Tag Archives: movie

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Over The Top!

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 1987’s Over The Top! I picked it so you know it’ll be good.

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, find the movie on YouTube, Tubi, or Prime hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  The  watch party community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

See you soon!

Scenes I Love: Al Pacino and Diane Keaton in The Godfather

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s scene that I love comes from my favorite film of all time, 1972’s The Godfather. 

In this scene, Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) has moved on and is working as a teacher.  Suddenly, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) shows up.  He’s been back from Sicily for a year and he’s working with his father.  Michael promises her that the Corleone family is getting out of the rackets.  We, of course, know that is never going to happen.

4 Shots From 4 Films: My Favorite Movies Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s my birthday so today, here are four shots from my four favorite films!

4 Shots From My 4 Favorite Films

It Happened One Night (1934, dir by Frank Capra, DP: Joseph Walker)

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946, dir by Frank Capra, DP: Joseph Walker and Joseph Biroc)

The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)

Suspiria (1977, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Luciano Tovoli)

Scenes I Love: The Montage from The Parallax View

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 film The Parallax View, Warren Beatty plays a seedy journalist who goes undercover to investigate the links between the mysterious Parallax Corporation and a series of recent political assassinations.  In the film’s most famous sequence, Beatty — pretending to be a job applicant (read: potential assassin) for the Parallax Corporation — is shown an orientation film that has been designed to test whether or not he’s a suitable applicant. The montage is shown in its entirety, without once cutting away to show us Beatty’s reaction.  The implication, of course, is that what’s important isn’t how Beatty reacts to the montage but how the viewers sitting out in the audience react.

So, at the risk of furthering the conspiracy, here’s that montage.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Giallo 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.

I love giallo!

4 Shots From 4 Giallo Films

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970, dir by Dario Argento)

Hatchet For The Honeymoon (1970, dir by Mario Bava)

A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin (1971, dir by Lucio Fulci)

The House With Laughing Windows (1976, directed by Pupi Avati)

The House With Laughing Windows (1976, directed by Pupi Avati)

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Legend!

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?  1985’s Legend!

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

See you there!

Scenes That I Love: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In honor of Ethan Hawke’s birthday, here is the wonderfully romantic Ferris wheel scene from 1995’s Before Sunrise.  Director Richard Lnklater considered this scene to be an homage to The Third Man.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Madam Satan, Safe In Hell, Rasputin and the Empress, and Search For Beauty

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.

All of the scenes below come from films that were made and released between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the adoption of the infamous Hays Production Code in 1934.  This was truly an exciting time for film as an art form.  Not only were filmmakers intoxicated with discovering what they could accomplish through the medium but they were also unhindered by censorship or regulation.  The end result was some of the most visually imaginative and narratively daring films to ever be released by the major American studios.

There’s a reason why film lovers continue to eagerly seek out pre-code films.  And if you want to experience what made the pre-Code era so memorable, you could not do any worse than to start with the four films featured in this post.

Madam Satan (1930, dir by Cecil B. DeMille)

Madam Satan (1930, dir by Cecil B. DeMille)

Safe in Hell (1931)

Safe in Hell (1931, dir by William Wellman)

Rasputin and the Empress (1932, dir by Richard Boleslawski)

Rasputin and the Empress (1932, dir by Richard Boleslawski)

Search For Beauty (1934, dir by Erle C. Kenton)

Search For Beauty (1934, dir by Erle C. Kenton)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special New York 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 lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, the Shattered Lens takes a look at New York.  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 New York Films

Taxi Driver (1976, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michael Chapman)

The Warriors (1979, dir by Walter Hill, DP: Andrew Laszlo)

Escape From New York (1981, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cundey)

1990: Bronx Warriors (1982, dir by Enzo G. Castellari, DP: Sergio Salvati)

Scenes I Love: The Trial In National Lampoon’s Animal House

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I was feeling a bit under-the-weather last night.  Some of it was anxiety over the direction of the country.  Some of it was just the standard blues that I always feel after Halloween.  Horrorthon is such a big project that it always takes me a while to get back to normal once it ends.

Luckily, I’ve got movies to cheer me up.  Last night, I watched Happy Gilmore and I was going to share a scene from it today but it occurred to me that I’ve already shared both the fight with Bob Barker and Happy shouting, “You’re going to die, clown!” multiple times.  So, instead, I’m going to share another scene from a comedy that always makes me laugh.  This film was also a favorite of my father’s.

In 1978’s Animal House, Dean Wormer and the Student Court try to railroad the Delta House.  Needless, the Deltas aren’t going to stand for that.  When Hoover’s earnest defense fails to sway the Dean, the Deltas don’t hold back.  I love this movie and I love this scene.