I took these pictures of downtown Richardson, Texas on a rainy evening many years ago. I stood out in the rain and got soaked but I didn’t care because I had my camera and I was capturing the moment. The downtown might not look like much but there was a comforting familiarity to it that I loved. Sadly, many of these buildings are gone now. The downtown has been rebuilt and modernized but I’ll always think of it as being the way it was.
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.
The latest “Song of the Day” is very near and dear to my blues-covered metal heart. I consider it one of the best rock ‘n’ roll songs ever created. It’s been covered by numerous bands in the decades since it’s initial release but I will always consider the original as the best. The latest song of the day is The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”.
This song was released in the early days of December 1968. It was the opening track for The Rolling Stones’ latest album (Beggars Banquet) at that date. What makes this song so great is how simple the song really comes across. It doesn’t have the typical blues rock tone of previous Stones’ songs until Keith Richard’s guitar solo around the 2:55 mark. The song definitely sounds more like a combination of folk rock (by way of it’s spoken word-like lyrics) and a samba (due to the incorporation of additional percussions like the congas).
“Sympathy for the Devil” has been called a confession song while others see it as the narcissistic bragging of the narrator. Both viewpoints are quite valid and there are more as every listener of this song hears and imagines different themes. I always saw it as a combination of the two. It’s Lucifer’s confession and bragging about his role in the tumultuous and evil events in man’s history. It’s a song that its narrator wants to understand and admit that while he has been there through all those dark moments in history, he wouldn’t have been able to do what he’s done if not for people allowing him in and becoming complicit.
Sympathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste I’ve been around for a long, long years Stole many a man’s soul and faith
And I was ’round when Jesus Christ Had his moment of doubt and pain Made damn sure that Pilate Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg When I saw it was a time for a change Killed the czar and his ministers Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank Held a general’s rank When the blitzkrieg raged And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name, oh yeah Ah, what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah (woo woo, woo woo)
I watched with glee While your kings and queens Fought for ten decades For the gods they made (woo woo, woo woo)
I shouted out, “Who killed the Kennedys?” When after all It was you and me (who who, who who)
Let me please introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste And I laid traps for troubadours Who get killed before they reached Bombay (woo woo, who who)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah (who who) But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby (who who, who who)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah But what’s confusing you Is just the nature of my game (woo woo, who who)
Just as every cop is a criminal And all the sinners saints As heads is tails Just call me Lucifer ‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint (who who, who who)
So if you meet me Have some courtesy Have some sympathy, and some taste (woo woo) Use all your well-learned politesse Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, um yeah (woo woo, woo woo)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, um yeah (who who) But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down (woo woo, woo woo)
Woo, who Oh yeah, get on down Oh yeah Oh yeah! (woo woo)
Tell me baby, what’s my name Tell me honey, can ya guess my name Tell me baby, what’s my name I tell you one time, you’re to blame
Oh, who woo, woo Woo, who Woo, woo Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Oh, yeah
What’s my name Tell me, baby, what’s my name Tell me, sweetie, what’s my name
Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Oh, yeah Woo woo Woo woo
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.
Today’s scene that I love comes from Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate.
You know what? I’ve read that some people consider this scene with the skating fiddler to be an example of Cimino’s tendency towards self-indulgence. The oft-made claim is that it’s a scene where Cimino is more interested in showing off than moving the story forward. That may be true but still, I don’t care what anyone says, I like this scene. It captures the communal joy of the settlers before the arrival of the mercenaries who have been hired to force them out of their homes. To understand why the settlers fight, you also have to understand what they’re being expected to give up.
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, it is time to celebrate the birth of one of the most intriguing (if uneven) filmmakers of the 20th Century, Michael Cimino! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Michael Cimino Films
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974, dir by Michael Cimino, DP: Frank Stanley)
The Deer Hunter (1978, dir by Michael Cimino, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
Heaven’s Gate (1980, dir by Michael Cimino, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
The Year of the Dragon (1985, dir by Michael Cimino, DP: Alex Thomson)
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991! The series can be streamed on YouTube!
This week, Claude shows that in yourself, you must believe.
Episode 1.11 “All In A Good Cause”
(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on January 16th, 1990)
There’s a wonderful moment in this week’s episode in which Claude tells Caitlin that they have a moral obligation to vandalize a factory that is being used to make nuclear weapons. (Yikes! In downtown Toronto!? Really, Canada!?) Claude says that Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t let the law stop him.
Caitlin agrees.
The Chicago Seven, Claude continues, didn’t let the law stop them from protesting for what was right.
“Who are the Chicago Seven?” Caitlin asks.
Claude gets frustrated. “They were seven guys from Chicago.”
“What did they do?”
Claude, after a pause, “They were totally radical!”
Of course, Claude is incorrect. The Chicago Seven were not seven guys from Chicago. They were seven (originally eight) guys who came to Chicago from all over the country and they were arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention. As for whether or not they were totally radical …. well, it depends on who you ask. Abbie Hoffman thought they were radical. Bobby Seale thought all of them were poseurs with the exception of himself. Jerry Rubin went on to become a businessman. Tom Hayden went into state politics and married an Oscar winner. As for the other members …. well, who cares? There’s a movie about them if you really want to subject yourself to it.
Claude is like a lot of young activists. He’s passionate and he’s convinced he’s going to save the world but he’s also totally shallow and given to hyperbole. Claude’s plan to vandalize the factory amounts to spray painting one anodyne anti-nuke message on a wall in the middle of the night. Caitlin serves as his lookout. When the cops arrive, Claude runs and leaves Caitlin behind. That stupid hippie!
Catilin does the right thing She dumps that pretentious douchebag! Good for her. Don’t get me wrong. I get it. I went through a period of time where I had a weakness for passionate activists as well. It was between my first bad boy phase and my second bad boy phase. But Claude was just so annoying and, even worse, Caitlin dumped Joey for this loser. Joey may not have known much about politics but Joey also would never have abandoned Caitlin to the cops.
This was a really good episode. Along with the Caitlin/Claude fiasco, this episode also features Kathleen finally reporting her abusive ex-turned-stalker Scott to the police and getting a restraining order against him. Good for Kathleen! (Rebecca Haines really did a good job portraying Kathleen’s ordeal with Scott and, in the best Degrassi tradition, she showed the audience that there was more to Kathleen than they may have originally assumed.) Even Arthur got a decent storyline this episode. Eager to show that he could be just as dangerous and daring as Yick, he and Yick toilet-papered Raditch’s house. What was funny about this plotline is that Arthur wanted to impress Luke. This is the same Luke who gave Shane the PCP that caused him to fall off a bridge. Get better heroes, Arthur!
This was an excellent episode. It’s tempting to hope that Caitlin learned a lesson from this experience but those of us who have watched Degrassi: The Next Generation know better.
I’m going to keep this week’s update kind of short because I’ve been dealing with allergies and sinus pain and I need to get some rest. Consider this to be a mini-week in review.
First, and most importantly, my thoughts go out to everyone who has been effected by the two aviation disasters that occurred this week. It’s just tragic and my heart breaks for the families and friends who have lost those close to them.
The Sundance Film Festival came and went this year. I usually follow these things pretty closely but there was really next to no interesting news out of Sundance this year. I even signed up for a membership so I could attend a few online screenings but, because I’ve been feeling sick, I didn’t go to any of them. To be honest, none of the films available really appealed to me.
After getting 13 nominations (more than The Godfather), Emilia Perez‘s Oscar momentum has apparently been destroyed by the fact that someone finally got around to running a Google translate on all of Karla Sofia Gascon’s old tweets. Because last year was a difficult one for me and my family and I didn’t have as much time as usual to watch things, I haven’t gotten around to watching Emilia Perez so I don’t know if it’s as good as some say or as terrible as others say. (I do know that, as someone who has family on the border and who is a fourth-Spanish, I do have to wonder why Jacques Audiard decided to set his story in Mexico as opposed to Marseille.) But I will say that I always think a film should be judged on its own merits. Of course, that never happens but I remain an idealist at heart.
Through the Shattered Lens 