Daily Archives: July 3, 2025

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.3 “Fight For Your Life”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, it’s a boxing episode.

Episode 4.3 “Fight For Your Life”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on September 30th, 1987)

I’m just going to say it.  This episode is pretty bad.

The plot is simple enough.  Jonathan and Mark are working as cornermen for boxer Morty “Sailor” Zadan (Michael Shaner).  Morty coulda been a contendah, but instead his brother Jerry (Robert Miranda) always arranges for Morty to throw his fights.  When Morty meets and trains a young fighter named Billy Ryan (Nick Garfield), he also starts an unlikely romance with Billy’s sister, Julia (Jennifer Parsons).  The mob demands that Morty to fight Billy.  They offer Billy money to throw the fight and Morty has to decide if he wants Billy to follow his example and become a bum.

As I said, it’s a simple plot but the execution is just terrible.  Even by the admittedly generous standards of Highway to Heaven, the story and the dialogue is often corny and the performances are pretty much uniformly bad.  At no point did I buy the romance between Morty and Julia.  For that matter, I really didn’t buy the idea that Julia would be so excited about her younger brother pursuing a career that would mean getting beaten up every few weeks.  By it’s nature, Highway to Heaven tends to be an old-fashioned show.  But this episode really did feel like one of those old Warner Bros. B-movies from the 30s.  Those movies, of course, hold up well as long as they star James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, or George Raft.  Unfortunately, none of those folks show up in this episode.  Instead, we just got Micahel Shaner portraying a boxer who seems like he’d lose a game of tic tac toe against Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

Jonathan and Mark don’t do much in this episode.  They spend most of the story as just observers.  That said, this episode does end with Jonathan beating up a bunch of gangsters, smiling because they don’t have the same powers that he has.  Keeping in mind that most gangsters probably do deserve to get beaten up, it still didn’t feel like proper angel behavior.

The Color of Money (1986, directed by Martin Scorsese)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

ÀW

If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, you probably had at least one friend whose father kept a pool table in the garage.  This movie was probably the reason why.

Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) was once The Hustler, the legendary pool player who recovered from having his fingers broken with a bowling ball and went on to defeat the legendary Minnesota Fats.  That was a long time ago.  Now, Fast Eddie is a slick liquor salesman in Chicago.  Eddie stills hangs out at the pool halls, despite his bad memories of the game.  When he sees a cocky young player named Vincent (Tom Cruise) and his girlfriend Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), he takes them under his wing and teaches them how to hustle.  It’s not always easy because Vincent doesn’t like to lose, even if it means a chance to score an even bigger victory later on.  Eddie finds himself being drawn back into the game, even as he starts to wonder who is hustling who.

I always forget that The Color of Money is a Martin Scorsese films.  It’s a film that Scorsese made at a time when he had a reputation for only being able to make art films that critics loved but audiences stayed away from.  After the box office failure of The King of Comedy and his abortive first attempt to make The Last Temptation of Christ, Scorsese took The Color of Money to prove that he could work with a studio.  This is a Disney Scorsese film, with his signature camera moves but not much of his religious torment.  Even if it’s not one of his personal films, Scorsese makes pool look exciting, a battle that is as much about psychology as physicality.  Watching The Color of Money, you can smell the chalk on the tip of the pool cue.

Scorsese brings the seedy pool halls to life but it’s Paul Newman’s performance that dominates.  The Color of Money won Newman his first and only Oscar and he deserved it.  Newman had first played Fast Eddie Felson in 1961, in The Hustler.  Returning to the role twenty-five years later allowed Newman to show what would eventually happen to the angry young men that he played in the 60s.  Eddie has grown up and he’s got a comfortable life but he’s not content.  He finally has stability but he misses the game.  He needs the thrill of the hustle.  Newman is at his best in The Color of Money, building on The Hustler but also revealing new sides of Eddie Felson.

Newman is so good that Tom Cruise often gets overlooked but both Cruise and Mastrantonio hold their own against Paul Newman.  Cruise especially does a good job as Vincent, playing him as someone who is too cocky for his own good but also not as dumb as he looks.  Just when you think you’ve got Vincent figured out, Cruise surprises you.  The Color of Money came out the same year as Top Gun and Cruise’s Vincent feels like a commentary on the talented, troubled, but cocky characters that Cruise was playing at that time.  Cruise, Scorsese, and Newman make a good team in this more-than-worthy sequel.

Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.17 “The New York Girl”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.

This week, it’s guest star time!

Episode 2.17 “The New York Girl”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on February 26th, 2000)

There are only two likable characters on Malibu CA.

One of them is Murray, played by Brandon Brooks.  Usually, I hate overly eccentric sidekicks but Brooks played the role with such sincerity that he won me over.  The other is Traycee, played by Priscilla Inga Taylor.  Traycee is likable because she’s supposed to be an airhead but, because everyone around her is so terrible, it’s hard not to appreciate her kind and nonjudgmental attitude.

As for our other characters, Scott (Trevor Merszei) is not as bad as he was during the first season but he’s still basically a shallow frat boy.  Jason (Jason Hayes) is a sociopath and, deep into the second season, Hayes still had a bad habit of looking directly at the camera before delivering his lines.  Peter (Ed Blatchford) was likable but it’s hard to respect his decision to continually leave his restaurant in the hands of idiot sons.  Lifeguard Alex (Suzanne Davis) is boring.  Scott’s girlfriend, Lisa (Marquita Terry), is a judgmental killjoy who needs to change her name.  (If her name was Lisa Marie, I’d probably have to abandon this show.)

My point is that there’s really no one to root for on Malibu CA.  Murray and Traycee are mostly just supporting characters and all of the main characters suck.  Given that no one was going to watch this show for the main cast, it’s perhaps not a surprise that, in the 2nd season, Malibu, CA started bringing in guest stars from other Peter Engel shows.  Earlier, Hang Time’s Dick Butkus showed up as Uncle Charlie.  This week, City Guy’s Marissa Dyan shows up as Maggie, an old friend from New York.  Maggie used to be awkward and had braces and Jason pretended to be sick to get out of going to prom with her.

(Why was Jason going to prom in New York when, last season, he was a junior at Malibu High?)

When Maggie shows up in Malibu, Jason is shocked to discover that she now looks like Cassidy from City Guys.  Jason is eager to date her now because Jason is an extremely shallow person.  When Maggie finds out that Jason faked being sick to get out of prom, she gives him a chance to come clean.  “Were you really sick?” she asks.  Jason, being the worst person ever in the history of television, swears that he was.  He also asks her to bid on him in a bachelor auction that Lisa and Alex have put together for charity.

Ha ha, Jason, joke’s on you!  Maggie not only doesn’t bid on him but she allows Jason to be “won” by Kitty (Missy Dotty), who is slightly overweight.  The audience gasps, stunned at the idea of Jason having to spend time with someone who isn’t blonde.  And it bears repeating that Malibu CA is, without a doubt, the worst freaking thing I have ever watched for Retro Television Reviews.  Anyway, Jason apologizes to Maggie before she goes to New York.

Meanwhile, Peter and Scott had a stupid bet going over which one of them could raise the most money for charity at the bachelor auction.  Does no one find it weird that the auction is basically just Peter and his sons?  Peter’s a wimp and his sons probably aren’t going to survive the #MeToo era.  Are Lisa and Alex actually trying to raise money for charity or is this all a cruel joke?

I hate this show.

 

 

Brad reviews THE FIRM (1993), starring Tom Cruise!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In honor of Tom Cruise’s 63rd birthday, I decided to watch THE FIRM, which is based on the 1991 novel from author John Grisham. Cruise stars as the brilliant Harvard law graduate Mitch McBride, who convinces his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) to move to Memphis, TN, so he can join the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke. With the help of his veteran mentor Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman), Mitch seems to be excelling at his job, and everything is just so perfect. Unfortunately, the good times don’t last as Mitch starts to notice some suspicious stuff going on with the firm, beginning with the mysterious deaths of two of his fellow attorneys. He’s soon approached by FBI agents, led by Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris), who tell him that there are nefarious deeds taking place at the firm, including the laundering of money for the Chicago mob. When Mitch starts questioning the activities of the firm, he finds himself the subject of blackmail and intimidation from the firm’s security officer William Devasher (Wilford Brimley) because the firm will do anything to protect its secrets. Mitch is soon caught between betraying his corrupt employers, who are threatening to kill him, and the FBI, who is pressuring him to expose the firm’s criminal activities. Not wanting to lose his life, go to jail, or get disbarred, Mitch devises an extremely risky plan to outsmart the firm and the FBI, but is even he brilliant enough to pull this one off?!

Back in the early 90’s, it seemed that every other movie being released was adapted from a John Grisham novel, and the very first of those adaptations was THE FIRM in 1993. Extremely successful at the box office, THE FIRM grossed over $270 million worldwide, setting the stage for five new movies based on Grisham novels over the next five years. THE FIRM was not only financially successful, it’s also an extremely effective movie that showcases a 30-year-old Tom Cruise at his very best. Director Sydney Pollack crafted a creepy and paranoid thriller, using a slow-burn buildup that relies on Cruise’s ability to believably go from naïve and starstruck at the beginning, to scared and desperate during the middle portion of the film, and ultimately to resourceful and intelligent at the end, as he navigates the dangerous situations he finds himself in. It’s a dynamic, intense performance, and even with a huge supporting cast of excellent actors around him, Cruise dominates every frame of this film. Other performances that stand out to me are Jeanne Tripplehorn as Mitch’s wife Abby, Wilford Brimley as the firm’s enforcer, Gary Busey and Holly Hunter as a private investigator and his administrative assistant from Little Rock, and David Strathairn as Mitch’s jailbird brother in Arkansas. Gene Hackman is good in his role as Mitch’s corrupted mentor Avery Tolar, but his character is not one of my favorites from the legendary actor. His character has accepted his corruption and learned to cope with it over the years through alcohol and womanizing, just so he can keep making the money. He knows better and that’s the part that ultimately makes him the most pathetic. Ed Harris is also good in the film as the FBI Agent, but his character is kind of an asshole, and it’s fun to see Mitch outsmart him.

I also like the Memphis, Tennessee locations showcased in THE FIRM, locations that I’ve been to many times, such as Beale Street, Mud Island, and The Peabody Hotel. Early in the movie, Cruise’s character flips right along with the “Beale Street flippers,” popular Beale Street entertainers who perform nightly for tips. I’ve given them some of my cash over the years! And the chase sequence that starts at Mud Island and spills over into downtown Memphis is one of the most exciting parts of the movie. My home state of Arkansas even gets in on the action when Mitch meets FBI agent Wayne Tarrance at the Southland Greyhound Park located in West Memphis, Arkansas. The greyhound race track no longer exists at that location, as the final dog race was held on December 31, 2022. The site has now become the Southland Casino, one of three operating casinos in Arkansas, with the other two being the Oaklawn Casino in Hot Springs and The Saracen Casino in Pine Bluff. I also like the fact that the sleazy private investigator, played by Gary Busey, is from Little Rock, Arkansas. I commute to Little Rock daily to work at my accounting and tax firm, and it’s fun imagining that there could be an “Eddie Lomax” somewhere around here.

THE FIRM may not be a perfect film… some fat could have been trimmed out as it runs for over two and a half hours, a lot of time for a “thriller;” and while effective on paper, I also can’t help but wonder if the resolution would have worked quite as well in real life as it’s portrayed in the film. I still love the movie and consider it to be one of Tom Cruise’s best. I revisit it quite often, and I’m glad his birthday gave me another excuse to watch it again today!

Brad reviews JACK REACHER (2012), starring Tom Cruise!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In honor of Tom Cruise’s 63rd birthday, I decided to revisit the 2012 film JACK REACHER. Cruise stars as the title character in the film version of the Lee Child novel “One Shot.” The story follows Reacher, a former military investigator, who gets pulled into the case of James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a sniper who supposedly killed five people in a random shooting in Pittsburgh. Although all the evidence is neatly stacked up against Barr, the sniper just has one request for his defense, “Get Jack Reacher.” Emerging from a self-imposed hiding, Reacher teams up with Barr’s defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), to try to figure out what in the hell is going on. Once he has access to the evidence, and based on what he already knows about James Barr, Reacher immediately starts tearing holes in the case being presented by Police Detective Calvin Emerson (David Oyelowo) and District Attorney Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins). Reacher’s own investigation uncovers a conspiracy involving a mysterious criminal organization led by the evil, and partially deformed Zec (Werner Herzog), whose plans are violently enforced by his badass henchman Charlie (Jai Courtney). It seems they have orchestrated the shooting to appear random, but they were really just after one person, Oline Archer (Susan Angelo), whose construction company is vital to their criminal enterprise. With the help of defense attorney Rodin, as well as the owner of an Ohio shooting range, former Marines Corps Gunnery Sergeant Martin Cash (Robert Duvall), Reacher is determined to bring the real killers to justice!

I remember there being some controversy surrounding the announcement that Tom Cruise would be starring as Jack Reacher. Dedicated readers of Lee Child’s books didn’t seem to appreciate that Cruise’s physical stature is not even close to the way the character is described. If I was an avid fan of the books, I would definitely understand the concern, but I’ve never read a single book in the series. This is one of those instances where my lack of reading experience allows me to completely enjoy the film, because Tom Cruise is flat out excellent. He’s smart, funny, a badass lone wolf of justice, and completely believable. I’d go so far as to say that the primary reason I love this film is Tom Cruise’s incredible star turn as Jack Reacher. With the choice of Tom Cruise or another actor who more closely resembles the Reacher from the book, I’m going with Cruise 10 out of 10 times. With that said, I’m also happy for the purists out there that the new REACHER series on Amazon, which began in 2022 and is still going strong, addresses this “size controversy” in it’s casting. I’ve heard good things about the series, and I’ll eventually get around to watching it as well.

Aside from Tom Cruise’s magnetic central performance, I find JACK REACHER to be a truly entertaining movie, and I don’t think we get enough of those these days. It has exciting and fun action scenes, a sly sense of humor, chillingly evil bad guys who get their comeuppance at the end, and an incredible supporting cast. Thinking back on it now, Rosamund Pike as the defense attorney, Werner Herzog as the evil villain, and Robert Duvall as the “cranky old Robert Duvall” character are the supporting performances that stand out the most to me, but all the casting choices are good. With his shepherding of the “Mission: Impossible” series, director Christopher McQuarrie has proven himself to be an expert at delivering fun movies, and he delivered big time here for film audiences a few years before taking on his first impossible mission.

In summary, I don’t really have a single negative thing to say about JACK REACHER. Most of the negative things I’ve read online have been due to the disappointment that some viewers have felt based on the differences between the books and the movie. I just know that I still watch it every couple of years and enjoy it immensely each time. JACK REACHER is one of my favorite films of its decade!

Poem Of The Day: Tom Cruise Is The Last Barman Poet in Cocktail

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh my God, the TSL staff says, are we going to have to start doing a poem a day on top of everything else!?

Only if you want to!  I’m just sharing this poem because it’s Tom Cruise’s birthday and I happen to love Cocktail.  Here he is, reciting The Last Barman Poet.  What I like about this scene is how no one at the bar is upset that drink service has been suspended for like three minutes so that the bartender can recite a poem.  Seriously, this is classic 80s cinema and I can’t help but love it!

I am the last barman poet / I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make / Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake / The sex on the beach / The schnapps made from peach / The velvet hammer / The Alabama slammer. / I make things with juice and froth / The pink squirrel / The three-toed sloth. / I make drinks so sweet and snazzy / The iced tea / The kamakazi / The orgasm / The death spasm / The Singapore sling / The dingaling. / America you’ve just been devoted to every flavor I got / But if you want to got loaded / Why don’t you just order a shot? / Bar is open.

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Tom Cruise Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 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.

It’s Tom Cruise’s birthday and that means that it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Tom Cruise Films

Risky Business (1983, dir by Paul Brickman, DP: Bruce Surtees)

Cocktail (1988, dir by Roger Donaldson, DP: Dean Semler)

Mission Impossible (1996, dir by Brian De Palma, DP: Stephen H. Burum)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999. dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Larry Smith)

Scene I Love: Tom Cruise In Tropic Thunder

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 63rd birthday to one of the last remaining movie stars, Tom Cruise!

While it’s tempting to celebrate this day by sharing a scene from a film like Top Gun: Maverick or one of the Mission Impossible sequels or maybe even something like Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, Edge of Tomorrow, or Risky Business, I am going to go with a clip from 2008’s Tropic Thunder.  There’s a lot talent in this particular scene, with Bill Hader and Matthew McConaughey both giving good performances.  But, of course, the whole thing is dominated by Tom Cruise’s wonderfully demented performance as Les Grossman.

“We do not negotiate with terrorists!”