Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Lisa’s Week In Review: 6/14/21 — 6/20/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Summer temperatures arrived this week!  We’ve gone from being in the 70s to being in the high 90s and, as a result, we’re cranking up the AC here at the Texas offices of the Shattered Lens and we’re hoping for some sort of eventual relief.

Still, there is good news.  The local Alamo Drafthouse will soon be reopening.  2021 will soon be halfway through.  In another few months, it’ll be my favorite time of year!  It’s all just a matter of surviving the summer heat.  Best of luck to us all!

As for next week, I will be divorcing myself from the news and only focusing on movies and writing.  It’s not going to be easy because I actually am kind of interested in who is going to win the NYC mayoral primaries.  Then again, it’s a New York election so it’s not like they’re going to finish counting the votes before August anyways.

Anyway, here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week:

Films I Watched:

  1. All The King’s Men (1949)
  2. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
  3. Crawlspace (1972)
  4. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
  5. The Great Silence (1968)
  6. Hellmaster (1992)
  7. I, Tonya (2017)
  8. Kickboxer (1989)
  9. The Last Hurrah (1959)
  10. Lord of the Flies (1963)
  11. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  12. Rad (1986)
  13. Robo Vampire (1988)
  14. Twilight (2008)
  15. The Wager (2007)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Bachelorette
  2. Baywatch
  3. Court Cam
  4. Hell’s Kitchen
  5. Intervention
  6. The Love Boat
  7. The Office
  8. South Park

Books I Read:

  1. The Woman Next Door (2019) by Sue Watson

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Barry Adamson
  2. BJ Thomas
  3. Blanck Mass
  4. Blue Swede
  5. Britney Spears
  6. The Chemical Brothers
  7. The Crystal Methods
  8. Coldplay
  9. David Hasselhoff
  10. Dua Lipa
  11. Everclear
  12. Gladys Knight and the Pips
  13. Groove Armada
  14. Gunship
  15. Katy Perry
  16. The Killers
  17. Massive Attack
  18. Mobile
  19. Muse
  20. Phantogram
  21. The Prodigy
  22. Pulp
  23. Saint Motel
  24. Simon and Garfunkel 
  25. Taylor Swift

Trailers:

  1. E3 2021 Part One
  2. E3 2021 Part Two
  3. E3 2021 Part Three

News From Last Week:

  1. Frank Bonner, Brash Salesman on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ Dies at 79
  2. Roku claims ‘significant growth’ from shows it acquired from Quibi
  3. Inside Chris Harrison’s Shocking Downfall as ‘The Bachelor’ Host — and a $9 Million Payout
  4. BLACULA (2022) Reboot of the blaxploitation classic announced!

Links from Last Week:

  1. Tribeca Film Festival 2021 was the weirdest movie fest ever
  2. Too Jewish For Hollywood: As Antisemitism Soars, Hollywood Should Address Its Enduring Hypocrisy In Hyperbolic Caricatures of Jews
  3. A Century Of Film: Disney
  4. My Week in Books, Movies, and TV 6/18/21 (The World’s Common Tater)

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared Dime Detective Magazine, I Know The Score,  Complete Stories, Flirt, RAF Aces, Imagination, and Father of the Amazons!  She also reviewed Mr. Baseball and shared the covers of Baseball Stories and High Heel Magazine!
  2. Doc wished everyone a happy Father’s Day!
  3. Jeff paid tribute to Ned Beatty!
  4. Ryan reviewed The Punishment, Francis Bacon, and 65 Bugs!
  5. I shared music videos from The Brady Bunch, Muse, The Crystal Method, Mobile, The Prodigy, Gunship, and Gladys Knight and the Pips!  I reviewed Rad!  I paid tribute to Lucio Fulci!  I shared my week in television!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
  2. For SOLRAD, Ryan reviewed King of Court!
  3. On my music site, I shared songs from Pulp, Groove Armada, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, David Hasselhoff, Blue Swede, and BJ Thomas!
  4. On her photography site, Erin shared: Construction 8, Construction 9, Construction 10, Abandoned, Abandoned 2, Abandoned 3, and Abandoned 4.

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Blade Runner 2049 (2017, dir by Denis Villeneuve, cinematography by Roger Deakins)

Lisa’s Week In Television: 6/13/21 — 6/19/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yes, I did watch some television this week.  However, I didn’t actually take any notes about the shows that I watched so this edition of Lisa’s Week in Television might be lacking a little in detail.  Sorry about that!  To be honest, I spent most of this week adjusting to the arrival of summer temperatures and I ended up devoting most of my attention to the air conditioning.

Still, here’s a few thoughts about what I can remember about what I watched this week:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

It was a bit of a silly episode this week.  (I know, I know, they’re all silly.)  Rene had to fly a kite in order to make the new radio work.  (Don’t ask.)  Mimi, the new waitress, was disguised as a nun and she ended up getting twisted in the kite so she ended up as a flying nun.  It made no sense but, perhaps for that reason, it made me laugh.

The Bachelorette (Monday on ABC)

This week, Katie was stunned to discover that one of the bachelors might not have been there for the right reasons!  She sent Cody home because he was apparently only there to increase his profile.  Usually, it takes a few more episodes for The Bachelorette to reach the “He’s not here for the right reasons” stage.  The fact that this season got to it during the second episode worries me a little because this is a franchise that is always at its worse whenever it gets self-righteous.

(I always remember the episode of Burning Love, where the bachelors had to make sock puppets.  Adam Scott said, “This is so stupid.” Cut to Joe Lo Truglio: “And I was like — hey man, I’m here for my son.  Take this seriously!”)

In other news, Mike read a really awkward letter to his “future wife,” explaining why he waited until marriage to have sex.  Like I said, it was hella cringey but it pretty much guarantees that Mike will be the next Bachelor.

Bar Rescue (Sunday Night, Paramount)

It’s been a while since I watched this show.  Watching it on Sunday night, I discovered that John Taffer still apparently believes that not knowing how to run a bar is the worst crime known to man.  “YOU’RE OVERPOURING!  THAT’S MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN!”  Relax, John.  It’s just a bar.

Baywatch (Weekday evenings, H&I)

H&I has started in on the NINTH season of Baywatch and I have to say that I’m getting the feeling that, by the time this season rolled around, Baywatch was just repeating itself and going through the motions.  Every episode that I watched this week featured a storyline that had been done in a previous episode.  So, I guess if you’re wondering how many lifeguard stories there are, the answer is 8 seasons worth.

Let’s see how much I can remember about what I saw this week:

On the first of Sunday’s episodes, the Baywatch lifeguards had some competition from a private security company called — I kid you not — Bayguard!  Mitch and Cody had to prove that Baywatch was just as good as Bayguard, which they managed to do by rescuing a boy in a storm drain.  Mitch and Cody spent a lot of time rescuing people from storm drains.  The second episode was a sweet story about a little boy named Timmy who really liked dolphins.  Timmy also got trapped in a cave so Mitch and the lifeguards had to save him.  It was typical Baywatch stuff but David Hasselhoff always did his best work with the unabashedly sentimental storylines.

On Monday, a mysterious figure was roaming the beach and saving people from drowning!  Could it have been the klutzy new maintenance worker played Brooke Burns?  Since Burns was already featured in the opening credits wearing a Baywatch uniform, that was a pretty easy question to answer.  This was followed by an episode where April felt guilty about a swimmer dying, which was pretty much a remake of an earlier episode in which Caroline felt guilty about a swimmer dying.

On Tuesday, Hobie made his first appearance of the season.  Despite being Mitch’s son, Hobie had been missing in action for the previous few episodes.  (In real life, actor Jonathan Jackson was dealing with an addiction to cocaine that basically led to him being fired from the show.)  Hobie was arrested after a boat he was driving crashed.  However, it turned out that Hobie was not at fault!  Knowing that this episode was kind of meant to be a wake-up call to Jackson about his own behavior made the whole thing awkward to watch.  This was followed by an episode in which one of the lifeguards was selected for Jeopardy.  Unfortunately, she was later disqualified when it was discovered that she knew someone who worked on the show but Alex Trebek still made an appearance and was his usual charming self.

On Wednesday, the first episode featured Mitch having a mid-life crisis, which he previously had two seasons ago.  This was followed by an episode were Mitch befriend an orangutan.  Strangely, Mitch didn’t mention that — during season two — he befriended a chimpanzee.

On Thursday, Cody started using performance-enhancing drugs to increase his chances of going to the Olympics, much as several other characters have done on previous episodes of Baywatch.  This was followed by a skydiving episode which was basically a remake of the skydiving episode from season six.  Of course, the previous episode turned out to be a dream whereas this episode was real.  MITCH CAN SEE THE FUTURE!

On Friday, Mitch adopted a new son named Tanner.  (Hobie, we were told, was now living with his mother.)  This was followed by an episode where April and Craig finally broke up, which seemed appropriate since April was like 19 and Craig was nearly 60.  Craig apparently is a hotshot defense attorney but he was nowhere to be seen in the episode where Hobie was in jail.  Craig is a bad friend.

On Saturday, Peter Barton co-starred as a race car driver who was officially sponsored by …. wait for it …. AOL!  As a result, the entire episode featured people talking about how much they loved AOL.  Mitch’s adopted son even checked his AOL account and got the “You have mail” prompt.  “Hey, pal,” Mitch said, “you got mail!”

When future historians research the 90s, they’ll just watch episodes of Baywatch.

Court Cam (Wednesdays, A&E)

Don’t talk back to the judge or Dan Abrams will put you on TV and make fun of you.

Hell’s Kitchen (Monday Night, FOX)

There was a lot of raw chicken being sent up to the pass this week.  The blue team lost again.  This seems to be the way that it goes every season, though.  The men start out losing, the women get overconfident, and eventually both teams kind of crash and burn.

Intervention (Monday Night, A&E)

The intervention didn’t work this week.  Kelsey went to rehab but relapsed.  It was sad for I’ll give Intervention some credit for admitting that these things don’t always have a happy ending.

Moone Boy (Sunday Night, PBS)

Martin graduated from national school and attempted to make sure that his name would be remembered by future classes!  I remember, in high school, I was convinced the future students would never forget my graduating class.  In retrospect, I’m not sure why I thought that.  It’s not like Saved By The Bell, where the members of the New Class where still talking about the time Jessie got hooked on caffeine pills.  Time marches on.

The Office (Saturday Afternoon, Comedy Central)

Amy Adams just wanted to sell purses.  Michael bought her a $10,000 espresso machine. CRINGE!  Still, hilarious though.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

It was a typical episode of Open All Hours.  Arkwright abused Granville while Granville silently plotted his revenge.

The Powers of Matthew Star (Sunday Mornings, MeTV)

I was dealing with insomnia on Sunday so I did watch an episode of this old sci-fi series on MeTV.  (I used to set the DVR for it but, up until this week, I had kind of lost interest in it.)  Peter Barton — yes, the same Peter Barton who appeared on Baywatch this week — played an alien who was pretending to be a normal high school student.  In this week’s episode, Matthew Star traveled to the Bermuda Triangle and got a tragic message from his homeworld.  It was pretty silly but, as the title character, Peter Barton was sincere enough to nearly sell it.

Saved By The Bell (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

Screech got struck by lightning and suddenly had the power to see the future.  Zack tried to use Screech’s powers to cheat on the History midterm.  Unfortunately, Screech lost his powers and Zack got an “F minus …. for scamming!”

South Park (Wednesday Night, Comedy Central)

“Free Hat!  Free Hat!”  Actually, I don’t remember which episode it was that I watched but the Free Hat episode is always a good a default to go with.

Upstart Crow (Sunday Night, PBS)

Incredibly proud of his new play, Will Shakespeare is stunned to discover that the few women in his life are not as enamored of The Taming of the Shrew as he is.  Will simply cannot figure it out!  This was a funny episode, mostly because it was true.

 

 

 

Film Review: Rad (dir by Hal Needham)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1986 film, Rad, tells the story of Christopher “Cru” Jones (Bill Allen).  Cru lives in a small, kind of ugly town in middle America.  Cru has a job delivering newspapers so, every morning, he rides around town on a bicycle and he throws rolled-up copies of USA Today at people.  He throws the papers fairly aggressively and doesn’t seem to have much concern about riding his bike through backyards or using his bike to jump over (or sometimes, onto) cars.  And yet, no one can stay mad at Cru because he has a plucky, can-do attitude and he can do all sorts of tricks on his bicycle.

Cru has a decision to make.  He can either go to college or he can compete in a bicycle race.  If he goes to college, he might actually be able to get a career and actually have a future.  If he wins the bicycle race, he’ll get a car and $100,000.  His mother (Talia Shire) feels that Cru should go to college.  Cru, however, says that his gut is telling him to enter the race….

Hey, Cru, your gut is lying to you!  Seriously, I’m all for Cru competing and showing off how good he is at a rather mundane and kind of boring sport but college is college.  There’s a scene early on in the film where one of Cru’s classmates is talking about all the schools to which he’s applied.  “UCLA, Princeton, SMU, Harvard….” Cru rides by and laughs but, 35 years later, who do you think currently has the nicer house?

Of course, despite his willingness to give up his future for $100,000 and a new car, it turns out that Cru might not even be able to compete.  The race’s evil sponsor (Jack Weston) is determined to make sure that his tea, wins the race and he keeps changing the rules to prevent Cru from being able to enter.  He demands that Cru find an official sponsor so Cru starts his own business.  He then demands that the business be worth at least $50,000!  Cru doesn’t have that type of money but — wait a minute — is that Ray Waltson, playing an eccentric businessman!?  Maybe he’s got $50,000!

Still, does Cru have the confidence necessary to enter the race and beat the best in the country?  Don’t worry, Cru’s little sister designs a t-shirt that reads, “Cru is Rad!”  Seriously, just try to beat that encouragement!

Anyway, you may be thinking that Rad sounds like it’s a pretty silly movie and it is.  Having now watched Rad, BMX Bandits, and Quicksilver, I am ready to announce that, in the 80s, there was absolutely no way to make BMX racing cinematic.  At the end of the movie, Cru performs a series of tricks while the end credits role and, instead of being impressed, you just notice how much Cru is struggling to maintain his balance.  Neither Bill Allen nor Bart Conner (who plays Cru’s main rival) have much screen presence and the whole film just looks and feels cheap.

And yet….

To be honest, it’s difficult to really dislike Rad.  For all of its many flaws, it’s all just so damn sincere.  Cru just wants to win that race so badly that it’s hard not to root for him and it is kind of touching to see the way the entire town rallies around him.  While the lead racers may have been blandly portrayed, Talia Shire, Jack Weston, Ray Waltson, and Lori Loughlin all turn in effective performances.  In fact, you could probably argue that Talia Shire is almost too good in her role.  She so effectively portrays the anguish of a mother watching her son throw his future away that you really do find yourself worrying about what’s going to happen to Cru when he’s older and he can’t get a job because he blew off college.  (I’m going to guess that Talia Shire’s presence in this film is due to the fact that it was produced by her late husband, Jack Schwartzman.)

Rad is sincere and unpretentious and rather silly.  Like a lot of 80s movies, it’s got a good soundtrack.  It especially makes good use of the song Send Me An Angel.  There’s also an out-of-nowhere scene where Cru and Lori Loughlin do a series of impromptu freestyle bike tricks on the middle of a dance floor and it’s just surreal enough to be memorable.

Rad is a simple but inoffensive tribute to throwing your life away.

 

Music Video of the Day: Dark All Day (Power Glove Remix) by Gunship (2020, dir by Sitcom Soldiers)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I always like the atmospheric videos and there’s really nothing more atmospheric than performing in the rain.  Or, as it sometimes appears to be in this video, performing while blood rains down on you.  That’s the sort of thing that will definitely inspire some creativity but it probably takes forever to get that much blood out of your hair.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Omen by The Prodigy (2009, dir by Peter Dugdale)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m still mourning Keith Flint.

Apparently, there’s a lot of people online who are convinced that the girl playing the glockenspiel grew up to be Greta Thunberg.  Just the fact that Greta was 6 years old at the time that this video was released should put that rumor to rest.  (In the defense of many, the rumor did start and was frequently shared as a joke.  But you know how the Internet is.)  Personally, I think she looks more like Wednesday Addams or maybe the little girl from The Ring.

Enjoy!

12 Shots From 12 Films: Special Lucio Fulci Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.

94 years ago today, Lucio Fulci — the maestro of Italian genre filmmaking — was born in Rome.  Fulci would go on to direct some of the most visually stunning (and, occasionally, most narratively incoherent) films ever made.  Fulci worked in all genres but he’ll probably always be best remembered for launching the Italian zombie boom with Zombi 2.  His subsequent Beyond trilogy continues to fascinate and delight lovers of both horror and grindhouse filmmaking.

Lucio Fulci, needless to say, is a pretty popular figure here at the TSL.  In honor of the date of his birth, it’s time for….

12 Shots From 12 Lucio Fulci Films

Don’t Torture A Duckling (1972, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio D’Offizi)

Four of the Apocalypse (1975, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio Salvati)

The Psychic (1977, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio Salvati)

Conquest (1983, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Alejandro Ulloa)

Murder Rock (1984, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Giuseppe Pinori)

Demonia (1990, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Luigi Ciccarese)