Catching Up With The Films Of 2023: Gran Turismo: Based On A True Story (dir by Neill Blomkamp)

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Having had a rough day, I decided that I needed to watch a crowd-pleaser tonight.

Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story is definitely that. The film may have an unwieldy title and it might not really break any new ground as far as sports films are concerned but it’s still definitely a film that will leave viewers feeling satisfied. It tells the story of Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), who gets a chance to turn his love for and skill at the Gran Turismo video game into a real life career when he is selected for GT Academy, a school in which the world’s best simulation drivers are trained to be real-life racers. Though GT Academy may have started out as a PR stunt that was masterminded by executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), both Jann and his trainer, Jack Salter (David Harbour), are determined to prove that the simulation drivers deserve to be taken seriously.

Gran Turismo hits all of the expected moments. Jann’s father (Djimon Hounsou) is a former professional soccer player who worries that his son is going to waste his life pursuing an impossible dream. Jann’s mother (played by my favorite Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell-Horner) worries that Jann is going to be one of the drivers who wrecks his car and doesn’t emerge from the remains. Jann has a pretty and supportive girlfriend named Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley). Jann has a quirky love for the music of Kenny G and Enya. Jann has to win everyone’s respect, including Jack’s. Jann has to deal with arrogant rivals. Jann has to conquer his own insecurities before he can win and Jack has to conquer his own past before he can truly help to lead Jann to victory.

And, of course, Jann is involved in a massive car wreck that causes him to lose his confidence right before the big race. The wreck is actually based on something that truly did happen to Jann Mardenborough, though it occurred two years into his racing career as opposed to at the beginning of it. Tragically, in both the movie and in real life, the crash resulted in the death of a spectator. One can understand why the car crash was moved (because otherwise, Jann would have been too confident going into the big race and there wouldn’t be as much suspense as to whether or not he would be able to conquer his fears) while also feeling that it was a bit of a tacky thing to do. The film reducing a real-life tragedy to a plot point feels all the more gauche when you consider that the filmmakers could have just made up some incident to cause Jann to lose his confidence. I mean, we all know that “based on a true story” doesn’t actually mean that a film’s story is 100% (or even 10%) true.

If you can overlook that bit of narrative tackiness, Gran Turismo is a well-made and likable sports film. Not a single moment really took me by surprise but, more often than not, I still found myself smiling whenever Jann proves the naysayers wrong and finished strong. Director Neill Blokamp made a huge splash with his first film, 2009’s District 9, but, his subsequent films have struggled to recapture the energy and narrative verve of his debut. Gran Turismo proves that Blokamp is still capable of directing a crowd-pleaser.

Scenes That I Love: Bugsy Attacks in Once Upon A Time In America

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In honor of Sergio Leone’s birthday, today’s scene that I love comes from his final film, 1984’s Once Upon A Time In America.

In this scene, which takes place in 1918 in New York City, a group of young street kids who fancy themselves sophisticated criminals are ambushed by their rival, Bugsy. With the combination of Ennio Morricone’s score and Leone’s haunting vision of New York City at the start of the 20th Century, this scene captures the loss of innocence that will eventually lead to all of the characters becoming ruthless (albeit successful) gangsters in their adult years.

Catching Up With The Films Of 2023: May December (dir by Todd Haynes)

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What comes after a life of tabloid infamy?

That’s one of the many questions posed by Todd Haynes’s latest film, May December.

Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) is an actress who comes to Savannah, Georgia in order to research her next role. We don’t learn much about Elizabeth’s career as an actress but it appears that, while it has brought her a certain amount of fame, it hasn’t exactly been full of acclaimed work. One person mentions seeing a picture from a film that she did in which she was involved in a blood sacrifice. (“I googled ‘naked Elizabeth Berry,'” he explains.) Several other people mention how much they love her TV show, Norah’s Ark, in which Elizabeth plays a veterinarian. Elizabeth’s latest film features her playing a real person, someone who was at the center of a scandal 20 years previously and who has since faded from the public view. Elizabeth seems to believe that this role could redefine her career.

(Hey, it worked for Margot Robbie in I, Tonya.)

Elizabeth is going to play Gracie Atherton-Woo in an upcoming indie film. Way back in 1992, the real-life Gracie (Julianne Moore) was 36 years old and married when she was caught having sex with a 13 year-old named Joe in the back of a pet store. Joe was a classmate of Gracie’s son and Gracie was the one who was responsible for him getting hired at the pet store in the first place. Gracie was sent to prison, where she gave birth to Joe’s daughter. During her trial, Gracie and Joe were both tabloid mainstays. The nation was transfixed by their affair before eventually moving on to the next scandal. When Gracie was eventually released from prison, she married Joe. Now, decades after appearing on the front of every trashy magazine, Gracie and Joe (Charles Melton) are still married and they now have three children. They live in a big house in Savannah, Gracie has a career as a pastry maker, and, from the outside, they would appear to have a perfect domestic life together.

Wearily, Gracie and Joe allow Elizabeth to spend time with the family so that she can research her role. Elizabeth interviews other people who were effected by Gracie’s actions. Gracie’s ex-husband (D.W. Moffett) is surprisingly forgiving. Gracie’s children are considerably less forgiving. Georgie (Cory Michael Smith), who was Gracie’s son from her first marriage and a schoolmate of Joe’s, is bitter and describes his mother as being mentally unbalanced while, at the same time, trying to leverage his knowledge of Gracie’s past into a job on the film. As for Gracie and Joe’s first daughter (Piper Churda), she states that she doesn’t want the film to be made.

Cracks start to appear in the perfect image that Gracie and Joe present to the world. Gracie can be rigid and controlling while insisting that Joe was the one who initiated the encounter in the pet store. Gracie talks about growing up with four brothers, two of whom were older and two were younger. Gracie mentions that one of her brothers is an admiral and it’s implied that she grew up in an atmosphere where failure was not an option. Gracie’s daughter talks about how, when she graduated, her mother gave her a scale as a graduation gift. When someone cancels an order for a cake, Gracie takes it as a personal rejection and breaks down into tears. Gracie is friendly towards Elizabeth but never totally lets down her guard.

As for Joe, he emerges as well-meaning but confused, someone who is still often treated like a child by bother his wife and, eventually, the woman who is studying his wife. Whenever we see Joe with any other adults, he’s awkward as if he’s not sure how to behave. (When he tells his elderly father that he can hardly believe that all of his children will soon be in college, the old man’s silence tells us everything that we need to know about their relationship.) Joe is nearly forty but it’s clear that a good deal of his emotional development stopped when he was thirteen, leaving him desperate for approval. When he catches his teenage son smoking a joint, Joe isn’t angry as much as he’s curious. Smoking weed is one of the many things that Joe never did when he was younger. When Joe get high, he becomes a paranoid and emotional mess as all the feelings that he’s repressed for 23 years come spilling out. At the same time, when Gracie has a breakdown, Joe knows exactly what to say to help her through it.

Do Gracie and Joe truly love each other or is their marriage just their way of denying the reality of what happened? Did Gracie groom Joe or, as Gracie insists, was their affair consensual? At first, the audience’s natural tendency is to sympathize with Elizabeth and to expect her to play some sort of role in clarifying what actually happened in that pet store. But Elizabeth soon proves herself to be a rather detached observer, a mimic who copies the emotions of others but who, even after she gets to know Gracie and Joe as human beings, still views them as just being characters in a story. In the end, Elizabeth can’t help us understand what happened in the pet shop because, the film suggests, not even the people who were actually there understand what happened. All Elizabeth can do, as an actress and an observer, is try to recreate what she imagines happened.

It’s a well-made film, with Haynes deftly mixing scenes of high drama with the awkward comedy of people trying to rationally discuss the irrational. It can also be a frustrating viewing experience, if just because Haynes often does not seem to be sure what he’s trying to say about the characters or why we should even care about either Gracie or Elizabeth. Fortunately, the film is lucky enough to have a wonderful cast. While Moore and Melton gets the big, dramatic scene, it’s Portman who takes the audience by surprise, giving a performance that goes from being likable to being rather chilling as Elizabeth transforms herself more and more into Gracie. For all the film’s themes about conformity, morality, and tabloid culture, it’s main message may very well be to never trust a method actor.

May December sticks with you, even if it’s not up to the level of Haynes’s Carol. It’s a film about what happens after the infamy, with Gracie, Joe, and Elizabeth destined to be forever defined by what happened over the course of a few minutes in the backroom of a pet store.

Scenes That I Love: Burt Reynolds Meets Burt Reynolds in The Last Movie Star

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the national speed limit is 50 years old.

Boooo!

Yes, it was 50 years ago today that President Richard Nixon signed the law that set the national speed limit as being 55 miles per hour. Perhaps this was Nixon’s final revenge on a nation that was making a huge deal out of Watergate. Who knows?

In honor of the occasion, today’s scene that I love is from 2018’s overlooked The Last Movie Star. In this scene, an elderly Burt Reynolds finds himself transported back to the days of Smokey and the Bandit, where he meets his younger self and takes a ride in a famous black sportscar. It turns out that the two Burts do not agree when it comes to observing the posted speed limit.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Todd Haynes Edition

Posted on January 2, 2024 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 lets the visuals do the talking.

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Todd Haynes! It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Todd Haynes Films

Safe (1995, dir by Todd Haynes, DP: Alex Nepomniaschy)

I’m Not There (2007, dir by Todd Haynes, DP: Edward Lachman)

Carol (2015, dir by Todd Haynes, DP: Edward Lachman)

Dark Waters (2019, dir by Todd Haynes, DP: Edward Lachman)

Catching Up With The Films of 2023: After Everything (dir by Castille Landon)

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The saga of the world’s most boring and tedious couple finally comes to an end in After Everything.

When last we checked in on Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), they were probably both wondering how they ended up with the type of names that most people would expect to find attached to fake profiles on a dating app. Tessa had also just left Hardin, upset that he used the details of their relationship to write his first novel, After.

After Everything opens with best-selling, voice-of-his-whiny-generation Hardin being pressured to come up with a follow-up novel but he has writer’s block because Tessa won’t even return his texts. As he explains it, he’s lost his muse and he can’t write anything without her. (Maybe he should send her some of the money that he made off of her life story then.) Despondent, Hardin starts drinking again. This would be a big plot point if not for the fact that, in every After film, the alcoholic Hardin starts drinking again. Hardin has gotten sober and given up his sobriety so many times that, at this point, it’s more about being indecisive than anything else. Either be a drunk or don’t be a drunk but make up your freaking mind.

Hardin does what any struggling writer would do when confronted with writer’s block. He goes to Portugal and reunites with a woman whose life he ruined. Natalie (Mimi Keene) had a scholarship and a promising future until Hardin filmed himself having sex with her in order to win a bet. When Hardin’s friends made the film public, Natalie was humiliated, she lost her scholarship, and she spent years mired in depression before she escaped to Portugal. In a plot twist that is not only dumb but also rather offensive, she’s surprisingly forgiving of Hardin when he shows up in Lisbon. Sure, he took her virginity to win a bet and sent a video to all of his friends without her consent but hey, Hardin’s had a rough life as the privileged child of two wealthy people who give him everything that he wants. Natalie’s life may have been ruined, the film tells us, but Hardin has recently spent a few weeks feeling bad about it so they’re even. Natalie introduces him to all of her friends. (It doesn’t take long because Natalie only has two.) Everyone is really impressed to discover that Hardin wrote After.

“I hear they’re making a movie!” one friend says.

“Harry Styles should play you!” the other friend shouts, a reference to the fact that the whole damned After franchise started as Harry Styles fan fiction.

(It’s a moment so awkwardly executed and so self-congratulatory that it reminded me of the moment in the second film when the author of the original book made a cameo appearance. “What do you write?” she was asked. “Oh,” she replied, smirking directly at the camera, “this and that.” I threw a shoe at my TV but, fortunately, I have terrible aim.)

If Natalie forgiving Hardin isn’t bad enough, Hardin also decides to write a book about the time that he ruined her life, a book that he cleverly entitles Before. You really do have to wonder if Hardin has ever met anyone that he didn’t end up exploiting in some terrible way. Having learned his lesson with Tessa, Hardin allows Natalie to read the book before sending it off to the publisher. Natalie happily gives her consent for it to be published because what girl wouldn’t want the guy who sexually humiliated her to use the memories of that humiliation as a way to make money for himself?

As you may have noticed, Tessa is not present for the majority of After Everything, though she does appear in several flashbacks to the earlier films. She shows up briefly at the beginning and then the end of the film and there’s a point about halfway through the film where she wakes up and discovers that Hardin has sent her a weepy text. When Hardin gives his best man speech at his half-brother’s wedding reception and, as usual, makes it all about himself, there’s a shot of Tessa looking moved. But, for the most part, this installment is all about Hardin thinking about the past and saying stuff like, “I’m trying to be a better person.” Of course, we do still get the franchise’s signature overheated but discreetly-shot sex scenes, though one of them is just Hardin having a dream about a flight attendant while most of the rest are just flashbacks.

(This film has so many flashbacks to the previous films that it’s hard not to notice that the franchise’s makeup artists could never quite remember the exact locations of all of Hardin’s tattoos.)

Unfortunately, Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s bland performance as Hardin has always been one of After’s biggest problems so basing an entire movie around his petulant screen presence was perhaps not the best way to go. We are continually told that Hardin Scott is the most exciting writer in the world but there’s nothing about Tiffin’s performance that suggests that Hardin can even think in complete sentences, let alone write them down. Hardin spends a lot of time whining and a lot of time drinking and there comes a point where you just want someone to say, “You’re a twenty-something alcoholic who is still bitching about stuff that most people get over when they’re 16. Grow up.” Unfortunately, no one does say that. However, about 52 minutes into the film, Hardin totally gets his ass kicked by some beach bullies. That was emotionally satisfying to watch.

In the end, Hardin and Tessa are reunited. After five movies, Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin still do not have a shred of romantic chemistry. It’s nice that Hardin and Tessa worked everything out but I would still dread getting stuck in a conversation with either one of them.

Apparently, this is the last of the After films and that’s probably for the best. At this point, I think the only place left to go would be After Life, with Tessa and Hardin boring everyone in Purgatory with their story about how they first bonded over their shared love of an obscure novel called The Great Gatsby. Writing this review, I was shocked to discover that this franchise is only 4 years old. Seriously, I thought had been suffering for at least ten years because of these two.

Other After Films:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Top Gunner: America vs Russia (dir by Christopher Ray)

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The latest addition to the quasi-franchise that started with 2020’s Top Gunner, 2023’s Top Gunner: America vs Russia takes place in the near future.

Russia’s war with Ukraine has led to a stalemate. When the United States starts to take a more active role in defending Ukraine and arming the dissidents in Russia, it leads to a coup in Russia. President Vasiliev (Alex Veadow) wants to bring about a new era of peace but, when he’s assassinated, the new president of Russia, the evil Borovsk (Pavel Kuzin), accuses the United States of being behind the murder and declares war on the U.S.A. Soon, Russian jets are invading the airspace of Washington D.C. and blowing up the Washington Monument. (The White House gets hit by a bomb as well but, fortunately, it’s not a very impressive bomb.) Borovsk is such a fanatic that he is even prepared to launch his country’s nuclear arsenal against America. Such an action would, of course, lead to the end of the world.

Fortunately, America is not just going to roll over and accept defeat. (Or, at least, it’s not going to accept defeat in the movies. In the real world, it seems to be a different story.) America has fighter pilots, like Footloose (Andrew Rogers) and Firefly (Kayla Fields), who are dedicated to defending the nation. America has a super-secret new jet than can even fly into deep space so it can fire missiles at a Russian satellite. America has got CIA operatives like Veronica Vachs (Simone Posey) operating in Moscow. America has got a Vice President (Gary Poux) who believes in the country’s destiny. And, perhaps most importantly of all, America has got Eric Roberts.

Eric Roberts also appeared in the first Top Gunner, though he was playing a different character in that film. In Top Gunner, Eric Roberts was a flight instructor. In Top Gunner: America vs Russia, Eric Roberts is …. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!

As President Jeremiah Stewart, Eric Roberts gives orders and refuses to be pushed around and always puts America first. When he hears that Washington D.C. might soon be attacked, he doesn’t show a hint of fear. He doesn’t run off to a bunker. He doesn’t whine about not being popular. He doesn’t desert America’s allies. Seriously, he’s one of the best president that I’ve ever seen and I would certainly vote for Jeremiah Stewart in 2024 before I even considered casting a ballot for any of the other jokers that are running. Just by casting Eric Roberts as the President, Top Gunner: America vs Russia wins the war. When Roberts says that he doesn’t care what the official protocol is, you believe him. I bet when he’s not fighting the Russians, President Stewart is working to repeal the 16th Amendment. (That’s the one about income tax.) Seriously, I want to see this guy on Mt. Rushmore.

Anyway, this is a typical Asylum film. The special effects are cheap but it seems like everyone had fun working on the film and it’s hard not get swept up in the silliness of it all. I mean, at one point, a fighter plane literally flies into space without a bit of concern for stuff like oxygen or heat shields or anything else. It’s so shamelessly absurd that it feels rather churlish to nitpick. Most importantly, it’s a movie about how America kicks ass and, in these troubled times, who can’t appreciate that? I mean, how could we not kick ass with Eric Roberts leading us?

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

6 Things That I Am Looking Forward To In January of 2024

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ah, January.

Traditionally, as far as pop culture goes, January doesn’t get much respect. If a studio has a film that they knew isn’t going to be a hit with critics or audiences, January is where they usually dump it. The same can often be said of publishers. Everyone is so busy getting caught up on what they missed during the last few months of the previous year, chances are that they won’t notice a few bombs dropped on the cultural landscape. That’s the theory anyways.

But, you know me! I’m an optimist. And I remain convinced that, even in January, there are things to which we can look forward, And here’s six of those things!

(Why six? Because Lisa doesn’t do odd numbers.)

The Iowa Caucus

That’s right! It’s an election year! And the first contest of 2024, the Iowa Presidential Caucus, is just two weeks away! Remember how much fun we all had in 2020 when the Democrats couldn’t figure out who had actually won their caucus? Who knows what fun this year has in store for us! The Iowa Caucus will be held on January 15th.

(Okay, this may seem like a lame thing to look forward to but it’s January and beggars can’t be choosers.)

2. The Sundance Film Festival

While the 2023 race waits to be determined, the 2024 Oscar Race will begin at the Sundance Film Festival! It seems like, every year, there is at least one Sundance Film that makes it into the Best Picture lineup. In 2023, Past Lives and Magazine Dreams were huge hits at Sundance and now, it looks like Past Lives has a great chance of being nominated for Best Picture. As for Magazine Dreams ….. well, yeah. Which contenders will come out of this year’s festival? We’ll find out when Sundance opens on January 18th.

3. I.S.S. — This film, about strange happenings on the International Space Station, is set to be released on January 19th. I always enjoy a good mix of horror and science fiction. Plus, once this film comes out, maybe YouTube will stop trying to make me watch the trailer.

4. Mean Girls — The Mean Girls musical will be released in theaters on January 12th. I’m not really sure that we need a new version of the film when the original holds up perfectly well but whatever. Originally, this was going to go straight to Paramount Plus but it was decided to give the film a theatrical release instead. Normally, that would be a sign of huge confidence if not for the fact that it was given a January release.

5. The Bricklayer — For those of us wondering whatever happened to Renny Harlin, he’s got a new film set to be released on January 5th. Hey, that’s this week!

6. The Oscar Nominations — The nominations will be announced on January 23rd and I’ve got a lot of movies that I still need to watch! So I better get to it!

What are you looking forward to in January?

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special New Year’s Edition

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy New Year’s Day! Did you have as wonderful a celebration as the characters featured in today’s special edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films?

4 Shots From 4 Films

The Poseidon Adventure (1972, dir by Ronald Neame, DP: Harold E. Stine)

The Godfather Part II (1974, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)

New Year’s Evil (1980, dir by Emmett Alston, DP: Edward Thomas)

Strange Days (1995, dir by Kathryn Bigelow, DP: Matthew F. Leonetti)

Scenes That I Love: Prohibition’s Funeral From Once Upon A Time In America

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Once Upon A Time In America (1984, dir by Sergio Leone, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)

Change comes with a new year. That’s just an inevitable fact of life. Sometimes, it’s good chance and sometimes, it’s bad change and sometimes, it’s change that is both good and bad. That’s certainly the case with today’s scene that I love.

In Serigo Leone’s 1984 masterpiece, Once Upon A Time In America, 1933 brings with it the end of prohibition. While the nation celebrates the right to once again legally drink, gangsters like the ones played by James Woods and Robert De Niro mourn the loss of their business and try to figure out a new way to pay their bills.

In this scene, Prohibition — that law that was hated by so many — is given a send-off by the people that it made very rich.