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!
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Irish director Neil Jordan! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Neil Jordan Films
Mona Lisa (1986, dir by Neil Jordan, DP; Roger Pratt)
Interview With A Vampire (1994, dir by Neil Jordan, DP: Philippe Rousselot)
The Butcher Boy (1998, dir by Neil Jordan, DP: Adrian Biddle)
In Dreams (1999, dir by Neil Jordan, DP: Darius Khondji)
Both this song and the scenes in the videos are taken from one of my favorite films of the last few years, The Shock of the Future. A tribute to the women who helped to create electronic music, The Shock of the Future is a wonderfully inspiring film. Go watch it!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network! It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.
This week, Chris screws up again.
Episode 3.16 “Double Lives”
(Dir by Scott Lautanen, originally aired on January 18th, 1998)
Sean McGovern (Rob Youngblood) shows up on the beach, looking for Chris. It turns out that he’s a former lover who is now in the witness protection agency. We jump forward several months and Sean has not only vanished by Chris has been accused of helping him flee. Chris is being investigated and, as is typical with this show, the reaction of the bicycle cops is to get offended that they’re being held to any sort of professional standard.
Seriously, Chris’s former boyfriend escapes custody? Heck yeah, Chris should be investigated! (I gave up cursing for Lent, everyone.) Instead, Chris pouts about having to answer the most basic of questions and Palermo wanders around in the background, talking about how he needs to get Chris back on a bicycle and doing her job. It’s hard to take any of this seriously when everyone’s wearing bicycle shorts.
Meanwhile, a gang of teenagers is mugging closeted gay men because they know the men won’t go to the police. Victor is told to go undercover as a gay man to catch the muggers. “No one’s going to believe me as a gay man!” Victor says. Fortunately, Victor is wrong and he’s able to capture the muggers.
This episode was well-intentioned. As far as the mugging storyline was concerned, it treated the victims with sensitivity. Judge Annadale (Gil Gerard) refuses to make a police report because coming out of the closet would end his career and, at the time this show aired, he had every reason to believe that. That said, the actors playing the muggers were not exactly the most intimidating teenagers around. As far as Chris’s storyline is concerned …. who cares? Seriously, why does Chris never have to face any consequences for being awful at her job?
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00. The show is currently on Prime.
This week, Scott ruins the school play.
Episode 1.6 “George Washington Kissed Here”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 16th, 1993)
Mr. Belding is directing the school play, a tribute to the heroes of the American Revolution. When Scott sees that Lindsay in the play, he decides that he wants her to play Martha Washington while he plays George so that he can kiss her on stage. Scott goes as far as to convince that Mr. Belding that the play should be an “MTV version” of the American Revolution….
Sorry, I just rolled my eyes so hard that I passed out. Okay, I’m back.
Anyway, Tommy D gets so jealous that he takes a role as a messenger, despite feeling that acting is “for dweebs.” Megan is cast as Betsy Ross and Weasel is cast as Ben Franklin. Vicki is also in the cast because she wants to see Scott in tights.
(Audience: whoooo!)
Tommy D is jealous and tries to ruin the play but Megan calls him out backstage and says, “Tommy D stands for Doesn’t Have A Clue.” The audience cheers, even though Tommy D’s name should be Tommy DHAC. Tommy realizes that he’s being a jerk so he apologizes, which leads to Lindsay chasing after him despite the fact that her cue is coming up. So, Vicki steps in and plays Martha even though Lindsay was previously onstage as Martha. Vicki kisses Scott, Tommy D and Lindsay get back together, and everyone applauds Mr. Belding, even though the play sucked.
I hated this episode. As someone who has done high school and community theater, watching these idiots run around backstage ticked me off. Lindsay missed her cue and everyone acted like it was no big deal. No, it’s a huge deal. It was totally unprofessional. Lindsay should have been expelled.
Watching this episode, it occurred to me that Zack Morris could have pulled it off but Scott’s obsession with Lindsay just comes across as being creepy. Zack may have been fixated on Kelly and jealous of Slater but at least Kelly was actually single and interested in him. Lindsay is dating Tommy D and seems pretty happy with him. Scott needs to move on. In fact, wasn’t the audience going “whooooo!” about Scott and Megan just two episodes ago?
6 Shots From 6 Films is just what it says it is, 6 shots from 6 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 6 Shots From 6 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Rest in Peace, Robert Carradine. The veteran character actor and son of John Carradine (as well as brother of Keith and half-brother of David) has passed away at the age of 71.
Most of the articles about his death describe him as being “Lizzie Maguire star Robert Carradine.” Robert Carradine, however, had a long career and it started long before Lizzie Maguire. Eternally youthful, he was still playing teenagers when he was in his 30s. (Let’s just say that he was a bit old to be a college freshman in Revenge of the Nerds.) Robert appeared in his share of 70s exploitation films but he also appeared in films directed by Hal Ashby, Walter Hill, and Martin Scorsese.
In fact, one of Carradine’s first roles was in Scorseses’s 1973 masterpiece, Mean Streets. Here he is, sharing an unforgettable scene with his brother David.
Happy Twin Peaks Day! 37 years ago today, FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrived in the town of Twin Peaks to investigate a heinous crime. Things would never be the same.
Sometimes, only the singer at the local roadhouse seemed to truly understand.
Don’t let yourself be hurt this time Don’t let yourself be hurt this time
Then I saw your face Then I saw your smile
The sky is still blue The clouds come and go Yet something is different Are we falling in love?
Don’t let yourself be hurt this time Don’t let yourself be hurt this time
Then your kiss so soft Then your touch so warm
The stars still shine bright The mountains still high Yet something is different Are we falling in love?
Falling Falling Are we falling in love?
Falling Falling Are we falling in love?
For the record, it’s tempting to credit David Lynch as director of this video, especially since it utilizes scenes from Twin Peaks. That said, he’s never been officially credited as director and, given how documented his career became online, I have a feeling that, if he was the director, he would have been credited as such. As an artist and a filmmaker, Lynch understood the importance of being credited for one’s work. So, for now, this video’s director is listed as unknown.
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!
This week, Ponch is back!
Episode 5.10 “Fast Money”
(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on December 5th, 1981)
This is getting weird.
After being either absent or only appearing in one or two scenes over the past few episodes, Ponch returns this week. He’s once again on active duty, patrolling the California highways with Baker. As much as I notice and joke about the obvious disdain that Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox held for each other, they do make a surprisingly good team. They just seem to belong together. If I’ve learned anything over the past few weeks, it’s that Larry Wilcox needed Estrada’s flamboyance and that Erik Estrada needed Wilcox’s cool professionalism. They balanced each other out.
With Ponch (and Estrada) back, there’s really no reason for Steve McLeish to stick around. And yet, during this episode — there he was!
He didn’t really have anything to do. Ponch and Baker were after some van-driving engineers who were using a hydraulic lift to hijack other cars. When they figured out which company had developed the hydraulics being used in the crime wave, Steve called the company’s chairman. (Steve says the chairman of the board is an old friend and no one acts surprise. I’m guessing maybe that was an inside joke or some sort of reference to the Olympics.) Later, Steve showed them a mansion that was fixing up so he could flip it. The scenes felt awkward and not just because of the Caitlyn Jenner’s total lack of acting ability. There really wasn’t any reason for them to be in the episode. There was no reason for Steve to be around. Ponch and Baker should have been out there, taking down those nerdy engineers and warning people about the dangers of technology. Instead, they were having to make time to hang out with Steve.
As I watched this episode, it occurred to me that maybe Caitlyn Jenner just refused to go home. Maybe Jenner showed up on set and wouldn’t leave until the writers wrote Steve a few scenes. That theory is really the only one that makes sense.
Anyway, this episode had a few good car crashes. The hydraulic lift was incredibly silly and so was Harlan’s suggestion that they could catch the thieves by tricking them into trying to lift a car that was weighted down with rocks. There was also a big subplot that was centered around Ponch trying to get the shower fixed in his apartment. I always like it whenever the show finds an excuse to show us either Ponch or Jon’s apartment. The wood paneling and the shag carpeting amuses me. They should have called this show Disco Cops.
According to the imdb, next week will be Jenner’s final episode. So, we’ll see how the saga of Steve McLeish comes to an end. I think he’s going to get arrested for taking payoffs from the mob. We’ll see if I’m right!
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, Crockett goes undercover as a Neo-Nazi.
Episode 5.16 “Victim of Circumstances”
(Dir by Colin Bucksey, originally aired on May 5th, 1989)
When a Miami coffeeshop is the scene of a violent shooting that leaves several dealers and the coffeeshop’s owner dead, Crockett and Tubbs assume that it’s just another part of an ongoing drug war. However, when it’s discovered that the owner of the coffeeshop was a Holocaust survivor who was scheduled to testify against a former guard named Hans Kozak (William Hickey), Crockett comes to suspect that the hit was ordered by a Neo-Nazi group. Crockett and Switek go undercover to infiltrate the group but it turns out that the killer was actually Helen Jackson (Karen Black), a reporter who is the daughter of Hans Kozak and who is trying to kill everyone who can testify against her father. Crockett and Tubbs manage to capture Helen but Helen is subsequently gunned down by Angelo Alvarez (John Leguizamo), the brother of one the dealers who was killed at the coffeeshop.
This was an interesting episode. On the one hand, it was based in reality. In the days following World War II, several concentration camp commandants were put on trial and executed for war crimes but the Allies were so busy going after the people in charge that there were several guards, doctors, and other personnel who were able to escape justice and who immigrated elsewhere. Quite a few went to South America. Several turned up in the Middle East. And there were many who ended up in America. It wasn’t until decades after the war that people started to get serious about tracking down and putting on trial the camp personnel who were often as brutal as the people giving the orders. By the time many of them started going on trial, they were elderly and often frail, like Hans Kozak. And, just as in this episode, there were many Neo-Nazi groups who protested the trials and sometimes tried to help the accused escape justice.
On the other hand, this episode played out in such a surreal manner that it often felt rather dream-like, with Hans Kozak being haunted by nightmares and the Neo-Nazis themselves meeting in ceremonies that felt as if they could have been lifted from one of Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse films. Karen Black plays her role with such wild-eyed intensity that the revelation that she was the killer isn’t really that much of a surprise. As for William Hickey, he doesn’t so much chew the scenery as he treats it like a buffet. This was one of those episodes that felt like it could spin off into space at any given moment. If James Brown had returned as the alien who abducted Trudy, I would not have been surprised.
This episode was definitely watchable and Stefan Gierasch gave a strong performance as the Nazi hunter who was determined to track down Hans Kozak. There was nothing subtle about it but it’s still one of the more memorable episodes of the show’s final season.
Speaking of final season, next week will feature Crockett and Tubbs in their final adventure. And then, we’ll look at the four “lost” episodes, which aired in syndication after the show’s network run ended. And then, we’ll done with Miami …. for now.
Through the Shattered Lens 