Monthly Archives: July 2023

Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions For July

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, it’s that time of the month again!  Here are my Oscar predictions for July!

Probably the biggest development in the race is that both Barbie and Oppenheimer opened with a bang and established themselves as bona fide contenders, along with Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.  I think people were expecting that as far as Oppenheimer was concerned whereas the critical acclaim (and criticism) received by Barbie was a bit more of a surprise.  At this point, the debate over whether or not Barbie has a message can only work to the film’s advantage.  Working against it is the same thing that kept the Lego movies from showing up in the Best Animated Feature category.  For all the discussion about what Barbie means, there’s still the risk of certain members of the Academy viewing it as being an extended commercial.  Still, for now, I think both films have to be considered strong contenders.

(What about Sound of Freedom? some may be asking.  Regardless of the film’s box office success and what other qualities the film may or may nor have, there’s no way the Academy is going to consider a film about and starring an outspoken Trump supporter.)

If there’s anything that could truly upend the Oscar race, it’s how the studios are going to deal with the SAG/AFTRA strike.  For instance, there’s been speculation that some contenders — like The Color Purple — will be pushed back until the strike is settled so that their casts will be able to do publicity for them.  It’s totally possible that some of the big contenders that we’re expecting to see in November and December could instead be pushed back to 2024.  We’ll see what happens.

Below are my predictions for July.  Be sure to also check out my predictions for March and April and May and June!!

Best Picture 

Air

Barbie

The Color Purple

Dune: Part Two

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

The Zone of Interest

Best Director

Greta Gerwig for Barbie

Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer

Alexander Payne for The Holdovers

Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper in Maestro

Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon

Colman Domingo in Rustin

Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Best Actress

Greta Lee in Past Lives

Helen Mirren in Golda

Natalie Portman in May December

Margot Robbie in Barbie

Emma Stone in Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor

Willem DaFoe in Poor Things

Matt Damon in Oppenheimer

Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey, Jr. in Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling in Barbie

Best Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer

Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon

Taraji P. Henson in The Color Purple

Julianne Moore in May December

Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers

Retro Television Reviews: Hang Time 6.1 “www.eugene.trouble.com” and 6.2 “That 60s Show”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Hang Time, which ran on NBC from 1995 to 2000.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Finally!  We have reached the final season of Hang Time!  While watching this season, it’s important to remember that seasons 5 and 6 were filmed at the same time and were originally meant to be one season.  Just as they did with Saved By The Bell: The New Class, NBC decided to split the final season into two seasons and they also decided to air the episodes out of order.  In other words, I imagine that it’s going to be a lot of fun trying to find any sort of consistent continuity over the final 12 episodes of Hang Time!

With that in my mind, I’m ready to finally move on from this show so let’s get started on season 6!

Episode 6.1 “www.eugene.trouble.com”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on September 23rd, 2000)

When I talk about how showing episodes out of order can lead to continuity issues, I’m talking about an episode like this one.  Season 5 ended with the Tornadoes going to the championship tournament and losing to Muncie, despite the fact that they were favored to defeat Muncie.  In fact, the team had been named “Team of the Decade,” which seemed like a bit of overkill on the part of the press.  Obviously, the Tornadoes were a good team but it still seemed strange that they got as cocky as they did last season.

If all of the episode had been aired in the order in which they were meant to have been aired, the viewers would have understood that the Tornadoes were not only favored to win the tournament but that, until their loss to Muncie, they had been undefeated for the entire season.  That would have explained why they were such heavy favorites, why they got so cocky, and why their loss truly was such an upset.  Instead, the majority of the “undefeated season” episodes were moved to season 6.  So now, the undefeated season happened the year after their loss to Muncie, when the players themselves were in their sixth year of high school.  And, because the episode were aired out-of-order, the first episode of the sixth season features the Tornadoes already deep into their undefeated season and on the verge of making the playoffs.

In this episode, the undefeated season is briefly threatened by Eugene’s gambling problem.  When Eugene loses a lot of money playing video poker, he makes the mistake of putting $500 on the Pacers game.  When he loses that bet, evil bookie Bill (Kevin Sage) demands that Eugene throw his next game.  Instead, Eugene puts his team first, wins the game (and yes, the Tornadoes win by one point), and then nearly gets killed in the hallway by Bill.  Fortunately, Coach K comes running around a corner and tosses Bill against some lockers.  I’m convinced the look of fear on Bill’s face was real because Dick Butkus may have been a retired football player but it was obvious that he could still break some bones if he wanted to.  Eugene learns an important lesson and Coach K declines to kick Eugene off the team, despite the fact that Eugene violated the contract that he signed the previous season.

While this was going on, Kristy had an interview with Stanford but, after an emergency dental appointment left her unable to talk, Mary Beth took her place.  Why Kristy didn’t just reschedule the meeting, I have no idea.  It was dumb but Megan Parlen and Amber Barretto were always a good comedy team and I laughed every time Mary Beth said that Kristy had a “hump” (due to Kristy wearing an ice pack on her back) and Kristy shouted back, “It wasn’t a hump!”

This episode felt like a strange way to start the season.  Again, that’s because of the way that NBC split the final season in two.  Usually, Hang Time would start each season with the beginning of the school year.  This time, Hang Time jumped into the middle of the season, with the team already talking about making the playoffs.  It just didn’t feel right but at least Mary Beth and Kristy are finally, after six years of high school, thinking about college.

Episode 6.2 “That 60s Show”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on September 30th, 2000)

The students at Deering High are upset over the new dress code.  I don’t blame them!  Look at this:

I would refuse to wear that uniform too!

Pompous ex-Yippie teacher Mr. McHenry (Alan Young) tells them that they should protest the same way that Mr. McHenry protested at Chicago in 1968.  (So, they should get hit with tear gas and beaten up by the cops?)  The protest rally is a success.  The school board drops the uniform requirement but they also fire Mr. McHenry.  So, the students decide to protest that as well….

GET TO CLASS, YOU BRATS!

Anyway, the Deering basketball team sits down on the court and refuses to start their next game unless Mr. McHenry is reinstated, which puts their undefeated season at risk.  Seriously, though, wouldn’t they just be ordered to forfeit the game if they refused to play?

Anyway, Mr. McHenry is reinstated, even though he’s like 80 and probably would have enjoyed his retirement.

This episode annoyed me.  Let us never speak of it again.

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman and Jackie Brown!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We snark our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1987’s The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman!

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet!  We will be watching 1997’s Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Diana Uribe!  The film is on Prime!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in.  If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to Twitter and Prime, start Jackie Brown, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

Enjoy!

6 Shots From 6 Films: Special Mario Bava 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!

Today, the Shattered Lens pays tribute to the memory and the legacy of the maestro of horror himself, Mario Bava!  Bava was born 109 years ago, today.

6 Shots From 6 Mario Bava Films

Black Sunday (1960, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)

Planet of the Vampires (1965, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Antonio Rinaldi)

Kill, Baby, Kill (1966, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Antonio Rinaldi)

Bay of Blood (1971, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)

Shock (1977, dir by Mario Bava, DP: Alberto Spagnoli)

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 7/24/23 — 7/30/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Another hot week comes to an end.  I will be glad when fall gets here.  I can’t wait for October!

It’s kind of funny how we’re not hearing more about the congressional hearings on alien life.  I mean, I’m usually a proud skeptic about stuff like that and even I kind of want to know a little bit more.

Sinead O’Connor, R.I.P.  On Friday night, Jeff and I joined our friends Pat and Brad in watching two of O’Connor’s concerts that had been uploaded to YouTube.  One concert was in Dublin while the other one was in Finland.  She had an amazing voice.

Big Brother starts this upcoming week.  I’ll be writing about the show that I both love and hate on the Reality TV Chat Blog!

Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week:

Films I Watched:

  1. Children of Divorce (1927)
  2. Deranged (1974)
  3. Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
  4. Invaders From Mars (1986)
  5. The Mule (2018)
  6. Perfect Body (1997)
  7. Robowar (1988)
  8. Saint Jack (1979)
  9. Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear (1945)
  10. Stone Cold 2 (1997)
  11. Trial By Fire (1995)
  12. When Friendship Kills (1996)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. City Guys
  2. Claim to Fame
  3. Degrassi: The Next Generation
  4. Geraldo
  5. Jenny Jones
  6. The Love Boat
  7. The Master
  8. Sally Jessy Raphael
  9. Stars on Mars
  10. Steve Wilkos Show
  11. Welcome Back Kotter

Books I Read:

  1. The Madman in the White House (2023) by Patrick Weil

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Avril Lavigne 
  3. Britney Spears
  4. Cedric Gervais
  5. The Chemical Brothers
  6. The Five Stairsteps
  7. The Four Tops
  8. Garbage
  9. Leslie Carter
  10. Lisa Loeb
  11. The Main Ingredient 
  12. Michael Fredo
  13. MILCK
  14. No Doubt
  15. Poppy
  16. Saint Motel
  17. Sinead O’Connor
  18. t.A.T.u
  19. Wu-Tang Clan

Live Tweets:

  1. Stone Cold 2
  2. The Mule
  3. Earth Girls Are Easy
  4. Invaders From Mars

Trailers:

  1. The Great Escaper
  2. Golda
  3. The Exorcist: Believer
  4. The Meg 2
  5. Boy Kills World

News From Last Week:

  1. Sinead O’Connor Dies At 56
  2. Writer Bo Goldman Dies At 90
  3. Writer Julian Barry Dies At 92
  4. Box Office: ‘Haunted Mansion’ $9.9 Million Opening Day Can’t Scare ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’
  5. Emmys Vendors Have Been Officially Informed That the Telecast Is Moving Out of September
  6. RIP Randy Meisner…A Musical Appreciation Of This Eagles Founding Member…

Links From Last Week:

  1. “Dinner And A Movie” With The “Big Kahuna Burger” Recipe From “Pulp Fiction!”
  2. R.I.P. Sinead
  3. The Dance of the Hummers
  4. Tater’s Week in Review 7/28/23

Links From The Site:

  1. I reviewed When Friendship Kills, Saint Jack, Robowar, and Children of Divorce!
  2. I reviewed Hang Time, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, City Guys, The Master, and Welcome Back Kotter!
  3. I shared scenes from Slacker, The Sopranos, Bullitt, and Full Metal Jacket!
  4. I paid tribute to Christopher Nolan, Enzo G. Castellari, Gus Van Sant, and Stanley Kubrick!
  5. I shared my week in television!
  6. Erin shared The Out of this World Covers of the Pulps and invited you to celebrate Paper Back Love!  She also featured the Eyeful Covers of Peter Driben!
  7. Erin shared The Strange Way, Sorority House, The Scorpion, Into The Fire, Strange Sisters, Sin Girls, and The Lion House!
  8. Jeff shared music videos from Mungo Jerry, Frank Sinatra and Bono, KISS, Jah Wobble and Sinead O’Connor, Megadeth, The Doors, and Milli Vanilli!
  9. Leonard reviewed Barbie!

More From Us:

  1. At my music site, I shared songs from The Four Tops, The Main Ingredient, The Five Stairsteps, MILCK, Lisa Loeb, Leslie Carter, and Britney Spears!
  2. At Days Without Incident, Leonard shared Ryan Gosling’s performance of I’m Just Ken!
  3. At her photography site, Erin shared Friends, Friends 2, Flowers, Flowers 2, Flowers 3, Flowers 4, and Flowers 5!

Want to see what I watched last week?  Click here!

Retro Television Reviews: When Friendship Kills (dir by James A. Conter)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1996’s When Friendship Kills!  It  can be viewed on YouTube!

After the divorce of her parents, Lexi Archer (Katie Wright) moves to Seattle with her mother (Lynda Carter).  Lexi is having a tough time adjusting to the divorce, especially since her father (Josh Taylor) is convinced that he’s a better parent than Lexi’s mother has ever been.  Still, Lexi is hoping to make a good impression at her new high school and she gets off to an effective start by not only winning a spot on the school’s volleyball team but by also becoming friends with the most popular girl in school, Jen Harnsberger (Marley Shelton).

The wealthy Jen is a straight-A student and a star volleyball player and she appears to have a very bright future ahead of her.  Jen not only shows Lexi around the high school but she also shows Jen that one way to eat without gaining weight is to throw up after every meal.  Jen is bulimic and soon, Lexi is anorexic.  Eventually, Lexi is collapsing on the volleyball court and Jen is angrily denying that she has a problem and the whole things leads to tragedy.

Obviously, eating disorders are a serious issue and When Friendship Kills is honest about not only the pressures that lead to so many girls and women developing body image issues but it also deals with the danger of having a relapse.  Growing up attending dance classes, I met and hung out with a lot of girls who had “tricks” for keeping their weight down and I recognized all of them in the characters of Jen and Lexi.  This film hits all of the usual plot points that we’ve come to expect from 90s films about eating disorders, from the volleyball coach saying that the already thin Lexi needs to lose weight to the scenes of Lexi staring in the mirror and seeing a distorted version of herself to Lexi’s father demanding that a feeding tube be used on his daughter, regardless of what Lexi’s mother might think.

That said, many viewers will find the most interesting thing about this movie to be that it features an early performance from Ryan Reynolds.  Reynolds plays the role of Ben, a friendly jock who asks Lexi out on a date.  Reynolds doesn’t do much in the film but he does show some hints of the amiable goofiness that would later become his trademark.  If one wanted to view this film as being a part of a Deadpool origin story, they certainly could.

As well, Lochlyn Munro also appears in the film!  It’s not really a melodramatic made-for-television movie unless Lochlyn Munro has a role.  In this particular film, Munro played a sleazy photographer who approached Jen and told her that she had the perfect look to be a model and invited her back to his studio.  Of course, when Jen brought Lexi to the studio with her, the photographer rather rudely announced that Lexi didn’t have the right look to be a model.  This led to Lexi refusing to eat and becoming hollow-eyed and skeletal and Katie Wright, it must be said, did a wonderful job portraying Lexi’s transformation from being hopeful to being haunted by her own self-image.  Marley Shelton did an equally good job of portraying Jen’s more cheerful style of self-destruction.

When Friendship Kills is an effective if predictable eating disorder film.  The film originally aired under the title A Secret Between Friends, which is a far more honest title than the over-the-top When Friendship Kills.  Friendship does not kill in this movie but self-starvation does.