I’m a big fan of Gerard Butler, mainly because of his macho performances in action films and thrillers. I also appreciate his ability to sing. I remember being surprised and impressed with his performance in Joel Schumacher’s version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. I really enjoy the song “The Music of the Night,” and since I reviewed one of his thrillers today (SHATTERED), I thought I’d balance it out with a video of him belting out a tune. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Film
Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol (1999, directed by Sturla Gunnarsson)
It’s a story as old as time.
Ricky Nelson (Greogry Calpakis) is a star on his parents’s TV show but what he really wants to be is a rock and roll singer. Ozzie (Jamey Sheridan) and Harriet Nelson (Sara Botsford) don’t know much about the strange rock and roll music but they do know that girls love it when Ricky plays the guitar and sings. Ricky becomes a star and a teen idol but chafes at his parents’s attempts to control his music and his image.
This is another one of those behind-the-scenes entertainment biopics that were all the rage of television for a while. This one was made for VH-1 instead of the any of the major networks and, as a result, it’s a little bit explicit in its depiction of Ricky’s sex life and his later drug use. Ricky goes from being a teen idol to being a long-haired proto-hippie, getting booed by all the squares who only want to hear the oldies. Not surprisingly, it’s a pretty shallow movie. Ricky is played by Gregory Calpakis, who appears to be the same age of Jamey Sheridan, who plays his father.
Movies like this will never go out of style. It’s inevitable that eventually, there will be biopics of Cobain, Bradley Nowell, Mac Miller, and all the rest. They’ll be AI-generated which will make them seem even worse.
Again, a story as old as time.
Brad reviews SHATTERED (2007) starring Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, and Maria Bello!
My wife and I decided to watch SHATTERED (2007), also known as BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL, on a whim tonight. We were browsing through Amazon Prime when I saw Gerard Butler on the preview, and that was enough for me to watch it. Sierra likes cheesy thrillers, which this definitely gives off that vibe, so she was all in as well.
SHATTERED is set in Chicago and opens on the Randall’s, a seemingly perfect little family, made up of Neil (Gerard Butler), Abby (Maria Bello), and their beautiful daughter, Sophie. Neil’s a successful, if somewhat ethically challenged businessman on the verge of a big promotion, and life is good. That is, until a stranger (Pierce Brosnan) literally pops up in the couple’s life out of nowhere, tells them that he’s kidnapped Sophie, and forces them to do whatever he says or he’ll kill the girl. One moment they’re emptying their bank accounts only to see the stranger burn the money, and the next they’re delivering incriminating business documents to the competition that will destroy Neil’s company and his career. As the demands escalate, we learn that Neil and Abby’s lives aren’t quite as perfect as initially presented. But who is this stranger, why is he doing this, and how far will he force them to go to save their daughter?
I enjoyed SHATTERED quite a bit. It’s one of those movies that rope you in with its intriguing premise… a mysterious stranger puts a happy couple through hell, and we don’t know why he’s doing it, but we want to! This type of story, if done well, always pulls me in even though we’ve seen it done many times before. It’s helped by the game cast. Pierce Brosnan is appropriately intense and menacing as the stranger, helping us believe that he’ll hurt their daughter if they don’t follow his orders. James Bond, he is not! I’m a big fan of Gerard Butler, and he’s good here. His character is not the badass that we’ve come to expect from him these days, and he’s not that great of a guy either, but he does a good job of portraying a morally compromised guy whose life is spiraling out of control. Maria Bello is equal to the task as well, as the desperate mother who’s forced to deal with her husband’s failures at the same time as she’s dealing with any mother’s worst nightmare.
At the end of the day, these types of thrillers live and die based on their “twists” at the end. I have to admit that I was able to figure out the first twist about halfway through the movie, but SHATTERED isn’t content with just one twist, and it seems to stumble somewhat as it continues on after the first big reveal. I don’t blame the writers for trying to come up with something unique to close us out, but it doesn’t feel entirely successful in light of all that’s transpired before. It might actually be worth a rewatch just to see how well it stacks up.
I’m glad I watched SHATTERED. It’s time-tested storyline and fast pace make it worth a viewing, especially if you’re a fan of the cast like I am. Just keep your expectations in check, and you should enjoy the ride!
Scenes That I Love: Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz
Today’s scene that I love comes from Bob Fosse’s 1979 masterpiece, All That Jazz. This scene features the legendary Ann Reinking at her best. Roy Scheider said that he cried after shooting this scene.
4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Bob Fosse Edition
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, we celebrate the birth and legacy of Bob Fosse. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Bob Fosse Films
Cabaret (1972, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Geoffrey Unsworth)
Lenny (1974, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Bruce Surtees)
All That Jazz (1979, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Giuseppe Rotunno)
Star 80 (1983, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Sven Nyvkist)
#MondayMuggers present AVENGEMENT (2019) starring Scott Adkins!
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 June 23rd, we are showing AVENGEMENT (2019) starring Scott Adkins, Craig Fairbrass, Thomas Turgoose, and Nick Moran.
Convicted felon Cain Burgess (Scott Adkins) escapes prison and heads out to take revenge on those he holds responsible. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is as follows:
“AVENGEMENT compensates for a lack of narrative originality with thrilling sequences of violent, bone-crunching action, elevated by Scott Adkins’ brutally intense performance.”
So, if you like “violent, bone-crunching action,” it sounds like we have the movie for you! Join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch AVENGEMENT! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
Brad’s “scene of the day” – FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE (1994), starring Stephen Chow!
I love the Hong Kong actor and comedian Stephen Chow, who just happens to be celebrating his 63rd birthday today. While he may be best known for the smash hits SHAOLIN SOCCER (2001) and KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004), I first became a fan when I saw his James Bond send up, FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE. I was so impressed with his deadpan delivery style in the film, and even though he seems kind of goofy, he turns out to be a major badass. I loved it!
In honor of Stephen Chow’s birthday, I present this scene from the Hong Kong comedy FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE. Enjoy!
Brad reviews SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT (1989), starring David Carradine and Bruce Campbell!
In honor of Bruce Campbell’s 67th birthday, I decided to watch a movie he’s featured in that I’ve never seen before. I thought the horror-comedy SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT looked like it might be fun so I went for it!
In the desert town of Purgatory, a colony of vampires led by Count Mardulak (David Carradine) want to live in peace, abstaining from human blood, and instead, drinking a blood substitute called “Necktarine,” which is produced in a local factory. They also use high powered sunscreen that allows them to go out in the day time as long as they wear thick sunglasses, big hats or umbrellas, and gloves. Unfortunately, the blood factory begins experiencing production issues, so Mardulak asks David Harrison (Jim Metzler), the unsuspecting human who designed the production process, to come to town and fix their problems. Harrison brings his family with him, including his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany), and their two daughters. The Harrison family soon find themselves in the middle of an other worldly war as Jefferson (John Ireland) and Shane (Maxwell Caulfied), rebellious local vampires, plot to overthrow Mardulak so they can return to their murderous ways. Meanwhile, Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell), the great grandson of the famed vampire hunter, walks into town, ready to romance the local vampire beauty Sandy (Deborah Foreman) and drive stakes into the hearts of as many bloodsucking freaks as possible!
As far as I’m concerned, SUNDOWN is a blast as a completely absurd horror-comedy that puts an interesting spin on traditional vampire legend, with its endless sunscreen slathering and a growing local weariness over “Necktarine” adding to the good times. It’s campy and silly, with purposely terrible stop motion bat effects, over-the-top family drama, and lots of cheesy one-liners, but of course that’s all part of the charm.
The B-movie dream cast is what I enjoyed the most about SUNDOWN. David Carradine plays it pretty straight as the town leader Count Mardulak, which is effective when you consider all of the craziness going on around him. Bruce Campbell, and his mustache, steals all of his scenes with his goofy charm and misguided heroics. And, of course, the inimitable M. Emmet Walsh is perfect as old man Mort, a vampire who loses his temper and beheads a disrespectful city slicker. He just can’t help himself. Throw in other veteran character actors like Bert Remsen and John Ireland and it’s easy to enjoy the movie no matter how silly it all gets.
On a personal note, I did want to point out a couple of performances in SUNDOWN that have Arkansas connections. First, Jim Metzler had a solid part a couple of years after this movie in the crime thriller ONE FALSE MOVE (1991), which was co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and partially filmed in Eastern Arkansas. It’s a great movie and Metzler is good in it. Second, Elizabeth Gracen has a small part in the film. Gracen, whose actual name is Elizabeth Ward, won the title of Miss Arkansas in 1981 and then went on to win Miss America in 1982. My uncle Billy was her hair stylist as she made her run to beauty pageant immortality. Other notable Gracen life events include her affair with Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1983, her appearance in Steven Seagal’s MARKED FOR DEATH in 1990, and her Playboy spread in 1992. Interestingly, 18 years old at the time, I saw the layout when my girlfriend’s mom bought the issue and let me look at it!
Overall, SUNDOWN lets us know right off the bat the kind of absurd movie we’re dealing with, so you’ll either be into it or want to just move on. I was into it, mainly due to its strong cast. It’s not perfect, and it overstays its welcome by a good 15 minutes, but SUNDOWN is a fun watch for fans of silly horror-comedies and the excellent cast. I had a great time with it!
Running Time (1997, directed by Josh Becker)
Carl (Bruce Campbell) is serving a ten-year prison sentence but he gets out in five. He’s met outside the prison by his old criminal partner. Patrick (Jeremy Roberts). After Carl makes up for lost time with a prostitute named Janie (Anita Barone), he and Patrick try to rob the prison’s laundry system. Carl’s spent most of his time in prison carefully plotting out the heist but he didn’t take into account that his old criminal crew is made up of incompetents.
Running Time is only 70 minutes long and the film’s story plays out in real-time. The movie itself is edited in such a way to create the impression that it was all shot in one continuous take. It’s gimmicky but, like the film’s noir-style black-and-white cinematography, it works, creating a narrative the feels relentless. It also makes it clear that Campbell’s Carl is a true career criminal. He’s not out of prison for more than a handful of minutes before he’s trying to pull his next heist. Crime is all that Carl really know, which makes his dilemma at the end of the movie (Janie or the money?) very effective.
Running Time is basically a showcase for Bruce Campbell. Director Josh Becker was a longtime friend and associate of Sam Raimi’s and started his feature career as a production assistant on The Evil Dead. Running Time feels like it was made with Campbell in mind and Carl is a character who plays to all of Campbell’s strengths. It’s the perfect film for Campbell’s style of acting and Campbell is just as good when he’s planning the heist as when he’s arguing with Janie about the way that he treated her when they were both in high school together. (His scenes with the excellent Anita Barone are some of the best in the movie.) Running Time features Bruce Campbell at his best.
Brad’s thoughts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)
I’ve been trying to make it to the theater to watch the latest, and reportedly the final, “Mission: Impossible” film featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. I was finally able to make it this weekend! This film series has been a big part of my life, with the first film opening when I was just a 22 year old kid, and the final film being released when I’m a 51 year old grandpa! Going back to 1996 when Brian De Palma directed the first in the series, I have seen all eight at the movie theater. I have enjoyed all of them, with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II as my clear least favorite, which is quite strange since it was directed by John Woo, my favorite director of all of them. I still like it though. This Mission: Impossible franchise has done the near impossible in the fact that it has gotten better and better over the course of its twenty nine years in existence. The first four films in the franchise experimented with different directors, some of the best in the business. The fifth in the franchise, “ROGUE NATION,” was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who would then direct the rest of the series, including this final installment. McQuarrie’s sure hand has brought us to this final place. In a way, I’m sad to see it coming to an end, but time seems to take a toll on all of us, even Ethan Hunt / Tom Cruise.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING, a direct sequel to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (2023), opens two months after the prior film. With the evil “Entity” continuing to corrupt global cyberspace and create chaos, it appears the world is headed for a sure nuclear war. With no other choice, U.S. President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) reluctantly puts her faith in Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of IMF agents, including Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). He also gets help from Grace (Hayley Atwell), Paris (Pom Klementieff), and Theo (Greg Tarzan Davis). Together this team goes after Gabriel (Esai Morales), an evil terrorist who’s been working with the “Entity,” in a last ditch effort to eliminate the end-of-the-world threat for a bunch of people who will never know what has been done for them.
I think that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an excellent conclusion to the series featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. There are several reasons I feel this way. First, this final episode gives us the things that we’ve loved about the series from the beginning. For example, there is always a section of the film where the team will have to do something that is impossible. They’ll go through the plan with us, the audience, and they’ll explain why it’s impossible and the worst case scenarios they could run into. You can always count on the actual execution of the mission being even worse than the “worst case scenarios,” with the fun being in how they finally achieve their objective after all sorts of complications. We definitely get that here. Second, the relationships that Ethan Hunt shares with his long term team of Luther (all 8 films) and Benji (6 films) bring something special in this final episode. Luther (Ving Rhames) has been with Ethan from the very beginning, and this final episode proves that Ethan isn’t the only person on the team willing to give everything he has to protect a bunch of people who will never know his name. Benji (Simon Pegg) has been with Ethan since the third installment, and the series has seen him go from being nerdy comic relief to an important and trusted member of the team. He’s still funny, but he’s also right in the middle of everything. I like Pegg and it’s been satisfying seeing this character arc. Third, the action sequences are incredible. The final sequence where Ethan Hunt must climb on board not one, but two different biplanes to stop the evil Gabriel from getting away is awesome. These stunt sequences are incredible, and I actually got weak in the knees as I watched the death defying maneuvers, mostly featuring Tom Cruise himself. Fourth, this final installment enjoys revisiting past missions and characters, tying these prior events to where we are now in Hunt’s story. My favorite is the re-introduction of the character William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), the CIA Analyst from the very first film who ran the impenetrable, secure room that Hunt’s team is able to break into in Langley, VA. We learn that his character was banished to a remote post on the Bering Sea as a direct result of what happened 29 years earlier. When he re-emerges here, it’s revealed that his reassignment was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he’s also made an integral part of this final installment. It’s good stuff.
Finally, I want to finish my thoughts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING by discussing actor Tom Cruise. It’s my personal opinion that Cruise is the last of a dying breed, the true movie star who gives everything he has for his films. There are no others who do what Tom Cruise does, which is put his life on the line to entertain us. Jackie Chan did the same thing in his heyday, and there aren’t any others left. The stunts that Cruise completed for this film, as well as the prior films, will never be matched again by a major movie star. That may even be a good thing, but my respect for Cruise’s commitment to his craft places him alone in my book as the greatest movie star on the planet. They certainly don’t make them like Tom Cruise anymore.
At the end of the day, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an incredible close to the extremely successful franchise. It’s probably not the best in the series as it may try to cover too much ground in its efforts to close everything out. Time and repeat viewings will determine its ultimate reputation, but I know that I enjoyed every second of it. I even had some moisture well up in my eyes at the end as the film was reaching its conclusion. I honestly doubt we’ll ever see such prolonged excellence again in a movie franchise.
