Happy birthday to Arleigh, the founder and editor of this site and the man who has given us not only a place where we can express ourselves but the freedom to do so well. Here’s hoping that today is a great one and that the only zombies you see tonight are on the Walking Dead.
Category Archives: Editorial
Happy Birthday *Erin*!
@TakeSumE is one remarkable lass! And today doth be her birthday! She is one of the bravest, sweetest and awesome lasses on the Emerald Isle!
The lads and I celebrate this momentous day in style
500K Milestone!!
Just a couple months ago the site reached it’s first major milestone of 1000 posts. It’s taken almost two years but we’ve finally reached another major milestone in the site’s brief history.
While we don’t get the tens to hundreds of thousands of page views per day the more established and much bigger blogs get on a day-to-day basis I’m still proud to say that our motley band of writers have been able to attract at least a thousand or more views a day. With that in mind we’ve finally reach 500K in page views since the site’s inception a little under 2 years ago and I think we’re on our way to making it a million in less time.
Once again, I must thank my co-founder of the site in @LisaMarieBowman for keeping things fresh and fun for people to visit. Other writers like necmoonyeti, pantsukudasai56 and Semtex Skittle (@Cindaer) have done their best to add their unique voices to the site whether it be reviews and/or thoughts on music (mainly metal), anime and manga to gaming titles. Writer Leonard Wilson (@Cavatica) has become another of the unique voices this year and has established his own brand of reviews of films to the many on this site. The rest of the gang like Senor Geekus (@SenorGeekus), danceonavolcano (@nyneshaydee), zackthewicked1, leonth3duke (@DukeD1989) and Dazzling Erin (@TakeSumE) are not as prolific as the other but their contributions still is what makes this site run.
Here’s to another year to look forward to and better things to come for the crew of Through the Shattered Lens.
Note: yes, every milestone will be celebrated with a choice anime/manga based artwork. >_<
The Toadsuckers Have Spoken: 15 Semi-Finalists for Best Documentary And Still No Room for Werner Herzog
Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the titles of the 15 semi-finalists for the Best Feature Length Documentary Oscar. This list will, of course, be narrowed down to the 5 final nominees.
Without further ado, here’s the 15 semi-finalists:
- Battle for Brooklyn(RUMER Inc.)
- Bill Cunningham New York(First Thought Films)
- Buck(Cedar Creek Productions)
- Hell and Back Again(Roast Beef Productions Limited)
- If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front(Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
- Jane’s Journey(NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
- The Loving Story(Augusta Films)
- Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory(@radical.media)
- Pina(Neue Road Movies GmbH)
- Project Nim(Red Box Films)
- Semper Fi: Always Faithful(Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
- Sing Your Song(S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
- Undefeated(Spitfire Pictures)
- Under Fire: Journalists in Combat(JUF Pictures, Inc.)
- We Were Here (Weissman Projects, LLC)
My response as I look at this list is: “Huh?” Which is to be expected because I live in Flyover country and, as a result, our local theaters don’t get sent all that many documentaries. Still, I have to say that, as someone who tries her darndest to keep up with these things, I’m not familiar with a lot of these films. I saw Buck in the theaters and I watched Bill Cunningham New York via OnDemand after my sister recommended it to me. I meant to see Project Nin when it briefly played at the Dallas Angelika but, for whatever reason, I missed it. (I may have been burned out on movies about chimpanzees after seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes.) I’ll definitely see Paradise Lost 3 if it ever manages to get down to my part of the world.
If anything surprises and disappoints me, it’s that Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams isn’t on the semi-finalist list. Neither are two other documentaries that I loved — Jig and Resurrect Dead. (I have to admit that I’m not sure if those two films were submitted for consideration or if they would have even been eligible to be considered. I just know that I enjoyed them when I saw them OnDemand.) I’m also surprised that The Paper isn’t on the list of semi-finalists. I haven’t actually seen The Paper but just judging from the trailer and the subject matter (The New York Times struggling to remain relevent), it seemed like the type of documentary that traditionally seems to get nominated.
Finally, despite the fact that I haven’t seen it, I would kinda like to see Paradise Lost 3 win the award if just to honor the entire Paradise Lost series. After all, if not for those films, the West Memphis 3 would still be sitting in prison. Every year, during the Academy Awards ceremony, we have to sit through some pompous speech about how documentaries can change the course of history. Well, the Paradise Lost films actually did and, again taking into consideration that I haven’t seen the actual film yet, it seems like that deserves to be honored, no?
(And before any of you excitable types start bitching and whining — and you know who you are — Undefeated is a documentary about a high school football team and should not be mistaken for The Undefeated, the documentary about Sarah Palin that also came out this year.)
Billy Crystal and the Holy Grail?
So, here I was all excited and everything because I had an excuse to start another one of my never-ending polls and what happens? Less than 24 hours after I set up my poll asking you who you think should replace Eddie Murphy as the host of next year’s Oscar ceremony, Billy Crystal tweets that he’s got the job.
Seriously?
They couldn’t just leave us in suspense for an extra day or two?
Anyway, Billy Crystal isn’t really a surprising choice as people were mentioning his name from the minute Murphy stepped down. However, he is a rather boring choice and I guess that the show’s producer, Brian Grazer, has decided not to do the whole “edgy” thing. Which is probably a good thing since the Academy Awards version of edgy tends to be … well, it’s hard to say what it is but it’s distinguished by smoothed corners and a definite lack of sharp edges.
I guess what I’m saying is that the Oscars are a big round table and apparently, Billy Crystal is going to be King Arthur next year. Though, according to our poll, you would have much rather seen either myself or the Muppets holding court.
David Hess, R.I.P.
The Last House On The Left (1972, dir by Wes Craven, DP: Victor Hurwitz)
The grindhouse mourns today for actor David Hess, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 69.
Where to start with David Hess? He would probably start with the fact that, before he become an actor, he was a succesful songwriter whose songs were performed by Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. He was also a singer himself and can be heard performing his brand of dark folk in several of the films that he later appeared in. He won a Grammy for co-writing a rock opera called “The Naked Carmen.” He was also good friends with the writer, actor and political activist, Malachy McCourt (brother of Angela’s Ashes author Frank McCourt) and recorded an album with him. Hess never stopped making music and he even recorded a few tracks for Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever.
However, David Hess is probably best known for playing assorted rapists, killers, and other unpleasant people in over 30 films. Starting with his iconic performance as Krug in Wes Craven’s original Last House On The Left, Hess quickly established himself as one of the most believable (and scary) villains in the grindhouse world. Whether he was holding Franco Nero hostage in Hitch-Hike, terrorizing guests while wearing a canary yellow suit in The House On The Edge of the Park, or playing a rare good guy in Camping Del Terrore (a film which co-starred another recently deceased grindhouse favorite, Charles Napier), Hess was always both bigger-than-life and a surprisingly underrated actor. Hess may have made a career out of playing killers but every killer was unique and special in his own twisted way.
Like many movie psychos, David Hess was a funny, sensitive, and, at time, erratic interview subject. Interviews with him can be found on the DVD releases of Hitch-Hike, The House on the Edge of The Park, and Last House On The Left and all three of them are worth owning for that reason alone.
While I doubt those toadsuckers in the Academy will see fit to honor David Hess during next year’s Oscar ceremony, he will forever be remembered by film fans (i.e., the people who actually matter).
The House On The Edge of the Park (1980, dir by Ruggero Deodato, DP: Sergio D’Offizi)
David not only starred in Last House On The Left but he also composed the music. Below is his song, Wait For The Rain.
And even though he didn’t compose the soundtrack for The House On The Edge of the Park, here’s a clip of David Hess watching Giovanni Lombardo Radice dance in that film. Yes, I’ve shown this clip before but I just happen to love it. This clip proves, once again, that even in a canary yellow suit, David Hess could still dominate a scene.*
David Alexander Hess, R.I.P.
David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Trailer #2
Here’s the 2nd trailer for David Fincher’s bastadization rip-off remake version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
I’m just going to make just a few general comments:
1) This trailer is obviously a lot more plot-specific than the 1st trailer. It’s also a lot less interesting. The snow-filled landscapes still look impressive but the 1st trailer seemed to be fueled by an unstoppable force. The 2nd trailer seems to be fueled by test groups.
2) I’ve always been honest about how much I loved Noomi Rapace’s performance in the original film. Rooney Mara has some big shoes to fill. In the scenes selected for this trailer, she looks like a little girl playing dress up.
3) Not surprisingly Daniel Craig’s Mikael seems to be a much more active and straight forward hero than Michael Nyqvist’s interpretation. In fact, this trailer could just as easily be for the next James Bond film.
4) Of course, this would be great if not for the fact that the best thing about both the original novel and the original film was that Lisbeth was nobody’s sidekick.
5) Christopher Plummer. Again.
And finally,
6) The 1st trailer had a true grindhouse feel to it and that feeling is sadly missing from the 2nd. Here’s the 1st trailer. Watch and compare:
Eddie Murphy?
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t follow football, baseball, or any other sport created by putting something random before the word “ball.” Why would I ever need sports when I’ve got the Oscars? A few nights ago, I found myself asking Arleigh just what exactly was meant by all this talk of “fantasy football.” Seriously, I assumed that it was some sort of football team made up of hobbits, elves, and talking Narnia animals. Turns out I was wrong but it also turns out that whereas some of you have got your fantasy football drafts, I’ve got my fantasy Oscar season. And you know what? My fantasy Oscars always turn out to be a lot more interesting than the real Oscars.
But, ultimately, it’s the real Oscars that matter and, as we enter the Fall, the real Oscar season is heating up. Not only are the self-styled Oscar contenders lining up to be released but the pieces of the eventual ceremony are starting to come together as well.
Each year, one of the most important pieces of the ceremony is the announcement of just who exactly will be hosting the big event. Last year, James Franco and Anne Hathaway were announced as hosts and we all know how that eventually went. Perhaps that’s why the producer of the upcoming show, hack director Brett Ratner, has decided to go the opposite direction. Rather than picking someone who represents the future of Hollywood, he has instead picked someone who very much represents the past.
The host of the 84th Academy Awards will be Eddie Murphy.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Eddie Murphy is also appearing in Ratner’s upcoming film, Tower Heist. (By the way, I’ve already predicted that Tower Heist is going to suck just on the basis of the trailer. Hopefully, I’ll be wrong because, quite frankly, it makes me happy when Ben Stiller gets to appear in a good film. But seriously — even the title is lazy.)
I can’t really say for sure how I feel about Eddie Murphy as host of the Oscars because, to be honest, I really haven’t seen that many of his films. I thought he was kinda good in Dreamgirls but otherwise, Eddie Murphy has always come across as being … well, the term that comes to mind is “washed up.”
Personally, I’m a part of the minority who feels that Anne Hathaway and James Franco weren’t half as bad as everyone seems to think. Hathaway, I felt was likable and goofy and Franco — well, I kinda sorta like James Franco. The fact that the two of them were so ill-suited for their hosting duties brought a very nice sort of unpredictable vibe to the show. You never knew if James Franco was going to suddenly chop his arm off on-camera.
Say what you will about Eddie Murphy, I know he’s not going to chop off his arm on live TV.
15 Upcoming Films That Are Going To Suck
In just another few days, the summer movie season will end and we’ll enter the fall. The fall movie season is when all of the prestigious, massively hyped “quality” films are released. These are the films that everyone is expecting to see remembered at Oscar time. We expect more out of films released in the Fall and therefore, when a film fails to live up to the expectation of perfection, we are far more quicker to simply damn the whole enterprise by exclaiming, “That sucked!”
Below are 15 upcoming fall films which I think are going to “suck.” Quite a few of them are “prestige” films though a few of them most definitely are not. However, they are all films that I fully expect to be disappointed with.
Quick disclaimer: This list is based on only two things, my gut instinct and the advice of my Parker Brothers Ouija Board. These are my opinions and solely my opinions and they should not be taken as a reflection of the opinions of anyone else involved with this web site. Got it? Good, let’s move on to the fun part:
- Anonymous (10/28) — Roland Emmerich takes on the burning issue of whether or not Shakespeare actually wrote his plays. Who cares? I’m sure this will spark a lot of discussion among people who found The Da Vinci Code to be mind-blowing.
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (12/21) — Deal with it, fanboys.
- The Ides of March (10/7) — It’s a political film directed by and starring George Clooney! Watch out for the smug storm that will surely follow.
- Immortals (11/11) — Yes, it will suck but it will still probably be better than Clash of the Titans.
- The Iron Lady (12/16) — Bleh. This is one of those movies that they make solely because Meryl Streep needs another Oscar nomination. Nobody will see the film but everyone will talk about how brilliant Meryl was in it.
- J. Edgar (TBA) — So, when was the last time that Clint Eastwood actually directed a movie that you didn’t have to make excuses for?
- Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol (12/21) — Honestly, has there ever been a Mission Impossible film that didn’t suck in one way or another?
- Real Steel (10/7) — How do I know this film is going to suck? Go look up the trailer on YouTube and you can see that little kid go, “You know everything about this fight game!” for yourself.
- Red State (9/23) — A satirical horror film with a political subtext? Well, let’s just hope they’ve got a great director…
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (12/16) — It’s the law of diminished returns. The better the original, the worse the sequel. That said, I really hope I’m wrong on this one. I loved Sherlock Holmes.
- Straw Dogs (9/16) — It’s a remake of the old Peckinpah classic except now, it’s a Yankee Blue Stater getting attacked by a bunch of Redneck Red Staters. Yankee paranoia is so freaking tedious. Add to that, Straw Dogs has been remade a few million times and never as well as the original. At least those remakes had the decency to come up with their own name instead of just trying to coast on the credibility of a better film. This travesty was written, directed, and produced by Rod Lurie. Shame on you, Rod Lurie. (Of course, the toadsuckers over at AwardsDaily.com are madly enthused about this film.)
- The Three Musketeers (10/21) — Is anybody expecting otherwise?
- Tower Heist (11/4) — Brett Ratner continues to encourage us to lower our standards with this action-comedy. The film’s villain is played by Alan Alda and is supposed to be a Bernie Madoff-type so expect a lot of tedious pontificating from rich actors playing poor people.
- War Horse (12/28) — This might actually be a good film but, as a result of all of the hype, it’s going to have to be perfect or else it’s going to suck.
- W.E. (12/9) — Madonna makes her directorial debut with … well, do I really need to go on?
Congrats to all the writers for 1000 posts!
I never figured out that this little hobby of mine to help pass the time and share my love for writing about films, books, anime, games and other forms of entertainment would last as long as it has. I’ve always thought that when I first began the site that after a couple months I would get tired and bored by it and just let it wither on the vine. But instead of withering it’s actually has grown to include not just myself as a contributor but many others.
I have to say many thanks to some old buddies of mine going as far back as the old FF Gurus stomping ground which turned into the Suikox stomping grounds. I will forever be indebted to necromoonyeti (Shad4K for those who remember him from FFG and Suikox) for not just writing about his love for all things metal, but for the other genres of metal beyond the Metallica, Slayer, Black Sabbath and Megadeth I grew up listening to. Its through his educated and passionate writing about black metal, folk metal and power metal (and many more) that I’ve grown to appreciate the finer points of music.
Sailor Sexy has been a partner-in-crime that I think we may have been twins in a previous life. He’s been the anime and manga dude who may not have been as active but has definitely expanded my own appreciation for Japanese anime and manga. He’s probably helped introduce the artform to many of the site’s readers who have never really experienced anime outside of what’s being shown on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Here’s to hoping he celebrates this milestone with beer and more beer with his pals Tugger and PB at his side.
Other contributors have joined the site in just the past 6 months to help add their unique voices to the growing crew. There’s SemtexSkittle who has become the site’s gaming guru and whose love for gaming surpasses even my own. In addition to his helping write articles and reviews for the site he has also helped me become a better Black Ops player even though I’m probably still the one guy in the team who dies most of the time.
Another contributor who has added his own unique writing style is uberthegeek who shares the same love for all things nerdy and geeky as I do. Then there’s Leonard Wilson who brings his own film reviewing style which shows not just his love for film, but also shows him growing as a writer and hopefully he will continue to write as he finds his true writer’s voice. Another film fan who has joined just recently is leonth3duke who I first met over at a film fan union over on Gamespot. He brings a cineaste‘s appreciation for film that I rarely find when talking with my contemporaries and has been a welcome addition to the site.
The site also has one-time contributors in danceonavolcano and zackthewicked1 whose lone contributions are much appreciated as the ones made by the other writers for the site.
Last, but not least, is the one person who has helped me through the growing pains of the site when it was just months old and who accepted my invitation to write for the site without questions asked on her part: Lisa Marie Bowman. She has been so active in keeping the site always with something new to check out and read that she’s become as much a founder of Through the Shattered Lens as myself. Her love for grindhouse and exploitation cinema surpasses my own. Her unique personal take on films she reviews has made her articles some of the most read one’s on the site and I hope that giving her an outlet to write without restrictions has helped her in whatever small way to open up creatively since she first joined me almost 17 months ago. She’s also the reason for bringing in her sister, Dazzling Erin, to add to the coterie of writers which will only continue to help grow the site beyond what I had first envisioned it to be.
Through the Shattered Lens has been and will continue be a place guided by no rules other than for each contributor to write what they want to write about in regards to entertainment of their choosing. I’ve wanted to keep the site as chaotic and as free of restrictive guidelines as possible. While other sites have succeeded in being more focused on a particular theme or having access to the entertainment industry for news and interviews, I’ve always thought that this site has been a success on its own right because of it’s own chaotic nature. Visitors both new and old will always come in with the expectation that something new, weird and unexpected will greet them as they enter for the first time or the umpteenth time.
Thanks for sticking by us as we reached our first 1000th post milestone. Here’s to hoping you stick around and see us through to the next 1000….
….also remember: the cake is a lie.
Through the Shattered Lens