On Christmas Eve, a miserly businessman is visited by a series of ghosts who help him understand the true meaning of Christmas, along with showing him a frightening vision of a possible future.
And that businessman was named …. Benedict Slade!
Yeah, the name’s have been changed and the action has been updated to Depression-era New England but this is basically the story of Scrooge. Henry Winkler stars as the Scrooge character in the 1979 made-for-TV movie. His old age make-up was done by none other than Rick Baker!
You might recognize today’s song of the day from the opening credits of Boardwalk Empire, the Martin Scorsese-produced show that starred Steve Buscemi, who is celebrating a birthday today.
In today’s scene of the day, from 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Pink explains why he doesn’t tip. Only Steve Buscemi could make a non-tipper named Mr. Pink into the film’s most likable character.
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, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the one and only Steve Buscemi. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Steve Buscemi Films
Reservoir Dogs (1992, dir by Quentin Tarantino, DP: Andrzej Sekuła)
Fargo (1996, dir by the Coen Brothers, DP: Roger Deakins)
Trees Lounge (1996, dir by Steve Buscemi, DP: Lisa Rinzler)
The Death of Stalin (2017, dir by Armando Iannucci, DP: Zac Nicholson)
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 2025’s Shiver Me Timbers!
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!
Apparently, this song was inspired by a music industry cocktail party that the band attended. It was also apparently inspired by Bob Dylan’s feelings towards the industry, though Dylan was not involved in recording or performing the song.
As for the video, what’s interesting is how literally it interprets the song. Seriously, the poor guy really is stuck in the middle and he really does have clowns and jokers to either side of him!
Did y’all know that actor James Woods has completed two very personal musical albums in the last couple of years? First, he wrote nine songs for the 2024 album “Hear the Thunder Crack.” This album is described as… The Life of James Woods, as sung by Shooter Jennings. His latest album, “Tombstone Opera” just dropped within the last month! I recently purchased it and will be listening to it over the holiday season. Once again, Woods wrote all the lyrics, and the primary vocals are by a gentleman named Bob Wayne. I’ve listened to a couple of the songs, and they are very good! I think these are very interesting albums, and they certainly give us insight into Woods in a way that no role in a movie ever could.
I thought I’d share the song “Cafe Central” with you today, mainly because of its references to the classic Sergio Leone film ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984), a film I know many of you enjoy!
Those two lines of dialogue, uttered towards the end of the film, pretty much sums up F1, a terrifically entertaining movie about Formula One racing.
Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a former FI prodigy who, in the early 90s, suffered a traumatic crash at the Spanish Grand Prix. The crash nearly killed him and it temporarily ended his career as an F1 driver. Sonny has spent the past thirty years as a drifter, gambler, and as a race car driver for hire. He lives in a van and is haunted by nightmares of his crash. When he wakes up in the morning, he groans as he stretches his tattooed, beat-up, but still muscular body. He dunks his face in a sink full of ice. He’s aging but he hasn’t surrendered just yet. The film opens with Sonny helping to win the 24 Hours of Daytona race. After his victory, he’s approached by his former teammate, Ruben (Javier Bardem). Ruben is in charge of the APEXGP F1 team. He needs a driver to partner with the young and arrogant Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Sonny agrees, though only after Ruben asks if Sonny wants a chance to show that he’s the best in the world. Sonny may be one of the oldest guys on the track but he’s still got something to prove.
If F1 came out in 80s, the 90s, or even the Aughts, it would be viewed as a well-made but predictable racing film, one in which a fairly by-the-numbers script was held together by Brad Pitt’s overwhelming charisma and Joseph Kosiniski’s kinetic direction. And that certainly is a legitimate way to view the film in 2025. On the other hand, coming after both the scoldy Woke Era and the authoritarian COVID Era, a film that celebrates competing without guilt, that says that it’s more fun to win than to lose, and which doesn’t apologize for embracing a culture of driving fast and breaking the rules feels almost revolutionary. Just as he did withTop Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski reminds the audience that it’s okay to be entertained. Not everything has to be a struggle session. Not everything has to be a rejection of the things that once made you happy. F1 is a film that invites you to cheer without guilt or shame.
It’s a good film, one that is full of exciting racing scenes and gasp-inducing crashes. After both this film and Top Gun: Maverick, there’s little doubt that director Joseph Kosinski knows how to harness the power of Hollywood’s few true movie stars. That said, as good as Brad Pitt is, Damson Idris is equally impressive, playing Joshua, a young driver who learns that there’s more to being a great driver than just getting good press. When we first meet Joshua, he’s young and cocky and arrogant and one thing that I respect about the film is that, even after Joshua learns the importance of teamwork and trust, he’s still more than a little cocky. He never stops believing in himself. He doesn’t sacrifice his confidence on the way to becoming the best. Though the film is definitely on Sonny’s side when it comes to their early conflicts (one can practically here the film saying, “Put down your phone, you young whippersnapper!”), it’s smart enough to not make Joshua into a caricature. Instead, he’s just a young man trying to balance celebrity and talent. Kerry Condon also gives a good performance as APEX’s technical director, though her romance with Sonny does feel a bit tacked on. (Far too often, whenever a female character says that she’s not looking for a relationship, movies refuse to take her word for it.)
When I first heard about F1, I have to admit that I wondered if Kosinski was deliberately following up the Top Gun sequel with a remake of Days of Thunder.It is true that F1 does have a lot in common with other racing films but, in the end, it doesn’t matter. Brad Pitt’s star turn and Joseph Kosinski’s direction makes F1 into an absolutely thrill ride and one of the best of 2025.
On Strike for Christmas was fun because I got to live tweet it with Lisa and that’s always a blast. The story is straight forward- Joy (Daphne Zuniga), a SAHM, is fed up with being unappreciated for her hard work in prepping for Christmas; so, she goes full-commie and strikes/organizes the other moms to fall into the perils of communism by unionizing the moms to stop all Christmas prep! Honestly, I could’ve reviewed this film for Horrorthon based upon the Marxist plot line!
I want to stay as positive as I can because it’s Christmastime but the film took a WEIRD left turn! First, the grandmother, the mom, the dad, AND the two sons were really close in age; so, you had serious teen mom vibe. Second, it was obvious that ALL of the actors had the hots for each other! It was like infamous Folgers ad (see below ).
If you are unfamiliar with the Folgers ad above, the plot is that a brother returns from Africa and the actors couldn’t help but show their attraction for one another. The same distracting event happened in this film too and not just once or twice – no no no – the sexual tension in this film was like Madmen season 1 levels and in nearly every scene.
There was one scene where the mom dressed up and the son gushed on how hot she was and it was very uncomfortable. I swear, find someone who looks at you like these actors looked at each other!!!
There were some funny parts to the film; such as, the obligatory trope that the boys and dad tried to make cookies and it’s a disaster. However, it really felt like the family had a lot of problems before this because the mom proceeded to not only go on strike, but to talk to journalists about all of her family were just POSs. I mean really if you’re already at the point where you feel comfortable going to the press about what garbage people your husband is and your son’s, the marriage is already over. And in her case, it certainly was awkward at Valentine’s Day when her dad and sons/boyfriends gave her chocolate all at the same time!!! I can only imagine what the hallmark card would look like!!!
Lisa noticed that the mom wasn’t just going on strike herself, but she proceeded to break up every family in the town. Joy needs to be stopped! I mean, it’s bad enough that she’s led all these poor people down the path of socialism and communism, which is just painful for me, but she’s also splitting up all these families!
Maybe that’s what happened in Russia? It was all just a big kerfuffle over cookies and icing and the next thing you know – nukes are pointed right at the good old US of A!!!
It should be noted that eventually the strike does end and the families try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. I think that was very insensitive of Joy because she always had her son/boyfriend’s number to fall back on during those cold winter nights!!!
Through the Shattered Lens 