Tag Archives: movie

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Norman Jewison 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.

Rest in Peace, Norman Jewison, a director who believed in the power of cinema to change the world.

4 Shots From 4 Norman Jewison Films

In The Heat of the Night (1967, dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Haskell Wexler)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971, dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Oswald Morris)

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, dir by Norman Jewison, DP; Douglas Slocombe)

The Hurricane (1999. dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Roger Deakins)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join us for Godzilla 1985 and The Bounty Hunter!

Posted on 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 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 Godzilla 1985, selected and hosted by Sweet Emmy Cat!

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet.  We will be watching 2010’s The Bounty Hunter!

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 Godzilla 1985 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 The Bounty Hunter, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy. 

Retro Television Reviews: The Hippie Temptation (dir by Warren Wallace)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1967’s The Hippie Temptation!  It  can be viewed on YouTube.

“This is a hippie,” a sober and serious voice says over the image of a rather clean-cut young man sitting in a park.

So starts the 1967 CBS news documentary, The Hippie Temptation.  Hosted by a white-haired and distinguished voiced journalist named Harry Reasoner, The Hippie Temptation takes a look at the subculture that, in 1967, was taking the youth of America by storm.  Reasoner walks through the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, followed by a group of hippies who hang on every word.

Hippies, Harry explains, their very name suggests that they are hip!

Harry Reasoner talks about how the hippies are predominantly liberal and say that they are dropping out of a society that they consider to be hypocritical.  They have no interest in what their straight parents are concerned with.  Harry’s tone goes from being gently condescending to rather alarmed as he explains that hippies use a new illegal drug called LSD to try to open up their minds.  The bad trip, Harry says, is always a possibility and suddenly, the screen is full of Dutch angle images of San Francisco.

The majority of this documentary focuses on the dangers of LSD.  A pipe-smoking scientist shows a diagram of a chromosome of a repeated LSD user.  The repeated use of LSD is compared to having epilepsy.  Harry says that LSD is illegal in California but it’s still easy to find in San Francisco.  No mention is made of marijuana or heroin or any of the other drugs that may have been a part of the Haight Ashbury scene.

Harry is a bit surprised that the hippies are not particularly concerned about what the scientists think about LSD.  The Hippie Temptation is to not care about consequences and to instead do whatever you want.  Harry discusses how the hippies claim not to care about money or material things but, as he points out, some people are getting rich in Haight Ashbury.  He drops in to visit a local band called the Grateful Dead “who appear to be living in affluence.”  The members of the band admit that they also use LSD and other drugs.  Harry shows us a performance of the Grateful Dead performing and comments on how the light show is designed to imitate a psychedelic experience.

(Along with the Grateful Dead, future actor Peter Coyote also appears briefly, giving out free food as a member of a collective called The Diggers.)

Hippies can make money, Harry says, if they can find an employer who doesn’t mind long hair and strange clothing.  It’s hard not to smile at this comment because, by today’s standards, the hippies in this documentary look remarkably preppy and almost conservative.  Turtlenecks, colorful shirts, and neck length hair no longer come across as being the height of rebellion.  The majority of the hippies that Harry talks to look like they could be accountants.

This is one of those documentaries where the older generation tries to figure out why their kids are so weird.  It’s hard not to smile at the sight of a clearly uncomfortable Harry Reasoner being surrounded by a bunch of future accountants and middle managers.  That said, this documentary was an interesting time capsule.  It was a chance to see a firsthand account of what people were worried about in 1967.

Past Lives Wins In Chicago!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Chicago Indie Critics have announced their picks for the best of 2023!

The winners are listed in bold.

BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
All of Us Strangers – Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Sarah Harvey
Anatomy of a Fall – Producers: Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion
The Iron Claw – Producers: Sean Durkin, Tessa Ross, Angus Lamont, Derrin Schlesinger, and Juliette Howell
Past Lives – Producers: Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, and David Hinojosa
The Zone of Interest – Producers: James Wilson and Ewa Puszczyńska

BEST STUDIO FILM
Barbie – Producers: David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Robbie Brenner
The Holdovers – Producers: Mark Johnson, Bill Block, and David Hemingson
Oppenheimer – Producers: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas
Poor Things – Producers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Andrew Lowe, and Ed Guiney
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Producers: Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, and Christina Steinberg

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Anatomy of a Fall – Producers: Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion
The Boy and the Heron – Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Godzilla Minus One – Producers: Kenji Yamada, Kazuaki Kishida, Minami Ichikawa, and Keiichiro Moriya
When Evil Lurks – Producers: Roxanna Ramos and Fernando Diaz
The Zone of Interest – Producers: James Wilson and Ewa Puszczyńska

BEST DOCUMENTARY
American Symphony – Producers: Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, and Joedan Okun
The Disappearance of Shere Hite – Producers: R.J. Cutler, Kimberly Ferdinando, Nicole Newnham, Molly O’Brien, Elise Pearlstein, and Trevor Smith
Silver Dollar Road – Producers: Raoul Peck, Blair Foster, Rémi Grellety, and Hebert Peck
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Annetta Marion, Jonathan King, and Will Cohen
20 Days in Mariupol – Producers: Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Derl McCrudden, and Michelle Mizner

BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Boy and the Heron – Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Elemental – Producer: Denise Ream
Nimona – Producers: Karen Ryan, Julie Zackary, and Roy Lee
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Producers: Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, and Christina Steinberg
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Producers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver

BEST DIRECTOR
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Alexander Payne – The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Celine Song – Past Lives

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
Barbie – Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
The Holdovers – David Hemingson
The Iron Claw – Sean Durkin
Past Lives – Celine Song

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Fiction – Cord Jefferson
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. – Kelly Fremon Craig
Killers of the Flower Moon – Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan
Poor Things – Tony McNamara

BEST ACTOR
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Teo Yoo – Past Lives

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Greta Lee – Past Lives
Emma Stone – Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Glenn Howerton – BlackBerry
Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers
Charles Melton – May December
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rachel McAdams – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
America Ferrera – Barbie
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Julianne Moore – May December
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer

BEST ENSEMBLE
American Fiction – Casting director: Jennifer Euston
Asteroid City – Casting director: Douglas Aibel
The Holdovers – Casting director: Susan Shopmaker
Oppenheimer – Casting director: John Papsidera
Poor Things – Casting director: Dixie Chassey

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Barbie – Rodrigo Prieto
Killers of the Flower Moon – Rodrigo Prieto
Oppenheimer – Hoyte van Hoytema
Poor Things – Robbie Ryan
The Zone of Interest – Łukasz Żal

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Barbie – Susan Greenwood and Katie Spencer
The Color Purple – Paul Denham Austerberry and Larry Dias
Killers of the Flower Moon – Jack Fisk
Oppenheimer – Ruth De Jong
Poor Things – Shona Heath and James Price

BEST COSTUMES
Barbie – Jacqueline Durran
The Color Purple – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Killers of the Flower Moon – Jacqueline West
Poor Things – Holly Waddington
Priscilla – Stacey Battat
Wonka – Lindy Hemming

BEST MAKEUP
Barbie – Ivana Primorac
The Iron Claw – Natalie Shea Rose and Elle Favorule
Maestro – Kazu Hiro, Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Lori McCoy-Bell
Poor Things – Nadia Stacey, Mark Couler, and Josh Weston
Priscilla – Jo-Ann MacNeil and Cliona Furey

BEST EDITING
The Holdovers – Kevin Tent
The Iron Claw – Matthew Hannam
Oppenheimer – Jennifer Lame
Poor Things – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Michael Andrews

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Barbie – Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
The Boy and the Heron – Joe Hisaishi
Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“I’m Just Ken” – Barbie – Written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
“What Was I Made For?” – Barbie – Written by Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell
“Keep It Movin’” – The Color Purple – Written by Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney, and Morten Ristorp
“Peaches” – The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Written by Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, and Michael Jelenic
“A World of Your Own” – Wonka – Written by Neil Hannon, Simon Faraby, and Paul King

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator – Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts, and Neil Corbould
Godzilla Minus One – Kiyoko Shibuya and Takashi Yamazaki
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick
Oppenheimer – Andrew Jackson, Giacomo Mineo, Scott Fisher, and Dave Drzewiecki
Poor Things – Simon Hughes

BEST STUNTS
The Iron Claw – Hiro Koda and Chavo Guerrero Jr.
John Wick: Chapter 4 – Stephen Dunleavy, Scott Rogers, and Jeremy Marinas
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – Wade Eastwood and Rudolf Vrba
Polite Society – Crispin Layfield and Rob Lock
Sisu – Oula Kitti

BREAKOUT ARTIST
Charles Melton
Dominic Sessa
Cailee Spaeny
Celine Song
Sophie Wilde

SIGHT UNSEEN AWARD
Helen Mirren – Barbie
Bradley Cooper – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Oscar Isaac – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Hailee Steinfeld – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Jack Black – The Super Mario Bros. Movie

IMPACT AWARD
Local award given to individuals who have made a positive impact on Chicago cinema
Rebecca Fons – Gene Siskel Film Center
Dann Gire and Raymond Benson – “Dan and Raymond Movie Club”
Morgan Harris – Acacia Media Group
Katie Rife, Will Morris, and Ryan Oestreich – Music Box Theatre programming
Dennis Scott – Music Box Theatre organist

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Radley Metzger 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.

95 years ago today, Radley Metzger was born in New York, New York.  After serving as a photographer in the U.S. Air Force, Metzger went into film distribution.  He brought European “art” films to the United States and booked them in various grindhouse theaters.  Like so many film distributors and producers, Metzger eventually realized that he could make a lot more many by making his own films.  In the late 60s and the early 70s, Metzger was one of the pioneers of what would eventually become known as “porno chic.” He directed adult films that were distinguished by their strong sense of composition, intelligent storylines, and their sense of characterization.

Unfortunately, Metzger’s films were a bit too arty for the adult crowd and too explicit for the mainstream critics. Still, over the years, Metzger’s work has been rediscovered and appreciated by open-minded film lovers and by people like me who just happen to like artistically-minded decadence.

Today, we honor Radley Metzger with….

4 Shots From 4 Radley Metzger Films

Carmen, Baby (1967, dir by Radley Metzger, DP: Hans Jura)

Camille 2000 (1969, dir by Radley Metzger, DP: Ennio Guarnieri)

The Lickerish Quartet (1970, dir by Radley Metzger. DP: Hans Jura)

Little Mother (1973, dir by Radley Metzger, DP: Hans Jura)

Scenes That I Love: Terence Stamp Goes For A Drive in Fellini’s Toby Dammit

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The great Italian director, Federico Fellini, was born 104 years ago today.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Toby Dammit, Fellini’s contribution to the 1968 anthology film, Spirits of the Dead.  In this scene, a narcissistic actor (Terence Stamp) goes for a very fast drive through a very haunted Rome.

 

8 Shots From 8 Films: Special David Lynch Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Twin Peaks: The Return Part 3 (dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

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 78th birthday to David Lynch!  And that means that it’s time to pay tribute to one of our favorite filmmakers.

Here are….

8 Shots From 8 David Lynch Films

Eraserhead (1977, dir by David Lynch, DP: Frederick Elmes, Herbert Cardwell)

The Elephant Man (1980, dir by David Lynch, DP: Freddie Francis)

Blue Velvet (1986, dir by David Lynch, DP: Frederick Elmes)

Twin Peaks: The Pilot (1990, dir by David Lynch, DP: Ron Garcia)

Lost Highway (1997, dire by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

The Straight Story (1999, dir by David Lynch, DP: Freddie Francis)

Mulholland Drive (2001, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

Twin Peaks: The Return Part 18 (2017, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

Live Tweet Alert: Join #ScarySocial for The Crow!

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, at 9 pm et, Tim Buntley will be hosting #ScarySocial!  The movie?  1994’s The Crow!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial 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.

The Crow is available on Prime!

See you there!

Ghosts of Sundance Past: Living in Oblivion (dir by Tom DiCillo)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As we all know, this year’s Sundance Film Festival started yesterday.

To me, Sundance has always signified the official start of a new cinematic year.  Not only is it the first of the major festivals but it’s also when we first learn about some of the films that we’ll be looking forward to seeing all year.  It seems like every year, there’s at least one successful (or nearly successful) Oscar campaign that gets it start at Sundance.  For instance, it is probable that Past Lives will receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture on Tuesday and its campaign started with how it was received at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

My plan for this year is to spend the last few days of January looking at some of the films that have won awards or otherwise created a splash at previous Sundance Film Festivals.

Like 1995’s Living in Oblivion for example….

Living in Oblivion centers around the filming of an independent movie called, appropriately enough, Living in Oblivion.  The film is being directed by Nick Reve (a youngish and, I’ll just say it, hot Steve Buscemi), a filmmaker whose indie cred does not protect him from the difficulties of shooting a movie with next to no budget.  His cinematographer is Wolf (Dermot Mulroney), who is talented but pretentious and who is dating the first assistant director, Wanda (Danielle von Zerneck).  The film stars Nicole (Catherine Keener), a struggling actress who is best known for appearing in a shower scene in a Richard Gere movie.  Also appearing in the movie is Chad Palomino (James LeGros), an up-and-coming star who is appearing in Nick’s film to build up his critical reputation.  (He also assumes that Nick is friends with Quentin Tarantino.)

We don’t really learn much about the plot of the film-within-a-film.  It appears that Nicole is playing Ellen, a woman who is trying to come to terms with her abusive childhood and her romantic feelings towards her friend, Damien (played by Chad Polomino).  The scenes of the film that we see alternate between being insightful, melodramatic, and pretentious.  We see Ellen confronting her mother about her abusive childhood but we also see a dream sequence in which Ellen, who is dressed as a bride, attempts to grab an apple from Tito, a person with dwarfism (played, in his film debut, by Peter Dinklage).

To talk too much about the film’s narrative structure would be to spoil one of Living In Oblivion‘s most clever twists.  What I can safely say is that, much as with Truffaut’s Day For Night, Living In Oblivion is more concerned with the production than the film that’s being shot.  Nick struggles to keep his cool.  Nicole struggles with her fear that she’ll always just be known as the “shower girl” and with the difficulty of keeping her performance fresh through multiple retakes.  Wolf makes a point of wearing an eyepatch after claiming Wanda injured his eye and turns sullen when Nick says he doesn’t want to shoot a scene with a hand-held.  A smoke machine first produces too little smoke and then too much.  When Chad does show up on set, he is passive-aggressively tries to change the blocking of one of the film’s most important scenes.  As for the dream sequence, it’s threatened when Tito denounces the scene and his role in it as being an indie film cliche.  Throughout, director Tom DiCillo contrasts the studied structure of a finished film with the chaotic reality that goes into shooting.

Living In Oblivion is an affectionate satire, one that pokes fun at the indie film scene while also celebrating all of the hard work and different personalities that are involved in making a movie.  Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener give heartfelt performances as two people who understand that every movie could be their last while Dermot Mulroney scores some of the biggest laughs as the self-important Wolf.  James LeGros is hilariously shallow and vain as a character who is rumored to be based on one of the biggest movie stars of the past 30 years.  (“I want an eyepatch!” Chad declares while looking at Wolf.)  Living In Oblivion is a movie that celebrates the beautiful madness of trying to shoot an important film for next to no money in a grubby warehouse.  Throughout the film, the film’s crew is forced to compromise but, at the same time, there are also the small and unexpected moments that make it all worth it.

Living In Oblivion‘s witty script deservedly won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival.  Living in Oblivion is a celebration of both cinema and independence.

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For Invasion USA!

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 and Mastodon.  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, at 10 pm et, Chuck Norris and Richard Lynch star in 1985’s Invasion USA!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Invasion USA is available on Prime, Tubi, and a host of other streaming sites!  See you there!