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? 1972’s The Mechanic!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find The Mechanic 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.
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 96th 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)
My wife and I were browsing around our 10 different movie apps a couple of nights ago when we came across the psychological thriller SPEAK NO EVIL on NBC’s Peacock app. I’ve always kinda liked the actor James McAvoy, at least I did in WANTED (2008), so we decided to give it a spin.
In SPEAK NO EVIL, the vacationing Dalton family, Ben (Scoot McNairy), Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) meet Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough). The families hit it off instantly and have a great time together, but they soon say goodbye and go their separate ways back to their homes. A couple of months later, the Daltons receive a letter in the mail asking them to take a week to come visit their fast friends at their family farm. Needing a break from their normal routines, they decide to take Paddy & Ciara up on their offer. At first, everyone seems to be having a great time together. But it soon becomes apparent that Paddy & Ciara see the world radically different than Ben and Louise, whether it be their views on the environment, or much more powerfully and personally, their views on raising children. As the fun turns sour, the Dalton’s try to leave, but getting away from Paddy & Ciara isn’t as easy as it seems. Soon we’re learning why Ant can’t speak properly, and we’re seeing disturbing evidence that the Dalton’s aren’t the first family invited out to the farm. The question now is whether or not they’ll be the last?!!
SPEAK NO EVIL, which is based on a 2022 Danish film of the same name, opens up in a beautiful countryside paradise. I was blown away by the gorgeous Eastern European locations where the families were enjoying their vacations. The Dalton’s, more vulnerable than they might first appear, are taken in by the outgoing and free-spirited Paddy and Ciara. Even after they’ve gone back to their normal lives, they seem to miss the excitement that their vacation friends brought to their lives. Their vulnerability leads to a terribly shortsighted decision to spend a week at the secluded farm of a couple they barely know. While we might question their decision-making skills, I think that most of us would agree that many of our very worst decisions come from positions of weakness and vulnerability. The Daltons will most certainly soon come to regret their decision.
I was interested in watching SPEAK NO EVIL because I like psycho thrillers and James McAvoy. As far as I’m concerned, neither disappointed. This film spends the first 90% of its run-time slowly tightening its grip on us viewers prior to unleashing hell over the last 10%. McAvoy is both creepy, powerful and evil as Paddy. When we finally see him snap, we’re not terribly surprised based on his gradually more depraved behavior witnessed earlier in the film. Scoot McNairy is good in the film, even though his Ben Dalton comes across as a relatively weak husband and dad most of the time. The truth is, he’s like most normal people would be if we found ourselves in this situation. And Mackenzie Davis is good as Louise Dalton, although there are a few times when she behaves in ways that undermines her character’s perceived intelligence in order to keep the plot moving along. The children characters end up having meaningful roles in the resolution of the film, and the child actors do a fine job, which is not always the case. At the end of the day, SPEAK NO EVIL doesn’t feel like the most original of films, but I think the director and actors tell a familiar, thrilling story quite well.
The last thing I’m going to say is that I’ve never seen the original 2022 Danish film that SPEAK NO EVIL (2024) is based on. I understand that its resolution is much, much different than this version. I do plan on watching it soon, as it’s currently playing on Tubi. Regardless of how I end up feeling about the original, my wife and I watched this 2024 version and enjoyed it. No later viewing of the source material can take that away.
Hi, everyone! Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party! Join us for Predator (1987)!
You can find the movie on Tubi 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!
Predator (1987, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Donald McAlpine)
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!
Tomorrow, the Shattered Lens will celebrate the 112th anniversary of the birth of director and showman, William Castle! It’s time for for an early edition of….
4 Shots From 4 William Castle Films
House on Haunted Hill (1959, dir by William Castle, DP: Carl E. Guthrie)
13 Ghosts (1960, dir by William Castle, DP: Joseph F. Biroc)
Strait-Jacket (1964, dir by William Castle, DP: Arthur E. Arling)
Shanks (1974, dir by William Castle, DP: Joseph F. Biroc)
Nora King (Kathleen Crowley) wakes up in a Chicago hotel room, surrounded by the pills that she took the previous night as a part of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. The room is quiet, too quiet. Getting out of bed, Nora eventually finds herself walking around Chicago. The city, which should be busy, is silent. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around. Eventually, Nora does run into a man named Frank (Richard Denning) and later, they meet a couple (Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey) who are busy getting drunk at a local cafe.
It’s a premise that feels like it could have been used in an episode of the Twilight Zone and the somewhat harsh black-and-white cinematography only increases the sense of isolation. Obviously something big has happened in Chicago but no one is quite sure what it could be. Our four survivors meet a few other people as they wander around the city. Some people are terrified. Some people, like the psychotic Davis (Robert Roark), aren’t concerned with what happened but instead are focused on how they can take advantage of the situation. From the start, the atmosphere is effectively creepy and ominous. Richard Denning and especially Kathleen Crowley give strong performances, capturing their confusion at the situation.
And then the robot shows up.
Now, I have to be honest. I love this robot. It’s big and ludicrous and it move so stiffly that there are times that it looks like it’s going to trip and end up flat on its back. There’s something undeniably charming about the fact that, in 1954, an actor got into a silly robot costume (complete with fake arms) and then waddled around while everyone pretended to be terrified of him. While the robot is definitely dangerous and it can fire a laser beam from its eye, I have to admit it immediately reminded of Torg, the cardboard robot from Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. It’s exactly the type of thing that people like me tend to love about cheap, 1950s science fiction. Back then, robots were considered to be so exotic that they only had to exist to be intimidating. Today, we’re spoiled by fancy robots. We expect every robot to be The Terminator.
That said, as charming as I found the robot to be, it totally altered the atmosphere of the movie. As soon as the robot shows up, Target Earth goes from being atmospheric to campy. The actors are still good. Robert Roark is genuinely menacing as the evil Davis. But that robot pretty much assures that we’ll never forget we’re watching a l0w-budget sci-fi flick.
As was typical of 50s sci-fi, things are eventually explained by the military. We get some stock footage. We get some scenes of concerned officers discussing what’s happening in Chicago. Personally, I would have preferred it if the film had extended the mystery a bit. It’s at its best when the viewer doesn’t know what’s going on. That said, the film’s first half is wonderfully suspenseful. The robot is perhaps too adorable for its own good but the movie still leaves you wondering what you would do if you woke up and discovered that the rest of humanity has vanished.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 89th birthday to the legendary Jack Nicholson.
Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1970 film,Five Easy Pieces. In this Oscar-nominated film, Jack Nicholson plays Bobby Dupea. Born to a wealthy and music-obsessed family, Bobby currently works in an oil field and is alternatively angry, cynical, and idealistic. After Jack Nicholson’s Oscar-nominated turn in Easy Rider,Five Easy Pieces featured Nicholson playing the type of role for which he would be best-known in the 70s, the wayward rebel who must choose between being a part of society or being forever an outcast.
In this scene, Bobby and his oilfield co-worker find themselves stuck in a traffic jam. Bobby gets a chance to show off both his temper and his talent. It’s a great scene and Nicholson gives such a strong performance that it’s only later that you realize that Bobby’s anger didn’t really accomplish much.
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 is Jack Nicholson’s 89th birthday!
It’s been sixteen years since Jack Nicholson last appeared in a movie, the forgettable How Do You Know. And yet, he remains a screen icon with a filmography that is a cinema lover’s dream. He’s worked with everyone from Roger Corman to Stanley Kubrick to Milos Forman to Martin Scorsese and, along the way, he’s become a symbol of a very American type of rebel. Though often associated with the counter-culture, his style has always been too aggressive and idiosyncratic for him to be a believable hippie. Instead, he’s one of the last of the beats, an outsider searching for meaning in Americana.
Happy birthday, Jack Nicholson. May you have many happy returns!
4 Shots From 4 Jack Nicholson Films
Easy Rider (1969, dir by Dennis Hopper, DP: Laszlo Kovacs)
Chinatown (1974, dir by Roman Polanski, DP: John A. Alonzo)
The Shining (1980, dirby Stanley Kubrick, DP: John Alcott)
The Departed (2006, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michael Ballhaus)
I’m a big fan of westerns made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I’m also a big fan of the writings of author Louis L’Amour. STRANGER ON HORSEBACK, a 1955 western based on a story by L’Amour, is a good example of why I love both, and it’s currently playing on Amazon Prime, HBOMAX, and Tubi.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK opens on the traveling Circuit Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) as he rides his horse into a small western town that seems to be run by the Bannerman family. We hear his thoughts on western justice, and it goes something like this… “a judge needs three things to bring justice to this country; a law book, a horse and a gun. The further west he gets, the less he needs the book.” That’s a L’Amour line if I’ve ever heard one. As soon he gets into town, he finds out from Colonel Buck Streeter (John Carradine) that young Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) has gunned a local man down and Thorne is determined that the young man face trial for the killing. That doesn’t set too well with Tom’s dad Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire), who bluntly tells the judge that his son will not face trial for murder. After Thorne and the local Sheriff Nat Bell (Emile Meyer) arrest young Tom, it’s just a matter of time before Thorne has to take on the Bannerman clan and their hired guns. Meanwhile, Amy Lee Bannerman (Miroslava), Tom’s cousin, starts making some love moves on the judge. Is she truly falling for the righteous judge, or is she trying to save her cousin’s ass?
Director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, OUT OF THE PAST, WICHITA) has crafted an extremely economical, classic western. Clocking in at just 65 minutes, the story can’t afford to waste any time and gets right to the action. Joel McCrea is perfect as the morally impeccable judge who will face off against impossible odds to make sure young Tom Bannerman goes to trial for murder. Kevin McCarthy is the exact opposite as the arrogant, amoral killer whose family name has protected him all of his life. John McIntire, as the patriarch of the Bannerman family, is as tough as they come and nobody is going to tell him what to do, or hang his son. He’s not necessarily against his son hanging, but as he implies at one point, if anyone’s going to hang my son, it’s going to be me! And Miroslava is awfully cute as the Bannerman who ends up putting her feelings for the judge over the family name. Sadly, the actress would take her own life just after filming this movie.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK was filmed in Sedona, AZ, which makes for a beautiful backdrop to this combination of western and legal thriller. The fact that McCrea is playing a judge rather than a sheriff is an interesting twist on the classic western story. His primary focus is to make sure Tom Bannerman gets his due process, but still faces a jury for his crimes, and he’ll do anything to make sure that happens. And it doesn’t take him very long to do it, because it felt like there should have been more movie when the words THE END flashed across the screen. I guess I was enjoying myself, because this 65 minute movie felt even shorter than you might expect!
Through the Shattered Lens 