4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Paul Newman Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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!

101 years ago today, Paul Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio.  He would go on, of course, to become one of America’s greatest film stars, an acclaimed actor who was active from the mid-part of the 20th century to the beginning of our current century.  He made his film debut in 1954 with The Silver Chalice (and subsequently paid for an ad in which he apologized for his performance in the film, which I think was a bit unnecessary as he wasn’t really that bad in the film) and he made his final onscreen appearance in 2005 in Empire Falls.  (He did, however, subsequently provide the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars, along with narrating a few documentaries.)  Time and again, he proved himself to be one of the best actors around.  According to most report, he was also one of the nicest.  When he died in 2008, the world mourned.

In honor of his cinematic legacy, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Paul Newman Films

The Long Hot Summer (1958, dir by Martin Ritt, DP: Joseph LaShelle)

Hud (1963, dir by Martin Ritt, DP: James Wong Howe)

The Sting (1973, dir by George Roy Hill, DP: Robert Surtees)

Slap Shot (1977, dir by George Roy Hill, DP: Victor Kemper)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Assassin!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 1986’s Assassin!

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 and hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  The  watch party community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

See you soon!

Music Video of the Day: Jamie’s Cryin’ by Van Halen (1978, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today would have been Eddie Van Halen’s 71st birthday.

Jamie’s Cryin’ first appeared on Van Halen’s debut album and it was the third released single to come from that album.  Though it didn’t chart, it was a favorite of both Eddie Van Halen’s and David Lee Roth’s, with Eddie later saying that Jamie’s Cryin’ should have been Van Halen’s single.

Enjoy!

We Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal (1993, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Alana Westbrook (Morgan Fairchild), the ruthless owner of a cosmetics company, is murdered after she announces that she is actually 60 years old and owes her youthful appearance to a miracle skin cream.  Her husband (Patrick O’Neal) is charged with the crime but he’s lucky enough to have Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) as his attorney.  Perry thinks that the murderer is an eccentric gigolo (David Warner) but, for once, Perry might be wrong.  Meanwhile, Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) gets involved with a corporate spy (Lauren Lane) who might know more than she says.

Lisa and I watched this one earlier today.  We really enjoyed it!  It’s the most soapy of all the Perry Mason films that I’ve watched so far.  Morgan Fairchild was great as the murder victim and all of the suspects were enjoyably weird.  What I really enjoyed about this movie was that it featured people who appeared, in different roles, in other Perry Mason films.  Patrick O’Neal went from being the victim in Perry Mason Returns to being the accused here.  David Warner went from being the victim in The Case of the Poisoned Pen to being a suspect here.  This was also a second Perry Mason film for Jonathan Banks but instead of being a tough guy like he was the first time, he was a skin cream creator this time.  This movie understood that people will kill for clear skin.

This was one of the last of Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason films (it aired the same year that he died) and, with the returning actors, it feels like a tribute to Burr and the role that he made his own.

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Tobe Hooper Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, on what would have been his 83rd birthday, the Shattered Lens pays tribute to Texas’s own, Tobe Hooper!

The Austin hippie who redefined horror and left thousands of yankees terrified of driving through South Texas, Tobe Hooper often struggled to duplicate both the critical and the box office success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  It’s only been in the years since his death that many critics and viewers have come to truly appreciate his unique and subversive vision.

Down here, in Texas, we always believed in him.

It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Tobe Hooper Films

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, dir by Tobe Hooper, DP: Daniel Pearl)

Eaten Alive (1976, dir by Tobe Hooper. DP: Robert Caramico)

The Funhouse (1981, dir by Tobe Hooper. DP: Andrew Laszlo)

Poltergeist (1982, dir by Tobe Hooper, DP: Matthew Leonetti)

Music Video of the Day: Lipstick and Leather by Y&T (1986, directed by Michael Miner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I wanted to share the video for Y&T’s Mean Streak but the person who uploaded the video to YouTube also disabled playback.  Why would anyone do that?  The video wasn’t age-restricted or anything like that.

Instead, here’s the video for another Y&T song, Lipstick and Leather.  This video’s director, Michael Miner, also directed the video for Mean Streak.  In fact, he did more than a few Y&T videos, along with doing videos for Alcatrazz and Marianne Mabile.  Miner also co-wrote the script that would eventually become Robocop.

Y&T stands for Yesterday and Today.  Lars Ulrich has said that seeing an L&T show inspired him to become a musician.

Enjoy!

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) can’t even go to a wedding without someone getting killed!  Kaitlynn Parrish (Heather McAdam) is the daughter of Max (Ronny Cox) and Diane Parrish (Diane Baker).  Diane used to work for Perry and it’s implied that they used to be more than just colleagues.  (I think that means that it is safe to assume that Kaitlynn is actually Perry’s daughter.)  At the wedding, Alonzo Hawkes (Beau Starr), the uncle of the groom, gets into an argument with Max and accuses Max of embezzlement.  Kaitlynn says she could kill Alonzo.  A few hours later, Alonzo  is found dead and Kaitlynn is arrested.

This was the 23rd Perry Mason television movie and it’s very predictable.  I didn’t care much for the mystery or the scenes of Ken (William R. Moses) looking for clues.  Once again, Ken gets in trouble with organized crime.  It’s as if the movies ran out of plot lines for Ken so he just has to keep doing the same thing over and over again.  All Ken really has to do is track down Suzy Richards (Merle Kennedy), a wedding crasher who witnessed the murder but it takes him forever to do it.  Paul Drake, Jr. would have found her in the time it takes to snap your fingers.

I still recommend this one because of the cast.  Along with Ronny Cox, the cast also includes Linda Blair, Paul Dooley, and musician Stephen Stills and they’re all really good.  Paul Dooley plays the district attorney in this one.  He really has no patience for Perry’s courtroom theatrics and Perry has a lot of them in this movie.  It’s a good thing Perry was always able to get people to confess on the stand because otherwise, he probably would have gotten in a lot of trouble.

A Scene That I Love: John Belushi On The Weather

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today would have been the 77th birthday of the great John Belushi.

I was planning on watching and reviewing The Blues Brothers today but that was before the winter storm hit.  Instead, here’s Belushi on Saturday Night Live in 1976, talking about the weather.  John was 25 here and it’s hard to believe that, in just 6 years, he would be gone.