Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday April 28th, Sierra has chosen THE RIVER MURDERS (2011) starring Ray Liotta, Ving Rhames, Christian Slater, and Raymond J. Barry.
The plot revolves around a homicide detective (Liotta) who becomes the prime suspect in a series of murders when the FBI uncovers his close personal ties to all of the victims.
This sounds pretty good to me, so join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch THE RIVER MURDERS! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
I had never heard of Jet Li until I saw a trailer for LETHAL WEAPON 4 that mentioned him. Now, as a rabid fan of Hong Kong cinema, I consider him a legend. And the scene that started it all for me is this badass scene where he dismantles Riggs, Murtaugh, their guns and their family members. Enjoy, my friends!
Al Pacino finally won his long overdue Oscar with his excellent performance as Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in SCENT OF A WOMAN. This scene where he’s “just getting warmed up” is a personal favorite and no doubt helped him bring home the gold.
Back in 1976, Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland did a movie together called FROM NOON TIL THREE. The western set, romantic comedy featured Jill singing the song “Hello and Goodbye.” The music was written by Elmer Bernstein, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. It would go on to be nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1977 for “Best Original Song.” In honor of her birthday, I’m sharing it with you today!
VIOLENT CITY opens with Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson) and Vanessa Shelton (Jill Ireland) living it up on a tropical island. They boat, they make love, and then spend some time enjoying the local island culture. Unfortunately, this is all a mirage and Jeff can’t escape the effects of his day job, that of a professional assassin. Soon a group of men are after him in a high speed chase on the narrow streets of paradise. Just when he thinks he’s gotten away, he’s double crossed and shot by his former associate, Jerry. Even worse, Vanessa gets in the car with Jerry and the two speed off. Waking up in jail, Jeff is visited by Steve (Umberto Orsini), the lawyer of his former boss Weber (Telly Savalas). Steve and Weber want him to come back and work for their organization. Jeff is more interested in finding Jerry and Vanessa, so when he finally gets out of jail, he turns their job offer down and continues on his odyssey into New Orleans. Jerry’s not too hard to find because he’s a professional race car driver. Jeff goes to his next race and shoots his tire out from long distance with a high powered rifle and watches as his car explodes in flames of death! Vanessa’s not so easy, not because he can’t find her, but because he loves her. He’d much rather make love to her than kill her, so that’s exactly what he does a couple of more times when he locates her. Even when he finds out she’s actually married to Weber, she’s able to convince Jeff that she only married him so she could be safe and that she despises him. She convinces Jeff that for them to be happy together that he should kill Weber. Does she really love him, or is she just using his badassery again?
In honor of Jill Ireland’s birthday (April 24, 1936), I thought I’d review a Charles Bronson film that features a strong performance from his beautiful wife. And speaking of beautiful, she has never been any more beautiful than she is in VIOLENT CITY. I mentioned earlier that the film opens in a tropical paradise. Let’s just say that Bronson and Ireland are in peak physical condition and absolutely striking as they walk the island streets. With his chiseled features and mustache, Bronson is the perfect image of masculinity. With her blonde hair, curvaceous figure and perfect tan, she’s a vision of feminine beauty. Bronson’s Jeff Heston is as tough as it gets, and we soon find out that no man can get the better of him. It’s a tribute to Ireland’s performance that we don’t necessarily blame him for continuing to give her second and third chances, even to his own peril. And she saves her best work for the end, when we all find out that she has more going for her than just beauty.
VIOLENT CITY was directed by the Italian filmmaker Sergio Sollima, whose other credits include the excellent spaghetti western, THE BIG GUNDOWN with Lee Van Cleef, and the solid “Polizziotteschi” crime film REVOLVER, with Oliver Reed. He gets more sensual performances from the stars than we’d get in future years, as they do lots and lots of loving on each other throughout the course of the film. The musical score is from the master composer himself, Ennio Morricone. It’s not quite ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST level, but it’s really good stuff and quite memorable. If I had one complaint it would be that I wish Telly Savalas had more screen time as Weber. His character added life to the film whenever he appeared. He could be a real asshole, but he seemed to have a lot of fun, and he makes one hell of a cocktail (the moonlight passion)!
My final word on VIOLENT CITY is that it’s a solid Italian crime film, with a lean, mean Bronson, good action sequences, and a more than adequate Jill Ireland as a beautiful femme fatale. I certainly recommend it. Happy Birthday, Jill!
VIOLENT CITY was initially released in America under the name THE FAMILY in hopes of drafting off the THE GODFATHER. See the trailer below.
The other day I was heading to the movies to see SINNERS when I got a text from my son, “Have you seen the trailer for Jordan Peele’s new movie?” I hadn’t, and upon further review, he was talking about the movie HIM, which is produced by Jordan Peele. And then the trailer for HIM played before SINNERS. It’s definitely an interesting looking movie. Every year for my birthday I go to the theater to watch a movie, and it just so happens that HIM is scheduled to open on my birthday this year. I just may go watch it after I’m finished with my ribeye at the Texas Roadhouse! Check out the teaser trailer below!
Jack Nicholson may have starred in CHINATOWN, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, and THE SHINING, but for a person born in 1973, the first movie I ever loved Jack Nicholson in was BATMAN (1989). I’ve been a fan ever since! Happy Birthday, Jack!
Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) serves on a jury where the case involves a man named Marvin Jenkins (Jack Nicholson) who’s been accused of stealing appliances from a department store in Mount Pilot, North Carolina. While the evidence against Mr. Jenkins appears to be overwhelming, Aunt Bee isn’t ready to convict him because he “seems like such a sweet man.” The rest of the jury is getting sick of her so they press her to explain why she doesn’t think he’s guilty. Her answer, “have you noticed his eyes, pure hazel! I just don’t feel like he did it.” The jury decides to take a break for the evening. The next day she brings brownies and wants to continue discussing the case. Needless to say, the remaining jury members aren’t happy as they are ready to be done. They’re quite rude to Aunt Bee and the case finally ends with a hung jury because Aunt Bee refuses to give in to their pressure. Marvin Jenkins, happy to be free, thanks Aunt Bee for believing in him. Meanwhile there’s a guy hanging around the court that seems way too interested in the outcome of the case, especially when Jenkins gets set free. Based on a couple of things he says, Andy (Andy Griffith) figures out that he’s the one who actually stole the items at the store, and it turns out that Aunt Bee was right the whole time. Even better, the episode ends with the judge writing a letter to Aunt Bee requesting her recipe for brownies!
“Aunt Bee, the Juror” is the second of two episodes where Jack Nicholson appeared on The Andy Griffith Show. He first appeared in season 7, episode 10, “Opie Finds a Baby.” It’s a very short appearance where he shows up at the very end as the father of the found baby. In this episode, Nicholson again has a pretty small role as the man on trial. He answers some questions from the lawyers and Aunt Bee believes him even though no one else does. At the end he happily thanks Aunt Bee for thinking the best of him and not finding him guilty. Most of the episode focuses on Aunt Bee holding out for what she believes in. Based on his short appearance in this episode, it’s hard to believe that Nicholson was on the verge of superstardom. He had already filmed THE SHOOTING (1966), RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1966), and HELL’S ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967), with EASY RIDER (1969) and FIVE EASY PIECES (1970) just a couple of years away. For me, it’s just fun to see an actor of his caliber on one of my favorite shows of all time.
Happy 88th Birthday, Mr. Nicholson. Thanks for a lifetime of wonderful performances!
I love Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and it really goes back to their collaboration on CREED. No movie has stirred my emotions in the past decade as much as CREED. I laughed, I cried, and I got pumped up even though I watched the film in the theater by myself. I would go on to tell every person I knew that they had to see the film. I couldn’t imagine that any other combination of writer, director or actor could have created a better continuation of the world that began with Stallone’s original story. CREED is a classic of its own as far as I’m concerned.
I had not heard about SINNERS until Arleigh shared the trailer here on The Shattered Lens a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I saw that it was a Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan. That caught my interest even though I didn’t stop and actually watch the trailer as I was in the crunch of tax season. And then Leonard dropped a review of the film on April 17th.
I don’t go to the theater often these days but I decided that I just had to see the film over the Easter weekend. I talked Sierra into going with me on Saturday morning, and all I told her was that it is a vampire movie from the guy who did CREED. I purposely read nothing else about the film because I know that Coogler and Jordan make magic on the screen when they work together. I didn’t want anything else influencing my initial experience with the film in any way.
Rather than spend any time on the plot of the film, I just wanted to spend a little time talking about how the movie made me feel. First, watching Michael B. Jordan interpret the Smoke-Stack characters in such different ways was pure joy for me. Any person who has read my articles knows that I have a tendency to obsess over the actors I really like. I don’t believe there is an actor under 40 years of age that enjoy watching perform more than Jordan. I’ll watch anything he does throughout his career. Second, there is something so interesting about Miles Caton in the part of the singer and guitarist Sammie Moore, aka Preacher Boy. That deep voice of his almost didn’t seem to go with those fresh face features. I can see why the other characters reacted to his singing and playing the way they did because the man has real talent. I was surprised that this was his first film based on the confidence he carried throughout. Third, it’s always fun to see Delroy Lindo in any role. Fourth, I liked the relationship between Smoke and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). When I first saw Annie standing in the doorway and looking at him by the small grave, my first inclination would not have been that those two had been in a relationship together and that he was at the grave of their child. To me it was a nice surprise that the painful history being shown was shared between those two and that they still loved each other. I also really wished I could try her fried catfish. I also liked certain aspects of some of the other characters including Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the Chow family and Cornbread.
The music is incredible in SINNERS. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the blues, but I know what I like, and I liked what I heard. I’ve always been a fan of the movie CROSSROADS with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca. Both movies are in awe of the power of the blues, and I was somewhat surprised that Ryan Coogler’s “vampire movie” was showing such an interest in the music as a character and not just a soundtrack. I liked the scene where Stack introduces Miles to Lindo’s character Delta Slim. I like the music at the juke joint, and the out of left field trip through the musical decades was a unique and powerful choice that showed a director not afraid to go wherever his intuition takes him. My “joint” would probably feature country music, but I’ve always said I can like any music as long as it’s good. The music in SINNERS is great.
I will say that the things that interested me the most, mainly the development of the characters, took a back seat once the vampires were revealed. I wanted to get to know these characters even more. The action was well filmed and there were some surprises along the way, but once the vampires emerged, I felt like I was watching a movie I had seen before. Even though it was extremely well done, the film’s special quality seemed a little less. With that said, Smoke’s late stand against the Klan was exciting and emotionally satisfying.
Overall, I would give SINNERS a solid 4 stars out of 5 based on my initial viewing. I will revisit the movie at some point, but I’m letting the film seep into my bones at the moment. Coogler seems to be a filmmaking genius and I haven’t stopped thinking about his latest movie over the last few days. I have a feeling this movie will continue to grow on me with repeated viewings.
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday April 21st, we celebrate the end of my tax season by watching THE ACCOUNTANT (2016) starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, John Lithgow, and Jean Smart.
Contrary to popular belief, THE ACCOUNTANT is not based on the life of Little Rock-based CPA Bradley Crain, although there are many obvious similarities. Rather, it’s the story of Christian Wolff, a math savant who often plies his trade for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. When he takes on a legitimate client and discovers discrepancies in the company’s books involving millions of dollars, a group of hitmen try to kill him and the company’s accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick). Will they live long enough to discover the person behind the embezzlement, or will they just become another set of death statistics? I don’t want to give too much away, but I will go ahead and address the elephant in the room… THE ACCOUNTANT 2 opens on Friday night, April 25th.
So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch THE ACCOUNTANT! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer for THE ACCOUNTANT is included below:
Through the Shattered Lens 