Here comes 2023!
Enjoy!
Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman
Retro Television Review: One World 3.9 “Jane Cops Out” and 3.10 “Marci’s In Hot Salsa”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing One World, which ran on NBC from 1998 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
The Cast of One World
Wow, I’m nearly done with this show! Yay!
Episode 3.9 “Jane Cops Out”
(directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 18th, 2000)
Ugh. It’s a Jane episode. I actually liked Jane during the first season and for the first half of the second season but she’s been pretty much unbearable during the third season. There’s a difference between being edgy and just being annoyingly rude. Of course, if I was living with the Blakes, I’d probably develop a bit of a bad attitude as well.
Anyway, in this episode, Jane gets a job at a SCUBA gear store and starts dating the owner’s grandson, a rookie cop! Jane is copping out …. oh wait, that’s what the title says! Jane freaks out over dating a cop because she’s a former criminal. The cop freaks out because all of his coworkers have arrested Jane in the past. Jane being a criminal is a bit like Neal being a genius or Ben being an alcoholic, in that it’s one of those plot points that’s never really been that convincing but which the show tends to randomly bring up.
In the B-plot, Dave’s snoring is keeping everyone awake. Eh, who cares?
Episode 3.10 “Marci’s In Hot Salsa”
(directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 25th, 2000)
I’ve often stated that Sui is my favorite character on this show. Marci is a close second. Unfortunately, Marci rarely seems to get to do much. With this episode, she finally get to be at the center of the main plot but it turns out that the plot is pretty much lifted from the “Dancing Isn’t Everything” episode of California Dreams.
Feeling that she doesn’t have any one thing that she’s good at and worried that she’s destined to be the average member of the family, Marci decides to make dancing her thing. She enters a salsa contest that is, of course, being held at the Warehouse, Miami’s “hottest under 21 club.” I would think this would be a problem, as Marci is also the assistant manager of the Warehouse and usually, employees are not allowed to enter contests that their employer is sponsoring. But no matter! By this point, The Warehouse pretty much only exists to cater to the whims of the Blakes.
Marci enters the contest with one guy but discovers that there’s another guy who is a far better dancer. Will Marci stay loyal to her original partner or dump him for the better dancer? You can probably guess exactly what happens in this episode but I still liked it because it featured a lot of dancing and the audience applauded when Marci said she was looking forward to death of Fidel Castro.
In the B-plot, Neal is grounded when he comes home late. (Was he grounded for helping Jane cheat on the SATs? Anyone remember that?) But he sneaks out and goes to a baseball game while Dave and Jane go to a modern art show. Dave says he doesn’t understand modern art. That’s because Dave’s a moron.
Just three more episodes to go!
The Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Rewards Banshees!
The Greater Western New York Film Critics Association have announced their winners for the best of 2022!
And here they are:
BEST PICTURE
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Batman
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Nope
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Athena (France)
Decision to Leave (South Korea)
EO (Poland)
Happening (France)
RRR (India)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy
Moonage Daydream
Sr.
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Apollo 101⁄2: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
LEAD ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Mia Goth, Pearl
Margot Robbie, Babylon
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Keke Palmer, Nope
LEAD ACTOR
Austin Butler, Elvis
Diego Calva, Babylon
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook & Jeong Seo-kyeong, Decision to Leave
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro & Patrick McHale / Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins (story), Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale
Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
David Kajganich, Bones and All
Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews, Women Talking
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Davis, The Banshees of Inisherin
Florian Hoffmeister, Tár
Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
Linus Sandgren, Babylon
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Nope
BEST EDITING
Tom Cross, Babylon
Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick
Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Matt Villa & Jonathan Redmond, Elvis
Monika Willi, Tár
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Michael Giacchino, The Batman
Hildur Guðnadóttir, Women Talking
Justin Hurwitz, Babylon
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Vanessa Burghardt, Cha Cha Real Smooth
Austin Butler, Elvis
Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR
Audrey Diwan, Happening
Damien Leone, Terrifier 2
Lila Neugebauer, Causeway
Chloe Okuno, Watcher
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
What Lisa Marie and Megan Watched Last Night #225: Mommy’s Little Star (dir by Curtis Crawford)
Last night, my sister Megan and I watched Mommy’s Little Star on the Lifetime Movie Network!
Why Were We Watching It?
For the past week and a half, I’ve been visiting my sister Megan and her family. This is kind of our holiday tradition. Everyone gets together for Christmas and then, from Christmas Day to New Year, Megan and I catch up and bond and talk about how we’re feeling about the past year and what we’re hoping to get out of the upcoming year. Plus, we watch a lot of TV and movies!
I’ve always loved watching movies with my family and I especially love Lifetime movies. (Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten to watch as much Lifetime as usual this year.) So, when I saw that the Lifetime Movie Network was broadcasting something called Mommy’s Little Star, I literally fell on my knees and begged Megan to stay up and watch it with me.
What Was It About?
12 year-old Olivia (Maja Vujicic) thinks that she’s found a way bring her parents back together. She’ll become a social media star by posting dancing videos online. If she can get her mother, Lauren (Rebecca Amzallag), to appear in the videos with her, she’ll become an even bigger star and maybe even win a contest because people love to watch young influencers dance with their moms.
Lauren’s new boyfriend, Aiden (Roderick McNeil), offers to act as Olivia’s agent and to guide her to social media stardom. Olivia is excited but soon, she becomes so addicted to being popular online that she starts neglect her friends, her schoolwork, and her well-meaning but strict nanny. Meanwhile, Aiden is actually a con artist who is willing to go to any lengths, including murder!, to get what he wants.
What Worked?
I always enjoy a good Lifetime moral panic film. This film had the typical Lifetime plot of the handsome but sinister man who was trying to take a daughter away from her loving parents but, to that, it also added a fear that I imagine many parents have, the fear of what their children might be doing online. One thing that both Olivia’s mom and her father (played by David Lafontaine) had in common is that neither one of them was really sure what it was that Olivia was getting so excited about and watching them, I was reminded of my aunt’s reaction when I first tried to explain to her what Twitter was. The film suggested that all of the trouble that Olivia and her family go through is worth it because it encourages Olivia to eventually take a break from social media. It’s all rather silly and campy but that’s what makes Lifetime movies so much fun.
I really enjoyed Roderick McNeil’s performance as Aiden. He had the whole charming sociopath act down to perfection.
What Did Not Work?
The film missed an opportunity by not having Olivia herself turn evil in her attempts to win the big contest. Maybe Lifetime had already met their quota for murderous children by the time they got around to Mommy’s Little Star.
“OMG! Just like me!” Moments
Right after my parents divorced, I had a fantasy that lasted for about two years where they would both come to see me performing with the New York City Ballet and they would be so moved by my dancing that they would get back together. That never happened, of course, but still, I could relate to what Olivia was trying to do even if I didn’t quite agree with her methods.
Both Megan and I agreed that Rebecca Amzallag, who did a great job playing Olivia’s mother, looked just like our friend Lea so that was kind of neat. We spent a lot of the film asking ourselves, “Is that what Lea would do?”
Lessons Learned
Social media is evil!
Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Saturday Night Fever!
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, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting the final #FridayNightFlix of 2022! The movie? 1977’s Saturday Night Fever!
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.
Saturday Night Fever is available on Prime and Paramount! See you there!
Music Video of the Day: Alcoholic by Chanel West Coast (2013, dir by Nicholaus Goossen)
Wow, look at you getting ready for New Year’s Eve!
If you’re ever feeling like you’ve reached a dead end, just remember that Rob Dyrdek’s receptionist is more famous than you are and …. well, that probably won’t help.
Enjoy!
Retro Television Reviews: City Guys 3.9 “In This Corner” and 3.10 “El-Trainmania IV”
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 City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
Let’s go back to Manny High and see what’s happening with the neat guys.
Episode 3.9 “In this Corner”
(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 16th, 1999)
When this show began, Jamal was an amiable goofball who wasn’t particularly good at sports. Then, at the start of season 3, he was suddenly transformed into a baseball phenom. And now, with this episode, Jamal is suddenly an aspiring boxer. The only problem is that Jamal’s father doesn’t want him to box because apparently, “Uncle Eddie” was blinded in the boxing ring. When Jamal gets a black eye while sparring, Jamal’s father forbids him to fight in the upcoming tournament. Jamal leaves home and moves in with Chris.
(Seriously, Chris and Jamal — don’t let anyone tell you that y’all spend too much time together.)
For some reason, Ms. Nobel decides to get involved. She encourages Jamal’s father to support Jamal’s dream of becoming a slow-witted, punch drunk fighter with CTE. Jamal’s father does show up, just in time to see Jamal get knocked out in the ring. Once Jamal wakes back up, he announces that he is retiring as a boxer.
“Hey, Jamal,” Chris says, “since you won’t be training anymore, how about taking a brother out for pizza?”
You’re not a brother, Chris! Add to that, Jamal probably has a concussion now.
In the episode’s B-plot, Al accidentally sells some blue boxing gloves to a dorky kid named Martin. It turns out the gloves belonged to a friend of Ms. Nobel’s so now, Al has to figure out how to get them back. The loyalty that everyone at Manny High has for their principal is kind of weird. Most students don’t like their principal. Anyway, Al gets the the gloves back by setting Martin up on a date with “Dawny Dawn” and “Cassy Cass.”
Whatever. This was a dumb episode.
Episode 3.10 “El-Trainmania IV”
(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 16th, 1999)
First, Jamal wants to be a boxer. Now, L-Train wants to be a pro wrestler! At least in L-Train’s case, this development kind of makes sense. L-Train’s always been portrayed as a fighter and an athlete. Anyway, L-Train’s new focus on wrestling comes into conflict with his previous commitment to read to underprivileged children. One of the children decides that he wants to be violent just because L-Train is violent so L-Train decides to abandon being a pro wrestler. In fact, L-Train’s story so closely follows Jamal’s boxing story that it’s strange that both episodes were apparently aired on the same day. Did no one say, “Maybe we should move this episode around to make it less obvious that we’re running out of ideas?”
In the B-plot, Chris and Jamal start doing restaurant reviews on their radio show. Apparently, a good review from Chris and Jamal can make or break a restaurant. Seriously? It’s just a high school radio program, people! Anyway, Chris and Jamal give a review to a bad Greek restaurant so Ms. Nobel forces them to eat there because apparently, Manny High could just run itself and Ms. Nobel had time to waste on the silliest issues.
*sigh* What a disappointing trip to Manny High! Hopefully, 2023 will be better.
4 Shots From 4 Films: Ruggero Deodato, Rest in Peace
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!
Ruggero Deodato, RIP
4 Shots From 4 Ruggeo Deodato Films
The House on the Edge of the Park (1980, dir by Ruggero Deodato)
Raiders of Atlantis (1983, dir by Ruggero Deodato)
Phantom of Death (1988, dir by Ruggero Deodato)
The Washing Machine (1993, dir by Ruggero Deodato)
Music Video of the Day: Spark the Fire by Gwen Stefani (2014, dir by Sophie Muller)
Enjoy!
Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.18 “Last of the Stubings / Million Dollar Man / The Sisters”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!
This week’s cruise is all about family, love, and …. CRIME!
Episode 1.18 “Last of the Stubings / Million Dollar Man / The Sisters”
(dir by Jack Arnold, originally aired on February 4th, 1978)
Fresh from having given Isaac a lesson in black history during the previous cruise, Captain Stubing is excited to give the rest of the crew a lesson about his family. The Stubings have a long and noteworthy Naval tradition and the Captain is proud to announce that his nephew, L. Courtney Stubing IV (Peter Isacksen), has been accepted to Annapolis. But, before going to school, he’s going to work on the Pacific Princess and show everyone that he is a natural-born sailor. The only problem is that Courtney Stubing is not a natural-born sailor. Instead, he’s a tall, clumsy, near-sighted, and kind of goony guy who has no idea how to talk to the passengers and who would rather be a ballet dancer. The problem, along with the fact that he’s the last of the young Stubings and expected to carry on the family tradition, is that he’s just as bad at dancing as he is at everything else.
Now, I have to give some credit to Gavin MacLeod here because he made this storyline work. The scene where, having finally realized the truth of about his nephew, Captain Stubing tells Courtney that it’s okay not to become a sailor and that he should find out what he’s good at was well-written and sensitively acted by MacLeod. It was about as honest a moment as you’ll probably ever find on a show like The Love Boat.
While the Stubings were bonding, two sisters were fighting. Rose (Marion Ross) was upset that Noreen (Pat Crowley) was spending all of her time with the handsome Clark Tyler (Brett Halsey). Seeing as how I mostly know Hasley from his starring role in Lucio Fulci’s Touch of Death, I would have been more concerned for Noreen’s safety than upset that she was ignoring me. Anyway, it was kind of boring story but it all worked out in the end. Marion Ross would go on to become the Love Boat’s most frequent passenger, though she always played a different character. Eventually, she even played a woman who married Captain Stubing but we’ve got a long way to go until we reach that point.
A long, loooooooooong way.
Meanwhile, two passengers found love. Unfortunately, it was only after they slept together that Stephanie (Marcia Strassman) discovered that Bill (Frank Converse) had stolen a million dollars from his employer and Bill discovered that Stephanie was a cop. Stephanie explained that she would be required to arrest Bill as soon as the ship returned to the United States. Bill considered running off to Mexico but, in the end, he decided to face justice in the U.S., on the condition that Stephanie would be waiting for him after he got out of prison. Honestly, I think it would have made more sense for Stephanie to just join Bill in Mexico and thy two of them could have built a new life there. I mean, they’ve got a million dollars! But, whatever. Strassman and Converse had a lot of chemistry so, despite yourself, you really do hope that things will work out for them while you’re watching the episode.
And I hope things work for you as well, as we sail towards 2023! The Love Boat will return.
