Today’s song of the day comes to us from the soundtrack of the 1983 film, Revenge of the Ninja. Composed by Robert J. Walsh, this soundtrack will definitely leave you prepared to defeat all of your enemies, ninja-style!
(Actually, don’t try to do that without getting some training once. I speak with the experience who sprained her ankle multiple times as a result of trying to duplicated Kate Beckinsale’s Underworld moves.)
Today, we wish a happy birthday to Cillian Murphy!
A year ago, Murphy won the Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer. However, before playing the lead role in Christopher Nolan’s epic, Cillian Murphy been an intriguing cinematic presence for over two decades. I first became aware of him after watching Danny Boyle’s 2002 classic, 28 Days Later. Here he is, showing what he can do without even uttering a word of dialogue, in a haunting scene from that film.
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 screenwriter Bob Gale! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Films Written By Bob Gale
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978, dir by Robert Zemeckis, DP: Donald M. Morgan)
1941 (directed by Steven Spielberg, DP: William A. Fraker)
Used Cars (1980, dir by Robert Zemeckis, DP: Donald M. Morgan)
Back to the Future (1986, dir by Robert Zemeckis, DP: Dean Cundey)
Hi, everyone! I have a quick programming note. Because of the holiday and my own need to get caught up with some other TSL projects that I’m currently working on, I will be taking a two week-long break from my Retro Television Reviews. They will return on Monday, June 9th, with reviews of Miami Vice and CHiPs!
For those of you keeping track, Monday is all about the cops, with Miami Vice and CHiPs. Tuesday will feature Fantasy Island and Pacific Blue. Wednesday serves up The Love Boat and Monsters. Thursday gives us Malibu, CA and Highway to Heaven. Friday gives us St. Elsewhere and Friday the 13th. Saturday presents us with The American Short Story and Check It Out! And on Sunday, we’ve got Homicide: Life on the Street and Degrassi High!
Again, Retro Television Reviews will return on June 9th. Thank you for your understanding and patience!
In preparation for our celebration of Clint Eastwood’s birthday on the 31st, I watched Two Mules From Sister Sara earlier today.
The 1970 film, which was heavily influenced by Eastwood’s Spaghetti westerns, featured a soundtrack from Ennio Morricone. It only seems appropriate that his excellent work should also provide us with our song of the day.
Here’s what won at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. As the Academy’s membership has become more international, Cannes has been transformed into an Oscar precursor over the past few years. Time will tell if that’s the case this year. (Of the film’s that did win this year, The Secret Agent sounds like the most Oscar-friendly)
Palme d’Or
Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
Grand Prix
Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
Jury Prize
Mascha Schilinski for Sound of Falling and Oliver Laxe for Sirat (tie)
Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent
Best Screenplay
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Young Mothers
Best Actress
Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister
Best Actor
Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent
Special Prize
Resurrection, dir. Bi Gan
Camera d’Or for Best First Film
The President’s Cake, dir: Hassan Hadi
Palme d’Or for Best Short Film
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, dir: Tawfeek Barhom
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 1984’s NINJA III: THE DOMINATION!
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 and Tubi! 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!
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 is the birthday of our greatest living cinematographer, Roger Deakins! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Roger Deakins Films
Barton Fink (1991, dir by the Coen Brothers, cinematography by Roger Deakins)
The Hurricane (1999. dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Roger Deakins)
Skyfall (2012, dir by Sam Mendes, cinematography by Roger Deakins)
Sicario (2015, dir by Denis Villeneuve, cinematography by Roger Deakins)
This is a nicely atmospheric video. Always make you can keep your balance.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The entire series can be found on YouTube!
This week …. hey, where is everyone?
Episode 3.14 “Repetition”
(Dir by William Fruet, originally aired on February 5th, 1990)
After newspaper columnist Walter Cromwell (David Ferry) accidentally hits and kills a girl with his car, he finds himself consumed with guilt. He also start to hear the girl’s voice in his head, demanding that he bring her back to life. Walter just happens to have a cursed amulet, one that allows the owner to bring someone else back to life as long as he kills someone who is wearing the amulet. Walter’s first victim is his dying mother. But after he kills her, he starts to hear her voice demanding to be brought back to life. So, Walter commits another murder, one after the other, trying to bring back to life every one who he kills.
This was an interesting episode because neither Johnny nor Jack were anywhere to be seen. Instead, it was just Micki and she only appeared at the start and the end of the episode. The entire episode focused on Walter and his descent into madness and, it must be said, that worked just fine. This show’s strength has always been its collection of cursed antiques and this episode allowed us to see how one of them actually works. We saw how the amulet manipulated Walter and how Walter himself became more and more hooked on using the amulet’s power. I’ve always viewed the antiques as being a bit like drugs and their users being addicts and this episode certainly played into that theory.
This was an intense episode, featuring moody visuals and a strong script from David Lynch’s daughter, the future director Jennifer Lynch. After last week’s odd episode, it was nice to see an episode this week that actually got to the heart of what this series was always supposed to be about.
Through the Shattered Lens 