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, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Texas’s own Wes Anderson! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Wes Anderson Films
Bottle Rocket (1996, dir by Wes Anderson, DP: Robert Yeoman)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, dir by Wes Anderson, DP: Tristan Oliver)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012, dir by Wes Anderson, DP: Robert Yeoman)
Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, dir by Wes Anderson, DP: Robert Yeoman)
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 77th birthday to director John Woo, the man who did the most to popularize the idea of the slo mo of doom!
Today’s scene that I love comes from Woo’s 1997 film, Face/Off. In this scene, John Travolta pursues Nicolas Cage by both car and helicopter. While Cage’s criminal has the time of his life, Travolta’s no-nonsense federal agent reveals just how obsessed he is with capturing his prey. No one has switched faces yet but the action is already wonderfully over-the-top. Cage and Travolta both do what they do best in this scene and so does John Woo.
The future looks a lot like a cheap music video. Due to repeated earthquakes, California is now an island and Los Angeles has been left in ruins. The city has been renamed New Angeles, even though the correct name would have been Nuevos Angeles but whatever. The important thing is that city is now a mess. The police allow the gangs to run rampant at night in return for not running rampant during the day. The nightly news, which is anchored by George Hamilton and Vanna White, is full of stories about the federal government refusing to send any more aid to California, despite the fact that Jerry Brown is the Vice President. For some reason, Andy Dick plays the weatherman and gives continual updates on the smog and rain.
Despite the fact that the city is the most dangerous place on Earth, Satori Imada (Julia Nickson) still makes the time to drive her teenage sons, Billy (Scott Wolf) and and Jimmy Lee (Mark Dacascos, who was clearly not a teenager when this film was shot) to and from their karate tournaments. However, that might all end because Sartori possesses half of a magic medallion and the evil Koga Shuko (Robert Patrick, looking oddly like Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath) has the other half. Satori gives her half of the medallion to Billy and tells him that he and his brother must keep it out of the hands of Shuko.
That’s not going to be easy because Shuko not only has control of the local gangs but also the police. Fortunately, rebel leader Marian Delario (Alyssa Milano) is willing to help out the Lee brothers. It all leads to a lot of fights, a lot of running, some campy humor, and stiffly delivered dialogue. For whatever reason, the filmmakers decided that the way to make this marital arts film a success would be to push accomplished martial artist Mark Dacascos into the background and instead focus on Scott Wolf, who spends most of the movie looking like he’s either confused by the plot or terrified as to what Double Dragon might do to his career.
Yeah, this movie is pretty stupid and the plot is pretty much impossible to follow. And yet, it is oddly entertaining in its own weird way. If you ignore the story and just focus on the visuals, it can actually be kind of fun. Look at all the bright colors. Look at Robert Patrick, with his goat-tee and his 90s pop star hair. Look at Alyssa Milano, who, surprisingly, seems to actually be in on the joke. Look at all of the Mad Max-inspired fashion choices. From a purely visual point of view, New Angeles is a huge improvement on Los Angeles. Along with the film visuals, the film is also worth watching just so one can witness just how over-the-top Robert Patrick goes in his performance. I don’t normally think of Patrick as being someone who chews the scenery but, in this film, he gives into every cartoonish impulse that he has and it’s actually a lot of fun to watch. There’s not a moment of subtlety to be found in either his performance or Alyssa Milano’s and thank the Angels for that. Finally, I have to appreciate the fact that the film’s main message appears to be that the government and all other forms of civil authority are basically useless. Not even Vice President Jerry Brown can be bothered to help out the people of New Angeles. That pretty much tells you all that you need to know.
In the end, Double Dragon is not a particularly good film but it’s fun in its own deeply dumb way.
May 1st is not only the first day of May but it’s also a day of many holidays. To some people (mostly British pagans), May Day is a day for celebrating nature. For others, it’s International Workers Day. In socialist and communist countries, this is traditionally the day when the army marches down the street and everyone thinks about how lucky they are to live in a society where they are watched 24/7. In the 50s, in order to provide an alternative to day’s communist and pagan-themed holidays, the United States declared May 1st to be both Loyalty Day and Law Day. On Loyalty Day, Americans are meant to remember that they would even turn in their best friend if that person said something that could be considered subversive. On Law Day, Americans are meant to celebrate the American legal system and the way it can be used to toss subversive elements into prison. I didn’t say these were all necessarily good holidays but they exist, nonetheless. (Sadly, there is no Don’t Be A Snitch Day.)
That’s not all, though. In Hawaii, it’s Lei Day. According to Checkiday, it’s also Phone In Sick Day, which sounds like a lot of fun. It’s also Global Love Day and Couple Appreciation Day and apparently, for dog owners, it’s National Purebred Dog Day. It’s also the Feast Day of St. Joseph The Worker. So, really, no matter what you believe or how you vote (or don’t vote), May 1st has got something for you! Everyone gets a holiday! Yay!
As for today’s music video of the day, it’s from a band called Secrets and it’s for a song called Maybe Next May. Enjoy!
This heart is yours so take it as you please but if you walk away, remember I need that heart to breathe
I always try so hard to be her right and all she does is fight the reasons why the future always seemed so bright I don’t know why she fears the light
you always try to hide and cover up the hurt inside but I see through your lies you know I’m what you need and I need you to breathe so wont you take
this heart is yours so take it as you please but if you walk away, remember I need that heart to breathe
oh, if you’ve seen what ive seen you should know you’d know its not a good thing to let go three years of constant devotion are gone with our destructive emotions. our love that once was lays in waste but i still offer you
this heart is yours so take it as you please but if you walk away, remember I need that heart to breathe
I need you now more than you know, why wont you come home? I need my heart to breathe
there’s a part of me that still cant sleep at night without you in my side its getting harder and harder to breathe the farther and farther you get from me
this heart is yours so take it as you please but if you walk away, remember I need that heart to breathe
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 1971’s See The Man Run! It can be viewed on YouTube!
Two criminals have kidnapped the 18 year-old daughter of Dr. Thomas Spencer (Eddie Albert). They call the number that they have for Dr. Spencer and they tell the man that answers that they are going to kill his daughter unless he pays them a large amount of money.
What the criminals don’t know is that Dr. Spencer has recently changed his phone number and his old number was given to a struggling actor named Ben Taylor (Robert Culp). When the kidnappers call, Ben has just gotten out of bed and he’s still a bit too groggy to explain to them that they have the wrong number. Though he suspects that the whole thing might be an elaborate prank, he decides to call the real Dr. Spencer and tell him about the phone call. However, when the doctor answers, Ben does such a bad job of explaining the situation that Dr. Spencer thinks that Ben is the kidnapper. Begging Ben not to hurt his daughter, Dr. Spencer says that he’ll pay anything and that he won’t even call the police.
This gives Ben and his wife, Joanne (Angie Dickinson), an idea. When the kidnappers call back, Ben pretends to be Dr. Spencer. After the kidnappers tell Ben the amount of money that they want, Ben then calls Dr. Spencer and, pretending to be the kidnapper, relays the message but he also adds an extra $50,000 to the ransom demand. Ben and Joanne’s plan is to collect the ransom from Dr. Spencer, take their cut, and then deliver the ransom to the kidnappers.
It’s a complicated plan and, throughout the course of the day, both Ben and Joanne have their moments of doubt. But they stick with it, because Joanne wants the money and Ben wants the chance to not only prove himself as an actor but to also show Joanne that he’s not the loser that she insists that he is. Complicating matters, though, is that Dr. Spencer’s wife (June Allyson) has called the police without telling Dr. Spencer. Though Dr. Spencer doesn’t know it, the cops are determined to be there when he hands off the ransom to the man who claims to have his daughter.
Clocking in at a briskly-paced 73 minutes, See The Man Run is an enjoyable thriller, one that is full of unexpected twists and which features a fierce performance from Angie Dickinson and a rather poignant one from Robert Culp. Culp is convincing rather he’s playing a kidnapper, a doctor, or just an out of work actor who doesn’t realize that he’s gotten in over his head. As smart as he may be, Ben cannot escape from his own insecurities and his fear of being betrayed. It all leads to a diabolically clever surprise ending, one that proves that you can run only so far before you stumble.
Here are my Oscar predictions for April! As always, when it’s this early in the year, I recommend taking all of these with a grain of salt. At this point, the only thing that anyone knows for sure is that it’s safe to remove Jonathan Majors and Magazine Dreams from any list of predictions.
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, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 67th birthday to cinematic provocateur, Lars Von Trier!
It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Lars Von Trier Films
Europa (1991, directed by Lars Von Trier, DP: Henning Bendtsen, Edward Kłosiński, Jean-Paul Meurisse. Released as Zentropa in North America)
Breaking the Waves (1996, dir by Lars Von Trier, DP: Robby Muller)
Dogville (2002, dir by Lars Von Trier, DP: Anthony Dod Mantle)
Melancholia (2011, dir by Lars Von Trier, DP: Manuel Alberto Claro)
Through the Shattered Lens 