With our annual Horrorthon starting tomorrow, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to share a creepy scene that I love from The Sopranos.
The Sopranos was well-known for its dream sequences. For me, this dream from the season 4’s Calling All Cars is one of the best and scariest of the series. It’s full of menace and ominous atmosphere, from the minute we see Tony being led to the house by the deceased Ralphie. And then, when that mysterious shadow appears on the staircase — AGCK!
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
Today, TSL celebrates the 120th anniversary of the birth of Michael Powell, the British visionary who changed the face of cinema, both on his own and through his collaboration with Emeric Pressburger. It seems appropriate that we pay tribute to Powell on the day before October, as his 1960 film Peeping Tom is considered by many to be the first slasher film. (It’s not but it’s influence on the genre cannot be overstated.)
In honor of Michael Powell, TSL is proud to present….
4 Shots From 4 Michael Powell Films
I Know Where I’m Going (1945, dir by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, DP: Erwin Hillier)
Black Narcissus (1947, dir by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, DP: Jack Cardiff)
The Red Shoes (1948, dir by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, DP: Jack Cardiff)
Peeping Tom (1960, dir by Michael Powell, DP: Otto Heller)
by Erin Nicole
It’s nearly October!
Love and Rockets is definitely one of those 80s bands that should have been bigger than they were. Basically made up of every member of Bauhaus except for Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets was responsible for some of the best songs of the decade.
No New Tales To Tell is from their third studio album, Earth, Sun, Moon. Thanks to this music video, which was put in heavy rotation on MTV, the song did manage to reach number 18 on the U.S. charts. The video was directed by the very prolific Tony van den Ende and it features a few shots of the band in their Bubblemen costumes. (The Bubblemen were a side project for several members of the band. They performed while dressed as friendly bees.)
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!
This week, Ponch continues to train Melanie and Paula.
Episode 4.15 “Ponch’s Angels: Part Two”
(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on March 1st, 1981)
We pick up where we stopped last week. A man and his girlfriend are stealing purses and wallets at the marina. Three escaped convicts are in a deserted house and digging for buried treasure. Ponch and Jon are having to train two new motorcycle cops, Paula (Barbara Stock) and Melanie (Trisha Townsend). When last we checked in, Ponch was kissing Melanie. This episode opens with Ponch telling Melanie that they can never kiss again.
Ponch and Baker continue to train Paula and Melanie. Ponch decides to switch with Baker. He trains Paula while Baker works with Melanie. But then almost the entire highway patrol comes down with the flu and, when Baker is put in charge while Getraer recovers at home, Ponch finds himself to work with both Paula and Melanie. Once again, it’s all on Ponch because it’s The Ponch Show!
It’s all a bit exhausting to try to keep up with, to be honest. Ponch and Baker spend this episode wondering whether or not women actually could handle being motorcycle cops. Baker especially seems to be confused at the idea of a woman driving a motorcycle. One gets the feeling that Ponch is just mad because he knows he’ll get fired if he tries to make a move on either woman. Almost this entire episode is made up of Ponch trying to keep track of who is riding with who.
Luckily, Paula and Melanie prove themselves by catching the purse snatchers and also helping to catch the escaped convicts. Good for them! At the end of the opposite, they toss their motorcycle helmets in the air and leap for joy. The picture freezes while Ponch and Baker have a good laugh.
I was not surprised to read that this episode was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a Paula/Melanie show. Stock and Townsend were both likable and they acted well opposite each other so I could actually imagine them starring in a fairly entertaining series. It didn’t happen, though. Maybe the network felt that Ponch and Jon didn’t need the competition.
This was an okay episode of The Ponch Show.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!
This week, season 4 comes to a close.
Episode 4.22 “Mirror Image”
(Dir by Richard Compton, originally aired on May 6th, 1988)
Trying to recover from the assassination of his wife, Sonny Crockett throws himself back into his Sonny Burnett persona. As this episode starts, Sonny has managed to get close to a ruthless drug dealer named Gutierrez (Antonio Fargas). When Guiterrez blows up a boat that is full of rival drug dealers, the Vice Squad assumes that Gutierrez died in the explosion. They also assume that Sonny was lost as well.
They are incorrect. Gutierrez got off the boat before the bomb went off and somehow, Sonny was able to survive being blown up without suffering any sort of physical injuries. However, mentally, he wakes up with amnesia. When Gutierrez’s doctor tells Sonny that he’s a drug dealer and this his last name is “Burnett,” Sonny believes him.
In Ft. Lauderdale, Sonny quickly moves up in the organization of drug lord Miguel Manolo (Tony Azito). Now believing himself to be a criminal, Sonny has no hesitation about murdering anyone who he views as being a threat. He kills Gutierrez in cold blood about halfway through the episode. At the end of the episode, he shoots a corrupt detective (Chris Cooper) in cold blood. Tubbs, who has been investigating Manolo, witnesses that final murder. “SONNY!” he yells as Sonny escapes in a speedboat and season 4 comes to an end.
Season 4 was truly uneven, featuring some terrible episodes and also some episodes that were good but not particularly memorable. Before I started this season, I read that it was considered to be the worst of Miami Vice‘s five seasons and, having now watched every episode, I can see why. Sonny marrying Caitlin never made any sense. Most of the villains were either generic or ludicrous. Most of the episodes just didn’t have the style that made the first three seasons so memorable. Even worse than the boring episodes were the ones that tried too hard to be quirky. Trudy going into space was definitely not a great idea. With all that in mind, this final episode was great. The action was stylish, Don Johnson actually seemed invested in the story for once, and Phillip Michael Thomas got to show off his own skills as an actor. If only the entire season had been this good!
As well, I should mention that, along with Chris Cooper as a bad cop, this episode also featured Julia Roberts as Manolo’s girlfriend. Roberts didn’t really get to do much but, even in a small role, her screen presence was obvious. It’s not a surprise she became a star.
Next week …. we’ll start the final season of Miami Vice!
It’s a sad time to be a Southern baseball fan.
The regular season is over. The playoffs begin tomorrow. Despite giving me a brief moment of hope in the final weeks, the Rangers did not make the playoffs. Usually, when the Rangers don’t make it, I cheer for the Astros but they didn’t make it either.
Instead, the following teams will be contending for a spot in the World Series:
For the American League:
For the National League:
In other words, a bunch of yankees and I don’t just mean New York.
Who will I cheer for out of that collection of teams? I know who I don’t want to win. If the World Series comes down to the Blue Jays and the Phillies, I might just stop watching baseball all together. (I’d have to cheer for the Blue Jays in that matchup but I wouldn’t be happy about it.)
The Guardians are tempting, even if they did clinch their spot by beating the Rangers. They were the last team to make it to the playoffs and I love a good underdog story. They may have beat the Rangers but they’re not the team that I blame for keeping the Rangers out of the playoffs. (I’m looking at you, Astros.) Ohio may be up north but it’s not that much up north so I guess I can support the Guardians or even the Reds!
Go Guardians!
Hi, everyone! Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania! Join us for Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge! Dr. Albert Beck is back!
You can find the movie on Prime and Tubi and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) See you then!
For today’s song of the day, we have Chernobyl by Blanck Mass. This piece of music was used to haunting effect in 2014’s A Field In England.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1975’s The Passenger, a film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Antonioni was born 113 years ago today, in what was then the “Kingdom of Italy.”
In The Passenger, Jack Nicholson plays a journalist who, because he’s bored with his life, impulsively assumes the identity of a deceased American businessman. What he discovers is that the businessman was an arms dealer and that the people that the arms dealer were doing business with still expect to get their weapons. Despite the fact that he knows that it might cost him his life, Nicholson is still drawn to see just how far he can take his new existence.
The film’s enigmatic final scene, in which Nicholson goes to a hotel to wait as both the people who double-crossed and his wife search for him, is Antonioni at his best.
Through the Shattered Lens 