Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Survival Game and The Rundown!

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 1987s Survival Game!  Selected and hosted by Rev. Magdalen, this movie features Mike Norris!  So, you know it has to be good!

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet.  We will be watching 2003’s The Rundown, starring Seann William Scott and The Rock!  The film is on Prime!

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 Survival Game on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to Twitter and Prime, start The Rundown, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 5/8/23 — 5/14/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This upcoming week sees the opening of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival!  I can’t wait to hear about the reactions of Killers of the Flower Moon and Asteroid City!

Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week!

Films I Watched:

  1. Air (2023)
  2. Bruce Springsteen — Under Review: 1978 — 1982: Tales of the Working Man (2008)
  3. Call Her Mom (1972)
  4. Champions (2023)
  5. Darkest of Lies (2023)
  6. Drive (1997)
  7. Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)
  8. Goon (2011)
  9. Gorgo (1961)
  10. The Master Ninja (1985)
  11. M3GAN (2023)
  12. The Mother (2023)
  13. The Odds (2019)
  14. On A Wing and Prayer (2023)
  15. One Church (2016)
  16. Soul Surfer (2011)
  17. Top Gun (1986)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Accused
  2. Barry
  3. Beavis and Butt-Head
  4. Bubblegum Crisis
  5. Forgive or Forget
  6. Jury Duty
  7. Law & Order
  8. The Love Boat
  9. The Master
  10. Mystery Science Theater 3000
  11. Night Court
  12. Sally Jessy Raphael
  13. Survivor
  14. The Traitors

Books I Read:

  1. Nobody Lives Forever (1986) by John Gardner

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Amy Winehouse
  2. Atomic Kitten
  3. Britney Spears
  4. Bruce Springsteen
  5. The Chemical Brothers
  6. Coldplay
  7. Daft Punk
  8. Duffy
  9. Gloria Trevi
  10. The Grass Roots
  11. The Heavy
  12. Mandy Moore
  13. O-Town
  14. Paul Oakenfold
  15. Phantogram
  16. Public Service Broadcasting
  17. Saint Motel
  18. Shakira
  19. Taylor Swift

Live Tweets:

  1. Drive
  2. Top Gun
  3. Goon
  4. The Odds

News From Last Week:

  1. ‘Guardians’ Gang Steals ‘Book Club’ Ladies’ Purse Over Mother’s Day Weekend: Best Second Weekend Hold For MCU Post Covid – Sunday Box Office Update
  2. Searching for Superman: Inside the Quest to Cast DC’s New Top Hero
  3. What Is The CW’s Brand? Because It’s Not Homegrown Originals Anymore
  4. Jamie Foxx’s Daughter Says the Actor Is Out of the Hospital and Recuperating After Health Scare
  5. Peacock to Stream All 2024 Olympics Events Live In a Major Bet by NBCUniversal

Links From Last Week:

  1. New York’s Hidden Castle In Central Park! All Hail Belvedere Castle!
  2. Egypt Trip Day One

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared The Hard Case Crime Covers of Richard B. Farrell!
  2. Erin shared Kill One Kill Two, The Space Pirate, I Confess, Popular Detective, Amazing Stories, Argosy, and Remember When?
  3. Jeff reviewed Radical Jack, Kill Or Be Killed, Kill and Kill Again, Blue Steel, The Lucky Texan, Western Cyclone, and Branded!
  4. I reviewed Call Her Mom, The Mother, One Church, Darkest of Lies, Air, On A Wing And A Prayer, M3GAN, Champions, and Rumble in the Bronx!
  5. I reviewed Hang Time, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, City Guys, The Master, and California Dreams!
  6. I shared music videos from Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Amy Winehouse, Shakira, DMX, Paul Oakenfold, and Mandy Moore!
  7. I shared an AMV of the Day and my week in television!
  8. I paid tribute to Sofia Coppola and Jess Franco!

More From Us:

  1. At Days Without Incident, Leonard paid tribute to May 11th!
  2. At Reality TV Chat Blog, I reviewed the latest episode of Survivor!
  3. At my music site, I shared songs from Taylor Swift, The Grass Roots, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, The Heavy, Daft Punk, and Mandy Moore!
  4. At her photography site, Erin shared Branching, Network, Gathering, Three, Two, Four, and After The Meeting!

Want to see what went on last week?  Click here!

Retro Television Reviews: Call Her Mom (dir by Jerry Paris)

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 Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1972’s Call Her Mom!  It  can be viewed on YouTube!

While all of the other college campuses across America are in turmoil with protests and student walk-outs, Beardsley College remains at peace.  It’s a place where the 50s never ended.  Everyone is perfectly behaved.  No one is into politics.  Fraternity Row is a peaceful place, largely due to the elderly housemothers who keep the frats in order.

Except for Alpha Phi Epsilon, that is.  The A.P.E. House is known for being the wildest house on campus and every housemother that they get walks out on them.  If they can’t find a new housemother, they’ll lose their charter.  President Chester Hardgrove (Van Johnson) and Assistant Dean Walden (Charles Nelson Reilly) are practically salivating at the possibility of kicking A.P.E. off of campus.  And who can blame them?  Take a look at how wild these guys are:

These guys are crazy!  They wear yellow sweaters!  They play tennis indoors!  Occasionally, they leave a towel or two hanging on the bannister.  A.P.E. is out of control!

A.P.E. tries to find a new housemother but the word is out that A.P.E. is no good.  Not a single elderly woman in town is willing to work with them.  However, when the members of the frat realize that there’s not actually an age requirement for housemothers, they offer the job to Angie Bianco (Connie Stevens), who works as a waitress at the local pizza place.  Angie accepts the job.

It’s a scandal!  All of the older folks say that Angie is too young and too attractive to be trusted as the housemother for A.P.E.  Angie, however, proves herself to be a lot tougher than anyone was expecting.  The members of the frat soon come to respect her.  However, President Hardgrove is determined to force her out of the job and off of the campus.  Rumor has it that she’s encouraging the A.P.E. brothers to hold rollicking 20s style parties and she’s also allowing them to dance!

Check out this decadence!

The attempts to force Angie out of her job makes national news.  Soon, Angie and the frat brothers are featured in Time Magazine.  President Hardgrove points out that he’s never appeared in Time Magazine.  While an group of middle-aged women march outside of the A.P.E. House and demand that Angie be fired, the younger female students rally to Angie’s side.  Suddenly, Beardsley College is home to a protest!  (The protest is about as a wild as the 20s dance party at the A.P.E. House.)  President Hardgrove realizes that keeping Angie at the A.P.E. House will actually lead to the college getting more donations but Angie has decided that she has to quit.  Not only is she in love with A.P.E.’s sponsor, Prof. Calder (Jim Hutton), but a member of the fraternity has decided that he’s in love with her and he’s going to drop out of school to be with her.

Can A.P.E. convince Angie to come back?

Call Her Mom is a silly movie that was obviously meant to serve as a pilot for a television show, one in which I imagine Angie would have solved the fraternity’s problems on a weekly basis.  Seen today, it’s mostly memorable for its thoroughly innocent portrayal of college life.  A.P.E. House is the wildest frat on campus but no one is ever seen drinking.  Certainly no one is indulging in anything stronger than perhaps a Coke or a Pepsi.  I imagine this show was an accurate portrayal of what most parents hoped college was like.  That said, Connie Stevens and Jim Hutton made for a cute couple.  Hopefully, there were many good times in the future for the residents of A.P.E. House.

AMV of the Day: Mother (Bleach)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

How about an AMV of the Day?  This is really a ridiculous song but the AMV itself makes good use of it.  The person who put this AMV together left a message on their profile saying that they were considering not doing anymore AMVs because of YouTube censorship.  That was 12 years ago so, if nothing else, this AMV reminds us that things were just as bad in 2011 as they are today.

Anime: Bleach

Song: Mother (performed by Danzig)

Creator: WPIOUERHVVJKBWOIERER (please subscribe to this creator’s channel)

Past AMVs of the Day

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Sofia Coppola 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!

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite American directors, the one and only Sofia Coppola!  In honor of this day, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Sofia Coppola Films

The Virgin Suicides (1999, dir by Sofia Coppola, DP: Edward Lachman)

Lost In Translation (2003, dir by Sofia Coppola, DP: Lance Acord)

Marie Antoinette (2006, dir by Sofia Coppola, DP: Lance Acord)

The Bling Ring (2013, dir by Sofia Coppola, DP: Harry Savides and Christopher Blauvelt)

Film Review: The Mother (dir by Niki Caro)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Jennifer Lopez is …. THE MOTHER!

The Mother is a professional assassin, a former U.S. military operative who has spent the last 12 years isolated in Alaska, hiding out from two of her former associates, drug lord Hector Alvarez (Gael Garcia Bernal) and mercenary Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes).  In the past, The Mother went to the FBI when she discovered that Alvarez and Lovell were involved in human trafficking.  Lovell reacted by killing a bunch of FBI agent and attempting to kill The Mother’s unborn child by stabbing The Mother in the belly.  (I actually gasped in shock at this act of violence.)  Both The Mother and her daughter, Zoe, survived.

The Mother left her daughter to be raised by an FBI agent named William Cruise (Omari Hardwick).  But, twelve years later, Zoe (Lucy Paez) is kidnapped and The Mother has to come out of hiding to rescue her.  It’s a mission that will lead The Mother and Cruise to Cuba and which will eventually bring Lovell and his men back to Alaska.  Along the way, The Mother learns how to forgive herself and to how to open up emotionally and Zoe learns why her mother abandoned her so many years ago.  Zoe also learns that nature can be ruthless and unforgiving.

The Mother isn’t really a bad film as much as it’s just a very predictable film.  It’s very much from the Taken school of cinematic action, with a parent doing whatever is necessary to protect their children.  This is another one of those films where everyone tends to be very grim and there’s a lot of scenes of people coldly threatening each other.  The film opens with the FBI interrogating The Mother and the dialogue was so familiar and the attitudes so reminiscent of every single action film and television show that I’ve seen recently that I had to take a few minutes to remember which film I was watching.  Even The Mother’s eventual trip to snowy Alaska caused me to have flashbacks to both Those Who Wish Me Dead and the recent Dexter revival.  Oddly enough, it also reminded me of Sound of Metal, if just because The Mother‘s one friend in Alaska was played by Paul Raci.  It was nice to see Raci again.  With his haunted eyes and his kindly voice, he’s the type of guardian angel that everyone would want to have.  But again, it just all felt so familiar.

Jennifer Lopez gives a convincing performance as The Mother.  Though the film may be predictable, her commitment to protecting her daughter no matter what was undeniably moving and she and Lucy Paez has a believable mother/daughter relationship.  That said, Jennifer Lopez is always at her best when she’s allowed to play a character with a sense of playfulness and there’s little of that to be found in The Mother.  It’s a grim film about serious characters and it hits all of the expected beats with efficiency but not much more.  When it comes to 2023 Jennifer Lopez films, I still prefer the appealingly silly Shotgun Wedding.

Music Video of the Day: Picture To Burn by Taylor Swift (2006, dir by Trey Fanjoy)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Taylor Swift gets revenge on an ex-boyfriend!  The ex-boyfriend, in this case, was played by a football player named Justin Sandy was not an ex-boyfriend of Taylor’s.  Taylor said that he was perfect for the part because he was a “real-life Ken” doll.  Playing the role of Taylor’s friend in this video is an actual friend of Taylor’s, Abigail Anderson.

Enjoy!

May Positivity: One Church (dir by Bill Rahn)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Originally released in 2016, this low-budget political/religious thriller opens with a rather unsettling scene.  An obviously disturbed woman wanders down a suburban street, loudly singing This Little Light of Mine.  She stops in front of one house and starts to screech the lyrics, like a banshee predicting future doom.

The house is the home of Congressman Neil Barlow (Don Brooks) and both he and his wife Catherine (Kera O’Bryan) are about to discover that their teenage daughter has been taken away.  She has left home and she is now living with a religious communal cult.  When the FBI approaches the cult’s headquarters, all of the members drink poison in a mass suicide.  Neil Barlow becomes determined to one day become President so that he can stamp out the scourge of religious extremism.

18 years later, Neil Barlow is president and he’s just announced the creation of the Department of Religious Freedom.  Televangelist Randy Mason (Tim Ross) is put in charge of the Department but it turns out that this is just the beginning of Barlow’s plan to change America.  Barlow soon announces that all religions are going to come together under the umbrella of one state-run church.  Across America, people watch the press conference and say things like, “This will cut down on division,” and “We all believe the same thing anyways.”  The Department of Religious Freedom proceeds to outlaw all of the old religious texts and requires that all religious leaders preach the same pre-approved sermon.  Failure to do so can lead to being sent to a reeducation camp.

Randy’s brother, Jake Mason (Jason Frederick), knows a little about what has happened but not everything.  He’s been down in Mexico, ministering to a small village.  When Jake returns to America, he discovers that it’s no longer the country that he once thought it was.  Along with his girlfriend, Beth Barlow (Jessica Lynch), Jake tries to stand up against the One Church.  Beth also happens to be the President’s daughter and she, more than anyone, understands the anger that is fueling Neil Barlow’s actions.

I have an admitted weakness for low-budget, conspiracy-themed movies and One Church is definitely qualifies.  Say what you will about the film’s plot and themes, it’s hard not to appreciate a film in which the President gives a major, history-changing press conference in what appears to be a high school auditorium.  The offices of a major news network are represented by a small room that has several televisions propped up against the wall.  The White House dining room is about the same size as my dining room.  The future president of the United States lives in a house that’s about the size of the house where I live.  Suddenly, I’m feeling very important!

As for the film itself, it actually makes the perfect case for maintaining the separation of Church and State.  As soon as the State gets involved in religion, it starts using the Church as a way to control the citizens and to make itself more powerful.  Preachers like Randy Mason are easily corrupted once they’re in partnership with the government.  As for the citizens, they’re portrayed as being eager to be ordered about, which is perhaps the most realistic thing about One Church.  Beth is played by the same Jessica Lynch who was, in 2003, captured by and subsequently rescued from the Taliban.  She has appeared in a few films over the past few years, usually in small roles.  She’s actually a surprisingly good actress and she certainly gives the best performance in One Church.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/7/23 — 5/13/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Accused (Tuesday Night, FOX)

The season finale of Accused started out strong but, towards the end, it felt like propaganda for euthanasia.  Plus, the big twist — i.e., the accused taking the blame for a crime that was actually committed by a loved one — was one that the show had already done before.  It’s a bit early for this show to be repeating itself.  That’s one reason why I think Accused would be well-served by having a regular set of writers and a regular set of directors as opposed to bringing in new people for each episode.  That said, Keith Carradine gave a powerful performance as the man on trial.  The first season of Accused was extremely uneven but hopefully, they’ll work out the kinks by the time the second season begins.

Barry (Sunday Night, HBO)

The rumors were true!  There has indeed been a time jump and Barry and Sally are now living in the middle of nowhere and raising their son, John.  Sally, who now wears a dark wig and works as a waitress, is miserable and, on Sunday’s show, nearly strangled a guy.  Barry is oddly obsessed with Abraham Lincoln.  Barry spends a lot of time with John and obviously considers himself to be a good father but, ultimately, Barry is just as manipulative towards his son as Monroe Fuches was towards him.  When Sally came across a news story about Gene Cusineau coming out of hiding to consult on a Barry Berkman biopic, Barry replied, without hesitation, “I have to kill Gene Cusineau.”  That’s where this week’s unsettling episode of Barry ended.

As I watched this week’s episode, it occurred to me that if someone ever did decide to do a new version of The Shining, Bill Hader would be an ideal Jack Torrance.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Paramount Plus)

Episodes that feature both the young and the old Beavis and Butt-Head are so depressing.  It’s so easy to laugh at them when they’re young and they’re trying to plant cigarettes and destroying the community garden.  But then you see what the future has waiting for them.  Butt-Head’s a fat alcoholic and Beavis looks like he’s about 70 years old when he should just be in his 40s.  It’s sad but it’s also funny.  I do take some comfort in the fact that Beavis and Butt-Head always seem to be blissfully unaware of how terrible their lives truly are.  Beavis never seems to give up hope.

Bubblegum Crisis (YouTube)

I watched an episode on Saturday morning but, to be honest, I was half asleep.  All I know for sure is that a lot of stuff blew up.

Forgive or Forget (YouTube)

On Sunday, I sat through three episodes of this old 90s talk show on YouTube.  A son demanded that his mother apologize for robbing him.  (She didn’t.)  A man told his fiancée that he was an exotic dancer just for her to then reveal that she was a stripper.  (The audience went crazy.)  A woman demanded that her friend apologize for “sleeping with my first love.”  (“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the friend replied.)  Mother Love said to never forget the power of forgiveness.

On Friday, I watched one more episode.  A woman begged another woman to forgive her for backing out of an adoption arrangement.  No one was forgiven.  Mother Love started to cry.

Jury Duty (Freevee)

I absolutely loved this 8-hour, semi-improvised comedy about jury duty.  Essentially, the series followed one guy as he took part in a very strange court case and got to know his fellow jurors (including James Marsden, who played a comedic version of himself).  The catch was that everyone else in the court room was an actor and our hero was being filmed without even knowing it.  It was wonderfully weird, funny, and ultimately rather sweet.  It helped that the main guy, Ronald Gladden, came across as being incredibly likable and nice, even when James Marsden went out of his way to annoy him.  Give Marsden an Emmy!

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

This was a pretty dumb episode this week.  Cosgrove got shot by this week’s suspect after the suspect got out on bail.  Because he was captured at the scene, everyone knew who shot Cosgrove but, at the trial, no one brought up the fact that the suspect had shot a cop and, unless I missed it, I don’t think he was ever charged with shooting Cosgrove either.  Instead, Price was worried he wouldn’t be able to get a conviction on the crime that the guy was originally accused of and I was just like, “Uhmm, he shot a cop while trying to kill the state’s main witness against him.  Isn’t that pretty good evidence that the cops were onto something when they arrested him?”

Cosgrove considered retiring and going to Florida but, at the end of the episode, it appeared that he was planning on staying in New York.  I got the feeling that entire storyline was just included as some sort of “That that!” to Florida.  But, honestly, Cosgrove is 50 years old and politically and culturally conservative.  Why wouldn’t he want to move to Florida?

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about this week’s episode here!

The Master (Tubi)

Since Freddy’s Nightmares is no longer available on Tubi, I decided to watch and review all 13 episodes of this 80s ninja show instead.  You can read my review of episode 1 here!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Tubi)

Apparently, after the show went off the air, NBC edited the first two episodes of The Master together and they released the result theatrically under the name Master Ninja One.  And then, years later, the guys at Mystery Science Theater 3000 watched Master Ninja One and spent a lot of time pointing out Lee Van Cleef’s stunt double.  Anyway, I watched the Mystery Science Theater version on Thursday, after I finished writing up my review of The Master.  It made me laugh!

Night Court (Tuesday Night, NBC)

The season came to an end much as I predicted it would.  Abbi and Rand broke up.  Dan went to Louisiana and became a judge but I imagine he’ll be back whenever season 2 starts because, if there was anything that was consistent about the first season, it’s that the action always grinds to a halt whenever John Larroquette isn’t onscreen.

Sally Jessy Raphael (YouTube)

I watched an episode on Monday night.  Sally talked to parents who had out-of-control children.  The kids were forced to take part in the Scared Straight program.  Did it do any good?  Probably not.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about this week’s episode over at Reality TV Chat Blog!

The Traitors (Peacock)

I binged this enjoyably silly reality show over the course of the week.  Basically, a combination of newbies and reality TV vets moved into a Scottish castle and tried to figure out which of the three of them had been designated as “traitors” by host Alan Cumming.  The traitors could “kill” a guest every night.  (Well, not literally.)  I was happy to see Survivor’s Cirie Fields do well and outlast Big Brother‘s Rachel Reilly.  “I’m an icon!” Rachel exclaimed at one point.  (Truth be told, I may complain about Rachel whenever she shows up on yet another reality show but she knows exactly what the audience wants from her and she plays her role well so good for her!)