Scene That I Love: Douglas Trumbull’s Stargate Sequence From 2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted on April 8, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 83rd birthday of special effects maestro, Douglas Trumbull.

Today’s scene that I love come from 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The famous stargate sequence was designed by Trumbull and it remains one of the most influential science fiction moments of all time. In one of their greatest oversights, the Academy neglected to include Trumbull when they nominated the film for its special effects. As a result, the Oscar only went to Stanley Kubrick. Trumbull was not happy about that and, sadly, Kubrick and Trumbull did not speak to each other for years afterwards.

Despite not being included in the nomination, Douglas Trumbull’s work has stood the test of time.

Brad’s Scene of the Day features Jackie Chan in PROJECT A (1983)!

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Jackie Chan is a truly unique talent. He’s one of my all time favorites, and rates his own section in my massive physical media collection. On Jackie’s 71st birthday, and my granddaughter’s day of birth, I share this incredible bicycle chase featuring some fun Jackie stunts and ending with Sammo Hung. Enjoy my friends!

Join #MondayMuggers For THE DELTA FORCE!

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone! Guess is who is guest hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet tonight? That’s right …. me!

Tonight’s movie will be The Delta Force (1986), starring Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Robert Forster, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Steven James, Hanna Schygulla, Shelley Winters, Martin Balsam, Bo Svenson, Joey Bishop, Susan Strasberg, Kim Delaney …. well, you get the idea. There’s a lot of people in this movie! Jedadiah Leland swears that this is the greatest film ever made. We’ll find out tonight!

You can find the movie on Prime and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) See you then!

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Command 5

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally 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 1985’s Command 5!

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 Command 5 on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!

The Eric Roberts Collection: Night Night (dir by Niki Koss)

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

April Davis (Brenna D’Amico) has just inherited a small fortune and she’s got a wonderful boyfriend named Robert. Plus, she lives in Texas! Her life is going wonderfully! But then, a terrible car accident leaves her in a five-month coma. When she finally awakens, she discovers that the people in the other car — a mother and her children — were killed in the accident. Because she had a few drinks before she got behind the wheel and she was texting with her boyfriend while driving, she is now being investigated for vehicular manslaughter.

April is taken home by Robert (Nick Marini) but it turns out that things have changed. As Robert explains it, April was in a coma for five months so he had to handle things until she woke up. As a result, he now has a key to the house. He bought her a new phone to replace the one that was taken by the police. He bought her a new monitor for her computer. Robert’s been on top of everything! What a great guy …. except, there seems to be something different about Robert as well. He’s angrier than April remembered and he’s controlling. He says it’s for April’s own good but who knows for sure? April starts to have strange dreams and nightmares and soon, she’s wondering what’s real and what isn’t.

Released in 2021 and filmed in the lovely town of Corsicana, Texas, Night Night is an effectively dream-like thriller, one that features a good lead performance from Brenna D’Amico and a plot that’s full of twists and turns. Despite the low budget, director Niki Koss does a good job of creating a properly ominous atmosphere. This film really took me by surprise. I was mostly watching because Eric Roberts was in it but the film’s story drew me in pretty quickly.

As for Eric Roberts, this is one of his one-scene wonders. He plays Dr. Nelson and gives April an update on her condition after she awakens. The late Tony Todd also makes an appearance in this film, playing April’s attorney. Neither role is big but the film itself works so well that it doesn’t matter that neither Roberts nor Todd play particularly prominent roles. This was a good, independent thriller. Give it a chance.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Scene That I Love: The Eye In The Sky From Casino

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I need to rewatch this film soon. I wonder what the eye in the sky is seeing right now. From 1995’s Casino:

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Francis Ford Coppola Edition

Posted on April 7, 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.

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)

Billy Dee Williams in NIGHTHAWKS (1982)!

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Bradley Crain

I love Billy Dee Williams. When I was a kid, I remember Florence from THE JEFFERSONS loving him. I also loved him as Lando Calrissian in the STAR WARS movies. I’m sure I had his action figure. As I got a little bit older, I started to appreciate his larger body of work in movies like NIGHTHAWKS with Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer, and NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET with Robert Carradine. On his 88th birthday, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate Billy Dee Williams, and one of my favorite action movie scenes. This scene from NIGHTHAWKS features three unbelievably cool actors in their prime!

Enjoy, my friends, and Happy Birthday Billy Dee!!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Barry Levinson Edition

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Happy birthday to Baltimore’s own Barry Levinson!

4 Shots From 4 Barry Levison Films

Diner (1982, directed by Barry Levison, DP: Peter Sova)

The Natural (1984, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Caleb Deschanel)

Tin Men (1987, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Peter Sova)

Avalon (1990, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Allen Daviau)

The Eric Roberts Collection: Bed & Breakfast (dir by Marcio Garcia)

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2010’s Bed & Breakfast is one of those Hallmark-y films that takes place at a B&B in a quaint little town.

Having recently been left by his actress wife, Jake (Dean Cain) is trying to open up a bed and breakfast, using a house that was left to him by a former employer. Helping Jake out is his brother, Peter (Jake Engvall), a member of law enforcement who not only enjoys drinking beer but also enjoys talking about beer as well. Juliana Paes plays Ana, the niece of the original owner of the house. Ana is from Brazil and she wants to sell the house because her brother is in debt to some local mobsters. But then Ana meets the handsome and single Jake and …. well, you already know what’s going to happen. This is one of those films where the familiarity is the point. You watch it because you know that Jake and Ana are going to fall in love and you know exactly how long it’s going to take for that to happen. Dean Cain is rugged. Juliana Paes is pretty. The town is lovely. It’s a sweet little film that you’ll forget about a few minutes after it ends.

Of course, these films always require a cameo or two. John Savage and Julia Duffy show up as a couple who stay at the B&B and who share a dance at the end of the film. Ted Lange is the judge who settles the issue of who actually owns the house. Eric Roberts shows up as a reviewer who stays at the B&B and decides that it’s a wonderful place that more than deserves a good review. Yay! I will say that it’s always interesting to see Roberts playing someone who is just a nice, polite guy. He doesn’t get to do it all that often. Eric Roberts doesn’t have much screentime in this film but he gets to be pleasant the entire time. It’s a nice change of pace.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: