Tag Archives: movie

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Uli Edel 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, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy early birthday to German director Uli Edel, who will be turning 79 tomorrow!  It’s time for….

4 Shots from 4 Uli Edel Films

Christiane F. (1981, dir b Uli Edel, DP: Justus Pankau and Jürgen Jürges)

Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Stefan Czapsky)

Body of Evidence (1993, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Douglas Milsome)

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Rainer Klausmann)

The Eric Roberts Collection: Story of Eva (dir by Tom Woodbeck)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Jakey, Jakey, big mistakey,” the bad guy says at one point during 2015’s Story of Eva and if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about this film, I don’t know what to tell you.

Eva (Nicole Rio) is the mother of teenage Amber (Chelsea London Lloyd).  After Amber is murdered by a serial killer who also works as a human trafficker, Eva decides to get revenge.  First, however, she has to train herself to not only inflict pain but to also handle it.  She finds Amber’s stash and starts smoking it.  She wears a ball gag.  She whips herself.  She learns how to handle pain.  She uses Amber’s college fund to buy a membership at the gym and takes boxing lessons.  And she builds her own little dungeon.  Whenever Eva captures a criminal, she turns into Evil Eva and is even played by a different actress, Shawn Craig.  Eva is one of those vigilantes who can’t punish an evil-doer without delivering an endless monologue.  The script is talky in the way that scripts written by first-timers determined to prove their cleverness often are.

“No child should ever suffer!” Eva — in “good” form — announces before then adding, “What kind of God would allow that?”  Thunder rumbles in the background and it’s not for the first or the only time in the movie as Eva views herself as having become a vengeful God.  I have to admit that I appreciated the fact that the film was so shamelessly overwrought and overdone.  Everything about the the move is over-the-top and yet, oddly, it’s still rather dull.  Some of it is that fact that we live in a post-Hostel world.  Torture chambers just don’t carry the same jolt that they once did.

Eric Roberts plays a detective who is investigating all of the murders.  He is named Detective Wood.  His partner (Rico Ross) is named Detective Grind and the fact that there was no one named Detective Bump seems like a missed opportunity.  Roberts appears in a handful of scenes and brings some welcome wit to the role.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

  1. Paul’s Case (1980)
  2. Star 80 (1983)
  3. Runaway Train (1985)
  4. To Heal A Nation (1988)
  5. Best of the Best (1989)
  6. Blood Red (1989)
  7. The Ambulance (1990)
  8. The Lost Capone (1990)
  9. Best of the Best II (1993)
  10. Love, Cheat, & Steal (1993)
  11. Voyage (1993)
  12. Love Is A Gun (1994)
  13. Sensation (1994)
  14. Dark Angel (1996)
  15. Doctor Who (1996)
  16. Most Wanted (1997)
  17. The Alternate (2000)
  18. Mercy Streets (2000)
  19. Tripfall (2000)
  20. Raptor (2001)
  21. Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 (2001)
  22. Strange Frequency (2001)
  23. Wolves of Wall Street (2002)
  24. Border Blues (2004)
  25. Mr. Brightside (2004)
  26. Six: The Mark Unleased (2004)
  27. We Belong Together (2005)
  28. Hey You (2006)
  29. Cyclops (2008)
  30. Depth Charge (2008)
  31. Amazing Racer (2009)
  32. The Chaos Experiment (2009)
  33. In The Blink of an Eye (2009)
  34. Bed & Breakfast (2010)
  35. Enemies Among Us (2010)
  36. The Expendables (2010) 
  37. Groupie (2010)
  38. Sharktopus (2010)
  39. Beyond The Trophy (2012)
  40. The Dead Want Women (2012)
  41. Deadline (2012)
  42. The Mark (2012)
  43. Miss Atomic Bomb (2012)
  44. The Night Never Sleeps (2012)
  45. Assault on Wall Street (2013)
  46. Bonnie And Clyde: Justified (2013)
  47. Lovelace (2013)
  48. The Mark: Redemption (2013)
  49. The Perfect Summer (2013)
  50. Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End (2013)
  51. Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire (2013)
  52. Self-Storage (2013)
  53. Sink Hole (2013)
  54. A Talking Cat!?! (2013)
  55. This Is Our Time (2013)
  56. Bigfoot vs DB Cooper (2014)
  57. Doc Holliday’s Revenge (2014)
  58. Eternity: The Movie (2014)
  59. Inherent Vice (2014)
  60. Road to the Open (2014)
  61. Rumors of War (2014)
  62. So This Is Christmas (2014)
  63. Amityville Death House (2015)
  64. Deadly Sanctuary (2015)
  65. A Fatal Obsession (2015)
  66. Las Vegas Story (2015)
  67. Sorority Slaughterhouse (2015)
  68. Stalked By My Doctor (2015)
  69. Enemy Within (2016)
  70. Hunting Season (2016)
  71. Joker’s Poltergeist (2016)
  72. Prayer Never Fails (2016)
  73. Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)
  74. The Wrong Roommate (2016)
  75. Dark Image (2017)
  76. The Demonic Dead (2017)
  77. Black Wake (2018)
  78. Frank and Ava (2018)
  79. Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge (2018)
  80. The Wrong Teacher (2018)
  81. Clinton Island (2019)
  82. Monster Island (2019)
  83. The Reliant (2019)
  84. The Savant (2019)
  85. Seven Deadly Sins (2019)
  86. Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare (2019)
  87. The Wrong Mommy (2019)
  88. Exodus of a Prodigal Son (2020)
  89. Free Lunch Express (2020)
  90. Hard Luck Love Song (2020)
  91. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
  92. Top Gunner (2020)
  93. Deadly Nightshade (2021)
  94. The Elevator (2021)
  95. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2021)
  96. Killer Advice (2021)
  97. Megaboa (2021)
  98. Night Night (2021)
  99. The Poltergeist Diaries (2021)
  100. The Rebels of PT-218 (2021)
  101. Red Prophecies (2021)
  102. A Town Called Parable (2021)
  103. The Wrong Mr. Right (2021)
  104. Bleach (2022)
  105. Dawn (2022)
  106. My Dinner With Eric (2022)
  107. 69 Parts (2022)
  108. The Rideshare Killer (2022)
  109. The Wrong High School Sweetheart (2022)
  110. The Company We Keep (2023)
  111. D.C. Down (2023)
  112. If I Can’t Have You (2023)
  113. Megalodon: The Frenzy (2023)
  114. Aftermath (2024)
  115. Bad Substitute (2024)
  116. Devil’s Knight (2024)
  117. Insane Like Me? (2024)
  118. Space Sharks (2024)
  119. The Wrong Life Coach (2024)
  120. Broken Church (2025)
  121. Shakey Grounds (2025)
  122. When It Rains In L.A. (2025)

Here’s The 2026 Cannes Lineup

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The lineup for this year’s Cannes film festival was announced earlier today.  There’s only one American film in the official competition.  We’re all rooting for you, Ira Sachs!

Here’s the line-up:

Opening film:
LA VÉNUS ÉLECTRIQUE
Pierre SALVADORI
(Out of Competition)

Competition:

AMARGA NAVIDAD Pedro ALMODÓVAR
PARALLEL TALES Asghar FARHADI
A WOMAN’S LIFE Charline BOURGEOIS-TACQUET
LA BOLA NEGRA Javier CALVO & Javier AMBROSSI
COWARD Lukas DHONT
DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER Valeska GRISEBACH
ALL OF SUDDEN HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke
THE UNKNOWN Arthur HARARI
ANOTHER DAY Jeanne HERRY
SHEEP IN THE BOX KORE-EDA Hirokazu
HOPE NA Hong-jin
NAGI NOTES FUKADA Koji
GENTLE MONSTER Marie KREUTZER
NOTRE SALUT Emmanuel MARRE
FJORD Cristian MUNGIU
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Léa MYSIUS
MOULIN László NEMES
FATHERLAND Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI
THE MAN I LOVE Ira SACHS
EL SER QUERIDO (THE BELOVED) Rodrigo SOROGOYEN
MINOTAUR Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV

Un Certain Regard

TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA Jane SCHOENBRUN
Opening Film

ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG Abinash
BIKRAM SHAH 1st film

IRON BOY Louis CLICHY

BEN’IMANA Marie-Clémentine DUSABEJAMBO
1st film

CONGO BOY Rafiki FARIALA

CLUB KID Jordan FIRSTMAN
1st film

UĻA Viesturs KAIRIŠS

LA MÁS DULCE (STRAWBERRIES) Laïla MARRAKCHI

EL DESHIELO (THE MELTDOWN) Manuela MARTELLI

SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO (FOREVER YOUR MATERNAL ANIMAL) Valentina MAUREL

YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP Rakan MAYASI

I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE Katharina RIVILIS
1st film

WORDS OF LOVE Rudi ROSENBERG

EVERYTIME Sandra WOLLNER

ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT SODE Yukiko

Out of Competition

LA BATAILLE DE GAULLE : L’ÂGE DE FER Antonin BAUDRY

KARMA Guillaume CANET

DIAMOND Andy GARCIA

L’ABANDON Vincent GARENQ

L’OBJET DU DÉLIT Agnès JAOUI

HER PRIVATE HELL Nicolas WINDING REFN

Midnight Screenings
FULL PHIL Quentin DUPIEUX

SANGUINE Marion LE CORROLLER
1st film

ROMA ELASTICA Bertrand MANDICO

JIM QUEEN Marco NGUYEN & Nicolas ATHANÉ
1st film

GUN-CHE (COLONY) YEON Sang-ho
Cannes Première

LA TROISIÈME NUIT Daniel AUTEUIL

THE MATCH Juan CABRAL & Santiago FRANCO

KOKUROJO (THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER) KUROSAWA Kiyoshi

HEIMSUCHUNG (VISITATION) Volker SCHLÖNDORFF

PROPELLER ONE-WAY NIGHT COACH John TRAVOLTA

Special Screenings

REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION Pegah AHANGARANI
1st film

LES MATINS MERVEILLEUX Avril BESSON
1st film

L’AFFAIRE MARIE-CLAIRE Lauriane ESCAFFRE & Yvo MULLER

AVEDON Ron HOWARD

LES SURVIVANTS DU CHE Christophe Dimitri RÉVEILLE
1st film

JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW Steven SODERBERGH

CANTONA David TRYHORN & Ben NICHOLAS

Join #TubiThursdasy For Cocktail!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone!  Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party!  Join us for Cocktail (1988)!

You can find the movie on Tubi and you can join us on Mastodon at 9 pm central time!  (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.)  We will be using #TubiThursday hashtag!  See you then!

Scenes That I Love: Dennis Quaid in The Right Stuff

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Dennis Quaid!

This scene that I love comes from 1983’s The Right Stuff and features Quaid as astronaut Gordon Cooper.  In this scene, the famous grin is flashed when Cooper is asked to name the best pilot that he ever saw.  However, Cooper surprises everyone by turning thoughtful.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special French Cinema Edition

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

4 Shots From 4 French Film

The 400 Blows (1959, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Henri Decae)

Breathless (1960, dir by Jean-Luc Godard, DP: Raoul Coutard)

The Iron Rose (1973, dir by Jean Rollin)

The Girl With A Bracelet (2020, dir by Stéphane Demoustier, DP: Sylvain Verdet)

The Eric Roberts Collection: Cyclops (dir by Declan O’Brien)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Behold the glory that was Rome!

In 2008’s Cyclops, Ancient Rome is a bad CGI village that is being menaced by an even worse CGI cyclops.  (The height of the Cyclops literally changes from scene to scene.)  After the Cyclops is captures, it’s forced to fight in the gladiatorial games of the decadent Emperor Tiberius (Eric Roberts).  Marcus (Kevin Stapleton), a centurion-turned-gladiator, eventually launches his own revolution against the Empire.  When you’re fighting against the 15 members of the fearsome Roman army, it helps to a have a monster from Greek mythology on your side.  Long live the Roman Republic!

This is an extremely silly movie but it’s hard not to admire the chutzpah it takes to try to recreate the glory of Rome on a tiny budget.  It’s not just that the city of Rome looks like a medieval village.  It’s also that there appears to only be about fifty citizens of Rome and most of them look like they wandered over from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  The film doesn’t work but kudos to the filmmakers for trying in the first place.  Not surprisingly, this was a Roger Corman production.

Eric Roberts as a Roman emperor is something that simply needs to be seen to believed.  Eric has the haircut and the sinful smile and he gives the thumbs up symbol with the proper theatrical flourish.  In the film, Tiberius turns on Marcus after the latter demands that he be given a land grant along with his promotion and I’m on Tiberius’s side as far as that goes.  Marcus should have just accepted the promotion without making demands.  Tiberius had every right to be miffed and no one plays miffed quite as well as Eric Roberts.  Tiberius goes on to plan the state dinner that will celebrate the capture of the Cyclops.  Tiberius and his friends will have half-a-boar.  Marcus will be given “eggs and greens.”  Oh, Tiberius!

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

  1. Paul’s Case (1980)
  2. Star 80 (1983)
  3. Runaway Train (1985)
  4. To Heal A Nation (1988)
  5. Best of the Best (1989)
  6. Blood Red (1989)
  7. The Ambulance (1990)
  8. The Lost Capone (1990)
  9. Best of the Best II (1993)
  10. Love, Cheat, & Steal (1993)
  11. Voyage (1993)
  12. Love Is A Gun (1994)
  13. Sensation (1994)
  14. Dark Angel (1996)
  15. Doctor Who (1996)
  16. Most Wanted (1997)
  17. The Alternate (2000)
  18. Mercy Streets (2000)
  19. Tripfall (2000)
  20. Raptor (2001)
  21. Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 (2001)
  22. Strange Frequency (2001)
  23. Wolves of Wall Street (2002)
  24. Border Blues (2004)
  25. Mr. Brightside (2004)
  26. Six: The Mark Unleased (2004)
  27. We Belong Together (2005)
  28. Hey You (2006)
  29. Depth Charge (2008)
  30. Amazing Racer (2009)
  31. The Chaos Experiment (2009)
  32. In The Blink of an Eye (2009)
  33. Bed & Breakfast (2010)
  34. Enemies Among Us (2010)
  35. The Expendables (2010) 
  36. Groupie (2010)
  37. Sharktopus (2010)
  38. Beyond The Trophy (2012)
  39. The Dead Want Women (2012)
  40. Deadline (2012)
  41. The Mark (2012)
  42. Miss Atomic Bomb (2012)
  43. The Night Never Sleeps (2012)
  44. Assault on Wall Street (2013)
  45. Bonnie And Clyde: Justified (2013)
  46. Lovelace (2013)
  47. The Mark: Redemption (2013)
  48. The Perfect Summer (2013)
  49. Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End (2013)
  50. Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire (2013)
  51. Self-Storage (2013)
  52. Sink Hole (2013)
  53. A Talking Cat!?! (2013)
  54. This Is Our Time (2013)
  55. Bigfoot vs DB Cooper (2014)
  56. Doc Holliday’s Revenge (2014)
  57. Eternity: The Movie (2014)
  58. Inherent Vice (2014)
  59. Road to the Open (2014)
  60. Rumors of War (2014)
  61. So This Is Christmas (2014)
  62. Amityville Death House (2015)
  63. Deadly Sanctuary (2015)
  64. A Fatal Obsession (2015)
  65. Las Vegas Story (2015)
  66. Sorority Slaughterhouse (2015)
  67. Stalked By My Doctor (2015)
  68. Enemy Within (2016)
  69. Hunting Season (2016)
  70. Joker’s Poltergeist (2016)
  71. Prayer Never Fails (2016)
  72. Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)
  73. The Wrong Roommate (2016)
  74. Dark Image (2017)
  75. The Demonic Dead (2017)
  76. Black Wake (2018)
  77. Frank and Ava (2018)
  78. Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge (2018)
  79. The Wrong Teacher (2018)
  80. Clinton Island (2019)
  81. Monster Island (2019)
  82. The Reliant (2019)
  83. The Savant (2019)
  84. Seven Deadly Sins (2019)
  85. Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare (2019)
  86. The Wrong Mommy (2019)
  87. Exodus of a Prodigal Son (2020)
  88. Free Lunch Express (2020)
  89. Hard Luck Love Song (2020)
  90. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
  91. Top Gunner (2020)
  92. Deadly Nightshade (2021)
  93. The Elevator (2021)
  94. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2021)
  95. Killer Advice (2021)
  96. Megaboa (2021)
  97. Night Night (2021)
  98. The Poltergeist Diaries (2021)
  99. The Rebels of PT-218 (2021)
  100. Red Prophecies (2021)
  101. A Town Called Parable (2021)
  102. The Wrong Mr. Right (2021)
  103. Bleach (2022)
  104. Dawn (2022)
  105. My Dinner With Eric (2022)
  106. 69 Parts (2022)
  107. The Rideshare Killer (2022)
  108. The Wrong High School Sweetheart (2022)
  109. The Company We Keep (2023)
  110. D.C. Down (2023)
  111. If I Can’t Have You (2023)
  112. Megalodon: The Frenzy (2023)
  113. Aftermath (2024)
  114. Bad Substitute (2024)
  115. Devil’s Knight (2024)
  116. Insane Like Me? (2024)
  117. Space Sharks (2024)
  118. The Wrong Life Coach (2024)
  119. Broken Church (2025)
  120. Shakey Grounds (2025)
  121. When It Rains In L.A. (2025)

 

 

Scene That I Love: 2001’s Stargate Sequence

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 84th 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.