Tom Cruise is 64 years old today! He still doesn’t look a day over 36. Insert your own Dorian Gray joke here.
No matter what else you may want to say about Tom Cruise, you can’t deny that he’s one of the last of the genuine movie stars. He’s been a star in since the 80s, doing things onscreen that you could never imagine some of our younger actors even attempting. Juat four years agp, Top Gun: Maverick was unstoppable with audiences and critics. There were many reasons for Maverick‘s popularity but one cannot deny that a lot of it is the fact that Cruise just has that old-fashioned movie star charisma.
Today’s scene that I love comes from the first Top Gun. In this scene, Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, and Rick Rossovich play beach volleyball. The scene kind of comes out of nowhere and there are times when the whole thing comes close to self-parody. (Actually, if we’re going to be honest, it crosses the line into self-parody more than a few times.) But, Cruise and the much-missed Kilmer manage to save it, like the movie stars they are!
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, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 69th birthday to one of our favorite directors, Michele Soavi! In other words, it’s time for….
4 Shots from 4 Michele Soavi Films
Stage Fright (1987, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Renato Tafuri)
The Church (1989, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Renato Tafuri)
The Sect (1991, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Raffaele Mertes)
Dellamorte Dellamore (1994, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Mauro Marchetti)
What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable or streaming? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!
If you’re having trouble getting to sleep, you can always go over to YouTube and watch 1992’s Nails.
Dennis Hopper stars Harry “Nails” Nile, a cop who …. wait for it …. doesn’t go by the book! He’s just a few days away from retirement but before Nails turns in his badge and his gun, he has to track down the drug dealers responsible for the death of his partner (Earl Billings). His superior officer doesn’t like him. His wife (Anne Archer) doesn’t trust him. Both the cartel and a local political fixer want him taken down. But Nails isn’t going to give up. He’s going to solve the case and stop the bad guys and get revenge. And he’s going to do it …. wait for it …. HIS WAY!
As you can probably already guess, Nails features just about every cop cliche imaginable. Nails’s partner talks about how much he’s enjoying life right before he gets gunned down. Nails’s boss yells about how much Nails’s out-of-control antics are costing the city. There are car chases. There are foot chases. There are shoot-outs and one-liners. There’s even a moving van chase that features the sight of Dennis Hopper frantically running down the street. And, of course, Danny Trejo shows up in a small role. It’s predictable and mindless and kind of entertaining if that’s what you’re in the mood for.
The thing that sets this film apart — really, the only thing — is that Dennis Hopper gives such an over-the-top performance as Nails. He’s the type of cops who randomly yells at strangers, occasionally giggles, and has a habit of repeating back any threat that he happens to hear. When I watched the film, I originally thought a better title than Nails would be Method Cop because Hopper truly does seem to be going out of his way to bring the full weight of the Method onto the type of role that could have just as easily been played by Chuck Norris. However, as the film progressed, I realized that Hopper was basically giving the same performance that he gave in Blue Velvet, except he was now playing the good guy. What if Frank Booth was the hero? Nails answers the question.
Of course, once the film ended, I was reminded that Hopper’s villain in Speed was a former cop. Is it possible that Speed was actually a sequel to Nails?
“You think I am brave because I carry a gun? Well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility… This is bravery.”
Bernardo O’Reilly, played by Charles Bronson in the classic 1960 western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, is not a character that I often hear discussed among the great western heroes. In a film that featured so many movie stars portraying so many memorable characters, O’Reilly may be somewhat overlooked in the annals of film history. But the truth is, the man is a true hero who just doesn’t happen to fit the traditional mold. He’s not the fastest gun, the most charismatic, or the natural leader… rather, his heroism comes from a place of incredible character.
Consider these heroic traits:
Bernardo is motivated more by compassion and camaraderie than money. Bernardo agrees to join the seven because he wants to help the Mexican villagers and ride with men he respects. He’s not chasing money or glory because we find out how much more he’s made in some of his earlier jobs. He knows the reward is small and the opposition is large, but he goes anyway.
He becomes the voice of truth that the village boys need to hear. My favorite storyline in the film concerns Bernardo’s relationship with a few of the boys in the village. These boys idolize the gunfighters and are embarrassed by their own fathers, who they see as cowards. Bernardo not-so-gently teaches them, and by that I mean he takes one of the boys over his knee and spanks his butt, that their fathers possess a courage he could never have, and that is the courage of responsibility. His speech about the true bravery of their fathers is one of the best character moments in the film.
He combines toughness with kindness. Like many of the characters played by Charles Bronson, Bernardo is a physically intimidating man of few words, yet he’s also gentle under that surface. At the very beginning, we see him make the wooden whistle that he then offers to the young village girl with that wonderful Bronson smile. This love for children is most certainly an element of Bronson’s own personal character that shows up in Bernardo O’Reilly. His understated performance lets you see that he’s so much more than just a hardened gunman.
He leaves the greatest legacy. Bernardo doesn’t just preach selflessness. During the final battle, he risks his own life without hesitation to protect the village boys and pays the ultimate sacrifice. While the surviving gunfighters get to ride away, Bernardo has taught the boys the ultimate lesson. He changes how they see their fathers and what it really means to be a man. His acts of heroism outlive him.
For me, Bernardo O’Reilly redefines what it means to be a western hero. He proves that courage isn’t ultimately measured by how many men you kill, but by whether you’re willing to put someone else’s life ahead of your own. Even in a film filled with iconic characters like Chris (Yul Brynner), Vin (Steven McQueen), and Britt (James Coburn), Bernardo is the character that stands out the most. In his words and his final sacrifice, he’s transformed from a hired gun into a genuine hero.
Hi, everyone! Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party! Join us for 2003’s Shattered Glass!
You can find the movie on Tubi or Prime and you can join us on Mastodon at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) We will be using #TubiThursday hashtag! See you then!
Today, the Shattered Lens wish a happy birthday to character actor Andrew Divoff!
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1997’s Wishmaster and features Divoff in his best-known role. The Wishmaster films were kind of silly but Divoff always made them worth watching.
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, the Shattered Lens pays tribute to director Phil Karlson, who was one of those great directors who never quite got the credit he deserved when he was alive but whose work continues to be rediscovered. Phil Karlson was born 118 years ago today so it’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Phil Karlson Films
The Phenix City Story (dir by Phil Karlson, DP: Harry Neumann)
Kid Galahad (1962, dir by Phil Karlson, DP: Burnett Guffey)
The Wrecking Crew (1968, dir by Phil Karlson, DP: Sam Leavitt)
Walking Tall (1973, dir by Phil Karlson, DP: Jack A. Marta)
In 2o13’s The Internship, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play Nick and Billy, two longtime salesman who, having lost their jobs, apply for an internship at Google. Despite there not being any logical reason for either one of them to be given a spot, Nick and Billy are accepted. Suddenly, these two middle-aged guys who know next to nothing about programming or the Internet find themselves at the Google campus. Teaming up with a group of much younger outcasts (albeit very smart outcasts), Nick and Billy compete for a job at Google.
(Personally, the only job I would want at Google would be designing the Google Doodle.)
At first, no one is happy about having to work with Nick and Billy. Nick and Billy are adults, the type who still use landline phones and wonder why the kids are so obsessed with looking at a little screen. They’re loud. They make crude jokes and they don’t understand stuff like safe spaces. They fall for obvious pranks, like being sent to a college campus to track down “Professor Charles Xavier.” This leads to them both getting knocked out by a bald man in a wheelchair. “Professor Xavier’s a total dick!” Billy gasps.
Eventually, though, Nick and Billy start to win everyone over. Their old school competitiveness comes in handy during a game of Quidditch. They know how to talk to women at bars. They know how to appeal to someone running an old-fashioned business. But will that be enough to win them a job at Google?
Back when the Onion was funny, one of their best headlines was ‘The Internship’ Poised To Be Biggest Comedy Of 2005! The joke, of course, was that the film was coming out in 2013. The headline worked because it was true. The film felt very much out-of-place in the world of 2013. The majority of the film’s humor came from Nick and Billy not really knowing what Google was but, by 2013, even the most cranky of boomer grandparents were using Google to search for their Facebook password. Nick and Billy were not boomers. They may have been older than the other interns but still, it’s hard to believe that two guys in their mid-40s would be that clueless about everything from the Internet to the identity of Charles Xavier. I mean, the X-Men movies were kind of a big deal.
The other thig that dated the film was its portrayal of Google as essentially just being a fun playground full of nerdy prodigies who just needed someone to teach them how to party. By 2013, everyone knew that Google was a powerful and somewhat intimidating company. Indeed, at its weakest, the film basically feels like a 2-hour commercial for Google. Never mind that, by 2013, Google was so big and omnipresent that it really didn’t need to advertise.
So, with all that in mind, why do I find myself watching this movie whenever I happen to come across it? First off, as uneven as the movie is, it is funny. The Quidditch scene did make me laugh. John Goodman’s and Will Ferrell’s unhinged cameos made me laugh, almost despite myself. The scene where Nick and Billy annoy the group by misinterpreting what is meant by “coding” made me laugh, if just because of how bizarrely enthusiastic Nick and Billy were when they convinced themselves that their internship director was a Jeff Goldblum fan. (It makes no sense but just go with it.) Most importantly, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn made me laugh. There was absolutely no way to make it plausible that Nick and Billy would be that clueless about technology but Wilson and Vaughn really threw themselves into their roles and, as a result, I’m always willing to forgive some of the film’s missteps. The mix of Vaughn’s overage frat boy goofiness and Wilson’s mellow spaciness always makes me laugh more than it probably should. They’re a good comedic team and they’re both just so damn earnest in this movie that it works a lot better than it really should. In the end, you do find yourself rooting for them. They’re two hard-workers who like to play hard and who have the courage to reinvent themselves. What’s more American than that?
(Even more importantly, when you come across the film on cable, you’re free to pretend that it actually came out in 2005, back when the plot would have actually made more sense.)
If any film lives up to the term guilty pleasure, it’s The Internship.
Hey, remember Tahj Mowry? He was the star of Smart Guy, that WB show that ran in the late 90s. On Smart Guy, he played 10 year old prodigy who goes from being in Elementary School to being in High School. Towards the end of the show’s three-season run, there was an episode in which the smart guy had to decide whether or not to give into peer pressure and drink. The commercials were like, “Tahj Mowry, in a performance that you have to see.” I never saw the episode but, decades later, I still remember the commercial.
Well, in Get Off My Lawn, Tahj Mowry is all grown up. He’s playing Jason Moss, who is not a particularly smart guy. When he and his wife, Jackie (Camila Banus), move into a new house, they find themselves being harassed by a teenager named Alex (Jonah Hwang). Alex grew up in the house and he’s obsessed with making sure that Jason and Jackie “follow the rules.” Because Jason and Jackie are still in the process of buying the house and Alex is the son of the house’s actual owners, all of the old furniture is still sitting inside the building. When Alex notices that Jason and Jackie have moved a chair, he loses it. It turns out that it’s pretty easy to make Alex lose it.
Jason spends a lot of time trying to be a tough guy when it comes to Alex but, even grown up, he’s still Tahj Mowry and it’s a little bit hard to take him seriously doing anything. It’s like when Jaleel White occasionally shows up in a Lifetime film and he’s trying to play a detective but he still basically looks and sounds just like Urkel. Jason comes across as being kind of a wimp and it’s not always easy to sympathize with him. It doesn’t help that Alex is obviously unstable from the minute that he meets Jason and Jackie. This film’s main lesson would appear to be that you don’t have to be nice to everyone who introduces himself to you. That’s actually not a bad lesson.
As far as I can tell, Get Off My Lawn premiered on Tubi in 2025 and then it was recently aired on Lifetime. The film is obviously meant to be a satire of the typical Tubi/Lifetime formula but it’s a little bit difficult to satirize something that is pretty much a self-parody to begin with. That’s not to say that there aren’t funny moments. In the role of the clueless local policeman, Ben Zelevansky made me laugh several times. He gets the final line of the film and he delivers it so well that it actually made feel bad that the rest of the film didn’t always live up to his performance. Watching the film made me long for the cleverly played humor of A Deadly Adoption.
But here’s the odd thing about it all. For all of my complaints, the movie held my attention. It really did. Alex goes so overboard in his attempts to harass Jason and Jackie that I found myself watching just to see what he could possibly do next. On the one hand, the film is flawed. On the other hand, a character pulls out his own eyeball in slow motion. That’s not something that you regularly see, at least not on Lifetime.
I guess my point is that it’s an uneven film and Tahj Mowry is miscast. But, that said, it’s almost compulsively watchable.
With the 250th birthday of America approaching, here’s a rather odd but charming blast from the past (1948, to be exact) called Make Mine Freedom. It’s a cartoon about why America rules and the rest of the world sucks.
This cartoon was produced by Arkansas’s Harding College and there is some debate over who actually directed it. Some sources claim that this was one of the first projects on which Joseph Barbera and William Hanna ever worked. Others insist that this film should be properly credited to either Fritz Freling or Fred Moore.
The important thing is that the film did a good job of exposing Dr. Utopia and his empty promises….
Through the Shattered Lens 