Sionis. Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez, Do the Right Thing) is looking to take down Sionis and The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Death Proof), who has her own reasons.
The performances are nice, and it seems like everyone enjoyed themselves. No one really phones in their roles – both McGregor and Robbie excel with their parts, and there’s nothing really wrong with anyone’s work here. I haven’t much to say on that.
The story for Birds of Prey, written by Bumblebee‘s Christina Hodson, is a bit unsteady at first. It makes sense, given Harley’s madness, and makes for some fun exposition in the same way Suicide Squad did. Of particular note are the fight scenes, which feels a lot like what you’d find in John Wick. Birds of Prey has its own particular style. My only real problem with the film was the change over in Cassandra Cain’s character from the comic, who is pretty dangerous. Bosco’s Cain isn’t really written that way, but her pickpocket abilities does make up for it, somewhat. It’s not a terrible thing, but if you’re expecting the Batgirl you’ve read about, it’s not happening. Additionally, Moviegoers expecting to see either Jared Leto or Ben Affleck will probably be a little disappointed. Birds of Prey works with the inclusion of the two DC majors, but I enjoyed that.
Overall, Birds of Prey is a fun popcorn flick that may not be as strong as Shazam!, but offers quite a bit in the way of humor and action. I’m happy that DC’s taking these chances, and hope they continue to do so going forward.
At least it’s not another Batman film.
New Jersey Drive takes place in Newark, New Jersey or, as it was known in the 90s, “the car theft capital of the world.”
Jason Petty (Sharron Corley) and Midget (Gabriel Casseus) are teenagers in Newark. Neither one of them is dumb but, as young African-American males living in the inner city, neither one feels that they have much to look forward to in the future. They can’t even walk down the street, without getting hassled by the police. So, they live for the present and that means stealing cars. At first, stealing cars is just something that they do for fun. It’s the challenge that attracts them. However, one night, a cop’s car gets stolen. That cop is a corrupt racist named Roscoe (Saul Stein) and he is soon going out of his way to make Jason and Midget’s life miserable.
New Jersey Drive may sound like an early version of one of the Fast and Furious films (the first F&F came out six years after New Jersey Drive) but, at heart, New Jersey Drive is less about stealing cars and more about a generation of young men who, because they have nothing to look forward to in the future, have no problem taking dangerous and sometimes stupid risks in the present. While Midget is the one who truly loves cars and Jason is the one who is mostly just along for the ride, both characters seem to be aware that it’s only a matter of time before they either get caught or get killed for stealing the wrong car. Today, we would say that Midget and Jason have no respect for authority but can you blame them when the only authority figures that they ever see are racists like Roscoe? The police in New Jersey Drive come across like an invading army, a sea of white faces driving up and down black neighborhoods and searching for people to arrest. For all the cars that Jason and Midget steal, they’re just as likely to get in trouble just for walking down the street.
Sometimes, New Jersey Drive is predictable. In the years immediately following the release of Boyz ‘N the Hood, there were a lot of films about young men growing up in poverty-stricken neighborhoods and having to deal with a combination of racist cops and dangerous gangs. New Jersey Drive‘s story hits a lot of the expected beats but there were also some scenes that took me by surprise. When one of the two main car thieve is arrested and incarcerated, the film went off in a different direction than what I was expecting. At first, Jason and Midget seem like stereotypes. Midget is the wild and crazy friend while Jason is the smart one who is always hanging out with the “wrong crowd.” By the end of the film, though, both Midget and Jason have shown some unexpected complexity and they both feel like real people instead of just plot devices in a movie.
Nick Gomez, who has done a lot of television work since the release of this film, does a good job directing New Jersey Drive. The film captures the high that Jason and Midget feel when they successfully steal a car and Gomez also does a good job of capturing the feeling of the world closing in on the two of them as the story unfolds. New Jersey Drive is an underrated piece of work that still has the power to inspire audiences to stay the Hell out of New Jersey.
The world’s favorite atomic turtle is back!
1970’s Gamera vs. Monster X (a.k.a. Gamera vs Jiger) once against finds humanity doing something stupid and nearly getting destroyed as a result. This time, the trouble stats when a large statue is removed from an island and transported to Japan, where it will be the centerpiece of a gigantic expo. Gamera, who is a giant turtle that can fly and breathe fire, tries to stop the humans from doing this but, of course, they ignore him.
(Seriously, this was the 6th movie featuring Gamera. You would think that, by now, humanity would have learned to listen to the turtle’s concerns.)
Moving the statue awakens a dinosaur named either Jiger or Monster X, depending on which version of the film you’re watching. Jiger is pissed off about the statue being moved so it sets out to destroy humanity. Gamera tries to stop Jiger but Jiger stabs a quill into his chest and …, oh no! Is Gamera dead!?
No, don’t worry. Gamera may be incapacitated by he lives still. It’s just that he’s got something inside of him now and …. well, basically, Jiger inserted an egg inside of Gamera. And now, for some reason, a bunch of little children are going to have to navigate a minisub through Gamera’s blood stream so that they can get rid of the egg and the mini-Jiger waiting with within…..
What?
Yes, I know it doesn’t make any sense but it’s a Gamera movie! What you do expect? I mean, this is a movie about a world where, because Godzilla doesn’t exist, it falls to a gigantic, radioactive turtle to serve as the world’s protector. In order to watch a movie like this, you have to be able to accept the reality of a giant turtle. Once you’ve accepted that, it’s much easier to accept the idea that the future of the world depends on not just a giant turtle but also three kids in a small submarine.
(One thing that we discover, while watching this film, is that Gamera is bigger on the inside than the outside. Seriously, at one point, the kids get out of the sub and walk around inside of Gamera. And I know that Gamera’s big but he never looked like he was that big.)
Anyway, the important thing is that Gamera must be saved so that he can defeat Jiger and the expo can go on as planned. Because I don’t believe in spoilers, I won’t tell you how it ends but I will say that you should never lose faith in a giant turtle.
I was just looking over my notes and I discovered that, since 2017, I’ve actually watched Gamera vs. Monster X on three separate occasions. Despite having seen it more than once, I still have to say that I really don’t have the slightest idea what the Hell’s going on in the majority of the film. I guess it really doesn’t matter, though. You don’t watch a Gamera movie for the plot. You watch it for a giant turtle fighting other big monsters. On that front, Gamera vs Monster X delivers. It’s enjoyably incoherent.
Tonight, if you’re looking something to watch other than the Oscars, Gamera vs. Monster X is available on YouTube.
Through the Shattered Lens 