Today would have been James Caan’s 85 birthday so today’s scene that I love comes from one of Caan’s best-known films, The Godfather.
This scene features Caan’s Sonny Corleone in all of his glory, congratulating Michael on his broken jaw and getting on Tom Hagen’s nerves. Robert Duvall and James Caan were close friends in real life and that friendship definitely comes through in their performances as Tom and Sonny.
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 would have been Tennessee Williams’s 114th birthday! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Tennessee Williams Films
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, dir by Elia Kazan, DP: Harry Stradling)
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958, dir by Richard Brooks, DP: William Daniels)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Jack Hildyard)
Boom! (dir by Joseph Losey, DP: Douglas Slocombe)
Some of the toughest criminals in America are being transported, via train, to a high security prison. For some reason, instead of using an entire train to transport the prisoners and guards, it’s decided to just put the criminals in one car attached to a normal passenger train. Did the passengers in the other cars get a warning that would be traveling with a bunch of desperate criminals? Did they at least get a discount on their tickets? Of course, Mafia kingpin Enzo Martini (Roy Scheider, slumming) engineers a takeover with the rest of the prisoners. It’s up to Sheriff Wes Blaidek (Ray Wise) and bartender Zoe Clark (Delane Matthews) to stop the prisoners.
This is a fast-moving, dumb-as-Hell action movie that’s memorable mostly for having a cast that was very much overqualified for the film. Keith Coogan, Dorian Harewood, Don Swayze, Ed O’Ross, and Sam J. Jones are all in this thing. Clint Howard plays the homicidal serial killer who lets a child live because the kid has seen Taxi Driver. Dick Van Patten plays the head of the parole board. I can understand why Roy Scheider might be selected to play a mob boss and how Clint Howard and Don Swazye ended up playing killers. But how do you look at this film’s story and think, “This need Dick Van Patten?” It’s Die Hard on a train but without the wit or the budget. The movie moves quickly, there’s plenty of train and helicopter action and it’s still good to see so many familiar and eccentric talents gathered together to bring too life one very stupid movie. It’s too bad they couldn’t find room for Joey Travolta or Joe Estevez but I guess you can’t have everything.
I’ve never been much for camping.
I’ve probably mentioned this before. I’ve certainly reviewed enough films about deadly campgrounds and fatal walks through the woods that there’s no way that I haven’t talk about camping in the past. It’s just not for me. Even though I grew up largely in the country and I tend to think of myself today as being a country girl in the city, I have to admit that staying out in the wilderness has never appealed to me. I don’t like bugs. I don’t like the threat of wild animals suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that I should run if I ever see a guy walking through the woods while wearing a hockey mask. (Not that it would do any good, of course. I’m such a klutz that there’s no way I wouldn’t trip over a stick or something.) The fact of the matter is that I find the wilderness to be very creepy. The dark shadows, the feeling of being surrounded by trees that tower of above me, the isolation of it all …. nope, not for me!
The Black-Eyed Children, an upcoming horror from from director Jozsef Gallai, does a very good job of capturing just how creepy being alone in the wilderness can be. Kata Kuna stars as Claire, a young psychology major who is totally excited to have gotten a job as a counselor at St. Beatrice, a camp for children with special needs. Claire wants to make the world a better place and this seems like a wonderful opportunity to do so. (Honestly, I hate camping but if you told me that doing so would make life better for a child who hasn’t been given much in the world, I would be the first to head down to the sporting goods store and buy a tent.) However, when Claire enters the woods and finds herself at St. Beatrice, it’s not at all what she was expecting to find.
The camp appears to be totally deserted. The children who were supposed to be there are gone. The other counselors who were presumably employed there have disappeared. Claire walks through the camp, checking cabins and searching for an explanation. Finding the files on the kids who were supposed to be at camp, Claire starts dialing phone numbers and what she discovers shocks her. And no, I’m not going to tell you what she discovers. The Black-Eyed Children is scheduled for a late 2025 release so you can watch it then and find out the secret of St. Beatrice.
The Black-Eyed Children is a found footage film. Luckily, Jozsef Gallai is one of the best when it comes to working with the found footage genre and the film is full of creepy and atmospheric imagery. St. Beatrice and the woods surrounding it all give off a vibe of steady menace, leaving the viewer frightened about what might jump out of the shadows. Kata Kuna does a great job as Claire and what she discovers at St. Beatrice will leave you feeling uneasy, especially if you know about the urban legend that gives this film its name. Clocking in at 70 minutes, The Black-Eyed Children is an effective and creepy horror film. It’ll definitely keep you out of the woods.
Pacific Blue will not be reviewed this week so that we might bring you this special broadcast of 1982’s Rock It’s Your Decision!
Jeff (Ty Taylor) has been challenged to think about the music he listens to and to only listen to Christian music for a few weeks. Jeff takes the challenge and, in the film’s climatic speech, he reveals that even Barry Manilow is a servant of the Devil. This film is dated, incredibly silly, and oddly watchable. It might have had more impact if the lead character wasn’t so dorky. “I love a get down beat!” I love the way his voice cracks when he shouts, “Do you think I’m sexy?”
Pacific Blue will return next week. For now, check out Rock It’s Your Decision!
A few months ago, I told you about a young man named Henry Brooks, who has written a musical about the life of Charles Bronson. Every person who follows this site closely knows how much I love Charles Bronson. It makes me so happy that Henry has shared his talents in a way that is respectful of Charles Bronson, while also providing a fun and serious look at his life and movie career. I promised Henry that I would do what I could to share this project. Heck, I’d love to see it on Broadway some day! The album is produced by Stephen Glickman (Big Time Rush), with Steven Weber (Wings) and Lisa Loeb (Stay: I Missed You) contributing their talents as Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland. There are so many good songs on the album, but I think my personal favorite song is called “Toshiro and I,” which is Henry’s amusing take on Bronson’s film with Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, RED SUN. Henry’s personal favorite songs are “Bronson Don’t Sing,” and “Leave the Mine Behind.” I can’t argue, they’re great songs, but there are many others as well. There are a total of 16 songs on the album, and the songs take Bronson from the coal mines all the way to being the most popular movie star on the planet.
I’ve linked to YouTube versions of the songs below! Take a moment to subscribe if you get the chance. You can also find the album on Spotify and Apple Music. Physical copies of the album should be available in the very near future. I can’t wait to add the Vinyl release to my collection!
A couple of months ago, the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast interviewed Henry Brooks for the 2nd time, but this time we discuss the completed concept album. We’ve dedicated a significant amount of time to Bronson Awareness and Education, and we’re honored to do our part to help spread the word on this important project!
Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) move in to a large house in the Lakeview Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles. It’s a good house in a good neighborhood and it’s just too bad that their neighbor, Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), is a corrupt cop who hates interracial couples.
I remember that Lakeview Terrace caused a brief stir when it was released in 2008. It was hardly the first film about an interracial couple being harassed by a bigot but it was one of the few where the bigot in question was a black man. Abel hates white people. He says it’s because his wife was cheating on him with a white man when she was killed in a car accident. He does not appreciate Chris listening to rap music and dropping his cigarettes on the street. When Abel’s children spot Chris and Lisa having sex in their swimming pool, that’s all Abel needs to justify his dislike of the couple and his feelings that he doesn’t want this couple living next door. When Chris asks if Abel could turn off the floodlights that shine into their bedroom window, Abel refuses. When Chris tries to plant privacy trees, Abel cuts them down. What starts out as a neighborhood feud escalates as Abel orders one of his informants to break into Chris and Lisa’s house. Unfortunately, that third act twist also signals the moment that Lakeview Terrace goes from being a reasonably intelligent social satire to being a standard thriller. Neil LaBute is a director who specializes in making people uncomfortable so it is too bad that Lakeview Terrace ends in a way designed to conform to what audiences have come to expect from thrillers.
Abel’s a hateful figure but Samuel L. Jackson is just as charismatic as ever and the passive-aggressive way that he initially responds to Chris and Lisa will be familiar to anyone who has ever had a bad neighbor or who has to deal with a cop having a bad day. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, neither one of whom is really that interesting an actor to begin with, are both stuck in bland roles and struggle to keep up with Jackson. (Wilson and Washington even get out-acted by Ron Glass, playing Lisa’s disapproving father.) It throws the movie off-balance. At the same time, Jackson is such an actor who projects so much intelligence that it’s hard to believe that Abel would make the stupid mistakes that he makes towards the end of the movie. Lakeview Terrace starts out fairly strong but loses its way towards the end.
Lawrence of Arabia (dir. by David Lean)
Since today is David Lean’s birthday, it only seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from the film that is regularly acknowledged as being Lean’s masterpiece, 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia. Composed by Maurice Jarre, here is one of the greatest film scores of all times.
The great British director David Lean was born 117 years ago today.
In honor of his films and his legacy, here is a scene that I love from Lawrence of Arabia. In this scene, Peter O’Toole blowing out a flame transports us straight to a sunrise in the desert. Though Lean started out his career directing small-scale but emotionally rich films like Brief Encounter and Great Expectations, he ultimately became best-known for directing historical epics and cinematic spectacles. This scene shows us why. Even to this day, it seems as if any epic film is destined to be compared to the work of David Lean.
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 actor/director John Stockwell! Though the critics might not always realize it, Galveston-born John Stockwell is responsible for some of the best beach movies of the 21st Century. No one can make the beach and the ocean look as inviting (or as dangerous) as John Stockwell.
It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 John Stockwell Films
Blue Crush (2002, dir by John Stockwell, DP: David Hennings)
Into the Blue (2005, dir by John Stockwell, DP: Shane Hurlbut and Pete Zuccarini)
Turistas (2006, dir by John Stockwell, DP: Enrique Chediak and Peter Zuccarini)
In the Blood (2014, dir by John Stockwell, DP: P.J. Lopez)
Through the Shattered Lens