The last time I wrote about the current season on this site, I was feeling mighty cocky because the Rangers were in first place and all the other teams in the AL West were struggling. I was excited and, no matter how many times I said that I knew anything could happen, I really was envisioning that World Series victory in my head.
Now, much later into the season, the Rangers have fallen to third. We are just a few games behind The Mariners and the Astros and anything could happen but it’s still not where I want us to be right now. I’m not even trying to think about the fact that, if they hit a hot streak, the Angels could even catch up to us.
I’m trying to stay positive, though! Here’s every Rangers homerun from August!
Future Science Fiction was a magazine that started in 1939 and was initially published until 1943. The World War II paper shortage brought the magazine to a temporary end but, in 1950, the magazine was relaunched and ran for another ten years. Future featured stories about aliens, different worlds, and future wars. Writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, and Philip K. Dick appeared in the magazine. Today, though, the magazine is best remembered for covers that brought a distinct pulp sensibility to the science fiction genre.
Here are just a few of the covers of Future Science Fiction.
In honor of Werner Herzog’s birthday, today’s scene that I love comes from one of his best films. 1972’s Aguirre, The Wrath of God not only established Herzog as a major filmmaker but it also showed that he was the director who could get the best out of the notoriously difficult Klaus Kinski.
In this scene, Kinski plays the mad conquistador, Aguirre. Lost with his men in the Amazon, Aguirre establishes control over the dwindling expedition.
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 wishes a happy birthday to one our favorite directors, the great Werner Herzog! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Werner Herzog Films
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein)
Stroszek (1977, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Thomas Mauch)
Woyzeck (1979, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Jorg Schmidt-Reitwein)
Fitzcarraldo (1982, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Thomas Mauch)
Sometimes, you see a film that is just so weird and incoherent that you can’t help but love it.
Of course, it also helps if the film has a once-in-a-lifetime cast of actors who you would never expect to see acting opposite each other.
For me, that’s certainly the case with 1990’s Backtrack. Directed by Dennis Hopper, Backtrack is a film about an artist (Jodie Foster, channeling Jenny Holzer) who witnesses a mob murder committed by Joe Pesci, Dean Stockwell, Tony Sirico, and John Turturro. An FBI agent played by Fred Ward suggests that the artist should go into the witness protection program but she doesn’t want to give up her life as a New York sophisticate who creates challenging LED displays and who can eat Sno Balls whenever she gets the craving for one. (Yes, this is a plot point.) Turturro and Sirico break into the artist’s apartment and kill her boyfriend, who is played by a wide-eyed Charlie Sheen. The artist puts on a blonde wig and goes on the run, eventually getting a job in advertising.
Realizing that his men can’t get the job done, mob boss Vincent Price decides to hire a legendary hitman played by Dennis Hopper (who also directed this film) to track down the artist. However, the hitman becomes fascinating with the artist’s work, finds pictures of her posing in black lingerie, and immediately falls in love with her. Not only does he wants to save her life but he wants her to wear the same lingerie exclusively for him. (Yes, this is a pretty big plot point.) At first, the artist refuses and views the hitman as being some sort of pathetic perv. But then she discovers that he’s covered her bed with Sno Balls….
Meanwhile, a young Catherine Keener shows up as the girlfriend of a trucker who briefly considers giving the artist a ride to Canada.
And then Bob Dylan shows up, handling a chainsaw.
And there’s Helena Kallianiotes, the outspoken hitch-hiker from Five Easy Pieces, yelling at Joe Pesci!
And there’s Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie co-star, Julie Adams! And there’s Toni Basil! And there’s director Alex Cox!
Dennis Hopper not only starred in Backtrack but he also directed and it’s obvious that he placed a call into just about everyone he knew. In fact, one could argue that the only thing more shocking than Vincent Price showing up as a mob boss is that Peter Fonda, Karen Black, Elliott Gould, Robert Walker Jr., and Kris Kristofferson are nowhere to be found in the film. Hopper’s first cut of Backtrack was reportedly 3 hours long but the studio cut it down to 90 minutes, renamed it Catchfire, and Hopper insisted on being credited as Alan Smithee. Later, Hopper released a two-hour version with the Backtrack title and his directorial credit restored.
Regardless of which version you see, Backtrack is an odd film. It’s hardly the first film to be made about a hit man falling for his target. What distinguishes this film is just how bizarre a performance Dennis Hopper gives in the role of the hitman. It’s as if Hopper gave into every method instinct that he had and the end result was a mix of Blue Velvet‘s Frank Booth and the crazed photojournalist from ApocalypseNow. Jodie Foster’s cool intelligence makes her the ideal choice for a conceptual artist but it also makes it hard to believe that she would fall for a jittery hitman and, in her romantic scenes with Hopper, Foster often seems to be struggling to resist the temptation to roll her eyes. Somehow, their total lack of romantic chemistry becomes rather fascinating to work. They are two talented performers but each appears to be acting in a different movie. What’s interesting is that I think a movie just about Hopper’s spacey hitman would be interesting (and, if you’ve ever seen The American Friend, it’s hard not to feel that such a movie already exists) but I think a movie about just about Foster’s artist and her life in New York would be just as fascinating. Taken as individuals, the artist and the hitman are both compelling characters. Taken as a couple, they don’t belong anywhere near each other.
But let’s be honest. This is a film that most people will watch for the parade of character actors delivering quirky dialogue. Even if one takes Hopper and Foster out of this mix, this is an amazingly talented cast. One need only consider that John Turturro did Do The Right Thing before appearing in this film while Joe Pesci and Tony Sirico did Goodfellas immediately afterwards. This film features a once-in-a-lifetime cast, made up of actors who were apparently told to do whatever they felt like doing. Turturro plays up the comedy. Sirico plays his role with cool menace. Stockwell barely speaks above a whisper. Fred Ward plays the one sane man in a world of lunatics. Vincent Price delivers his line as if he’s appearing in one of Roger Corman’s Poe films and somehow, it makes sense that, in the world of Backfire, an Italian gangster would have a snarky, mid-Atlantic accent.
It’s an odd little film, an example of 80s filmmaking with a 70s sensibility. While it’s not touched with the lunatic genius that distinguished Hopper’s The Last Movie, Backtrack is still something that should be experienced at least once.
Here’s the trailer for Creepy Crawly, a horror film about a group of people who are quarantined in a hotel. Along with films like Dascham, this film is a part of the Lockdown horror genre and, as such, it’s a bigger clue to how people currently feel about the world and the past few years than any poll or scientific study.
Here’s the trailer for Dangerous Waters, a film about a sailing trip that appears to go terribly wrong. To be honest, everything about the trailer screams “direct-to-streaming” and I have a feeling that’s how most people will end up seeing the film. That said, this film also features the final film performance of the great Ray Liotta. Unfortunately, it appears from the trailer that, much like Cocaine Bear, this is another film the features Ray as a somewhat generic villain. It’s a shame because Ray Liotta was capable of so much more.
December 1st. Mark that date on your calendars because the real Godzilla — as opposed to the one who has recently been appearing in American-made studio blockbusters — will be returning to theaters!
Through the Shattered Lens 