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, we celebrate the 82nd birthday of the great Michael Mann! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Michael Mann Films
Thief (1981, dir by Michael Mann, DP: Donald Thorin)
Manhunter (1986, dir by Michael Mann, DP: Dante Spinotii)
Heat (1995, dir by Michael Mann, DP: Dante Spinotti)
Public Enemies (2009, dir by Michael Mann, DP: Dante Spinotti)
On this date, 119 years ago, the great actor John Carradine was born in New York City.
Over the course of his career, Carradine worked for just about everyone. He appeared on stage. He appeared in film and television. He played the great roles of Shakespeare and he also played Dracula. He was a part of both the John Ford and the Fred Olen Ray stock companies. He had a reputation for taking almost any role offered to him and, as a result, his huge filmography offers up a wonderful amount of variety.
He was also a singer! Here he is performing today’s song of the day, Night Train to Mundo Fine! This song was featured Coleman Francis’s Red Zone Cuba. Say what you may about the song or the film, how can you not love Carrdine’s dramatic (and perhaps slightly mocking) delivery of the lyrics?
Henry Perkins (Chevy Chase), the most boring man alive, has a job making wax fruit while his wife (Penelope Ann Miller) wants to make a living through drawing naked men. (I guess that’s fair considering how many men make their living by drawing naked women.) On Henry’s birthday, Henry spots a briefcase just like his and decides to swap them. At home, Henry discovers that his new briefcase contains five million dollars!
Henry wants to move to Europe immediately. But every time he and his wife try to leave their home, something occurs. A menacing cop (Armanda Assante) shows up. Henry’s friends drop by to celebrate his birthday. The Romanian mob makes an appearance, looking for their money. All Henry and his wife want to do is steal the money but instead, they spend a night dealing with false identities, physical comedy, and slapstick humor.
Funny Money was based on a stage play and it seems like the sort of thing that would have been hilarious if viewed live, with everyone running on and off the stage and some genuine suspense about who was going to show up next. It does not translate well to film. This would have been a good vehicle for Chase in the 80s or even the 90s but, by the time the movie was made, Chase seemed old and tired. Penelope Ann Miller is never convincing as Chase’s wife. (Someone should have tried to reunite Chase with Beverly D’Angelo or even Goldie Hawn for this movie.) The main problem is that the supporting characters are never as funny or as quick-on-their-feet as the film needs them to be. Armand Assante doesn’t seem to know he’s in a comedy. Even a reliable actor like Christopher McDonald is let down by the film’s script and direction. That’s too bad because the material had potential. While it’s not a disaster like Cops and Robbersons, Funny Money is still never funny enough.
Today would have been George Romero’s 85th birthday.
Today’s scene of the day comes from Romero’s best film, Night of the Living Dead. In this scene, an attempt to escape from a farmhouse ends in disaster. As was typical of all of Romero’s films, the disaster has less to do with the zombies and more to do with humans that simply can’t work together.
The upload isn’t great but this scene still represents Romero’s vision of a society working to destroy itself.
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!
I thought I’d try one of these “4 shots” posts. It’s really hard for me not to say anything, because each of these movies mean a lot to me, and the western remains my favorite genre even if I am a little stuck in the past. I’ll probably take a stab at a review of each of these films at some point. I hope you enjoy!
After the violent death of his son Sonny Calzone, the Oddfather (Dom DeLuise) announces that his other son, Guppy Calzone (Kevin McDonald, of the Kids In The Hall), will be taking over the family business. Guppy is sent to Mafia University, where he learns how to garrote a traitor and dismember a body. Guppy falls in love with Don Na (Fabiana Udenio), the daughter of the Rodfather (Rodney Dangerfield), the leader of a rival family.
The Godson tries to do to gangster movies what Airplane! did to disaster movies. Dom DeLuise does a good Brando impersonation and there’s a funny moment where Guppy stops the action and tries to convince people in the audience to buy a Guppy action figure. Otherwise, this is a poorly-done parody film. Good comedy is all about timing and The Godson flunks that test. Jokes are either too long or too short but hardly any of them stick. The idea of Mafia University is funnier than the, if you’ll excuse the phrase, execution. Even worse, the movie doesn’t make much use of Rodney Dangerfield. When one of the funniest men who ever lived appears in your movie, it’s cinematic malpractice not to give him a chance to shine.
If the film has a highlight, it’s Lou Ferrigno as a member of the Oddfather’s crew. Otherwise, this is a missed opportunity.
My personal favorite Charles Bronson movie is HARD TIMES, and this is one of my favorite scenes.
As an appreciation gift for helping him all summer with his many projects, my dad took me to Wal-Mart sometime back in the 80’s and told me I could pick out a movie. Wal-Mart just happened to have a big stack of HARD TIMES videocassettes. I was about 13 years old at the time, and I was already obsessed with Bronson, but I had never seen this movie before. So, dad bought the movie for me and did something he didn’t often do, he sat down and watched it with me when we got back home. This one-punch knockout scene takes place at the very beginning of the movie, and I vividly remember my dad having a nice laugh when the scene occurred. That made me happy, as I was always wanting my family members to watch and enjoy my movies with me. It’s a special memory for me of a great time with my dad and of the very first time I saw HARD TIMES!
Looks like Death is up to its shenanigans once again with Final Destination Bloodlines. Just when we thought it was safe to go about our lives without having to worry about Death’s penchant for complex Rube Goldbergesque plans to kill some people it looks like we spoke too soon.
On May 16, 2025, Death runs in the family and wearing a nose ring may not be the best thing when Death’s around. Here we have the first teaser trailer for Final Destination Bloodlines.
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 February 3rd, we’re watching THE DOUBLE starring Richard Gere, Topher Grace, and Martin Sheen.
Sierra had a day off from work last week and she watched this movie 3 times. Then she told me it would be her choice for the week! I’d say she really likes the movie!
THE DOUBLE is the story of a retired CIA operative (Gere), who’s paired with a young FBI agent (Grace), trying to solve the mystery of a senator’s murder. All of the signs are pointing towards an assassin from the Soviet Union!
Here is some interesting trivia about the film:
THE DOUBLE is directed and written by Michael Brandt. After directing this film, Brandt would be the driving force behind the various Chicago based TV series’ CHICAGO FIRE, CHICAGO P.D., and CHICAGO MED. He also wrote the screenplays to 3:10 TO YUMA (2007) and WANTED (2008). This is a talented man!
Filming was halted for six weeks after Richard Gere dislocated his shoulder during a fight sequence with actor Tamer Hassan.
If you enjoyed the TV show CASTLE, the beautiful Stana Katic is in this movie. She’s billed 5th, but she only has about 5 minutes of screen time. That shows you how popular that show was at the time of this films release in 2011.
So join us tonight to for #MondayMuggers and watch THE DOUBLE! It’s on Amazon Prime.
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasionally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1977’s Speedtrap, starring Joe Don Baker! I picked it so you know it’ll be good.
It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, find the movie on YouTube or Tubi, hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Through the Shattered Lens 