Celebrate Victoria Smurfit’s birthday with a catfight!


If a person has co-starred in a movie with Charles Bronson or Chow Yun-fat, I’m a fan of theirs for life. Back in 2003, the lovely Victoria Smurfit played a villain in Chow’s BULLETPROOF MONK. To celebrate her birthday, I’m sharing this fight scene from the film, also featuring Jaime King. Enjoy!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1975 Edition


4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More 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, we pay tribute to the year 1975.  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 1975 Films

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, dir by Milos Forman, DP: Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975, dir by Sidney Lumet, DP: Victor J. Kemper)

Deep Red (1975, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Luigi Kuveiller)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, dir. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, DP: Terry Bedford)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Silicon Towers!


As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally 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 Silicon Towers!

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, pull up Silicon Towers on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!

 

A Blast From The Past: Testing Dirty (dir by Lynn Hamrick)


Our regularly scheduled review of Degrassi High will not be posted tonight so that we can bring you this special presentation.

My Retro Television Reviews will return on Monday but for now, check out this 1990 program called Testing Dirty!  In this short film, Christopher Daniel Barnes (best known for playing Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie) is a high school athlete who tests positive for drugs despite not using them.  As he tries to clear his name, the adults in his community debate whether or not random drug tests are actually fighting or helping the problem.  That’s an important topic but, for the most part, this film is best-known for a cameo appearance by Adam Sandler as a drug dealer.

And now, without further ado …. it’s time for Testing Dirty!

Richard Chamberlain – Allen Quartermain, Toshiro Mifune & Charles Bronson!


When I was a kid, I loved the movie KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1985) with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone, along with its follow up ALLAN QUARTERMAIN AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (1986). These movies don’t really hold up very well these days, but that does not change the fact that they still hold a special place in my heart. That was during my “Indiana Jones” phase and I wanted to watch any movie with adventurers in jungles. ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) is one of those types of movies that really does hold up; THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TENNESSEE BUCK (1988), not so much. While we were watching King Solomon’s Mines, I remember my parents telling us kids that Chamberlain was in a miniseries called THE THORNBIRDS, but I’ve never watched it. It intrigued me though. TV miniseries were a big thing in the 70’s and early 80’s and Chamberlain was a king of the TV miniseries age. I discovered that even further when I became obsessed with Toshiro Mifune. I discovered his great miniseries SHOGUN (1980) that also starred Chamberlain. 

As an obsessed Charles Bronson fan, I also discovered that they starred together in an episode of the TV series DR. KILDARE (pictured above). He also worked with Bronson in the film A THUNDER OF DRUMS (1961). Richard Chamberlain may not be one of my all time favorite actors, but he was a part of my life growing up and he worked with my favorite actor of all time a couple of different times. That feeling of nostalgia causes me to mourn his loss. It’s like a part of me is now gone. RIP, Richard Chamberlain. Thanks for sharing your talent with us. 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1959 Edition


4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More 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, let’s celebrate the year 1959!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 1959 films

The 400 Blows (1959, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Henri Decae)

Ben-Hur (1959, dir by William Wyler, DP: Robert Surtees)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957, dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr., DP: William C. Thompson)

North by Northwest (1959, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

Song of the Day: Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Earl Scruggs and Friends


Since today is Warren Beatty’s birthday, it seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should be one that featured in one of Beatty’s best-known films, Bonnie and Clyde.

And yes, that is Paul Shaffer on piano and Steve Martin playing banjo with Earl Scruggs and Friends.

 

Scene That I Love: Warren Beatty, Jack Warden, and James Mason In Heaven Can Wait


Today, we wish a happy birthday to actor, director, and producer Warren Beatty!

This wonderfully-acted scene that I love comes from Beatty’s 1978 film, Heaven Can Wait.  In this scene Warren Beatty plays a character who attempts to convince his friend (Jack Warden) that he has come back from the dead and is inhabiting the body of an old millionaire.  (Watch the film, it makes sense.)  James Mason plays the erudite angel that only Beatty can see.

A Blast From The Past: The Human Voice (dir by Ted Kotcheff)


Our regular review of Homicide will not be posted today so that we may bring you this special presentation….

My retro television review will return tomorrow.  For now, check out 1966’s The Human Voice.  In this 55-minute stage adaptation, Ingrid Bergman plays a woman having a phone conversation with her lover of five years on the night before he’s meant to marry another.  Written by Jean Cocteau, this monologue was also filmed by Pedro Almodovar in 2020, with Tilda Swinton giving a performance that cannot hope to compare to Bergman’s.

And now, without further ado, here is The Human Voice!