Monthly Archives: April 2025

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1982 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, we pay tribute to the year 1982 with….

4 Shots From 4 1982 Films

Fitzcarraldo (1982, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Thomas Mauch)

Poltergeist (1982, dir by Tobe Hooper, DP: Matthew Leonetti)

Cat People (1982, dir by Paul Schrader, DP: John Bailey)

King of Comedy (1982, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Fred Schuler)

Scenes That I Love: The Diner Scene from Thief

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Seeing as how I raved about this film and James Caan’s performance earlier this week, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene that I love should come from 1981’s Thief.  Here is the famous diner scene, featuring Caan and Tuesday Weld.  Caan later said that he considered this to be the best acting he had ever done.

 

 

Fantastic Four: First Steps (Official Trailer)

Posted on by Arleigh

Since Iron Man first hit theaters in the summer of 2008, especially with the post-credits scene of Nick Fury asking Tony Stark if he knew anything about the Avengers Initiative, comic book fans have always been hoping that all the Marvel Comics properties would soon interact with each other. X-Men and Fantastic Four characters were controlled by 20th Century Fox.

This began to change in 2011 with the massive hack of Sony servers which gave the public behind-the-scenes info on Sony execs worried about the Spider-Man film franchise and how it was lagging behind Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe under the control of uber-producer Kevin Feige. In just a few years after this hack rumors of Spider-Man being loaned out to become part of the MCU became fact.

The next major shift in fans wanting all of Marvel properties becoming part of the MCU was Disney’s purchase and merger with 20th Century Fox in 2017 and completed in 2019. With just a few small restrictions here and there (Universal still hold the rights to the Incredible Hulk character but allowed Disney to the character), the MCU was now pretty much complete.

The first thing fans wanted was a new take on Marvel Comics’ first family: The Fantastic Four.

There’s been several attempts to put the Fantastic Four on the big-screen. From the 1994 unreleased Roger Corman low-budget film to the three films when 20th Century Fox was still a separate studio, fans never really bought into those iterations. But now that the first family was back under Marvel Studios control, especially with Kevin Feige as producer, fans were once again hopeful.

The first official trailer is now out and it looks like it will lean heavily on the Fantastic Four’s 1960’s origins right down to the retro-futuristic design and theme. How the film will explain where the team has been during the MCU timeline will be a narrative that a team of screenwriters and director Matt Shankman will have to navigate.

Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.

FREEDOM!!! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’m passionate about movies, but my day job consists of providing high quality tax planning and preparation services for a wide variety of clients in the Central Arkansas area. After a couple of months of 70-90 hour work weeks, April 16th is the day that I can begin to focus a little less on work and a little more on the things I truly love. I can’t wait to continue to share my passion for movies, music, Charles Bronson, Chow Yun-Fat, and so many other things with all of you. I need a few days to get some rest and get my mind straight, but I’ll soon be back to sharing my opinions and my life! Thanks to all of you who read my work! ❤️

Somewhere In Sonora (1933, directed by Mack V. Wright)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

After stagecoach rodeo racer John Bishop is framed for causing a competitor to have an accident, he’s hauled off to jail.  Fortunately, Bishop’s boss, Bob Leadly (Henry B. Walthall), comes through for Bishop and helps him escape from the jail.  To thank Bob, Bishop heads down to Mexico to search for Bob’s son, Bart (Paul Fix).  The last that Bob heard, Bart was running with an outlaw gang called “The Brotherhood of Death.”  The only way get out of the Brotherhood of Death is to die.

By an amazing coincidence both Bart and Bishop’s girlfriend, Mary (Shirley Palmer), are in the Mexican town of Sonora.  To try to get Bart to return home, Bishop goes undercover and infiltrates the gang.  Once inside, Bishop discovers that gang leader Monte Black (J.P. McGowan) is planning on robbing the silver mine that belongs to Mary’s father.

This is a John Wayne B-western, typical of the poverty row productions that he was making before John Ford cast him as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach and made him into a star.  This one features the usual horse chases and bar fights and John Wayne gives a solid-enough performance in the lead role.  The most interesting thing about it is that, even though it’s a western, it’s set in modern times.  I guess frontier days lasted longer in some parts of the county than in others.

John Wayne’s horse, Duke, appears in this picture and shows again that he was the most talented of all the horse actors in the 30s.  He earned his co-starring credit.