Yesterday was Janet Leigh’s birthday and today is Pat Hitchcock’s birthday so it seems appropriate that today’s scene that I love should feature both of them. From 1960’s Psycho, this scene features Leigh and Hitchcock as office co-workers who meet the very wealthy Mr. Lowry (played by Frank Albertson).
“He was flirting with you. He must have seen my wedding ring,” remains one of the greatest lines ever written.
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 director Robert Eggers! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Robert Eggers Films
The Witch (2015, dir by Robert Eggers, DP: Jarin Blaschke)
The Lighthouse (2019, dir by Robert Eggers, DP: Jarin Blaschke)
The Northman (2022, dir by Robert Eggers, DP: Jarin Blaschke)
Nosferatu (2024, dir by Robert Eggers, DP: Jarin Blaschke)
America, Hell Yeah!
As I always do, I celebrated Independence Day by watching one of the greatest films ever made, the original Red Dawn (1984). The communists land in America and try to take over and, sadly, they succeed to a large extent. However, a group of high school students led by Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen refuse to go down without a fight. Say it with me, “Wolverines!” This film really doesn’t get the respect that it deserves. Not only is it well-acted but, despite it’s reputation, it doesn’t glamorize war. Most of the Wolverines do not survive. C. Thomas Howell, the most committed of the Wolverines, loses a bit of his soul and goes from being a fresh-faced high school student to someone who can execute a former friend without a moment’s hesitation. While evil Russian William Smith plots to destroy the rebels, Ron O’Neal comes to respect their dedication. Still, in the end, the best thing about this film is that it’s shamelessly patriotic and unapologetically anti-communist. “Avenge me!” Harry Dean Stanton yells and you better do it. The film can be found on Max.
Warren Oates, Hell Yeah!
Yesterday was the birthday of the great character actor Warren Oates. Brad reviewed two of his films and Jeff shared a scene from Strips. I would like to recommend the enigmatic 1966 western The Shooting (1966). Deliberately paced and philosophically-minded, this film features Oates in a leading role. Millie Perkins and Jack Nicholson (who wrote the screenplay) make for a wonderfully menacing duo of villains. The Shooting can be found on Tubi.
Sylvester Stallone, Hell Yeah!
Today is Sylvester Stallone’s birthday. As far as I’m concerned, Stallone’s best performance was in First Blood (1982). The sequels, which were a bit more simplistic and jingoistic than the first film, have tended to overshadow just how good Stallone was as a troubled veteran who just wanted to get a cup of coffee and who found himself being thrown in jail for refusing to “go across the border.” Of course, it’s not just Stallone who is great in First Blood. Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna were, arguably, never better than when they played Sheriff Teasle and Col. Troutman. First Blood was one of the first films to really be sympathetic to the plight of the Vietnam veteran. Rambo may snap and destroy an entire town but, after what he’s put through, you won’t blame him. First Blood is on Tubi!
Of course, if you really want a fun and wonderfully absurd Stallone film, check out the arm wrestling epic, Over The Top (1987). Stallone is Hawk, a truck driver who makes his living as an arm wrestler. Robert Loggia tries to Stallone’s son away so Stallone has to prove himself to be the world’s greatest arm wrestler. I distrust anyone who doesn’t love Over The Top. It can be viewed on Tubi.
Tom Cruise, Hell Yeah!
If you’re still in the mood to celebrate Tom Cruise’s birthday, Losin’ It (1982) features Cruise as a teenager in the 60s who goes down to Mexico with his friends so that he can …. well, lose it. While the comedy is often predictable, Losin’ It is still an amiable enough film and Cruise gives a likable performance and his character has a really sweet romance with Shelley Long. The great John Stockwell is also in the film. Director Curtis Hanson went on to do L.A. Confidental. Losin’ It is on Tubi!
It’s become fashionable to criticize Risky Business (1983), released a year after Losin’ It, for being a materialistic film but …. eh, screw that. Between the soundtrack, the surreal direction, Guido the Killer Pimp, and Tom Cruise bringing out the sunglasses at night, Risky Business is one of the best films of the 80s and it can be viewed on AMC+’s Prime Channel.
In Cocktail (1988), Tom Cruise is the last barman poet! A guilty pleasure for sure but a pleasure, nonetheless. Cocktail can be viewed on AMC+.
The Running Man, Hell Yeah!
There’s a remake of The Running Man coming out this year. I’ll live it to you to decide whether or not that’s a necessary thing. I will say that the original Running Man (1987) holds up very well, as both an action film and a media satire. You can smell the cigarettes and gin whenever Richard Dawson is on screen. The Running Man can be viewed on Tubi.
Beach Fun, Hell Yeah!
Saturday was National Bikini Day. If you missed your chance to celebrate, you can make up for it be watching Malibu High (1979), a film from the legendary production company, Crown International. It’s all fun and games the beach until a young woman is dumped by her boyfriend and decides to become a professional assassin. Malibu High can be viewed on Tubi.
The End of the World, Hell Yeah!
If you’re in the mood for some end of the world action, the low-budget, independently made A Thief In The Night (1972) is currently on Tubi, along with its sequels, A Distant Thunder, Image of the Beast, and The Prodigal Planet. A Thief In The Night is not necessarily a great film but it does have a few moments of dream-like intensity. And it’s short! It can be viewed on Tubi.
Click here for last week’s entry!
When I reviewed THE EXPENDABLES 2, I shared that one of my favorite parts of the movie was the inclusion of “Lone Wolf” Booker (Chuck Norris) in the cast of action legends. This scene is the perfect example of why I enjoy the movie so much. It’s cheesy, corny and incredibly fun!
Happy Birthday, Sylvester Stallone! Thanks for a lifetime of fun movies and memories!
File written by Adobe Photoshop¨ 4.0
In the near future, law-breakers and other destructive types are not put in prison but are instead cryogenically frozen and left in suspended animation until they’ve served out their sentences. The most fearsome criminal in the world, Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) has been frozen but so has his nemesis, Detective John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone).
In the far future, Los Angeles is a part of a megalopolis named San Angeles. Envisioned and watched over by a seemingly benign dictator named Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne), San Angeles is a wannabe utopia where cursing leads to an automatic fine and all of the restaurants are Taco Bell. When he’s thawed out for a parole hearing, the suddenly super-powered Phoenix makes his escape. The police, no longer knowing how to deal with violence, make the reluctant decision to thaw out John Spartan. Assigned to work with the enthusiastic Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock), Spartan must navigate this strange future to defeat Phoenix.
For some reason, Demolition Man never seems to get the respect that it deserves. Made at a time when both the Rambo and the Rocky franchises appeared to be over, Demolition Man features one of Stallone’s most appealing performances as he deals with a society where just saying a bad word can cause a scandal. Just as Spartan proves that his brand of destructive police work still has its place in the future, Stallone proved that he could still carry an action movie in 1993. There’s a lot of knowing humor to Stallone’s performance. After a series of failed comedies in the 80s, Demolition Man was the movie that proved that Stallone could be intentionally funny. Stallone is also surrounded by one of his strongest supporting casts. Wesley Snipes attacks his villainous role with gusto while Denis Leary breaks out his stand-up routine as Edgar Friendly, the leader of San Angeles’s rebels. This is also the film that led to Sandra Bullock getting cast in Speed and she’s so incredibly adorable here that even Stallone breaks out into a smile while acting opposite her
(In 1993, you couldn’t turn on television without seeing Sandra Bullock saying, “All restaurants are Taco Bell.”)
Demolition Man is an action film and it lives up to its name, with all the demolition that a viewer could want. Even more so, It’s also a satire, of both Stallone’s previous films and what was then known as “political correctness.” Demolition Man’s portrayal of a sterile society where everyone had been programmed to be docile and inoffensive wasn’t that far off from what a lot of politicians were then promoting for America at large. Luckily, John Spartan was around to put an end to that. The end result is one of Sylvester Stallone’s most memorable films.
I was the target audience for the “Expendables” movies. From the first time I ever heard of the concept, I was all in and gladly told everyone I knew about the upcoming movie. Just the prospect of a big time action movie in 2010 starring Sylvester Stallone and bringing back so many of my favorite actors of the 1980’s and 1990’s was just too good to pass up. After reading updates on the project for at least a year, I was so ready when THE EXPENDABLES (2010) finally hit theaters on August 13, 2010. I don’t remember if I made it to the theaters on opening night, but if not, I definitely made it soon thereafter. Unfortunately, a year of building up my expectations also made it impossible for the movie to completely live up to them. I enjoyed the film and bought the blu ray as soon as it was available, but it just wasn’t everything I hoped it would be. I don’t think anything could have lived up to my expectations to be completely honest. THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2012) came out a couple of years later, and with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris added to the cast, I was ready to go again, albeit with admittedly lower expectations.
THE EXPENDABLES 2 follows our group of elite mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) as they head to Albania for CIA operative Church (Bruce Willis) to retrieve a box from a downed airplane. We find out that the box contains a computer that knows the exact location of 5 tons of weapons grade plutonium. The mission goes to pot when the team encounters the ruthless Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), the leader of a terrorist group, who forcibly confiscates the computer and then kills one of the expendables to teach them some “respect.” Obviously, this doesn’t set well with Barney and he decides the best option for payback is to “Track them, find them, and KILL them!” The remainder of the film follows the team as they try to do just that and stop Vilain from selling the plutonium to the highest bidder. They also get some timely help from fellow badasses like the “lone wolf” Booker (Chuck Norris) and Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
THE EXPENDABLES 2 is my favorite film of the franchise, and that’s why I decided to review it today, on Sylvester Stallone’s 79th birthday. The “Expendables” franchise was designed to bring back the nostalgia of 80’s and 90’s action films, and in my opinion, this first sequel gives me what I was actually wanting from the first film. Taking over from Stallone, Director Simon West assembles a film with explosive action scenes, cartoonishly evil villains, cheesy one-liners and over-the-top violence that doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is. The movie leans hard into its glorious, nostalgic absurdity and as a guy who grew up on these guys and their action films, I pretty much enjoyed every moment!
THE EXPENDABLES 2 doesn’t work without the cast of action movie veterans who bring back good movie memories just by showing up on screen. As a massive collector of Blu rays and DVD’s, I own a physical copy of just about every movie made by Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chuck Norris during their 80’s and 90’s heydays. Most of these discs replaced a previously owned VHS tape, and each of these actors has their own “section” in my collection. These are the movies, along with those of actors like Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood, that I revisit the most every year. I’m a huge fan of Hong Kong cinema and Jet Li as well, but his role here is just a cameo at the beginning of this installment. Jean-Claude Van Damme has ended up showing such strong staying power in his career, and his performance as the villain is a true highlight for me. Also, my son, who would have been around 12 when this came out, had just discovered the “Chuck Norris Facts” and he loved telling me his favorites. That silly pop culture phenomenon brought a whole new level of fun to Chuck’s extended cameo in this film. I did want to shout out Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham as well. I may not put them on as high a pedestal as some of the others, but they’re still awesome! Is THE EXPENDABLES 2 the best work of any of these actors? Of course the answer is no, but the filmmakers dredged up my memories in just the right way and gave me 103 minutes of fan service and fun!
With all that said, I do understand that a person who doesn’t carry nostalgic memories of action films gone by may not enjoy THE EXPENDABLES 2 near as much as I did. The film relies on nostalgia, and without that, the plot itself is very thin and many of the lines will come across as head-scratching clunkers. Even so, most action fans should still enjoy the non-stop sensory assault and violence served up by true genre pros. I loved it and offer no apology for that!
Today, we celebrate Sylvester Stallone’s birthday with one of the most definitive montages of the 1980s. From 1982’s Rocky III (which was directed by Stallone himself), here is the famous Rocky/Apollo training montage.
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 Sylvester Stallone! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Sylvester Stallone Films
Rocky (1976, dir by John G. Avildsen, DP: James Crabe)
First Blood (1982, dir by Ted Kotcheff, DP: Andrew Laszlo)
Rocky III (1982, dir by Sylvester Stallone, DP: Bill Butler)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985, dir by George Pan Cosmatos, DP: Jack Cardiff)
In my continuing celebration of Warren Oates’ birthday, I decided to check out his 1979 TV movie MY OLD MAN, with Kristy McNichol. Based on a 1923 short story from Ernest Hemingway, Oates stars as Frank Butler, an alcoholic horse trainer and compulsive gambler, who goes to see his 16-year-old daughter, Jo (Kristy McNichol) after the death of her mother. In an effort to have some sort of relationship with Jo, Frank asks her to spend the summer with him, where he introduces her to his world of horse racing, as well as his old flame Marie (Eileen Brennan). Things get off to a rocky start, but with time the two start to develop a loving and meaningful relationship. Frank’s notorious bad luck even changes for the better for a while, and he’s able to buy Jo her own racehorse. Unfortunately, just as things are starting to go well, Frank suffers a life threatening injury in the horse stables, and Jo is faced with the possibility of having to take on life without her mother or her father…
For a 1979 TV movie, I enjoyed MY OLD MAN. I like Warren Oates as the grizzled father who wants a relationship with his daughter but who also has no idea of how to go about it. He’s cranky and not happy to have someone else to answer to, but he also shows just enough vulnerability that we believe that he has a chance to be a caring dad. Kristy McNichol also does a good job as the 16 year old daughter who wants to get to know a dad that she’s only been told about thus far in her life, with most of those things not being very good. For this movie to work, their relationship has to work. I think both Oates and McNichol effectively express their characters’ desires to connect with each other simply because they’re father and daughter and that means something. As the father of a daughter myself, I know firsthand that our bond is truly special and one of the most important things in my life. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way.
Aside from the central relationship between Frank and his daughter Jo, I also like the relationship between Frank and his old flame, the waitress Marie (Eileen Brennan). Brennan is very good in the role and effectively conveys her character’s strong love for Frank. Frank needs her and even tells his daughter at one point, “No matter what was going on with me, she never lost her respect for me, and she never stopped caring about me. To me, that shows a lot of class.” From my perspective, I know that all of us guys need someone like Marie in our lives. I’m extremely blessed to have my own “Marie,” even if she does go by a different name. I do want to mention one more relationship in the film that’s interesting, and that’s between Frank and his former jockey George, played by a young Michael Jeter. The two have a bad past that rears its head over the course of the film, and Jeter acquits himself quite well acting against the seasoned veteran.
Overall, I enjoyed MY OLD MAN as it worked its way through its themes of family reconciliation and personal redemption. The last 20-30 minutes wasn’t quite as effective for me when the TV movie melodrama really kicked in. It still had some good moments, but it felt a little more forced once the focus shifted away from the relationships being developed by the central characters. With that said, I watched this movie in celebration of Warren Oates, and he’s just as great as I had hoped. He’s more than enough reason to watch the film even if it’s not perfect.
I didn’t have time to write a film review today but there’s no way I could late July 5th pass without honoring my favorite actor, Warren Oates. Oates played a lot of great roles over the course of his career but my favorite was his performance as Sgt. Hulka in 1981’s Stripes.
Here’s Warren Oates, as Sgt. Hulka, asking all the new recruits why they joined the Army. To those who would say that this isn’t a realistic portrayal of basic training, all I can say is “Lighten up, Francis.”
Through the Shattered Lens 