Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

The Films of 2025: Flight Risk (dir by Mel Gibson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Flight Risk, Mel Gibson’s first directorial effort since the Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge, opens with Winston (Topher Grace) being arrested by Madolyn (Michelle Dockery), a U.S. Marshal.

Winston is an accountant, one who moved around a lot of money for the Mafia and who arranged for a lot of bribes to high-ranked officials.  That said, Winston is not a particularly dangerous or even cunning fugitive.  If anything, he’s extremely neurotic.  He worries about the safety of his mother.  He tells Madolyn (and the audience) way more than anyone could possibly need to know about his bathroom habits.  He’s on the run because the government wants him to testify against his former employers.  Winston is far more frightened of the Mafia than he is of the government and with good reason.  The Mafia wants him dead.  The government still needs him alive.

After Winston is arrested in Alaska, Madolyn arranges for them to be flown to Anchorage by a Texas-born bush pilot named Darryl Booth.  When a man claiming to be Darryl (Mark Walhberg) shows up, Madolyn and Winston promptly get on the plane.  From the minute Wahlberg started speaking, I was rolling my eyes.  Wahlberg’s Texas accent was perhaps the worst that I’ve ever heard in a modern movie and that’s saying something.  Fortunately, it turned out that Wahlberg’s accent was deliberately bad.  The man calling himself Darryl Booth is not actually Darryl Booth.  He’s not from Texas.  He’s not a professional pilot.  Instead, he’s a hitman who has been sent to kill both Winton and Madolyn.  Unfortunately, Madolyn and Winston don’t realize that until the plane has already taken off.

Flight Risk starts out as an enjoyably silly movie but it’s ultimately done in by the limitations of its plot.  Nearly the entire film takes place in that cramped and nondescript airplane and neither Madolyn nor Darryl are really compelling enough to hold onto your interest over the entire course of the film’s 90 minute running time.  Winston, on the other hand, is actually a compelling character and Topher Grace shows, once again, that he deserves a bigger film career than the one he has.  Unfortunately, Winston spends the majority of the film incapacitated.  He’s either in handcuffs and stuck in the back of the plane or he’s sitting up front and freaking out but he never gets to do as much as one might wish.  Instead, the entire film comes down to Darryl taunting his targets and Madolyn struggling to figure out how to fly the plane.  To be honest, the film actually makes flying look pretty easy.  I mean, Madolyn has no experience as a pilot and she somehow still manages not to crash.  How difficult could it be?

Of the three main actors, Topher Grace gives the best performance, managing to give a fully-rounded performance even when Winston is incapable of moving.  For the first thirty minutes or so of the film, Mark Wahlberg is enjoyably over-the-top but then his character just becomes a standard talkative villain.  Michelle Dockery is stuck playing a boring character and she never brings much life to her flat dialogue.  If anything, she’s outacted by an unseen Leah Remini, who provides the voice of Madolyn’s partner and proves that she can still curse like a champ.

Flight Risk continues the pattern of scripts that rank high on Hollywood’s “black list,” (that is, the annual list of the most popular unproduced scripts in Hollywood), being turned it into disappointing films.  At least it’s slightly more fun than Cedar Rapids.

The TSL Grindhouse: Death Drug (dir by Oscar WIlliamas)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1978’s Death Drug, Philip Michael Thomas plays Jesse Thomas.

Jesse is a plumber with a dream.  He wants to be a songwriter, a musician, and most of all, a star.  His girlfriend and eventual wife, Carolyn (Vernee Watson-Johnson), stands by him as he sends his music off to record companies and waits for word.  When he’s finally given a recording contract, no one is happier for him than Carolyn.  Certainly, Jesse’s own father doesn’t seem to care much about his son’s success.  “I have no son,” he says, even after Jesse wins a Grammy.

(To be fair, they’ll give just about anyone a Grammy.)

Unfortunately, with success comes temptation.  While celebrating at a local club, Jesse is approached by a drug dealer (Frankie Crocker) who gives Jesse a cigarette that is laced with Whack.  Whack, as those of us who have seen Disco Godfather can tell you, is PCP.  Remember Disco Godfather‘s cry of “We’ve got to attack the whack?”  Well, Jesse allows himself to become a victim of whack attack.  It starts out simply enough, with a moving painting.  Then, before you know it, Jesse’s hairbrush is turning into a hungry alligator and Jesse starts to become convinced that everyone is plotting against him.  Even a trip to the grocery store goes wrong as Jesse spots spiders in the produce and zombies in the aisles!  Jesse freaks out.  He runs outside.  He…. well, no spoilers for me.  But let’s remember the words of Rudy Ray Moore in Disco Godfather.  Put your weight on it!  Yes, indeed.  Put your weight on it, Jesse.

This is one of those anti-drug films that was probably best enjoyed by people who viewed it while high.  It’s a rather short film, which means that Jesse goes from being a hard-working plumber-turned-musician to a ranting and raving maniac in record time.  Philip Michael Thomas throws himself into the role, especially the ranting and raving part.  I’ve been binging Miami Vice so seeing the usually collected and cool Thomas screaming in terror at things that aren’t there was an interesting experience.  Because the film was so short, there’s some filler that’s awkwardly tacked on, presumably to bring the movie up to feature length.  We get a news report about a man who went crazy from PCP-usage and had to be taken down by the cops.  We get a report about Jesse Thomas’s musical career that features a much-older looking Philip Michael Thomas performing a song that’s more from the 80s than the 70s.  (That was inserted into the film when it was re-released in 1985, at the height of Thomas’s Miami Vice success.)  There’s a lengthy news report at the end that, hilariously, has a moment where the reporter apologizes for “technical difficulties” that were probably included just to get the movie past the 70-minute mark.

As I mentioned, this film was re-released in 1985.  Philip Michael Thomas filmed a special introduction for the film, in which he played pool in his Hollywood mansion and told the viewer that, out of all the roles he had played (“cops, kings….”), none of them meant as much to him as his performance as Jesse Thomas.  Philip Michael Thomas is the epitome of 80s cool in that introduction and in a short scene that appears after the end credits.  Don’t worry, folks, the film is telling us.  Jesse Thomas may have fallen victim to the whack but Philip is still over here putting some weight on it.

In the end, it’s all fairly silly but it does make a nice companion piece to Don Johnson’s Heartbeat.  If you’re a success, you really owe it to yourself to have a vanity project.  It’s what the people want.

Musical Film Review: Heartbeat (dir by John Nicolella)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1987’s Heartbeat opens with Don Johnson in an unidentified Central American country.

Rebels are moving through the jungles.  Helicopters are flying over villages and firing off missiles.  In the middle of it all is Don Johnson, playing a character identified as being “The Documentary Filmmaker.”  Johnson carries a large movie camera with him, recording all of the violence and the carnage.  Is Johnson trying to expose the evils of the government?  Is he trying to expose the rebels?  Is he just an adrenaline junkie who can’t help but go to the most dangerous places in the world?  I have no idea and I’m not sure that the film does either.

A bomb explodes.  Johnson is thrown back.  Soon, Don Johnson is being carried into a dark room on a stretcher.  It appears that he might be dying but, even as his heartbeat is slowing down, his spirit is still hanging around and having flashbacks to the attack on the village, which we just saw less than a minute ago.  Eventually, Johnson’s spirit has other flashbacks.  He remembers talking to Paul Shaffer.  He remembers his strained marriage to an unnamed woman played by Lori Singer.  He remembers his youth as the son of a Las Vegas showgirl who is played by Sandahl Bergman.  (Bergman also played a showgirl in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz and her scenes in this film often feel as if they’ve been directly lifted from Fosse’s classic film.)  David Carradine shows up as someone who might be Johnson’s father or who might just be some random guy rolling dice in the backroom of a strip club.  Johnson remembers his friendship with a graffiti artist (Giancarlo Esposito), who has a sister (Angela Alvarado) who was a prostitute.  The main message seems to be that the Documentary Filmmaker recorded the dangers of the world while also trying to remain emotionally detached, much like Robert Forster in Medium Cool.  Now that he’s dying, he’s left to wonder whether he made the right choice in refusing to get personally involved.

Oh, and did I mention that this film is basically a 65-minute music video?  Don Johnson sings through the entire movie, in a style that does its best to imitate the tough growl and soulful yearning of Southern rock and roll but which ultimately only serves to show that Johnson made the right decision in focusing on acting instead of singing?

After I came across this film on Lettrboxd and then watched it on YouTube, I did a bit of research (which is a fancy way of saying that I spent a minute reading a Wikipedia entry) and I discovered that, at the height of his Miami Vice success, Johnson released his debut country rock album, Heartbeat.  Heartbeat the film was something that Johnson made in order to promote Heartbeat the album.  Directed by frequent Miami Vice director John Nicollela, Heartbeat the film is so self-indulgent and determined to prove that Don Johnson is a soulful artist that it becomes oddly fascinating to watch.  Johnson’s Documentary Filmmaker is a bit of a cad but the film seems to argue that 1) it’s not really his fault because women find him to be irresistible, 2) it’s really his mom’s fault for getting a job, and 3) it ultimately doesn’t matter because the Filmmaker is a great artist whose work will live on even after he dies.  It’s a vanity film for a vanity album and it’s all so vain that it becomes hard to look away from.

In the end, both the music from the album and the promotional film leave one feeling that, in 1987, Don Johnson might have had an unreasonably high opinion of his musical abilities.  That said, as anyone who has seen Cold In July can tell you, Don Johnson eventually did become a very good actor.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 3.14 “Wheeling”

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 Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

Things get weird in California.

Episode 3.14 “Wheeling”

(Dir by Barry Crane, originally aired on December 8th, 1979)

This is one of those weird episodes where Ponch and Jon just keep running into the same people over and over again.

Artie (Paul Gale), Don (Ray Vittie), and Alan (Ron Lombard) are all in wheelchairs but they’re not going to let that stop them from enjoying life and, far more dangerously, playing tag while driving on the highway.  Artie’s van taps Alan’s car.  Alan taps Don’s car.  Don tries to tap Artie’s van.  It’s dangerous and Ponch and Jon, when they see it, promptly pull the three men over.  Ponch is impressed with Artie’s joie d’vivre.  As usual, Baker is less impresses and is like, “You — of all people! — should understand the danger!”  (I swear, poor Larry Wilcox.  While Erik Estrada got to smile through each episode, it always fell on Wilcox to be the killjoy.)

That said, both Jon and Ponch came to admire Artie and his determination to make sure that all of his wheelchair-bound friends get the most out of life.  They even help Artie present a fancy new wheelchair to Brent (David Gilliam), a surfer who has not been able to bring himself to leave the hospital ever since he learned that he will never walk again.

Artie and the gang help out Jon and Ponch as well.  Jon and Ponch are searching for a blue car that was involved in a street race that left one teenager with a broken leg.  The teenager’s father, Harry (Taylor Lacher), has been speeding up and down the freeway, searching for the car.  Harry even made a citizens arrest, though Delgado (Fil Formicola) had an alibi for the time that Harry’s son was injured.  While Delgado makes plans to sue Harry for false arrest. Artie happens to spot the blue car that Jon and Ponch are looking for.  Way to go, Artie!

But then, after all of this, Artie and his friends decide to race on Harry’s street.  Harry goes crazy.  He jumps in his car and takes off after Artie’s van, not realizing that Artie was the one who helped the police catch the guy who hit Harry’s son.  It leads to a huge accident at a construction site.  The van flips over.  Harry’s car flips over.  Harry breaks his leg.  Artie’s breaks both of his arms.  The judge sentences Harry to serve as Artie’s manservant until Artie’s arms heal.  Everyone has a good laugh, including Harry.

What a weird episode!  I mean, its heart was definitely in the right place.  The whole point of the episode was that Artie and his friends were just as capable as anyone who could walk.  That’s a good message.  But, then, out of nowhere, Artie is suddenly involved in a street race and Harry is trying to crash into his van.  And then, at the end of it, everyone finds it all to be terrifically amusing.  And somehow, Ponch and Jon manage to be at the scene of every incident involved Harry, Artie, and Artie’s friends.  Like, seriously, what are the odds?  There are other highway patrolmen in California.

Again, a strange episode.  As always, the scenery was nice.  It’s always fun to see what the world looked like in 1979.  And I appreciated that this episode made a strong case for people not taking it upon themselves to make a citizens arrest because, seriously, people who do that tend to be so obnoxious.

Anyway, I enjoyed it.  It was just weird enough to be fun.  Drive safely out there!

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.22 “Viking Bikers From Hell”

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 Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, it’s Reb Brown vs Don Johnson!

Episode 3.22 “Viking Bikers From Hell”

(Dir by James Quinn, originally aired on April 3rd, 1987)

Biker Reb Gustafson (Reb Brown) has been released in prison, just in time to seek vengeance for the death of his mentor, The Wire.  The Wire was killed in a drug deal gone bad so Reb decides to just track down every dealer that The Wire did business with during the final two weeks of his life and kill every one of them.  Working with Lascoe (John Matuszak) and Toad (Sonny Landham), Reb cuts a trail of terror through Miami’s underground.  Soon, there’s only one name left on the list …. SONNY BURNETT!

At this point, of course, everyone in Miami should know that Sonny Burnett is actually Sonny Crockett.  I’ve lost track of how many time Crockett and Tubbs have gotten their undercover identities blown.  Usually, the people who figure out that Sonny and Rico are undercover end up dying almost immediately afterwards.  But a few of their enemies have survived and it’s odd that they never seem to bother to tell anyone, “Hey, those guys are actually cops.”

This episode of Miami Vice is violent that it verges on self-parody.  (I guess that’s to be expected as the script was written by the great John Milius,  Milius was credited as “Walter Kurtz.”)  Reb Brown is an amusing actor.  He never showed much emotion but he always looked believable whenever he was relentlessly tracking down someone that he wanted to kill.  Brown is both this episode’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness.  As played Brown, Reb Gustasfson barely flinches when he gets shot.  He’s a relentless killing machine, the terminator on a motorcycle.  That does certainly make him an intimidating figure.  At the same time, this episode also features Reb Brown doing his signature yelling and, for me, it was hard to watch this episode without thinking about all the close-up, high-pitched screaming that he did in Space Mutiny.

Tubbs ends up in the hospital in this one.  An attack by Reb and his biker pals leaves Tubbs with a concussion.  Crockett visits the hospital and there’s a scene where he attempts to have a conversation with a heavily drugged Tubbs.  Tubbs’s comments make about as much sense as the last words of Dutch Schultz but it’s still kind of nice to see that Crockett actually does care about his partner.  The two of them haven’t always seemed particularly happy with having to work together over the course of the third season.

Biker fans will also be happy to note that Kim Coates has a small role in this one.  Crockett and Tubbs beat him up in a biker bar while demanding information about Reb.  The odd thing here is that Crockett and Tubbs go into the biker bar and make no attempt to hide the fact that they’re actually cops.  And all of the bikers in the bar seem to already know that they’re cops.  Seriously, were Crockett and Tubbs the two worst undercover cops in history?

This was an enjoyably over-the-top episode.  It was a bit silly but, when it comes to Reb Brown, would you want it any other way?

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1975 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 1975.  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 1975 Films

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, dir by Milos Forman, DP: Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975, dir by Sidney Lumet, DP: Victor J. Kemper)

Deep Red (1975, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Luigi Kuveiller)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, dir. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, DP: Terry Bedford)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Silicon Towers!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally 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 Silicon Towers!

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, pull up Silicon Towers on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim (2001, dir by Spike Jonze)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Val wrote about this music video way back in 2016.  I’m sharing it again because today is Christopher Walken’s 82nd birthday!  Walken trained as a dancer before going into acting and he gets to show off more than a few moves in this video.

Walken also trained as a lion tamer before he went into acting.  I guess he’s a little bit old to play a lion tamer now but still, that’s something I would have liked to have seen.

Enjoy!