Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Assassin!

Posted on January 26, 2026 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!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Tobe Hooper Edition

Posted on January 25, 2026 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)

Brad reviews BUMP IN THE NIGHT (1991), starring Meredith Baxter Birney, Wings Hauser & Christopher Reeve!

Posted on January 24, 2026 by Bradley Crain

My wife and I are iced and snowed in here in Central Arkansas this weekend, so we’re watching movies. I was browsing Tubi when I came across the 1991 made-for-TV movie BUMP IN THE NIGHT. Knowing nothing about the film other than the fact that Christopher Reeve is prominently featured on the poster, I hit play and got a movie I really wasn’t prepared for, emotionally or morally!

The film opens with a young schoolboy named Jonathan (Corey Carrier) leaving his home, where his alcoholic mother Martha (Meredith Baxter Birney) is passed out on the couch. Jonathan is on his way to have breakfast with his dad Patrick (Wings Hauser). Rather than finding his dad, however, he’s met by the mysterious Lawrence Muller (Christopher Reeve) who claims he was sent by his dad to pick him up. When Patrick and Martha, divorced well before the opening of the film, discover that Jonathan is missing, the two must try to put aside their differences to find their son, who’s been targeted by both a pornographer and a pedophile.

We’ve been watching a lot of made-for-TV thrillers around my house lately that deal with people with various psychological issues, but I was not expecting a film that dealt with child pornography and pedophilia. And I certainly wasn’t expecting that pedophile to be played by Christopher Reeve. Reeve gives an effective and chilling performance, as his character starts out as kind and soft spoken to the boy, before eventually showing himself to be violent and emotionally unstable as he’s rejected and the walls start closing in on him. Meredith Baxter Birney and Wings Hauser are also effective as the divorced couple who carry a lot of emotional baggage, but try to put that aside while they’re looking for their son. Birney is especially good as she’s an alcoholic, and we see her fighting her own personal demons throughout the search. Hauser, who’s always so good when he plays the psycho in his movies, gets the straight role as the concerned dad and he brings a needed calm and steadying presence to the explosive material.

You have to give BUMP IN THE NIGHT some credit for tackling some very difficult material, whether it be alcoholism, pornography or pedohilia, and it takes them head on. Based on the 1988 novel of the same name from author Isabelle Holland, there are limits to how far this TV production can take the material, but in some ways those limits make the film even more disturbing. We see bedrooms with multiple cameras set up for recording illicit activities with children. We see grainy VHS tapes from pornographers that show young boys holding hands and walking down the street. We’re told things like, “just make sure he’s ready for filming! It begins at 10:00!” Director Karen Arthur uses these types of images and thoughts to manipulate our emotions, with our own minds filling in the blanks with the worst fears that we can imagine. This gave me a strong rooting interest for the local law enforcement and parents to rescue their son before he’s exploited and abused.

Even with its excellent cast, I may not have watched BUMP IN THE NIGHT if I had realized the sordid nature of the material. I’ll be honest, with its title, I was expecting a more straightforward thriller. However, having now seen the film, I will give it credit for its effective handling of the material and its fine performances. I won’t ever watch it again though.

Live Tweet Alert: Watch The Initiation With #ScarySocial!

Posted on January 24, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and 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, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting 1984’s The Initiation!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime and Tubi! I’ll be there co-hosting 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!

Brad’s Scene of the Day: Rutger Hauer in SIN CITY!

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Bradley Crain

Happy Birthday in Heaven to one of my all time favorite actors, Rutger Hauer. I was so happy when his career hit a resurgence in 2005 with roles in SIN CITY and BATMAN BEGINS. Today, I’m celebrating my wife’s birthday, and I’m also celebrating Rutger’s birthday by sharing this scene from the amazing SIN CITY.

Enjoy my friends, and Happy Birthday Rutger! You have brought me so much joy over the years!

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Lionheart!

Posted on January 23, 2026 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? 1990’s Lionheart!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find Lionheart on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! I’ll be there happily tweeting. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you there!

The Films of 2025: Song Sung Blue (dir by Craig Brewer)

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ever since the Oscar nominations were announced, there have been a lot of people on social media complaining about Kate Hudson’s nomination for Best Actress. She was nominated for the musical biopic, Song Sung Blue, and the argument that I keep seeing, over and over again, is that the nomination should have gone to One Battle After Another‘s Chase Infiniti or maybe Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby.

To those people, I can only say, “Shut up and watch the damn movie.”

In Song Sung Blue, Kate Hudson plays Claire, a hairdresser and part-time Patsy Cline imitator who meets and marries Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), an auto mechanic who loves to sing and perform. (When they first meet, Mike has been hired to pretend to be Don Ho at a county fair.) Claire and Mike start performing as Thunder and Lightning, performing covers of Neil Diamond songs and eventually becoming something of a pop cultural institution in Wisconsin. (At their height, they open for Pearl Jam. The actor who played Eddie Vedder looks nothing like Eddie Vedder but you do have to appreciate a celebrity impersonation in the middle of a movie about celebrity impersonators.) Eventually, tragedy strikes. A car accident leaves Claire struggling with pills and her own mental health. Mike, who is 20 years sober when the movie begins, struggles with his sobriety. There are laughs and there are tears. In fact, there’s a lot of tears. I knew the details of the story before I saw the film but, having recently lost both my father and my aunt, I was still sobbing by the end of the movie.

As for Kate Hudson, she’s wonderful in the film and more than deserving of her nomination. Both she and Hugh Jackman give empathetic and sincere performances as the type of people who other movies would probably hold up to ridicule. They’re both eccentric and they both have their demons. Mike is haunted by his experiences in Vietnam and his daughter points out that Mike has essentially switched addictions, from alcohol to music. Claire struggles with depression even before the car accident that changes her life. They’re not flawless. They’re not perfect. But they’re beautiful when they’re performing together. As played by Hudson, Claire goes from being somewhat insecure to being someone who has definitely found her voice and when it appears that she might never perform again, it’s heartbreaking because the viewer understands exactly how much being on stage means to Claire.

As a film, Song Sung Blue runs a bit long but in the end, I was charmed by its unashamed celebration of Americana. Song Sung Blue allows us to enter a world where a bus driver can also be a talent booker and a dentist can double as an agent. It’s a world where anyone with the courage to take the stage and perform from the heart can be a star, if just for one night. It’s a crowd-pleasing film, one that says it’s okay to sometimes sing the popular song that everyone loves. “He has other songs!” Mike says whenever anyone demands that he start his show with Sweet Caroline but, in the end, everyone is really happy when he sings it. How could they not be? He and Claire sing it really well.

One final note about Kate Hudson. I’ve always felt that a lot of her films, for better or worse, were versions of the type of films that her mom could have starred in during the 1970s and 80s. And I do have to say that it’s easy to imagine younger versions of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell playing Claire and Mike. However, Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman make both the film and the characters their own. By the end of the movie, you’ve forgotten that you’re watching Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman. You’re watching Thunder and Lightning!

Happy 64th Birthday to legendary South Korean Actor Choi Min-sik!

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Bradley Crain

I’m a big fan of the South Korean actor, Choi Min-sik, especially due to his performance in the film OLDBOY (2003). I remember buying the foreign DVD when the movie came out. I had a region-free DVD player so I was able to watch it back in the early 2000’s before everyone else knew about it. Back in those days, it felt like I knew something that nobody else knew, and it was pretty awesome. Choi would soon go on to star in movies like LADY VENGEANCE (2005) and I SAW THE DEVIL (2010), cementing himself as an icon. On his 64th birthday, I invite you to celebrate this fight scene from his legendary performance in OLDBOY!

Happy Birthday, Choi Min-sik!

Sinners Dominates The Oscar Nominations

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the Oscar nominations! Sinners received a record-setting 16 nominations but will that be enough to overcome the fashionable radical chic on One Battle After Another?

I’m happy that F1 and Train Dreams were nominated. I’m less happy that I’m going to have to sit through another Yorgos Lanthimos film. I haven’t seen Song Sung Blue but I like Kate Hudson and I love her mom and stepfather.

Wicked: For Good was pretty much shut out. Not even Ariana Grande made the list and I’m okay with that. Avatar: Fire and Ash received a few technical nominations and not much else so I guess the tyranny of Avatar at the Oscars is now finished.

Best Picture
“Bugonia”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another“
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another“
Ryan Coogler – “Sinners“
Josh Safdie – “Marty Supreme“
Joachim Trier – “Sentimental Value”
Chloé Zhao – “Hamnet”

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley – “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne – “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson – “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve – “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone – “Bugonia”

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet – “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke – “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan – “Sinners”
Wagner Moura – “The Secret Agent”

Best Supporting Actress
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan – “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku – “Sinners“
Teyana Taylor – “One Battle After Another”
Elle Fanning – “Sentimental Value”

Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro – “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi – “Frankenstein”
Delroy Lindo – “Sinners”
Sean Penn – “One Battle After Another”
Stellan Skarsgård – “Sentimental Value”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Bugonia” – Will Tracy
“Frankenstein” – Guillermo Del Toro
“Hamnet” – Maggie O’Farrell & Chloe Zhao
“One Battle After Another” – Paul Thomas Anderson
“Train Dreams” – Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Best Original Screenplay
“Blue Moon” – Robert Kaplow
“It Was Just an Accident” – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar, Shadmehr Rastin & Mehdi Mahmoudian
“Marty Supreme” – Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
“Sentimental Value” – Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
“Sinners” – Ryan Coogler

Best Animated Feature
“Arco”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters”
“Little Amélie or The Character of Rain”
“Zootopia 2”

Best Documentary Feature
“The Alabama Solution”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cutting Through Rocks”
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
“The Perfect Neighbor”

Best International Feature Film
“It Was Just an Accident” – France
“The Secret Agent” – Brazil
“Sentimental Value” – Norway
“Sirāt” – Spain
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” – Tunisia

Best Casting
Gabriel Domingues – “The Secret Agent”
Nina Gold – “Hamnet”
Cassandra Kulukundis – “One Battle After Another”
Francine Maisler – “Sinners”
Jennifer Venditti – “Marty Supreme”

Best Cinematography
“Frankenstein”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”

Best Costume Design
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme“
“Sinners”

Best Film Editing
“F1”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”

Best Make-Up & Hairstyling
“Frankenstein”
“Kokuho“
“Sinners”
“The Smashing Machine”
“The Ugly Stepsister”

Best Production Design
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Best Original Score
“Bugonia”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Best Original Song
“Dear Me” – “Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Golden” – “KPop Demon Hunters”
“I Lied to You” – “Sinners”
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” – “Viva Verdi!”
“Train Dreams” – “Train Dreams”

Best Sound
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirāt“

Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“F1”
“Jurassic World: Rebirth”
“The Lost Bus”
“Sinners”

Best Animated Short Film
“Butterfly”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls”
“Retirement Plan”
“The Three Sisters”

Best Documentary Short Film
“All the Empty Rooms”
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Children No More: ‘Were and are Gone’”
“The Devil is Busy”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”

Live Action Short Film
“Butcher’s Stain“
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“Jane Austen’s Period Drama”
“The Singers”
“Two People Exchanging Saliva”

4 Shots From 4 Films: The Telly Savalas Edition! Happy Birthday, Telly!!

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Bradley Crain

Telly Savalas would have been 104 years old today. He’s been in many of my favorite movies so I’m glad to celebrate him today with 4 Shots from 4 of my favorites!