Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For The Rift and Blow Out!


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 1990’s The Rift!  Selected and hosted by Bunny Hero, this film stars Jack Scalia and it takes place underwater!  So, you know it has to be good!

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet.  We will be watching 1981’s Blow Out!  The film is on Prime!

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 The Rift on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to Twitter and Prime, start Blow Out, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

Song of the Day: Atomic by Blondie (Happy Birthday, Debbie Harry)


Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 79th birthday to the legendary Debbie Harry!

Our song of the day is my favorite of Blondie song (and, believe me, there were many to choose from), Atomic!  This song, which was subsequently covered for Trainspotting by Sleeper, is one that I often find myself not only quoting but also hearing in my head.

Uh huh, make me tonightTonight, make me rightUh huh, make me tonightTonightTonight
Oh, uh-huh, make it magnificentTonightRight
Oh, your hair is beautifulOh, tonightAtomic
Uh huh, make me tonightTonight, tonight
Oh, your hair is beautifulOh, tonightAtomic
Tonight, make it magnificentTonightMake me tonight
Your hair is beautifulOh, tonight
AtomicOh, atomicOh
Oh, atomicOh, atomicOh

Scenes That I Love: Karen Black Performs in Nashville


The great actress Karen Black would have been 85 years old today.

Karen Black does not receive a lot of screentime in Nashville but she definitely makes an impression as the driven, self-centered, and oddly likeable Connie White.  Here she is, performing one of the songs that she wrote herself for the film.  The audience was largely made up of actual Nashville residents, who reportedly very much appreciated Black’s performance.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Sydney Pollack 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!

89 years ago today, Sydney Pollack was born in Indiana.  Though Pollack got his start as an actor, he soon moved into directing and was one of the key television directors of the 1960s.  He eventually branched out into film, making a name for himself as a director of intelligent and sensitive comedies and dramas.  Though he only directed 21 films over the course of his career, his films received a total of 48 Oscar nominations and 11 wins.  1982’s Tootsie and 1985’s Out of Africa were both nominated for Best Picture.  Out of Africa won.

Pollack also returned to acting in the 90s, making a name for himself as a skilled character actor.  I’ll always remember him from Eyes Wide Shut, intimidating Tom Cruise while playing pool.

When he passed away in 2008, Pollack was remembered as one of the best directors of Hollywood’s second golden age.

In honor of Sydney Pollack, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Sydney Pollack Films

Jeremiah Johnson (1972, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Duke Callaghan)

The Yakuza (1974, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Duke Callaghan and Kozo Okazaki)

Three Days of Condor (1975, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Owen Roizman)

The Electric Horseman (1979, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Owen Roizman)

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 6/24/24 — 6/30/24


This month sucked.  From starting things off with no power to my Dad being in first a hospital and then a physical rehab facility to me continually getting lost whenever I had to drive out to visit any of his doctors, June is a month that I would rather forget about.  I will say that I discovered a lot of emotional strength and maturity that I didn’t realize had but still, I’ve spent June exhausted and suffering from all sorts of aches and pains, the majority of which were and are stress-related.

Luckily, I feel like I’m kind of back to my old self.  I’ve learned to adjust to situation.  And I’ve learned that I also have to take care of myself and for me, taking care of myself means writing about movies and TV shows and the Oscars and all that good stuff.  While family will always come first, I do feel like it’s time to get back to regularly posting here on the Shattered Lens.

Seriously …. BRING ON, JULY!

Here’s my abbreviated week in review:

Movies I Watched:

  1. Blair Witch (2016)
  2. Brats (2024)
  3. Eye of the Needle (1981)
  4. Hostile Waters (1997)
  5. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Baywatch Nights
  2. CHiPs
  3. Dr. Phil
  4. Fantasy Island
  5. Friday the 13th: The Series
  6. Highway to Heaven
  7. Inmate to Roommate
  8. Miami Vice
  9. The Presidential Debate
  10. 60 Days In
  11. T and T
  12. The Trish Goddard Show
  13. Welcome Back Kotter

Links From Last Week:

  1. Martin Mull Dies At 80
  2. Kinky Friedman Dies At 79
  3. Bill Cobbs Dies At 90
  4. Tater’s Week in Review 6/28/24
  5. 6.25.2024
  6. Bill Rancic’s New Financial Empowerment Show “Dollar Bill!” Here’s A Sneak Peek With Howie Mandel And Dennis Quaid…

Links From The Site:

  1. I shared my June Oscar predictions and my week in television!
  2. Leonard shared the trailer for Nosferatu!
  3. Erin shared Southways, Trail of the Tramp, Paris Nights, West, Top Notch, Blood on Biscayne Bay, and Beauty Parade!

Click here for last week!

Lisa Marie’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions For June


This has not been an easy month and I’ve fallen behind in my movie-watching and also my news-reading.  So, take the predictions below with many grains of salt.  That said, it is the end of the month and it’s time for my monthly Oscar predictions!

What will happen when the nominations are announced in 2025?  Who knows?  For now, let’s just have fun guessing.  You can check out my predictions for April by clicking hereAnd then check out my predictions for May!

Best Picture

Anora

Blitz

Didi

Dune Part 2

Emilia Perez

The Fire Inside

Gladiator II

Inside Out 2

A Real Pain

Sing Sing

Best Director

Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez

Sean Baker for Anora

Steve McQueen for Blitz

Rachel Morrison for The Fire Inside

Denis Villeneuve for Dune Part 2

Best Actor

Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain

Andre Holland in The Actor

Daniel Craig in Queer

Barry Keoghan in Bird

Jesse Plemons in Kinds of Kindness

Best Actress

Ryan Destiny in The Fire Inside

Cynthia Erivo in Wicked

Angelina Jolie in Maria

Mikey Madison in Anora

Demi Moore In The Substance

Best Supporting Actor

Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain

Brian Tyree Henry in The Fire Inside

Samuel L. Jackson in The Piano Lesson

Paul Raci in Sing Sing

Denzel Washington in Gladiator II

Best Supporting Actress

Joan Chen in Didi

Toni Collette in Juror #2

Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door

Saoirse Ronan in Blitz

Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 6/23/24 — 6/29/24


This week, I discovered that the producers of the Dr. Phil show finally enforced their copyright and, as a result, all of the episodes on YouTube were taken down.  That’s a shame.  Regardless of what you may think of the man and his show (and my feelings on both are definitely mixed), old episodes of Dr. Phil made for good background noise.  Of course, I can still turn over to Pluto TV, where they have an entire station that just shows Dr. Phil for 24 hours a day.  But Pluto shows the episodes out of order so, it it’s a two-parter, you’re just out of luck.

In the absence of Dr. Phil, I’ve resorted to using episodes of The Trisha Goddard Show as my background noise.  Trisha’s show (of which there are many episodes on YouTube) was just as trashy as Maury and Jerry Springer but Trisha spoke with a posh British accent, which I’m going to assume classed the joint up for whoever it was who watched these shows when they originally aired.  As I said, I used the show strictly for background noise this week and, to be honest, I quickly got annoyed with Trisha and her holier-than-thou attitude.  So, I guess I’ll have to find something else.

As far as new shows are concerned, I am now caught up with both 60 Days In and Inmate to Roommate.  I’m enjoying the latest season of 60 Days In, largely because all of the participants appear to be losing whatever grip they have on their sanity.  Corey became the first of the participants to tap out, which is good because his growing paranoia wasn’t going to do anyone any good.  As for Inmate to Roommate, the main message here seems to be that, if you’re planning on helping an ex-prisoner adjust to life outside of prison, don’t do it.  What a frustrating show!  The inmates are almost all idiots and the roommates are almost all incredibly naive.  I was not surprised when Devon got arrested on his first day on probation.  Devon’s an idiot.

Finally, I swore I would not watch the Presidential Debate and I kept my word at first.  But, on Thursday night, I took one look at what was being said on twitter and I realized that I had to watch it.  Because I know we have readers of all political persuasions, I’m going to refrain from giving my own feelings about the two men who were on the debate stage.  I’m just going to say, “Yikes,” and assume that you know why.  I have no idea what’s going to happen but I do know that hopefully, in 2028, it’ll be time to finally start electing some younger candidates.  Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with bowing out of public life and enjoying retirement.

Apparently, Big Brother is starting in July.  I am not at all enthused.  After last season, I am pretty much exhausted with the show, the twists, and Julie Chen Moonves.  But I’ll watch anyways, because it’s tradition and the houseguest will hopefully make better background noise than Trisha Goddard.

Live Tweet Alert: Watch Blair Witch with #ScarySocial


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, Deanna Dawn will be hosting 2016’s Blair Witch!

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.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.