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.
RIP, the great cinematography Robby Müller .
4 Shots From 4 Robby Müller Films
Paris, Texas (1984, dir by Wim Wenders)
Dead Man (1995, dir by Jim Jarmusch)
Breaking the Waves (1996, dir by Lars Von Trier)
24 Hour Party People (2002, dir by Michael Winterbottom)
Prom Night … everything is alright…
Since today is technically still Canada Day, I figured why not share one of the greatest dance scenes ever filmed? This scene is from the classic 1980 film, Prom Night, and it features Jamie Lee Curtis and Casey Stevens showing what they can do on the dance floor!
Well, actually, it shows Jamie Lee Curtis showing what she could do. According to David Grove’s Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queen, Casey Stevens claimed that he could dance but, when it came time to shoot the scene, he turned out to be rather awkward and the responsibility for selling the scene pretty much fell completely on Jamie Lee Curtis’s shoulders. As Prom Night co-star MaryBeth Rubens put it, it was impossible to imagine Casey and Jamie Lee ever being a couple in real life, despite the fact that they were during the making of this film.
Interestingly enough, Prom Night would later bring Jamie Lee Curtis her first acting nomination when she was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Foreign Actress. (Indeed, one of the interesting thing about the early history of the Genie Awards is just how many slasher films were nominated. Apparently, during the early 80s, the Canadian film industry was a bit less robust than it is today.) That said, Jamie Lee does give a really good performance in this film and dammit, she deserved the award!
(Or, at the very least, I assume she did. I’m not really sure to whom she lost and I’m too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia.)
(Okay, screw it. I felt guilty for being lazy so I decided to look it up. Jamie Lee Curtis lost to Susan Sarandon, who won for her performance in Atlantic City. Since Sarandon’s role was actually a supporting one to Burt Lancaster’s, I still say that Curtis should have won.)
The song’s great too.
So, enjoy this scene and just try not to dance!
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.
For a second time, Happy Canada Day!
Actually, Canada Day was yesterday but, because it fell on a Sunday, it’s not being officially observed in Canada until today. So, technically, it still is Canada Day and I can still honor Canada by offering up 4 shots from 4 films directed by one of the Canada’s greatest directors, David Cronenberg.
That’s right! It’s time for…
4 Shots From 4 Canadian David Cronenberg Films
Stereo (1969, dir by David Cronenberg)
Shivers (1975, dir by David Cronenberg)
Scanners (1981, dir by David Cronenberg)
Videodrome (1983, dir by David Cronenberg)
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.
Yesterday was the birthday of one of our greatest filmmakers, Paul Thomas Anderson! This edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films is dedicated to him and his brilliant career!
4 Shots From 4 Paul Thomas Anderson Films
Boogie Nights (1997, dir by Paul Thomas Anderson)
There Will Be Blood (2007, dir by Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Master (2012, dir by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Phantom Thread (2017, dir by Paul Thomas Anderson)
When this trailer started, I was excited because I was thinking it was going to turn into a horror movie.
Then I saw that it was from the director of Like Crazy and I was like, “Oh, never mind.” I would probably be more enthusiastic about this particular trailer if I hadn’t already recently seen about a hundred movies and television shows that all deal with the exact same premise.
I did enjoy Like Crazy, though.
When it comes to Shane Black’s The Predator, we’ve had a family friendly trailer and an action trailer. Today, we got a Red Band Trailer!
That’s right, it’s red band! That mean that it has cursing and blood and the middle finger and everything and it can only be shown before R-rated films. There’s nothing more dangerous than a Red Band Trailer!
So, here’s the Super Dangerous Red Band Trailer for The Predator, which will probably be really good because it was directed by Shane Black:
As the day draws to a close, I’m going to recommend one final film.
It’s not, by any means, a perfect film. In fact, it’s pretty damn imperfect. It’s a film that occasionally tries too hard to be profound. It’s based on a play and it never quite escapes its theatrical origins. What was undoubtedly exciting on the stage, drags a bit on the screen. It’s a fairly obscure film. I just happened to catch it on This TV a month ago and the main reason that I watched it was because of the cast.
But no matter! I still think you should watch this film if you get a chance.
The name of that film is Fool For Love.
First released in 1985 and based on a play by Sam Shepard, Fool For Love takes place over the course of one long night at a motel in the Southwest. Staying at the motel is May (Kim Basinger), who is hoping to escape from her past. Not eager to allow her to escape is her former lover, Eddie (Sam Shepard). An aging cowboy, Eddie shows up at the motel and tries to convince May to return with him to his ranch. As they argue, clues are dropped to the terrible secret that haunts their past. Martin (Randy Quaid), a buffoonish but well-meaning “gentleman caller,” shows up to take May on a date and finds himself sucked into the drama between her and Eddie.
Meanwhile, on the edge of every scene, there’s the Old Man (Harry Dean Stanton). The Old Man watches Eddie and May and offers up his own frequently sarcastic commentary. It becomes obvious that he not only knows about the secret in their past but that he’s determined that they not get together. Is the Old Man really there or is he just a figment of everyone’s imagination or is he something else all together?
As I said earlier, the film never quite escapes its theatrical origins. As well, while Shepard and Kim Basinger both give authentic and charismatic performance, they don’t quite have the right romantic chemistry to really convince us that Eddie would chase May all the way to that isolated motel. It’s hard not to feel that if May had been played by Shepard’s then-partner Jessica Lange or his Right Stuff co-star, Barbara Hershey, the film would have worked better.
And yet, even if it never comes together as a whole, Fool For Love is a film that should be seen just for its display of individual talent. Of the film’s five main creative forces, only Kim Basinger is still with us. Director Robert Altman died in 2006 while Sam Shepard and Harry Dean Stanton both passed away in 2017. While Randy Quaid is still alive, it’s doubtful he’ll ever again get the type of roles that earlier established him as one of America’s best character actors. Whenever I read another snarky article about Quaid hiding out in Vermont and ranting about the “star whackers,” I can’t help but sadly think about the perfect performances that Quaid used to regularly give in imperfect films like this one.
So, definitely track down Fool For Love. Watch it and pay a little tribute to all of the wonderful talent that we’ve lost over the last 10 or so years. Watch it for Robert Altman’s ability to turn kitsch into art. Watch it for the rugged individualism of Sam Shepard and the once-empathetic eccentricity of Randy Quaid. Watch it for Harry Dean Stanton, the legendary actor who, more than any other performer, seemed to epitomize the southwest and Americana.
Watch it and spare a little thought for all of them.
This trailer dropped last week but, somehow, I missed it until today.
Leave No Trace appears to be yet another film about an irresponsible and/or unconventional father raising his daughter in the woods. On the negative side, this is literally my least favorite genre of film. After sitting through both Captain Fantastic and The Glass Castle, I’ve pretty much reached my limit as far as screwed-up cinematic fathers are concerned.
On the plus side, however, is the fact that the father is played by Ben Foster and he seems like the type of actor who could actually do something interesting with the role. Also, the film is directed by Debra Granik, who did such a great job with Winter’s Bone.
So, perhaps against my better judgment, I will give this one a shot.
Here’s the trailer:
Somehow, I failed to share this trailer for The Night Eats The World when it was released earlier this week.
So, I’m sharing it now!
Now, this does look like it’s yet another zombie movie. I love zombies but I’m afraid the whole living dead genre is getting a bit over exposed. I mean, everyone is making zombie jokes now. Even insurance companies make jokes about zombie apocalypse insurance. Zombies were never supposed to go mainstream.
That said, this trailer is actually pretty effective. So, who knows? Maybe The Night Eats The World will live up to all of that potentially deadly hype.
We’ll see!
As a part of my continuing effort to get caught up with reviewing all of the movies that I’ve seen this year, here’s two courtroom dramas that I recently caught on This TV.
Suspect is a hilariously dumb movie. How dumb is it? Let me count the ways.
First off, Cher plays a highly successful if rather stressed public defender. And don’t get me wrong. It’s not that Cher is a bad actress or anything. She’s actually pretty good when she’s playing Cher. But, in this movie, she’s playing someone who managed to graduate from law school and pass the DC bar.
Secondly, Cher is assigned to defend a homeless man when he’s accused of murdering a clerk who works for the Justice Department. The homeless man is deaf and mute, which isn’t funny. What is funny is when he gets a shave and a shower and he’s magically revealed to be a rather handsome and fresh-faced Liam Neeson. Liam doesn’t give a bad performance in the role. In fact, he probably gives the best performance in the film. But still, it’s hard to escape the fact that he’s Liam Neeson and he basically looks like he just arrived for a weekend at Cannes.
Third, during the trial, one of the jurors (Dennis Quaid) decides to investigate the case on his own. Cher even helps him do it, which is the type of thing that would get a real-life attorney disbarred. However, I guess Cher thinks that it’s worth the risk. I guess that’s the power of Dennis Quaid’s smile.
Fourth, the prosecuting attorney is played by Joe Mantegna and he gives such a good performance that you find yourself hoping that he wins the case.
Fifth, while it’s true that real-life attorneys are rarely as slick or well-dressed as they are portrayed in the movies, one would think that Cher would at least take off her leather jacket before cross-examining a witness.
Sixth, it’s not a spoiler to tell you that the homeless man is innocent. We know he’s innocent from the minute that we see he’s Liam Neeson. Liam only kills who people deserve it. The real murderer is revealed at the end of the film and it turns out to be the last person you would suspect, mostly because we haven’t been given any reason to suspect him. The ending is less of a twist and more an extended middle finger to any viewer actually trying to solve the damn mystery.
I usually enjoy a good courtroom drama but bad courtroom dramas put me to sleep. Guess which one Suspect was.
The 12 Angry Men are back!
Well, no, not actually. This is a remake of the classic 1957 film and it was produced for Showtime. It’s updated in that not all of the jurors are white and bigoted Juror #10 (Mykelti Williamson) is now a member of the Nation of Islam. Otherwise, it’s the same script, with Juror #8 (Jack Lemmon) trying to convince the other jurors not to send a young man to Death Row while Juror #3 (George C. Scott) deals with his family issues.
I really wanted to like this production, as it had a strong cast and a strong director and it was a remake of one of my favorite films. Unfortunately, the remake just didn’t work for me. As good an actor as Jack Lemmon was, he just didn’t project the same moral authority as Henry Fonda did the original. If Fonda seemed to be the voice of truth and integrity, Lemmon just came across like an old man who had too much time on his hands. Without Fonda’s moral certitude, 12 Angry Men simply becomes a story about how 12 men acquitted a boy of murder because they assumed that a woman would be too vain to wear her glasses to court. The brilliance of the original is that it keeps you from dwelling on the fact that the accused was probably guilty. The remake, however, feels like almost an argument for abandoning the jury system.
Through the Shattered Lens 