Here’s the first teaser trailer for the upcoming musical biopic, Bob Marley: One Love. This film will star Kingsley Ben-Adir at Bob Marley. You may remember Ben-Adir from his strangely bland turn as Malcolm X in One Night In Miami. The film was also directed by the same director who did King Richard.
The film is opening wide on January 12th, 2024. Here’s the trailer:
The second trailer for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon dropped today.
The first trailer was criticized by some (but certainly not by me) as being a bit too moody and obscure. The second trailer is a bit more action-packed. It leaves little doubt that Robert De Niro is the film’s villain while it’s a bit more ambiguous in what it shows us of Leonardo DiCaprio. (Though who have read the book already know the truth about the character that DiCaprio is playing.) The second trailer definitely plays up the thriller aspect of the story.
Regardless of which trailer does what, I can’t wait to see the film!
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!
It’s time for Isaac’s heart to get broken, yet again!
Episode 2.22 “Love Me, Love My Dog/Poor Little Rich Girl/The Decision”
(Dir by Roger Duchowny, originally aired on February 24th, 1979)
Isaac has sworn off falling in love with passengers. As he explains it, he’s fallen in love with a movie star, a singer, a criminal, and a journalist and, every time, the romance ended as soon as the ship docked. Isaac is tired of getting his heart broken and, unlike Doc and Gopher, he doesn’t view romance as just being a game.
Still, as soon as Isaac spots Selena Moore (Debbie Allen) boarding the ship, he’s interested. He insists that he’s not going to act on his attraction but both Gopher and Doc tell him that it’s okay to just have some fun. And when Selena starts showing up at the bar and telling Isaac about her doubts about whether or not she wants to get married to her fiancé, Isaac decides to follow Gopher and Doc’s advice. He and Selena have a shipboard romance.
And, of course, Isaac falls in love. He said that he wouldn’t but he does because that’s just who Isaac is. Isaac is the most sincere character on the show. Gopher is goofy. Doc is a walking HR nightmare. Julie is practical. The Captain is stern. And Isaac is the one who impulsively falls in love, even though he knows he’s probably going to get hurt.
When Isaac trips and falls after one night of dancing, Doc jokingly declares that Isaac will never walk again. Selena runs away in tears. That really should have been a clue that she loved her fiancé more than she was letting on. When the ship finally returns home, Isaac can only watch as Selena greets her fiancé, who turns out to be an older man who uses a wheelchair. Isaac can only wipe away a tear and hand the roses that he got for Selena to a random passenger. It’s a bit sad, even though the outcome was predictable. Ted Lange and Debbie Allen both made the story work far better than one might expect it to.
And it’s a good thing that Lange and Allen worked so hard because the other two stories are nowhere near as strong.
One of the stories features Fannie Flagg as Alicia Finch, an eccentric woman who sneaks her terrier (played by Cricket) onto the boat. (Cricket gets her own credit, which is cute). Alice meets Mason Randolph (Gene Rayburn), a single man who also loves dogs! Unfortunately, Cricket starts yapping and biting whenever she sees Mason. It looks like Alicia and Mason will never be. However, when the boat docks, Mason’s dog is waiting for him. Even though Mason’s dog is quite a bit bigger than her, Cricket takes a liking to him. This story was extremely predictable and Gene Rayburn was a bit annoying as Mason. (Apparently, he was a game show host and he delivers almost all of his lines as if he’s waiting for the audience to applaud.) On the plus side, Cricket was really cute.
Finally, Suzanne Welles (Maren Jensen) is a waitress who has won the lottery but now that she’s rich, she’s not sure if auto mechanic Alan Harmon (Dennis Cole) really likes her or just wants her money. Alan is also the Captain’s mechanic and Stubing comes up with a plan that’s so stupid that it makes you wonder if he should really be in charge of cruise ship. Basically, Stubing tells Suzanne that she’s right about Alan and that he’s only after her for the money. Alan then says that the Captain is correct. Stubing thinks that if Suzanne’s suspicions are confirmed, she’ll be able to relax and fall in love with Alan without worrying about why he’s pursuing her and …. wait, what? How does that make any sense? Why would Suzanne continue to spend time with Alan after he tells her that he’s only interested in her for the money? I mean, the boat is full of single, handsome men. The plan is idiotic but somehow, it works! Everyone tells the captain that he’s a genius. Seriously, what a weird story. I mean, Isaac is pouring out his heart and getting hurt again and the Captain is busy encouraging his passengers to lie to each other.
The cruise was definitely mixed bag. The Ted Lange/Debbie Allen story was nicely done. Cricket was cute. Lauren Tewes got to wear a really pretty dress for the ship’s Mexican Fiesta Night and I loved the sparkly blue evening gown that Maren Jensen wore while having dinner at the Captain’s table. But the non-Isaac stories were, respectively, bland and incredibly dumb. I guess no vacation is perfect.
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 celebrates the 134th anniversary of the birth of the great French surrealist Jean Cocteau! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Jean Cocteau Films
The Blood of a Poet (1932, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Georges Perinal)
Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Henri Alekan)
Orpheus (1950, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Nicolas Hayer)
Testament of Orpheus (1960, dir by Jean Cocteau)
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week’s episode is saved by the one and only Herve Villechaize.
Episode 3.4 “Baby/Marathon”
(Dir by George McCowan, originally aired on October 5th, 1979)
Fantasy Island is going to be hosting a marathon competition so Tattoo decides to greet Mr. Roarke while carrying a replica of the Olympic Torch.
Tattoo proceeds to light a huge flame in a cauldron. A group of Islanders start trying to splash water on the fire, leading to Tattoo yelling at them to leave the flame alone. Mr. Roarke, who appears to be even more disgusted than usual with Tattoo’s antics, barks at his assistant to put on his tuxedo and head down to the docks so that they can greet their guests.
Bunny Kelly (Barbi Benton), Gretchen Wasserman (Arlene Golanka), and Olaf Olafsen (Peter Isacksen) have all come to the Island so that Olaf can compete in the marathon and hopefully win enough money to keep their barbell factory open. (Don’t blame me, I didn’t write this script.) When Olaf is injured while trying to lift some weights, Bunny enters the marathon in his place! (At first, Bunny tries to disguise herself as Olaf but, when that doesn’t work, Mr. Roarke declares that Bunny can compete as herself.)
Can Bunny defeat the men who have shown up to run the marathon? Well, it won’t be easy. Bruno Glass (Bruce M. Fischer) is so evil that he often stops in the middle of the race so that he can laugh at everyone else’s misfortune. Helping out Bruno is his trainer, Dr. R.M. Funk (Dick Martin). Using techniques that would be more appropriate for a cartoon, Bruno sabotages the other racers. Somehow, Bruno is able to do this despite the fact that the entire race is being televised live to the world. Fear not! With the help of friendly competitor Eugene (Paul Petersen), Kitty makes it to the finish line. When both Kitty and Eugene sprain an ankle towards the finish line, they carry each other to a tied victory! The factory is saved and everyone falls in love!
As you have probably already guessed, the whole marathon was pretty stupid. There really didn’t seem to be any sort of set rules as to how the marathon would be run. Olaf and Gretchen grabbed a car and drove alongside Kitty for most of the race. Meanwhile, Dr. Funk was somehow able to commit numerous acts of open sabotage without anyone noticing. Because Dr. Funk and Bruno were so cartoonish, it made it difficult to take seriously the possibility that they might win. There was no suspense whatsoever, which made for a pretty boring fantasy.
I preferred the episode’s other story, in which Tattoo was placed in charge of finding a family to adopt an orphaned baby. At first, Tattoo wanted to adopt the baby himself but eventually, he realized that the child would be better off with Thomas (Joshua Gallegos) and Mary (BarBara Luna), two Islanders who already had a large family and who had more experience taking care of babies. There was nothing surprising about the story but seriously, Herve Villechaize’s portrayal of Tattoo’s dilemma was surprisingly touching. While Villechaize was notoriously difficult on the set of Fantasy Island, he also used his fame to speak out in support of abused and neglected children and he really seemed to be put his heart into this episode of Fantasy Island. When Tattoo said that he wanted to make sure the baby had the best and most loving home possible, one got the feeling that he was speaking for Villechaize as well.
So, this was yet another mixed episode of Fantasy Island. Ultimately, it was saved by the sincerity of Herve Villechaize.
How about an AMV of the Day for the 4th? And how about one using One Headlight by The Wallflowers? That’s a song that’s always felt like a song for the 4th to me, and not just because they specifically mention Independence Day, either!
Anime: Clannad
Song: One Headlight (performed by The Wallflowers)
Creator: Elijah McKinley (please subscribe to this creator’s channel)
Past AMVs of the Day
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!
Because it’s the fourth, this edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films features some classic cinematic moments involving fireworks!
4 Shots From 4 Films
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, dir by Peter Jackson, DP: Andrew Lesnie)
Gangs of New York (2002, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michal Ballhaus)
V for Vendetta (2005, dir by James McTeigue, DP: Adrian Biddle)
The Great Gatsby (2013, dir by Baz Luhrmann, DP: Simon Duggan)
And that’s how you sing the National Anthem!
Enjoy!
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Hang Time, which ran on NBC from 1995 to 2000. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, Silk gets a new job and he also gets a gun! It’s a wild time in Indiana with Hang Time!
Hang Time 5.7 “Joint Venture”
(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on October 30th, 1999)
Somehow, Silk and Eugene are the new managers of Deering’s hottest club, The Matrix!
Right away, this episode the makes the mistake of asking us to suspend our disbelief. I’ve accepted a lot of weird things when it comes to Hang Time, like the entire team spending Christmas in New York and Antonio somehow just moving from Texas to Indiana without his parents. But seriously, why would two high school students be hired to manage a club? And even if you could accept the idea of two high school students being given that type of responsibility, who in their right mind would hire Silk and Eugene? We haven’t seen anything on this show to indicate that either one of them comes across as being the sort of person who could handle that much responsibility.
The club is a big hit but Silk and Eugene are shocked to discover that someone is selling marijuana in the bathroom! Instead of shutting down the club (which is what the show suggests they should have done for some reason), Eugene and Silk call the cops and arrange for two undercover cops to come to the club and arrest the dealer. However, at the same time, Kristy and Mary Beth are trying to write an award-worthy story for the school newspaper and they decide to go undercover as well. Their plan is to buy marijuana from the dealer and then write a story about it.
Yep, who wouldn’t think they were stoners?
Anyway, as you probably already guessed, this leads to the undercover cops trying to arrest not just the dealer but also Mary Beth and Kristy. Michael and Julie see the cops grabbing their friends and, since they don’t know that they’re cops, a huge brawl breaks out. The club is wrecked! For some reason, the cops then call Coach K., who comes down and yells at everyone. Luckily, only the dealer goes to jail. Eugene and Silk lose their jobs, which they never should have had in the first place.
This is the type of episode that I hate, where every single problem could have been solved by everyone not being an absolute idiot. Let’s move on.
Hang Time 5.8 “Revolver, Problem Solver?”
(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on November 6th, 1999)
Silk’s father is a cop! That seems like the sort of thing that would have been helpful during the previous episode. Anyway, this guy who was arrested by Silk’s father starts threatening Silk. The guy carries a knife and tries to stab Silk at school. Seeing as how that’s attempted murder and the attack was witnessed by Silk’s friends, it seems like it would have been pretty easy for Silk to call the cops and get the guy sent to prison for a decade. Instead, Silk decides to handle things himself by getting a gun.
Yes, really.
Meanwhile, the team needs to raise money so Mary Beth arranges a car wash. Coach K’s car ends up getting flooded with water after the team washes it without rolling up the windows. How dumb are these people? Anyway, the guy who wants to kill Silk shows up at the car wash with his knife. Silk pulls out his gun but the bad guy easily grabs it away from him. In the ensuing struggle, a shot is fired. A window shatters. Mary Beth nearly gets shot. The bad guy gets arrested and Silk get cited for having an illegal gun.
Remember when Coach K made everyone sign that contract not to do anything dangerous during the season? Under the terms of that contact, Silk should have been cut from the team. I mean, Eugene nearly got kicked off the team for wanting to ride a skateboard. Meanwhile, Silk is putting everyone’s lives in danger. But Coach K is a big old hypocrite and Silk is allowed to keep playing basketball for Deering High.
I will compliment this episode, though. For a teen sitcom that was produced by Peter Engel, the fight scene between Silk and the knife guy was surprisingly well-choreographed and filmed. As well, this is the first episode to really allow Danso Gordon to do some acting as opposed to just standing in the background and Gordon does a pretty good job with the role, even if Silk’s action don’t always seem realistic. This was another episode where almost everything that happened was the result of people not having any common sense. It had a good message about being safe and careful with guns but it was still frustrating to watch.
Next week, Kristy hangs out with a goth and Michael discovers that some people are racist. Indiana’s a crazy place.
The Detective Knight trilogy comes to a close with Detective Knight: Independence.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the wonderfully pulpy adventures of Detective James Knight, here’s a quick refresher of what happened last year. First off, in Detective Knight: Rogue, Detective Knight (Bruce Willis) sought vengeance after his partner, Fitz (Lochlyn Munro), was seriously wounded during a robbery. Fitz recovered but not before Knight has dispensed some vigilante justice of his own. The surviving bad guys went to prison but sadly, so did Detective Knight.
Fortunately, Detective Knight was released from prison in Detective Knight: Redemption. He was released because a cult of people who dressed up like Santa Claus and who chanted, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” while committing their crimes were terrifying the city. With the help of Detective Knight, the police were able to stop the Santa Cult.
In Detective Knight: Independence, Knight is once again on the police force. He and Fitz are still quick to shoot first and ask questions later. That said, Knight is trying to make amends with his estranged wife and spend more time with his daughter. That’s not going to be easy, though, because there’s a new threat in town …. just in time for the 4th of July!
Dezi (Jack Kilmer) is an EMT who has always dreamt of being a cop. Unfortunately, he’s never been able to qualify for the force. Even when he shows up at a cop bar and just tries to have a beer in peace, the bartender approaches him with a baseball bat and two detective toss him out of the place. When Dezi is subsequently fired for refusing to give aid to a wounded man (the man in question was a bank robber and Detective Fitz actually told Dezi to go help a bleeding civilian in the bank and leave the robber to die), Dezi snaps. First, Dezi steals a uniform, a badge, and a gun. After dispensing some vigilante justice on some muggers, Dezi decides that he would like to rob a bank. Yes, you read that correctly. In just a matter of hours, Dezi goes from pretending to be a cop to pretending to be a criminal. As the film progresses, it starts to become pretty clear why the police force didn’t want to hire this guy in the first place.
Unfortunately, for Dezi, his fellow EMT and occasional lover, Ally (Willow Shields), had a connection to Detective Knight and soon, Knight is on Dezi’s trail. It all leads to a 4th of July confrontation on a baseball field.
Even though Bruce Willis is playing the title character, he’s not present for much of Detective Knight: Independence. As with the other two Detective Knight films, it’s obvious that Willis was only on set for a day or two. While Willis is still a physically imposing actor, there’s none of the wise guy swagger that made Willis a star. Instead, Detective Knight is a fairly grim character. As always, it’s a bit difficult to watch Willis in films like this, especially with the knowledge of his recent health struggles. That said, the Detective Knight films are definitely the best of Willis’s final films and, despite the limitations imposed by his health, Willis comes across well in them. Considering that this is Willi’s final film, certain lines hit in a way that they otherwise might not.
As with the previous Detective Knight films, the majority of the screen time is given over to the man that the Detective is pursuing. Jack Kilmer gives a strong performance as the unbalanced Dezi. When he first appears, he’s almost a sympathetic character. The cops were being bullies when they kicked him out of their bar. His boss was being unreasonable when she announced that, rather than suspend him, she was just going to fire him because she didn’t like his attitude. When Dezi first puts on his stolen badge and uniform, it’s hard not to sympathize with his happiness because he finally has what he wants. But almost immediately, the power goes to his head and he loses control. He becomes a frightening character but still, it’s hard not to feel sorry for him as he yells, “I’m not the bad guy!” Of course, Dezi is the bad guy and the tragedy of his character is that he’ll never be able to understand why that is.
He’s right, you know.
For those of us who remember him in films like Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, and The Sixth Sense, late-era Bruce Willis films can be difficult to watch and I understand and respect why some people simply can’t bring themselves do it. And, obviously, several of Willis’s later films do leave one feeling as if the actor has been exploited by filmmakers who cared less about his legacy and more about making money off of his name. That said, the Detective Knight films do not feel exploitive, certainly not in the way that many of his 2022 films did. Instead, the trilogy serves as a tribute to Willis and his status as one of the world’s most popular movie stars. As pulpy as it may be, Detective Knight: Independence allows Bruce to go out on a good note.
Through the Shattered Lens 