Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 2.11 “If Looks Could Kill”

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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001.  The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.

This week, Mitch is in trouble.

Episode 2.11 “If Looks Could Kill”

(Dir by Douglas Schwartz, originally aired on November 25th, 1991)

Mitch rescues Allison (Shannon Tweed) after her car crashes into the ocean.  Mitch quickly falls in love and Allison seems to fall for Mitch.  What Mitch doesn’t know is that Allison is actually a murderer and that she’s just using him to try to find the money that was in her car when it crashed.  For once, Eddie is the one who suspects the truth and who has to keep Mitch from being killed by someone who he trusts.

Baywatch occasionally did crime-related episodes and they always felt out of place.  This episode opens with Allison drowning her latest lover and it’s actually a rather disturbing sequence.  It’s effective but it doesn’t feel right for a show in which the main appeal is the fact that everything is lightweight and easy-going.

I imagine David Hasselhoff enjoyed episodes like this, if just because nearly every episode during the first season of Baywatch Nights was exactly like this one.

Live Tweet Alert: Watch Daybreakers With #ScarySocial!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting Daybreakers!  This vampire film co-stars Sam Neill!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag!  The film is available on Prime!   I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy!

 

Song of the Day: Rockstar by Nat and Alex Wolff

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is a song that I first heard when I first watched Palo Alto. 

Ever since then, it’s a song that has randomly popped into my head at certain times, usually whenever I’m possessed by the melancholy spirit that always seems to follow me around this time of year.  It’s a song that always makes me feel better, despite what happened in Palo Alto.

 

Scene That I Love: The Opening of Starship Troopers

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Paul Verhoeven.  This scene that I love is from Verhoeven’s 1997 sci-fi epic, Starship Troopers.  Over-the-top, satirical, and violent, this scene epitomizes the aesthetic of Verhoeven’s American films.

“I’m doing my part!”

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Paul Verhoeven 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 Paul Verhoeven’s birthday and that means that it is time for….

4 Shots From 4 Paul Verhoeven Films

Robocop (1987, dir by Paul Verhoeven, DP: Jost Vacano)

Total Recall (1990, dir by Paul Verhoeven, DP: Jost Vacano)

Showgirls (1995, dir by Paul Verhoeven, DP: Jost Vacano)

Starship Troopers (1997, dir by Paul Verhoeven, DP: Jost Vacano)

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for The Hunt For The Wilderpeople!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie?  The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, starring Sam Neill!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find The Hunt For The Wilderpeople on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there happily tweeting.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you there!

 

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special David Hasselhoff 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 the Hoff’s birthday!  That means that it is time for….

4 Shots From 4 David Hasselhoff Films

Starcrash (1978, dir by Luigi Cozzi, DP: Paul Beeson and Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli)

Witchery (1988, dir by Fabrizio Laurenti, DP: Gianlorenzo Battaglia)

Panic At Malibu Pier (1989, dir by Richard Compton, DP: John McPherson)

Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD (1998, dir by Rod Hardy, DP: James Bartle)

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Hunter 1.12 “The Avenging Angel”

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 Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, someone wants to help out Hunter!

Episode 1.12 “The Avenging Angel”

(Dir by James Whitmore, Jr., originally aired on January 18th, 1985)

After Hunter receives an anonymous phone tip, he arrests Dr. Pierpoint (Angus Duncan) for attempting to hire a criminal known as “The Rat” to kill his wife.  When Hunter makes the arrest, he actually has to Mirandize him twice because the doctor was unconscious the first time that Hunter read him his rights.  Oh, Hunter!

Unfortunately, things fall apart at trial.  The Rat (Robert Pastorelli, whose career later fell apart after the mysterious death of his girlfriend) changes his testimony at the last minute and says that Pierpoint never hired him to kill his wife.  The case is dismissed.  Hunter is upset.  Even more upset is Arnold Morton (Robert Gray), a surveillance expert who idolizes Hunter and who makes it his mission to take down not just Pierpoint and the Rat but also defense attorney Nell Armstong (Nancy Stafford).

This was an interesting episode.  The story didn’t quite work but the idea behind it was intriguing.  Morton, who has bugged Hunter and has been following him for weeks, considers himself to be Hunter’s avenging angel.  When Hunter makes it clear that he’s not cool with the whole vigilante thing, Morton turns on him like a lover scorned.  This is like Hunter’s version of Magnum Force.

As for McCall, she spends most of this episode just trying to go on a date with her latest boyfriend, Ted (Rod Haase).  Unfortunately, Hunter keeps interrupting.  Ted is a nice guy about it but it’s pretty obvious that McCall and Hunter are meant to be together.

The highlight of this episode?  Hunter destroying his phone while searching for a bug.  In the role of Captain Dolan, John Amos got to do his whole, “Hunter, what the Hell are you doing!?” thing.  That’s always entertaining.

As I said, the episode didn’t quite work.  I never really bought that Arnold could do everything that he managed to do in this episode.  I mean, for someone who lived in an abandoned arcade and drove a broken-down van, Arnold seemed to have unlimited resources.  I will give a shout out to the show’s art department for including a poster of Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 in Arnold’s office.

It’s always funny to me how, in every episode, Hunter has got someone trying to kill him and no one but McCall seems to care.