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6 Shots From 6 Films: “Mads Mikkelsen / Anders Thomas Jensen” Special Edition!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

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

Today’s “6 Shots From 6 Films” celebrate the filmmaking partnership of actor Mads Mikkelsen and director Anders Thomas Jensen. These two began working together on movies 25 years ago and show no sign of slowing down. I watched my first Mikkelsen / Jensen film yesterday, RIDERS OF JUSTICE, and I can’t wait to get caught up as most of the movies are available for streaming. Without further adieu, here are the 6 films directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and starring Mads Mikkelsen:

FLICKERING LIGHTS (2000)

THE GREEN BUTCHERS (2003)

ADAM’S APPLES (2005)

MEN & CHICKEN (2015)

RIDERS OF JUSTICE (2020)

THE LAST VIKING – AKA BACK TO REALITY (2025)

Brad reviews RIDERS OF JUSTICE (2020), starring Mads Mikkelsen!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

RIDERS OF JUSTICE (2020) is the genre-bending story of Markus (Mads Mikkelsen), a badass soldier who returns to his home in Denmark after his wife dies in a train accident. His daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), who survived the accident that took her mother’s life, needs her dad to help her through this difficult time, but he has no idea how to process what happened and is failing miserably. Enter Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a data analyst and another survivor of the train crash. Otto tells Markus that his mathematical analysis indicates that the “accident” was actually the staged assassination of a person on the train by a group of criminals who go by the name “Riders of Justice,” and that his wife was an innocent casualty of that attack. Otto also brings along his eccentric, intelligent and emotionally troubled friends Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro) to help convince Markus of their findings. Markus accepts their premise, mainly because he wants someone to blame and take vengeance upon. Soon, the badass and the unlikely trio of nerds set out to kick ass, compute probabilities, hack computers, and get in touch with their innermost feelings. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, with both blood and tears flowing like raging rivers!

I must admit that prior to sitting down with a group of friends and watching RIDERS OF JUSTICE this weekend, I had never heard of the film. It came out during the COVID lockdown periods of 2020 and 2021 and somehow flew completely under my radar. I’m so glad my friend Stewart chose the film for us to watch because it’s filled with awesome action sequences, absurdist comedy, and real human emotions. I also give it bonus points for being a Christmas movie, as it begins and ends with musical renditions of “The Little Drummer Boy,” even featuring Mads Mikkelsen wearing an ugly Christmas sweater!

I’ll start my discussion of the film with Mads Mikkelsen, an actor I’ve always appreciated, as the emotionally repressed and extremely lethal soldier, Markus. Usually a film like this would star someone like Jason Statham or Liam Neeson and focus solely on his quest for vengeance and not detour too much from those goals. This movie leaves us with no doubt of Markus’ killing abilities, but it also forces him to deal with his daughter’s feelings, as well as her sensitive boyfriend’s attempts to help him heal. Men who try to push Markus into revealing his feelings usually end up with a black eye or broken nose. But to his credit, he usually does feel bad about it afterwards. Next we have Otto, the nerd whose math calculations convince Markus that the riders of justice need to die. Otto is a sweet guy who truly wants to help Markus and Mathilde, but we find out over the course of the film that beneath his pleasant personality is a life fueled by guilt and shame. And then there’s Otto’s nerdy friends Lennart and Emmenthaler. I won’t go into all of the details of their lives, but these guys are also revealed to be thoughtful, kind, angry, funny, and extremely damaged depending on the time and the circumstances. On a funny side note, Emmenthaler’s unexpected ability to assemble a weapon is second to none. RIDERS OF JUSTICE pulls off the genuinely surprising feat of creating a “family” out of this mismatched group, and we see how they come to help each other and depend on each other. This makes the stakes so much higher when they inevitably must battle the evil riders of justice. The movie is funny, dramatic, and badass in equal measures and somehow it all works! 

RIDERS OF JUSTICE was written and directed by a Danish filmmaker named Anders Thomas Jensen. I’m going to be emotionally vulnerable here and admit that I was completely unaware of Jensen, and that he and Mikkelson have an ongoing director / star, filmmaking collaboration that extends back to 2000 and currently includes six movies, with their latest, THE LAST VIKING (AKA BACK TO REALITY), set to be released in the fall of 2025. This collaboration also includes the actors Nicolaj Lie Kaas, Nicolas Bro and, with increasing frequency, Lars Brygmann. Based on my appreciation of RIDERS OF JUSTICE, I will be going back in time and watching some of their previous films to see how they stack up, and I’ll be looking forward with great anticipation to the release of their most recent work later this year. One of the great joys of cinema is the discovery of something new and special. I feel like this may have just happened for me again with a late night viewing of RIDERS OF JUSTICE!

Live Tweet Alert: Watch Tourist Trap With #ScarySocial!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, I will be hosting Tourist Trap!

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 and Tubi!  I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy!

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special 1983 Edition

Posted on 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 a classic year in film.  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 1983 Films

Scarface (1983, dir by Brian De Palma, DP: John A. Alonzo)

Star 80 (1983, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Sven Nyvkist)

Flashdance (1983, dir by Adrian Lyne, DP: Donald Peterman)

10 To Midnight (1983, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Adam Greenberg)

Brad’s “Scene of the Day” – Richard Thomas in SEPTEMBER 30 1955 (1977)!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Actor Richard Thomas turns 74 years old today. He’s especially important to me because of two specific roles. First, he co-starred with my favorite actor Charles Bronson in the 1991 Christmas movie, YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS. Along with IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, I watch YES VIRGINIA every year during the Christmas season. Second, he filmed a movie in central Arkansas back in 1977 called SEPTEMBER 30, 1955. Part of the movie was filmed along the Arkansas River in Toad Suck, AR. This is the community I grew up in, and my parents still live there. As a matter of fact, I’ll be spending Father’s Day with my Dad in Toad Suck. In my “scene of the day,” I share a scene from SEPTEMBER 30, 1955 where Thomas’ character learns of the fatal car crash of James Dean. Notice in the scene that his shirt has the initials ASTC, which stands for Arkansas State Teachers College. My dad received his teaching degree from ASTC. This college is now called The University of Central Arkansas (UCA), and that’s where I received my Finance Degree. The entire scene is filmed on the campus of UCA, and I’ve played tennis on those courts many times. I’ve attended football games at that stadium. The campus has been completely updated since this move was filmed in 1977, but it still looked a lot like that when I began my college years in 1991. It’s a trip down memory lane for me. 

Happy Birthday, Richard Thomas!! 

10 Films For The Weekend (6/13/25)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are just a few recommendations from a girl who is currently packing for her vacation!

Happy Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th kind of snuck up on me this year, which is a shame because this is the only Friday the 13th that we’re going to get in 2025.  I have a feeling that I’m not alone in being taken by surprise, though.  Usually the streaming services make a bigger deal about Friday the 13th.  This year, only Pluto TV has the complete series available to stream.

That said, you can watch the first Friday the 13th (1980) on Tubi.  Though the films were never critical favorites and I doubt they’ll ever have a Halloween-style resurgence (and really, that’s the way I like it because the last thing that horror fans need or deserve is for David Gordon Green to screw up Jason like he did Michael), the first Friday the 13th is still entertaining to watch.  It’s interesting to see how much the first few films drew from the Italian giallo movies.  The first Friday the 13th is even a whodunit, featuring a killer wearing gloves!  It also features a young Kevin Bacon in a speedo so what’s your excuse for not watching?  Personally, I always relate to Marcie in this film.  I imagine I’d share the same fate if I ever found myself working at a summer camp, wandering around in my underwear and saying, “C’mon, guys….” until someone got annoyed and hit me with an axe.  You can watch the film on Tubi.

Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) is actually a really good horror movie, featuring interesting victims and, for the first time, Jason Voorhees as the killer.  Jason dresses like a hillbilly in this one.  Amy Steel is a badass heroine.  Russell Todd’s an incredibly handsome man.  The film itself actually has some wonderfully creepy shots, from the POV tracking shot that creeps up on Lauren-Marie Taylor to the shadowy shot of the cars driving into town.  It can be viewed on Pluto.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) was quite obviously not the final chapter but it was, in my opinion, the best of the films.  Everyone remembers this one for Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis and Crispin Glover as one of the victims but really, the entire cast does a great job of bringing their characters to life and actually making them interesting for once.  My heart always breaks a little for Peter Barton and Barbara Howard.  They were such a cute couple.  It can be viewed on Pluto.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1987) is hardly the best of the Friday films but I have to admit that I’ve always kind of liked it.  Not only does it feature the first appearance of Zombie Jason but it also features enough strange plot twists to keep things watchable.  The recently passed Lar Park Lincoln plays Tina, the girl with psychic powers and she gives a far better performance than the material probably deserved.  Terry Kiser plays “Bad News” Crews.  It can be viewed on Pluto.

Mario Bava’s Bay of Blood (1971) is a classic giallo and it features a rare (and successful) stab at social satire on the part of Mario Bava.  It’s also interesting to see the scenes that were lifted, almost shot-for-short, for Friday the 13th Part 2.  It can be viewed on Tubi.

Happy Father’s Day

This s going to be a bittersweet Father’s Day for me and my sisters.  Our Dad passed away last August.  Indeed, one of the reasons why I’m going on vacation next week is so I can get away from the sad memories for a bit.  If I had to think of any film that captured my Dad’s independent spirit, I’d probably go with Convoy (1978).  When I was growing up, my Dad sometimes worked as an independent trucker.  He liked this movie and he liked Rubber Duck and you know what?  Rubber Duck would have liked him as well.  Convy was notorious for the cost overruns and the amount of drugs done on set but I’ll tell you right now — if you don’t cheer when Kris Kristofferson, Burt Young, and other truckers defy the law, you have no heart.  Convoy can be viewed on Tubi.

My Dad was also a Godzilla fan, which is one reason why I’m a Godzilla fan!  I can still remember being little and watching Godzilla films with him.  They used to air every Saturday afternoon.  One of our favorites was Godzilla vs Megalon (1973), in which Godzilla teams up with the giant robot, Jet Jaguar.  I know that Godzilla purists tend to be dismissive of this film but I don’t care.  I loved it!  It can be viewed on Max.

I guess it says something about my job here that I can get sentimental about a violent and bloody film like 10 to Midnight (1983) but I have to admit that I’m always touched by the father-daughter relationship of Leo (Charles Bronson) and Laurie Kessler (Lisa Eilbacher).  It reminds me a lot of my relationship with my Dad.  Of course, those of you just looking for a good Cannon-era Bronson flick won’t be disappointed either.  Gene Davis turns Warren Stacy into a truly loathsome villain and Bronson’s final line is a classic.  Plus, this film has got Andrew Stevens in the role of the liberal rookie detective who no one can believe is a cop.  The film can be viewed on Tubi.

Happy Odds and Ends

If you want to watch a Bava film that’s a little less gory than Bay of Blood, Planet of the Vampires (1965) is an atmospheric delight.  Just as Bay of Blood inspired Friday the 13th, Planet of the Vampires inspired Alien.  Keep an eye out for Ivan Rassimov, who had the best head of hair in Italian horror.  The film is on Pluto.

Jim Belushi celebrated a birthday this week and you can celebrate as well by watching one of my favorite guilty pleasures, The Principal (1987).  This film is heartfelt, violent, occasionally funny, thoroughly ludicrous, and actually kind of touching in its determination to actually say something.  Jim Belushi vs Michael Wright is one of the ages.  Lou Gossett, Jr. appears to be amused by the whole thing.  “He’s the Principal, man!”  The film is on Tubi.

Have a great week!

(Check out last week’s films here!)

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Space Mutiny!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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?  SPACE MUTINY!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Space Mutiny is available on Prime and Tubi!

See you there!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Friday The 13th Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

Admittedly, the Friday the 13th films aren’t exactly known for being the most visually impressive horror films ever made.  That’s especially true of the first 8 films, which were all shot on a low budget and in a hurry.  That said, today is Friday the 13th and there’s no way that I, as a lover of the horror genre, couldn’t use the 4 Shots format to pay a little bit of tribute to one of the most successful and influential horror franchises of all time.

So, with that in mind, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Friday the 13th Films

Friday the 13th (1980, dir by Sean S. Cunningham)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, dir by Joseph Zito)

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986, dir by Tom McLoughlin)

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989, dir by Rob Hedden)

Back in 2012, I reviewed every single film in the Friday the 13th film franchise!  It was a lot of fun!

My Friday the 13th reviews:

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

Scenes That I Love: The Opening Of A Clockwork Orange

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor Malcolm McDowell.

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1971’s A Clockwork Orange, featuring McDowell as Alex.  This opening scene is famous for its music and its production design but what truly makes it work is the intensity of McDowell’s stare and the seductive menace of his half-smile.