Daily Archives: August 1, 2022

Scenes That I Love: The Underground Chase From Skyfall

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Sam Mendes!

Now, it’s true that Sam Mendes won an Oscar for directing American Beauty and he probably came close to winning a second one for his work on 1917.  However, my favorite Mendes film remains Skyfall.  Skyfall is one of the best of the Bond films and I say this as someone who was not really a fan of Daniel Craig’s mopey interpretation of the character.  Based on his previous films, Sam Mendes may not have been the first name that come to mind when people talked about someone who could make a great Bond film but, with Skyfall, he did just that.

Here, in a scene that I love, James Bond pursues Silva (Javier Bardem) through the London Underground.  It’s very suspenseful, very droll, and, most importantly, very British.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special J. Lee Thompson Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

108 years ago today, the director J. Lee Thompson was born in Bristol, England.  Thompson started his career making social realist films before he moved into making genre pictures.  He was nominated for Best Director for his work on 1961’s The Guns of Navarone.  That said, during his lifetime, Thompson was never exactly a critical favorite.  When they were first released, critics were dismissive of his entries in the original Planet of the Apes franchise and they were downright hostile to his work with Charles Bronson.  However, all of those films were better appreciated by audiences and they remain cult classics to this day.  Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, with its themes of protest and revolution, has especially been the subject of much recent critical reevaluation.  Thompson may have been a genre director but that didn’t mean that his film were devoid of subtext.  If anything, Thompson was a master of sneaking subversive themes into the least likely of works.

Thompson was a filmmaker who knew how to tell a story and who always did the best with whatever he had to work with.  To be honest, many aspiring and working directors could learn a lot from spending a weekend watching some of Thompson’s films.

In honor of the man and his legacy, here are….

4 Shots From 4 J. Lee Thompson Films

Cape Fear (1962, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Sam Leavitt)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Bruce Surtees)

Happy Birthday To Me (1981, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Miklos Lente)

10 To Midnight (1983, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Adam Greenberg)

Every Generation Gets The Spider-Man It Deserves

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

August 1st is Spider-Man Day.  Despite this being the day that observes Spider-Man’s first appearance in the 15th issue of Marvel’s Amazing Fantasy, the trash is still being collected and the mail is still being delivered.  Spider-Man Day is a holiday when no one gets any time off.  I’m sure that the web slinger himself would appreciate the irony.

The appeal of Spider-Man has always been that he’s the hero who never feels that he’s done enough.  He’s also the hero who is almost always unappreciated by the rest of the world.  He’s the hero who often resents having to do his job but who still feels a responsibility to try to make the world a better place.  Spider-Man is the superhero that almost everyone can relate to.

As far as television and movies go, every generation has gotten the Spider-Man that they deserved.

The boomers got Nicholas Hammond’s Spider-Man.  Hammond played Spider-Man for two seasons in the 70s.  He was a little boring but, from what I’ve seen, his show has a reputation for being worse than it was.  Like the best of the boomers, Hammond’s Spider-Man could be stuffy but he got the job done.

Generation X got Tobey Maguire, who played Spider-Man in three films that Sam Raimi directed in the aughts.  Like Generation X, Maguire’s Spider-Man was quiet but clever.  Despite his quick wit, he was frequently neurotic and more than a little introverted but he always came through in the end.

Then, Andrew Garfield played the millennial version of Spider-Man.  Angsty and awkward, Garfield’s Spider-Man was aware that society would never fully accept him, both as Peter and as Spider-Man.  At times, it seemed like his every attempt at making things better somehow only made them worse.

And finally, the Zoomers have got Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, an earnest idealist who struggles with the fact that the world is more complicated than it seems.  You can criticize him for being naïve but never doubt the sincerity of his beliefs.

All of the actors who played Spider-Man have done a good job and they all deserve praise.  My favorite is Tobey Maguire but that’s largely because, having been born in ’82, I’m on the dividing line between Generation X and Millennial and I’ve always leaned more towards the Generation X side of things.  Plus, I can relate to this:

Maguire, Garfield, and Holland all came together to appear in the previous Spider-Man film, which I thought was a nice touch.  I just wish Nicholas Hammond had been invited to join them.

Nicholas Hammond, as Peter Parker

Nicholas Hammond, Today

Having an older, perhaps retired Spider-Man joining forces with the Maguire, Garfield, and Holland versions of the character would have provided an extra-dimension to the movie, much as used to happen on Doctor Who whenever any of the previous incarnations of the Time Lord would meet the newest version.

Regardless of who plays him or whether he’s Peter Parker or Miles Morales, Spider-Man remains the hero to whom we can all relate.  Spider-Man is all of us.

Happy Spider-Man Day to all!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To In August

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi there!  Welcome to the wonderful month of August!

August is traditionally one of my favorite months.  August is when I plan out my final vacations of the year.  Usually, at some point in August, I spend a few days up at the lake.  August is hot but it’s usually not as hot as July and, perhaps most importantly, each passing day in August is another day closer to the holiday season!  I imagine that I will be spending the majority of August getting ready for the holidays and especially for TSL’s annual Horrorthon!  In order to try to give our readers the most reviews ever, I’ve started writing and scheduling my Horrorthon posts in July.  I can’t wait for you to see them in October!

Here are a few things that I’m looking forward to in August:

1. A Thousand Years of Longing — Idris Elba!  Tilda Swinton!  George Miller, making his first film since Mad Max: Fury Road!  Critical reviews that have run the gamut from hostile to reverent!  How couldn’t I be looking forward to this?

2.  Prey — It’s a new Predator film!  For some reason, though, it’s called Prey.  I guess the idea is that we’ll care more about the people being hunted than we’ll care about the creature hunting them.  That really doesn’t sound like the Predator fans I know.  Just about everyone that I know is Team Predator.  Well, anyway, we’ll see how this one goes.

3. Spin Me Round — This film is due to be released on August 19th.  It really hasn’t gotten much promotion but it’s directed by Jeff Baena and it stars Alison Brie and I really liked Horse Girl so I’m looking forward to seeing what their next collaboration will be like.  Plus, my girl crush Aubrey Plaza is in it!

4. The Tenebrae Blu-ray Restoration — Synapse is celebrating the 40th anniversary of one of Dario Argento’s greatest films with three-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray 6,000 piece Limited Edition boxed set!  Invest in physical media, especially when it comes to the work of an artist like Argento because you just know that the latest group of moral scolds are going to come for him eventually.

5. The Better Call Saul Finale — Be careful, Jimmy/Saul/Gene!  Seriously, I’m so nervous about how it’s all going to end.

6. Watching Lots and Lots of Horror Movies — October’s coming up, you know!  It’s never too early to start getting ready!

7. Writing About Lots and Lots of Horror Movies — Again, it’s never too soon to start!  In my perfect world, I would write all of my reviews for October, November, and December in August and September and then I would spend the last three months of the year on an island somewhere.  But, that may not be a realistic goal.  Still, I can’t wait to share this year’s Horrorthon with all of you!

8. I Am Groot — I Am Groot is set to premiere on Disney+ on August 10th.  Oh, c’mon, Groot’s adorable!

What are you looking forward to in August?

Music Video of the Day: It’s On Again by Alicia Keys, featuring Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer (2014, directed by Rich Lee)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  It’s not my favorite Spider-Man movie, though that’s not the fault of Andrew Garfield or Emma Stone.  As a movie, it was clearly trying too hard to match the MCU without actually being a part of the MCU.  (Later, we found out that both the Garfield and the Maguire Spider-Men were a part of the Multiverse but, when they were first released, both sets of Spider-Man films were trapped in limbo.)  The script turned Electro into just another boring villain and Gwen Stacy was no Mary Jane Watson.

I can’t deny, though, that the soundtrack was awesome.  Alice Keys and Kendrick Lamar performed It’s On Again for the film and the music video, along with being a throwback to the type of music videos that used to regularly be made to promote the movies, also hints at what we were all hoping The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would actually be.

The video was directed by Rich Lee, who has also done videos for Eminem, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, The Black Eyed Peas, Norah Jones, Slash Michael Bublé, The Pussycat Dolls, and The All-American Rejects.

Enjoy!