Hi, everyone! Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania! Join us for 2019’s Fallen Queen!
You can find the movie on Prime and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) See you then!
Today, the Shattered Lens wish a happy birthday to the one and only Bruce Campbell! And what better way to celebrate and to get the day started than with an iconic scene from 1987’s Evil Dead II?
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 celebrate Bruce Campbell’s birthday! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Bruce Campbell Films
Evil Dead II (1987, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Peter Deming)
Army of Darkness (1992, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Bill Pope)
Escape From L.A. (1996, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli, DP: Adam Janiero)
Greetings On A Rainy Day
As I sit here typing this, it is 7 a.m. on Monday morning. It is currently raining here in Dallas. There are rumors that it could rain all day and I’m hoping that’s the case. The rain gives me an excuse to stay in my office and spend the entire day watching movies.
The World Cup Shocker
I’m as stunned as anyone to say that I’m happy that the World Cup is being played here in the United States. Whether you call it football or you call it soccer, it’s not a sport that has ever really interested me and I have yet to actually watch any of the games that have been played over the past few weeks.
Instead, I’ve been really touched by the reactions of the Europeans who have come over here for the World Cup and who have been posting their reactions to discovering everyday America on social media. Freddy the German is the most famous of them but he’s hardly the only one. With our 250th birthday approaching, our World Cup guests have reminded us of just how wonderful this country is. I know that some media types have expressed shock at how those of us in the South and Middle America have welcomed our guests. All I can say that those people need to get out of New York once and a while. The World Cup has allowed Europeans to see the real America and it has also allowed Americans to meet real, everyday Europeans. We’ve all been reminded of our common humanity.
Unfortunately, there’s always a few people who always have to try to ruin a good thing. There was a handful of people — mostly American Leftists from up North and bitter Brits who couldn’t afford a plane ticket — who were really hoping that America hosting the World Cup would be a disaster and that we would have several months of Europeans talking about how much they hate America. The opposite has happened and, judging from what I’m seeing on social media, a lot of the haters just don’t know how to deal with it.
Well, no matter! I’m proud of America and I’m happy to welcome our guests throughout the entire World Cup. Hell, I might even watch a game!
How To Celebrate The 4th
During the 2024 election, it was occasionally mentioned that whoever won would be in charge of America’s 250th birthday. It wasn’t the most pressing issue of the campaign but it is something that I discussed with my friends. Neither option was particularly appealing. We knew Trump would celebrate with bombast but we also knew he would make it all about himself. Harris, meanwhile, would probably offer up some sort of self-consciously “woke” ceremony that was designed to make American feel guilty. She would also ultimately make it all about herself.
In the end, I think everyone has to celebrate in their own way. Choose what is best for you. My family and I will be celebrating with fireworks, music, and enjoyment. It’s weird to me that there’s so many American leaders who seem to feel that they have an obligation to hate this country. The good thing is that, every 4th of July, most Americans defy the bans on fireworks. They defy the curfews. They defy the people who say they shouldn’t be proud. They defy the trendy negativity. This is a country that knows how to celebrate and we’re all the better for it. Independence Day is our annual reminder that America still has its spirit.
SLAMFEST!
This weekend, I discovered something called Slamfest. It takes place every year at Slinger Speedway in Slinger, Wisconsin. Among the events is a race where drivers attempt to be the first to successfully load their car on a trailer that’s attached to a trunk that is speeding around the track. I only saw a few minutes of it but it was beautiful to behold. My Dad would have loved that.
It’s Summer!
Enjoy it!
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasionally 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 1992’s Nails!
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, find the movie on YouTube and hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! The watch party community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
See you soon!
by Erin Nicole
Every year, around this time, these ribbons show up around my hometown.
In this video, W.A.S.P. keeps things about as simple as they ever could. They put on their armor and they hit the stage.
44 years after the band first formed, Blackie Lawless is still going. They’re a true American success story.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.
This week, we’ve got the first part of the second season finale!
Episode 2.21 “Tears Are Not Enough, Part One”
(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on February 16th, 2003)
Another school year is coming to an end. It’s time for the final school dance! But first, JT needs to pass his final exams. Liberty agrees to tutor JT on the condition that he take her to the dance. JT accepts and, in the end, he resists the temptation to ask Paige to the dance because “Liberty’s my date.”
Well, that’s good. This episode allows us to see how the JT/Liberty romance started. Of course, we all know that JT will eventually get Liberty pregnant and then get hooked on pills. Fortunately, JT will survive the inevitable overdose. Unfortunately, two seasons after that overdose, JT will be murdered outside of Liberty’s birthday party.
Hmmm …. maybe JT should have asked Paige to the dance.
However, all of this is just the B-plot. The main plot of this episode features Craig’s father (Hugh Dillon) trying to reeneter his life. Craig’s father swears that he’s learned the error of his ways. He’s taken classes to learn how to control his temper. He wants Craig to come and live with him and, with Joey struggling with money, Craig is tempted. Or, at least, Craig is tempted until he shows up late for dinner with his father and his father responds by hitting Craig in the face and then speeding off in his car.
Craig returns home and tells Joey that he wants Joey to adopt him. Then the police show up. Craig thinks that his father called them but it turns out that they are there to let Joey know that Craig’s father died in an auto accident. Given how abusive Craig’s father was, you might think this is good news. However, those of us who have binged this show more than once know that this is going to lead to Craig having a breakdown in two seasons and a cocaine addiction in three.
Seriously, things got dark!
Despite the Liberty/JT subplot, I like this episode. To be honest, I like almost all of the Craig episodes. He was an interesting character and Jake Epstein was one of the better actors on the show. Even though I already know what waits in the future, I’m still looking forward to watching the second part of Tears Are Not Enough.
I hope everyone had a good Father’s Day! Now, let’s get ready for the 4th of July!
Here’s what I watched this week:
Films I Watched:
Live Tweets:
4 Shots From 4 Films:
Scenes I Love:
Songs of the Day:
Music Videos of the Day:
Artworks of the Day:
Links From Last Week:
News From Last Week:
Links From The Site:
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 Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC! It can be viewed on Peacock.
What happened to the diamond ring?
Episode 5.14 “Diener”
(Dir by Kyle Secor, originally aired on January 31st, 1997)
Still on the outs with Bayliss, Pembleton is forced, by order of Giardello, to work with Lewis. The last time that Pembleton and Lewis worked together, the result was chaos. Lewis didn’t have any patience for Pembleton’s arrogance and Pembleton obviously didn’t respect Lewis as a detective. This time, it goes a bit smoother. Pembleton, thanks to Bayliss, has learned how to work with others and Lewis, having lost Crosetti and seen Kellerman pushed to the edge of suicide, is a bit more sensitive than we’ve seen in the past.
The victim is a rich woman who liked to support struggling art students. Lewis suspects that the killer was one of the students. Pembleton suspects that it was the woman’s brother and his suspicions turn out to be correct. When the woman’s belongings are released by the ME’s office, the brother immediately notices that a diamond ring is missing. But how did the brother know that his sister was wearing the ring when she died?
As for the diamond ring, it was stolen by Jeff (Glenn Fitzgerald), who works in the morgue. It turns out that Jeff has been stealing from the dead for a while. Dr. Cox gets a big scene in which she fires him. He definitely deserved to be fired and I assume that he will also be going to jail. That said, the name of this show is Homicide. It’s not named “Medical Examiner.” I like Michelle Forbes’s performance as Dr. Cox but it’s still hard not to feel that, at least as far as the fifth season is concerned, the show is sometimes a bit too quick to try to force her into every story.
While Pembleton solved there case, his wife considered leaving him. Bayliss tried to warn Pembleton but Pembleton shrugged off Bayliss’s comment. In fact, Pembleton told Bayliss that he’s fine no longer working with him. I nearly screamed with frustration. Seriously, you two — work it out!
Through the Shattered Lens 