Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday March 3rd, we’re watching CARBON COPY starring George Segal, Susan Saint James, Jack Warden, Dick Martin, Paul Winfield, and “introducing” Denzel Washington.
CARBON COPY is the story about a rich, white corporate executive (George Segal) who finds out that he has an illegitimate black son (Denzel Washington). This creates a variety of issues for him at home, at work, and in his social circles.
Although CARBON COPY was chosen by Sierra, I’m looking forward to watching it for the first time for several reasons:
This is the theatrical film debut of one of the all-time great actors in Denzel Washington. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it will be interesting to see Denzel at the very beginning.
George Segal starred in a movie with Rod Steiger called NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1968). My dad used to always tell me about this movie. I bought it on DVD and added it to my collection simply because my dad loved it. I even took it to their house one year for our annual Christmas celebration so we could watch it together. That doesn’t have anything to do with CARBON COPY, but it’s always given me a reason to appreciate Segal.
George Segal reportedly turned down the lead role in the film ARTHUR (1981) in order to make CARBON COPY. I enjoyed ARTHUR when I watched it growing up. It will be interesting to see how the two films compare.
Director Michael Shultz also directed movies like COOLEY HIGH (1975), CAR WASH (1976), GREASED LIGHTNING (1977), WHICH WAY IS UP (1977), and BUSTIN’ LOOSE (1981) leading up to CARBON COPY. It will be interesting to see how he handles the material.
So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch CARBON COPY! It’s on Amazon Prime.
Presence takes place in one very big house. The Payne family — Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and their teenage children, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang) — have moved into the house, little aware that it is already haunted by a poltergeist. The entire film is seen through the eyes of the poltergeist, the Presence.
The Presence floats through the house, going from room to room and allowing us to hear snippets of conversation that help us to put the plot together. The Paynes have moved to what they hope will be a better neighborhood and school district for their children. Tyler is a swimmer and his new school will perhaps make it easier for him to get the attention of college scouts. Chloe is still mourning the death of one of her friends. Her friend died of a drug overdose and we hear enough conversations to learn that drugs were apparently a problem at Chloe’s old school. More than one of Chloe’s classmates have died. Chris keeps an eye on Chloe, looking for any signs of drug addiction. Rebekah, meanwhile, is more concerned with the future of Tyler. As for the Presence, it gets upset easily. It’s not happy that Chloe seems to like Ryan (West Mulholland), a friend of Tyler’s who, at first, seems like almost a parody of sensitivity. The Presence gets even more upset when Tyler circulates a nude photo of another student online. What does the Presence want with the Paynes and will Rebekah and Chris’s already strained marriage survive the pressure of living with the mysterious spirit?
Written by David Koepp and directed by Steven Soderbergh, Presence is told with long takes and naturalistic lighting. Following the film’s plot requires listening to snippets of conversations that sometimes drift in from a neighboring room. It’s an interesting technique, or at least it is for the first half of the film. Eventually, it becomes apparent that Soderbergh is more interested in the film as a technical experiment than as an actual story involving interesting characters or surprising twists. At first, the long shots and the lack of close-ups seem to symbolize that the Presence is an outsider amongst the living family but eventually, they come to symbolize Soderbergh’s detachment from the story that he’s telling. As with so many of Soderbergh’s genre exercises, it’s a film that’s easier to respect than enjoy. Soderbergh sticks with his technique for the entire film, even when it would easier to abandon it. I appreciate the dedication but sometimes, I wish Soderbergh could just make a genre film without continually trying to convince us that he’s actually too good for the material.
On the plus side, Soderbergh does get fairly effective performances from his cast. There’s a twist involving Ryan’s character that isn’t really surprising but West Mulholland still does an excellent job selling it. Callina Liang realistically portrays Chloe’s sadness and I could definitely relate to her need to rebel, as I would think anyone who has ever been a teenager would. As so often happens with Soderbergh’s films, the extreme stylization gets in the way of the story but Liang still brings a bit humanity to Soderbergh’s chilly vision.
It was quite a night for Anora and Sean Baker! Sean Baker tied Walt Disney’s record by winning 4 Oscars in one night. After being dismissed as an als0-ran by many critics, Anora made a comeback and swept the Oscars. It was actually kind of fun to watch.
(As far as my predictions go, I hit 12 out of 23 correctly. That’s one of my worst showings ever but at least I managed to stay over 50%, albeit barely.)
It would be hard to overstate just how excited I was about the film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (2000). Having only discovered the work of Chow Yun-Fat a few years earlier, I had turned into a superfan and followed his every move. In the latter part of the 90’s, I dove into his entire filmography from Hong Kong. And that mostly meant buying movies online because there were not many options for purchasing his Hong Kong films, other than the classics THE KILLER (1989) and HARD-BOILED (1992), anywhere near my home in Arkansas. I soon discovered that Chow Yun-Fat was much more than just an action star as I would be watching serious dramas and crazy comedies along with his action fare. I’ll never forget my reaction when I first saw Chow play crazy comedy. It was the kitchen sink, cross-genre affair GOD OF GAMBLERS (1989), which starts with him playing the badass, unbeatable gambler of the title. He then falls down, hits his head and for a big part of the movie plays the simple minded goofball “Chocolate,” who will still gamble, but only for his favorite treats. Once I got used to such a jarring change within the same movie, I was able to appreciate just how good he is comedy. To this day, it’s one of my favorites.
While I was busy trying to watch every film I could get my hands on during that time, Chow Yun-Fat was making the move to American films. I was at the movie theater on opening night for THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (1998), THE CORRUPTOR (1999) and ANNA AND THE KING (1999). While I personally enjoyed each of these movies, Chow did not seem to be catching on with the American public with only ANNA AND THE KING breaking $100 Million worldwide. The other two would struggle to reach $20 Million.
And then I started reading about Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh working on a film with director Ang Lee in China called CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I had really enjoyed Lee’s film of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995), so I thought it might be interesting to see how he would handle a Chinese “wuxia” film. I would try to find as much information as I could, but I mainly just had to wait. As it premiered at Cannes and was being released around the world to enthusiastic reviews and big time box office, all I could do was read about it and bide my time. I then did something that I had never done before, and I have never done since. I found an e-mail address for Sony Pictures Classics and sent them an e-mail asking when CROUCHING TIGER was coming to Arkansas. To my great surprise, they responded that it would be in Little Rock on February 2nd, 2001. I could not be there on February 2nd, so I would have to wait until February 3rd to see the film, and I loved every second of it. And this time I wasn’t the only one as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON was lighting the box office on fire in America on its way to a record $128 million, which was unheard of for a foreign language film. The world had a fever, and it seemed the only prescription was crouching tigers and hidden dragons!!
Ten days after that beautiful night at the movies in Little Rock, the Oscars were announced, with CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. I was so excited. At that same time, I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly that put out on issue on February 23rd, 2001 with Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh on the cover. There were small pictures of people like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts around the edges, but Chow and Michelle were the centerpiece, and I was down for all of it! I watched the Oscar ceremony on March 25th, 2001 and saw my film take home 4 Oscars, those being Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score. It was almost surreal watching Chow Yun-Fat being shown over and over during the telecast, always with a big smile and a genuine excitement for their film’s triumph. All of that joy I had found in searching out Chow’s work, and reading about him, and showing up on opening nights for his new movies… it all seemed be culminating that amazing night at the Oscars. Those were some of the most exciting “movie times” of my life, and I would take up residence on cloud 9 for weeks/months afterwards.
After taking a break for a few years, I watched part of the Oscar telecast last year and really enjoyed the triumph of OPPENHEIMER. I’ll be back again tonight watching along with my wife and my friends at TSL. I have to admit I’m really looking forward to it.
8 Shots From 8 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, 8 Shots From 8 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
My list of my favorite Best Picture winners is a fluid one. There are a few — like All About Eve, It Happened One Night, the two Godfathers — that are always on the list. I love these four films with all my heart. Then there are films like No Country For Old Men that I think about and say, “Of course that’s going on the list!” There are other films that have snuck up on me. Until I was making out this list, I didn’t realize how much I truly did like Coda.
Anyway, here’s my top 8!
8 Shots From 8 Oscar-Winning Films
It Happened One Night (1934, dir by Frank Capra, DP: Joseph Walker)
Casablanca (1942, dir by Michael Curtiz, DP: Arthur Edeson)
All About Eve (1950, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Milton R. Krassner)
West Side Story (1961, dir by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, DP: Daniel L. Fapp)
The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)
The Godfather Part II (dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)
No Country For Old Men (2007, dir by Joel and Ethan Coen, DP: Roger Deakins)
CODA (2021, dir by Sian Heder, DP: Paula Huidobro)
Today is practically a holiday for me. As someone who loves movies and who also loves award shows, the Oscar Ceremony is an important annual event. I really don’t feel like the previous year is over until the Oscars have been handed out. For me, I won’t truly be able to move on from 2024 and really plunge into 2025 until the award for Best Picture is handed out.
This Oscar Sunday might be a little bit more lowkey than past Oscar Sundays but we’ll be here, the TSL crew, watching the show and rooting for our favorite films! We’ll be posting all the winners, maybe a few reviews, and I’ll be tossing out some Oscar thoughts throughout the day.
Remember that picture below? That was supposed to be the defining moment of the Oscars, an announcement that the Academy was still relevant and that Hollywood could compete with an increasingly online world. Today, it can easy to forget just how fawning the coverage was over the 2014 Oscar selfie. The picture is kind of a Rorschach test. Do you see Hollywood fun and glamour or do you see a bunch of smug celebrities? I’ve heard both answers. I’ve always liked Bradley Cooper’s smile and Jared Leto trying to get in the shot. What’s often forgotten is that poor Liza Minnelli was in the back of that crowd, trying to get in the picture but being not making it.
The Oscar selfie started out as a good thing but then it inspired other “celebs are just like us!” Oscar moments and boy, did those get old fast. Chris Rock making people buy Girl Scout cookies was okay. Jimmy Kimmel sending an army of celebs to interrupt a movie playing next door was Hollywood at its most self-important, walking into a movie that people had paid to see and loudly announcing themselves. (If that movie’s audience cared about the Oscars, they wouldn’t have been at a movie during the ceremony.) The infamous Stephen Soderbergh-produced Oscars were the worst, a COVID-era slog that couldn’t even pull off its grand emotional finale. Probably the most spontaneous and human moment on a recent Oscar telecast was Will Smith punching Chris Rock on live TV, cursing at the top of his lungs, and then rambling about God after winning his Oscar. Last year, Oppenheimer’s victory felt right and Robert Downey, Jr’s Oscar win felt like a moment that deserved a cheer. It was a return to the wonderful Oscars of old but now, this year, we’re back to largely obscure nominees and the front runner’s chances falling apart because of things she posted online. The big question tonight is not whether Emilia Perez will win (it won’t) but whether or not Karla Sofia Gascon’s tweets have taken down Zoe Saldana’s chances along with her own. The old Oscar selfie hits a bit differently after all that.
Of course, the most interesting thing about this selfie is that, for all the attention it received, it ended up being memory holed, largely because of Kevin Spacey managing to get in the frame. Ellen DeGeneres, as well, is no longer quite as beloved as she once was. This picture truly is an artifact of a different time. Myself, I like old movie so I’m always going to prefer Audrey Hepburn with her telegrams.
4 Shots From 4 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 I want to share my love of the great Hong Kong actor Lau Ching-Wan! I’ve been a huge fan going back to the time when I bought the book, “Hollywood East: Hong Kong Movies and the People Who Make Them,” sometime around 2000 or so. I was already hooked on the films of Chow Yun-Fat, but it was in this book that I really discovered the special connection between director Johnnie To and Lau Ching-Wan. Of course I was immediately obsessed, and I soon would see some movies that I still consider my very favorites. At 61 years of age, Lau is still very much in demand and at the top of his game. In 2023, he won his third Hong Kong Film Award for the film DETECTIVE VS. SLEUTHS. In January of this year, the Hong Kong Film Critics Society named him their Best Actor for a record fifth time for his performance in the film PAPA (2024). He’s a truly incredible talent. Enjoy!
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, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, directed by Sergio Martino!
If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime and Tubi! I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy!
Through the Shattered Lens 