Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For The Sword and the Sorcerer!

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon. 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, at 10 pm et, #FridayNightFlix presents one of my Arleigh’s favorite movies, The Sword and the Sorcerer!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

The Sword and the Sorcerer is available on Prime! See you there!

Scenes That I Love: That Iconic Moment From Tough Guys Don’t Dance

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Norman Mailer was better-known as a writer than a filmmaker but, over the course of his limited directorial career, he did come up with one scene that will never be forgotten. That scene is a scene that I love from 1987’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance.

Take it away, O’Neal!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Norman Mailer Edition

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Norman Mailer, running for mayor of New York City in 1969

4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Norman Mailer wasn’t just a writer and symbol of New York City. He was also an aspiring filmmaker, a director who made three experimental films in the 60s and one studio film in the 80s. And while none of his films could really be described as being a hit with either audiences or critics, they do — to a certain extent — epitomize an era. Plus, the story of Rip Torn hitting Mailer with a hammer during the filming of Maidstone will live forever.

In honor of Norman Mailer the director, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Norma Mailer Films

Wild 90 (1968, dir by Norman Mailer, DP: D.A. Pennebaker)

Beyond The Law (1968, dir by Norman Mailer, DP: D.A. Pennebaker)

Maidstone (1970, dir by Norman Mailer, DP: D.A. Pennebaker)

Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987, dir by Norman Mailer, DP: Mike Moyer and John Bailey)

Music Video of the Day: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithfull (1979, dir by ????)

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Marianne Faithfull, RIP.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 3.11 “Jonathan Smith Goes To Washington”

Posted on January 30, 2025 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 Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Jonathan invades the Senate.

Episode 3.11 “Jonathan Smith Goes To Washington”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on December 3rd, 1986)

Mark’s sister is getting married but her future stepdaughter desperately needs an experimental drug to survive a rare illness. Unfortunately, the Senate is voting on a budget that will cut funding for experimental drugs. So, Jonathan appears to Sen. Fritz McCorkindale (Eddie Albert) and pressures him to rewrite the budget. Senator McCorkindale is reluctant until he learns that his grandson will also need an experimental drug. So, it’s time to redo the end of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, just with Jonathan providing advice to the Senator in his effort to keep the budget he wrote from being put to a vote. This is one of those episodes where no one else can see Jonathan but they can see the Senator talking to Jonathan and, for some reason, no one wonders why the Senator is talking to himself.

This episode was sincere, earnest, heartfelt, well-intentioned, and ultimately very, very cringey. Michael Landon’s heart was undoubtedly in the right place but, and this might just be my civil libertarian side coming out, I’m not really comfortable with the idea of an angel telling a senator how to vote on legislation. This was kind of like that episode where Mark inspires the President to sign an arms treaty. It was just too naive to be effective.

On another note, Mark refers to his sister as being his only relative but it seems like Mark visits a new relative nearly every episode. That type of sloppy writing didn’t occur often on Highway to Heaven so I’m going to guess this episode was written and filmed quickly, so deeply did Landon believe in the episode’s message. Again, you can’t fault Landon for caring and trying to do good but this episode just felt rushed.

Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 1.26 “The Triatholon”

Posted on January 30, 2025 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, season one comes to an end!

Episode 1.26 “The Triathlon”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on May 23rd, 1999)

Stads wants to enter the Malibu triathlon but training for it is such hard work and, over the past few episodes, Stads has gone from being an athletic and likable go-getter to becoming perhaps the whiniest character to have ever appeared on a Peter Engel-produced teen sitcom. Scott volunteers to help Stads train which freaks out Jason because Jason still has feelings for Stads.

First, Jason tries to train for the triathlon too but it’s too much work for him. So, Jason arranges for Murray to occupy Scott at the restaurant on the night before the triathlon. Murray demands a lot of shrimp. He follows Scott into the walk-in freezer. Murray accidentally locks them in! I guess they’re dead now.

Meanwhile, Jason pulls out his relationship scrapbook and keeps Stads up so late that she oversleeps and misses the triathlon. Stads isn’t too upset about it because at least she got to spend time with Jason. But then, after Murray and Scott are rescued from the freezer, she finds out that Jason arranged for Scott to miss their final training night. Scott and Stads team up to get revenge and somehow, it leads to Jason dressing up in armor and riding a horse across the beach.

This show is so stupid.

Meanwhile, Traycee slips on the restaurant’s wet flood and decides to sue Peter so that she can appear in a commercial for a personal injury lawyer. Peter goes out of his way to be nice to Traycee, leading to Traycee thinking that Peter wants to marry her and….

This show is so stupid!

But let’s give some credit where credit is due. Brandon Brooks (who played Murray) and Priscilla Inga Taylor (who played Traycee) were the best things about the first season, largely because they both so embraced the absurdity of their characters. While the rest of the cast often seemed to be sleepwalking through their roles, Brooks and Taylor totally threw themselves into their roles and they were responsible for what few laughs the show did achieve. And I’ll admit that I laughed at Taylor and Brooks during the finale. (I laughed when Taylor sang her little song about suing Peter. And I laughed at Brooks muttering, “Surfing” over and over again because he wanted to make sure those were his last words.) They deserve a lot of praise for their work.

The season finale ends with Stads and Jason, the two least likable characters on the show, sharing a kiss while the audience goes, “Whoo!” The finale really reminded how much the show changed over the course of the first season. True, Jason remained a sociopath. However, Scott actually become a halfway decent human being. Due to some very bad writing, Stads went from being likable to being whiny. Murray went from being annoying to genuinely funny. Peter went from being cool to being dorky. Traycee went from being a background character to one of the show’s highlights. And Sam went from being the center of the show to someone who was lucky to get any lines whatsoever. The pilot featured Jason and Scott as high school students but now, Scott is a part-time sportscaster and we never hear any talk of homework or anything else involving school. Change can be good but, in the case of this show, it’s just evidence that no one was really sure what Malibu CA was supposed to be about.

Next week, we start the second and final season. Yay.

Song of the Day: Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) by Phil Collins

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I mentioned earlier, today is Phil Collins’s birthday so today’s song of the day is one of my favorites. From the film of the same name, here is Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh
You’re the only one who really knew me at all

How can you just walk away from me,
when all I can do is watch you leave
Cos we’ve shared the laughter and the pain and even shared the tears
You’re the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, oh there’s just an empty space
And there’s nothing left here to remind me,
just the memory of your face
Ooh take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space
And you coming back to me is against all odds and that’s what I’ve got to face

I wish I could just make you turn around,
turn around and see me cry
There’s so much I need to say to you,
so many reasons why
You’re the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space
And there’s nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face
Now take a look at me now, cos there’s just an empty space

But to wait for you, is all I can do and that’s what I’ve got to face
Take a good look at me now, cos I’ll still be standing here
And you coming back to me is against all odds
It’s the chance I’ve gotta take

Take a look at me now

lyrics by Phil Collins

Scenes That I Love: The Nightmare From The Conversation

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy 95th birthday to the great actor-turned-writer Gene Hackman!

Today’s scene that I love comes from one of Hackman’s best films, 1974’s The Conversation. In this scene, Hackman’s surveillance expert has a nightmare inspired by his fear that his latest job may cause two people to be murdered. Hackman won two Oscars over the course of his career and was nominated several times. The fact that he was not nominated for The Conversation was a huge oversight on the part of the Academy.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Michael Anderson Edition

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

105 years ago today, Michael Anderson was born in London. Anderson may have never become a household name but he directed some memorable movies. Around The World in 80 Days proved that audiences love spectacle and celebrity cameos and it won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1956. (Though Anderson was nominated for best director, the award went to George Stevens for Giant.) However, I think that Anderson’s best-remembered film is probably Logan’s Run. Whenever I shout, “I hate outside!” or I reply to a simple question with, “There is no sanctuary,” people always seem to automatically know which film I’m referencing. Anderson followed up Logan’s Run with Orca, which is one of the better Jaws rip-offs.

Today, we honor the career and legacy of Michael Anderson with….

4 Shots From 4 Michael Anderson Films