4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1993 Edition

Posted on April 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 1993 with….

4 Shots From 4 1993 Films

Dazed and Confused (1993, dir by Richard Linklater, DP: Lee Daniel)

Schindler’s List (1993, dir by Steven Spielberg, DP: Janusz Kamiński)

Trauma (1993, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Raffaele Mertes)

Indecent Proposal (1993, dir by Adrian Lyne, DP: Howard Atherton)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special John Milius Edition

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is John Milius’s birthday and you know what? It should be a national holiday!

It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 John Milius Films

Dillinger (1973, dir by John Milius, DP: Jules Brenner)

Big Wednesday (1978, dir by John Milius, DP: Bruce Surtees)

Conan The Barbarian (1982, dir by John Milius, DP: Duke Callaghan)

Red Dawn (1984, dir by John Milius, DP: Ric Waite)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Cannes Edition

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.

With the official Cannes lineup being announced, it only seems right to highlight a few films that have previously won the Palme d’Or. It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Films That Won At Cannes

Taxi Driver (1976, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michael Chapman)

Apocalypse Now (1979, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Vittorio Storaro)

Pulp Fiction (1994, dir by Quentin Tarantino, DP: Andrzej Sekuła)

Tree of Life (2011, dir by Terrence Malick, DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)

Here’s What Will Be Playing At The 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The line-up for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival was announced earlier today. Here is what will be playing and competing at the world’s most prestigious film festival. With the Academy getting more and more international in its outlook, Cannes itself has become something of an Oscar precursor. So, at least one of these films listed below will probably be amongst the films later nominated for Best Picture of the Year.

The 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival will open on May 13th, 2025.

COMPETITION

Alpha, Julie Ducournau
Dossier 137, Dominik Moll
The Eagles of the Republic, Tarik Saleh
Eddington, Ari Aster
Fuori, Mario Martone
The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus
La Petite Derniere, Hafsia Herzi
The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt
Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater
The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson
Renoir, Chie Hayakawa
Romeria, Carla Simone
The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho
Sentimental Value, Joachim Trier
A Simple Accident, Jafar Panahi
Sirat, Oliver Laxe
Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinksi
Two Prosecutors, Sergei Loznitsa
Young Mothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Aisha Can’t Fly Away, Morad Mostafa
Eleanor the Great, Scarlett Johansson
Heads or Tails?, Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Homebound, Neeraj Ghaywan
Karavan, Zuzana Kirchnerová
L’inconnu de la Grande Arche, Stéphane Demoustier
The Last One for the Road, Francesco Sossai
Meteors, Hubert Charuel
My Father’s Shadow, Akinola Davies Jr
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Diego Céspedes
Once Upon A Time In Gaza, Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser
A Pale View of the Hills, Kei Ishikawa
Pillion, Harry Lighton
The Plague, Charlie Polinger
Promised Sky, Erige Sehiri
Urchin, Harris Dickinson

OUT OF COMPETITION

Colours of Time, Cedric Klapisch
Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Christopher McQuarrie
Partir un jour, Amélie Bonnin – opening film
The Richest Woman in the World, Thierry Klifa
Vie Privée, Rebecca Zlotowski

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Bono: Stories of Surrender, Andrew Dominik
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, Sylvain Chomet
Tell Her I Love Her, Romane Bohringer

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

Dalloway, Yann Gozlan
Exit 8, Kawamura Genki
Songs of the Neon Night, Juno Mak

CANNES PREMIERE

Amrum, Fatih Akin
Connemara, Alex Lutz
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, Kirill Serebrennikov
Orwell: 2+2 =5, Raoul Peck
Splitsville, Michael Angelo Covino
The Wave, Sebastián Lelio

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special French Cinema Edition

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, on Jean-Paul Belmondo’s birthday, we pay tribute to French cinema! It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 French Films

The Rules of the Games (1939, dir by Jean Renoir, DP: Jean-Paul Alphen, Jean Bachelet, Jacques Lemare, Alain Renoir)

Alphaville (1965, dir by Jean-Luc Godard, DP: Raoul Coutard)

Day For Night (1973, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Pierre-William Glenn)

Night of the Hunted (1980, dir by Jean Rollin)

6 Shots From 6 Films: Special 1968 Edition

Posted on April 8, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

6 Shots From 6 Films is just what it says it is, 6 shots from 6 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 6 Shots From 6 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we pay tribute to the year 1968! It’s time for….

6 Shots From 6 1968 Films

Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir by George Romero, DP: George Romero)

Petulia (1968, dir by Richard Lester, DP: Nicolas Roeg)

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968, dir by Sergio Leone, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Geoffrey Unsworth)

Psych-Out (1968, dir by Richard Rush, DP; Laszlo Kovacs)

Dracula Has Risen The Grave (1968, dir by Freddie Francis, DP: Arthur Grant)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Francis Ford Coppola Edition

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Francis Ford Coppola’s birthday! Coppola is a bit of a controversial figure among some film scholars. While everyone agrees that, with the first two Godfathers, he directed two of the greatest films of all time (and some people would include Apocalypse Now on that list as well) and that he was one of the most important directors of the 70s, his post-Apocalypse Now career is often held up as a cautionary tale. Some say that Coppola’s career suffered because of his own excessive behavior and spending. Others argue that he was treated unfairly by a film industry that resented his refusal to compromise his vision and ambitions. Personally, my natural instinct is to always side with the artist over the executives and that’s certainly the case with Coppola. Coppola has only completed five films since the start of this current century and three of them were not widely released. Say what you will about the films themselves, that still doesn’t seem right. For the record, I like Megalopolis.

Regardless of how one views his latter career, Coppola is responsible for some of the best and most important films ever made. And today, on his birthday, it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Francis Ford Coppola Films

The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)

The Conversation (1974, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Bill Butler)

The Godfather Part II (dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)

Apocalypse Now (1979, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Vittorio Storaro)

Lisa Marie’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions For April

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Now that the 2024 Oscars are over with, it’s time to move on to the 2025 Oscars!

Needless to say, there’s probably nothing more pointless than trying to guess which films are going to be nominated a year from now. I can’t even guarantee that all of the films listed below are even going to be released this year. And, even if they are released this year, I can’t guarantee that they’ll actually be any good or that the Academy will show any interest in them. I mean, someone like Martin Scorsese always seems like a safe bet but we all remember what happened with Silence. For months, everyone said Silence would be the Oscar front runner. Then it was released to respectful but not ecstatic reviews. Audiences stayed away. The film ended up with one technical nomination. And let’s not forget that last year, at this time, the narrative was that it was going to be Ridley Scott’s year.

My point is that no one knows anything. As much as I hate quoting William Goldman (because, seriously, quoting Goldman on a film site is such a cliché at this point), Goldman was right.

(Add to that, 2025 is starting to look like it’s going to be a seriously underwhelming year as far as the movies are concerned.)

Anyway, here are my random guesses for April! A few months from now, we can look back at this list and have a good laugh.

Best Picture

After The Hunt

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Deliver Me From Nowhere

Eddington

Frankenstein

The Lost Bus

One Battle After Another

Wicked For Good

The Young Mothers Home

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another

Jon M. Chu for Wicked For Good

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for The Young Mother’s Home

Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein

Joseph Kosinksi for FI

Best Actor

Austin Butler in Eddington

Timothee Chalamet in Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another

Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus

Jeremy Allen White in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best Actress

Olivia Colman in The Roses

Cynthia Erivo in Wicked For Good

Julia Roberts in After The Hunt

Amanda Seyfried in Ann Lee

June Squibb in Eleanor The Great

Best Supporting Actor

Colman Domingo in Michael

Josh O’Connor in The History of Sound

Sean Penn in One Battle After Another

Joaquin Phoenix in Eddington

Christoph Waltz in Frankenstein

Best Supporting Actress

Fran Drescher in Marty Supreme

Ayo Edebri in After The Hunt

Ariana Grande in Wicked For Good

Gabby Hofman in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Nia Long in Michael

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Roger Corman Edition

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 99th birthday of the legendary filmmaker, Roger Corman! And that means that it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Roger Corman Films

Not of this Earth (1957, dir by Roger Corman DP: John J. Mescall)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Floyd Crosby)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Nicolas Roeg)

The Wild Angels (1966, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Richard Moore)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Andrei Tarkovsky

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this date, 93 years ago, Andrei Tarkovsky was born in Russia. Before he was murdered by the KGB in 1986, Tarkovsky was responsible for some of the most intriguing and visually stunning films ever made. Today, we pay tribute to Tarkovsky’s art and his legacy. It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Andrei Tarkovsky Films