Sea of Love (1989, directed by Harold Becker)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In New York City, someone is ritualistically murdering the men who are placing rhyming personal ads in a tabloid newspaper.  Assigned to the case is Frank Keller (Al Pacino), an alcoholic burn-out whose wife just left him for another cop.  Keller and his partner (John Goodman) decide to go undercover.  Frank places a rhyming personal ad of his own and then goes to a restaurant to see who shows up.  When Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin) answers the ad, it leads to a relationship between Frank and Helen.  Frank is falling for Helen but what if she’s the murderer?

Sea of Love is a superior thriller, even though it doesn’t really work as a mystery.  As soon as you see a certain person’s name in the cast list, you’re going to guess who the killer is because that person is always the killer.  Sea of Love isn’t really about the mystery, though.  It’s about people looking something that’s missing from their lives and realizing that the world is passing them by.  The movie works because of the performances of Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, cast as two lonely middle-aged people who are desperately looking for some sort of connection.  Helen and Frank are both in their 40s and wondering if their current situation is really as good as it’s going to get.  The film uses Frank’s fear that Helen could be the killer as a metaphor for the fear that anyone feels when they are first starting to open up to someone.  Both Pacino and Barkin give emotionally raw and poignant performances.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Al Pacino look as miserable as he did for the majority of Sea of Love.  This was Pacino’s first film role after the disaster of Revolution and the movie’s box office success was revived Pacino’s career and convinced him to give movies a try again.

Director Harold Becker captures the feel of New York at its grittiest and least welcoming and Richard Price’s script is full of priceless dialogue.  This is one of the rare films in which everyone has something intelligent or meaningful to say.  Featuring a strong supporting cast and career-best performances from Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino, Sea of Love is much more than just another cop film.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 1.19 “Working”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.  The show can be found on Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, someone’s getting sued!

Episode 1.19 “Working”

(Dir by Bruce Paltrow, originally aired on April 5th, 1983)

Dr. Morrison becomes upset when he deduces that a patient (Ed Lauter) is trying to drink himself to death so that his family can collect his life insurance.  Dr. Chandler becomes upset when one of his patients dies while being admitted to the hospital and the family ends up suing for malpractice.  For once, Dr. Craig is not upset because he’s been charmed by a visiting surgeon (Rita Zohar) from Hungary.  And, finally, Dr. White continues to be Dr. White as he obsesses over his separation, pops pills, and screws up even the simplest of medical tasks.

It’s just another day at St. Eligius!

This was a pretty good episode.  Dr. Craig’s storyline was probably the weakest but William Daniels is such a good actor and Dr. Craig was such an interesting character that even a weak Craig storyline is still better than average.  (That said, the visiting surgeon’s amazement at visiting at actual McDonald’s was a bit heavy handed.)

What really made this episode stand out is that Denzel Washington finally got to do something more than just stand in the background and nod.  For most of the first season, Dr. Chandler has been portrayed as being perhaps the most perfect and ultra-competent resident in the history of medical residences so it was interesting to see him not having all the answers for once.  Washington did a wonderful job portraying Chandler’s transformation from being almost cocky to being worried that he actually was, in some way, responsible for his patient’s death.  (The fact that the other doctors just shrugged off the man’s death made Chandler even more determined to figure things out.)  In the past, Chandler has always been quick to call out other people’s errors and this episode actually features him nearly coming to blows with White over White’s terrible job performance. Seeing Chandler having to critically examine his own job performance brought a bit more depth to the character.

Speaking of Dr. White …. WHAT A JERK!  The first season is nearly over and it seems like the show is building up to something terrible happening to Dr. White.  Whatever it may be, it’s hard not to feel that he brought it on himself.  In a hospital full of dedicated doctors, Dr. White is the guy you never want to see come in your room.  I have no idea what’s going to happen with this doctor but I can’t imagine it will be a good thing.

Finally, Morrison’s storyline left me wondering why Morrison always ends up with the most melodramatic patients.  That said, Ed Lauter was one of the best and his scenes with Norman Lloyd’s Dr. Auschlander were wonderfully acted by both men.

This was a good episode.  We’re approaching the end of season one and I can’t wait to see how things are going to wrap up with the doctors at Boston’s most underrated hospital.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Doc Holliday’s Revenge (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

2014’s Doc Holliday’s Revenge takes place in late 1800s, just outside of the town of Tombstone.  Following the murder of Morgan Earp, the legendary Doc Holliday (William McNamara) is seeking revenge and hoping to kill every suspected members of the Clanton gang before he himself is killed by tuberculosis.  When a suspected Clanton gang member named Indian Charlie (Oliver Rayon) stumbles wounded into the homestead of Elizabeth (Ashley Hayes) and Joseph Cooley (Bart Voitilla), Holliday comes looking for him.  Elizabeth stands up to the gunslinging dentist.

This is a bit of an odd viewing experience.  Much like David DeCoteau’s earlier Bonnie and Clyde film, it’s an attempt to do a historical film on a budget.  As such, there’s a lot of narration and sepia-toned stock footage.  Newspaper headlines flash across the screen.  Tom Berenger, as Judge Wells, narrates the story and is filmed in extreme close-up and with a greenscreen behind him.  Strangely, the same thing seems to have been done with William McNamara, who spends most of the film sitting on his horse and talking to people who are clearly off-camera.  It also appears that the majority of McNamara’s scenes were also done with a greenscreen.  It’s a weird effect, one that leaves the viewer wondering if both Berenger and McNamara are meant to be playing ghosts.  That said, it’s oddly effective.  At the very least, it reinforces the idea of Holliday being a mythical figure, a ghostly spirit of Americana.  Eric Roberts also shows up very briefly at the beginning and the end of the film, playing Elizabeth’s estranged father.  Unlike McNamara and Berenger, it’s clear that Roberts actually was on the set when he filmed his scenes.

Doc Holliday’s Revenge feels like a companion piece to David DeCoteau’s Bonnie and Clyde: Justified.  (Ashley Hayes was in that film as well, playing Bonnie Parker.)  The budget is low and the dialogue is far too modern for a historical film but the cast at least seems to be trying and the film holds your interest while you’re watching it.  (Good luck remembering much about it afterwards, though.)  If nothing else, it’s better than Bigfoot vs DB Cooper.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

  1. Star 80 (1983)
  2. Runaway Train (1985)
  3. Best of the Best (1989)
  4. Blood Red (1989)
  5. The Ambulance (1990)
  6. The Lost Capone (1990)
  7. Best of the Best II (1993)
  8. Love, Cheat, & Steal (1993)
  9. Voyage (1993)
  10. Love Is A Gun (1994)
  11. Sensation (1994)
  12. Dark Angel (1996)
  13. Doctor Who (1996)
  14. Most Wanted (1997)
  15. Mercy Streets (2000)
  16. Raptor (2001)
  17. Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 (2001)
  18. Strange Frequency (2001)
  19. Wolves of Wall Street (2002)
  20. Border Blues (2004)
  21. Mr. Brightside (2004)
  22. Six: The Mark Unleased (2004)
  23. We Belong Together (2005)
  24. Hey You (2006)
  25. Depth Charge (2008)
  26. Amazing Racer (2009)
  27. In The Blink of an Eye (2009)
  28. Bed & Breakfast (2010)
  29. Enemies Among Us (2010)
  30. The Expendables (2010) 
  31. Sharktopus (2010)
  32. Beyond The Trophy (2012)
  33. The Dead Want Women (2012)
  34. Deadline (2012)
  35. The Mark (2012)
  36. Miss Atomic Bomb (2012)
  37. Assault on Wall Street (2013)
  38. Bonnie And Clyde: Justified (2013)
  39. Lovelace (2013)
  40. The Mark: Redemption (2013)
  41. The Perfect Summer (2013)
  42. Self-Storage (2013)
  43. A Talking Cat!?! (2013)
  44. This Is Our Time (2013)
  45. Bigfoot vs DB Cooper (2014)
  46. Inherent Vice (2014)
  47. Road to the Open (2014)
  48. Rumors of War (2014)
  49. Amityville Death House (2015)
  50. Deadly Sanctuary (2015)
  51. A Fatal Obsession (2015)
  52. Las Vegas Story (2015)
  53. Stalked By My Doctor (2015)
  54. Enemy Within (2016)
  55. Hunting Season (2016)
  56. Joker’s Poltergeist (2016)
  57. Prayer Never Fails (2016)
  58. Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)
  59. The Wrong Roommate (2016)
  60. Dark Image (2017)
  61. Black Wake (2018)
  62. Frank and Ava (2018)
  63. Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge (2018)
  64. Clinton Island (2019)
  65. Monster Island (2019)
  66. The Reliant (2019)
  67. The Savant (2019)
  68. Seven Deadly Sins (2019)
  69. Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare (2019)
  70. The Wrong Mommy (2019)
  71. Exodus of a Prodigal Son (2020)
  72. Free Lunch Express (2020)
  73. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
  74. Top Gunner (2020)
  75. Deadly Nightshade (2021)
  76. The Elevator (2021)
  77. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2021)
  78. Killer Advice (2021)
  79. Megaboa (2021)
  80. Night Night (2021)
  81. The Poltergeist Diaries (2021)
  82. The Rebels of PT-218 (2021)
  83. A Town Called Parable (2021)
  84. Bleach (2022)
  85. My Dinner With Eric (2022)
  86. 69 Parts (2022)
  87. D.C. Down (2023)
  88. Aftermath (2024)
  89. Bad Substitute (2024)
  90. Devil’s Knight (2024)
  91. The Wrong Life Coach (2024)
  92. When It Rains In L.A. (2025

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Missing In Action!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, 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, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie?  1984’s Missing in Action, with Chuck Norris and friends!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there tweeting 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.

Missing in Action is available on Prime!

See you there!

Music Video of the Day: Push It To The Limit by Paul Engemann (2016?, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This video would have been better if Al Pacino had been in it but still, how can you not enjoy this uplifting song from one of the darkest and most violent films ever made?

(Yeah, whether or not this counts as a “real” music video is debatable.  It’s clearly meant to be a parody and was obviously filmed long after 1983 but it’s also one of the only “professional” videos out there for this song so I’m going with it!)

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 3.20 “The Hero”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Jonathan meets a man who is desperate for money.

Episode 3.20 “The Hero”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 18th, 1987)

In desperate need of dental work that the VA refuses to pay for, disabled Vietnam veteran Joe Mason (James Stacy) considers stealing money from work and spends his time getting drunk and getting into fights in parking lots.  Luckily, Jonathan is his new coworker and is able to show Joe that he truly deserve to be called a hero.

This was a standard Highway to Heaven episode but some people will find it interesting just because it features James Stacy.  Stacy was the former star of the western series Lancer, the one that played a central role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.  (In that film, Stacy is played by Timothy Olyphant.)  In real life, Stacy lost both his left arm and his left leg when he was hit by a drunk driver while he was riding his motorcycle.  (Stacy’s girlfriend at the time was killed.)  Stacy continued to act, appearing in roles, like this one, that were specifically written to include his disability.  Stacy was nominated for a few Emmy Awards after his accident and he gives a good performance in this episode.

Unfortunately, James Stacy’s career did not have a happy ending, as he struggled with alcoholism after the accident.  He retired from acting in 1991 and four years later, he pled “no contest” to inappropriately touching an 11 year-old girl.  (I’ve come across a lot of different version of what happened, with some saying it was a misunderstanding and others saying that it definitely wasn’t.  What everyone does seem to agree on is that Stacy was drunk at the time.)  Due in court in California, Stacy instead fled to Hawaii where he attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, just for the wind to slam him into a ledge below.  Stacy, who had been looking at probation, was instead sent to prison for six years.  After his release, Stacy lives in seclusion until his 2016 death.

Stacy’s appearance on this episode is another example of Highway to Heaven giving work to veteran actors who were not necessarily working on a regular basis.  In many ways, this show was like The Love Boat or Fantasy Island, in that its guest cast leaned heavy on nostalgia.  Landon was a Hollywood veteran himself and one gets the feeling that one of his main motivations for doing this show was to help out his friends and acquaintances, the ones who weren’t necessarily at the top of Hollywood’s casting list anymore.  The use of so many veteran actors, even someone who eventually became rather problematic like James Stacy, just adds to the earnestness that was this show’s defining characteristic.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Bigfoot vs D.B. Cooper (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

2014’s Bigfoot vs DB Cooper tells what happens when a bunch of shirtless frat boy types go turkey hunting in the Washington wilderness in 1971.  One of them is planning on getting married and this weekend is going to be their last chance to all get together and stare at each other in their underwear.  One-by-one, each member of the group strips down to his underwear and then poses with his rifle and then flexes in front of a mirror.  Finally, the groom takes a shower and starts to….

What?

You’re right.  This is indeed a David DeCoteau film.

Now, the title is not a lie.  Bigfoot is in the movie and receives a “….as himself” credit.  He’s big and covered in red fur and he spends a lot of time voyeuristically watching the frat boys while they run around the woods in their underwear.  His dialogue consists of growls and I will admit that I smiled whenever the captioning read, “GROWLING!”

D.B. Cooper is also in the film.  The film gives us the details of skyjacking and his subsequent jump into the night over Washington.  In this film, he lands just in time for a climatic fight with Bigfoot.  Of course, that fight last for one minute and it features Cooper saying, “The most successful skyjacking in aviation history can’t end like this!”

That said, the film is mostly just a collection of scenes featuring the handsome but oddly sexless frat boys wandering around in their underwear and standing in front of mirrors.  The camera lingers on them to such an extent that it almost starts to feel like David DeCoteau is intentionally parodying himself.  For the record, I’ve enjoyed quite a few DeCoteau films.  I love the “Wrong” films that he’s done with Vivica A. Fox.  He’s a director who is willing to embrace the melodrama and who has a good sense of humor and healthy self-awareness about the films that he’s making.  (And again, I think it can be argued that there’s some intentional self-parody at work in this one.)  Unfortunately, Bigfoot vs D.B. Cooper is incredibly dull.

Eric Roberts and Linnea Quigley are top-billed, though neither actually appears on screen.  Roberts narrates the film and talks about Vietnam.  Quigley provides the voice of the unseen flight attendant who speaks to D.B. Cooper.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

  1. Star 80 (1983)
  2. Runaway Train (1985)
  3. Best of the Best (1989)
  4. Blood Red (1989)
  5. The Ambulance (1990)
  6. The Lost Capone (1990)
  7. Best of the Best II (1993)
  8. Love, Cheat, & Steal (1993)
  9. Voyage (1993)
  10. Love Is A Gun (1994)
  11. Sensation (1994)
  12. Dark Angel (1996)
  13. Doctor Who (1996)
  14. Most Wanted (1997)
  15. Mercy Streets (2000)
  16. Raptor (2001)
  17. Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 (2001)
  18. Strange Frequency (2001)
  19. Wolves of Wall Street (2002)
  20. Border Blues (2004)
  21. Mr. Brightside (2004)
  22. Six: The Mark Unleased (2004)
  23. We Belong Together (2005)
  24. Hey You (2006)
  25. Depth Charge (2008)
  26. Amazing Racer (2009)
  27. In The Blink of an Eye (2009)
  28. Bed & Breakfast (2010)
  29. Enemies Among Us (2010)
  30. The Expendables (2010) 
  31. Sharktopus (2010)
  32. Beyond The Trophy (2012)
  33. The Dead Want Women (2012)
  34. Deadline (2012)
  35. The Mark (2012)
  36. Miss Atomic Bomb (2012)
  37. Assault on Wall Street (2013)
  38. Bonnie And Clyde: Justified (2013)
  39. Lovelace (2013)
  40. The Mark: Redemption (2013)
  41. The Perfect Summer (2013)
  42. Self-Storage (2013)
  43. A Talking Cat!?! (2013)
  44. This Is Our Time (2013)
  45. Inherent Vice (2014)
  46. Road to the Open (2014)
  47. Rumors of War (2014)
  48. Amityville Death House (2015)
  49. Deadly Sanctuary (2015)
  50. A Fatal Obsession (2015)
  51. Las Vegas Story (2015)
  52. Stalked By My Doctor (2015)
  53. Enemy Within (2016)
  54. Hunting Season (2016)
  55. Joker’s Poltergeist (2016)
  56. Prayer Never Fails (2016)
  57. Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)
  58. The Wrong Roommate (2016)
  59. Dark Image (2017)
  60. Black Wake (2018)
  61. Frank and Ava (2018)
  62. Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge (2018)
  63. Clinton Island (2019)
  64. Monster Island (2019)
  65. The Reliant (2019)
  66. The Savant (2019)
  67. Seven Deadly Sins (2019)
  68. Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare (2019)
  69. The Wrong Mommy (2019)
  70. Exodus of a Prodigal Son (2020)
  71. Free Lunch Express (2020)
  72. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
  73. Top Gunner (2020)
  74. Deadly Nightshade (2021)
  75. The Elevator (2021)
  76. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2021)
  77. Killer Advice (2021)
  78. Megaboa (2021)
  79. Night Night (2021)
  80. The Poltergeist Diaries (2021)
  81. The Rebels of PT-218 (2021)
  82. A Town Called Parable (2021)
  83. Bleach (2022)
  84. My Dinner With Eric (2022)
  85. 69 Parts (2022)
  86. D.C. Down (2023)
  87. Aftermath (2024)
  88. Bad Substitute (2024)
  89. Devil’s Knight (2024)
  90. The Wrong Life Coach (2024)
  91. When It Rains In L.A. (2025

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Richard Donner 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 would have been the 95th birthday of director Richard Donner.  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Richard Donner Films

The Omen (1976, dir by Richard Donner, DP: Gilbert Taylor)

Superman (1978, dir by Richard Donner, DP: Geoffrey Unsworth)

Lethal Weapon (1987, dir by Richard Donner, DP: Stephen Goldblatt)

Scrooged (1988, dir by Richard Donner, DP: Michael Chapman)