4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Enzo G. Castellari Edition

Posted on July 29, 2022 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 whishes a happy 82nd birthday to the legendary Italian director, Enzo G. Castellari! Here are….

4 Shots From 4 Enzo G. Castellari Films

Keoma (1976, dir by Enzo G. Castellari, DP: Aaice Parolin)

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

Escape From The Bronx (1983, dir by Enzo G. Castellari, DP: Blasco Giurato)

Light Blast (1985, dir by Enzo G. Castellari, DP: Sergio D’Offizi)

6 Shots From 6 Films: Special Stanley Kubrick Edition

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this date, 94 years ago, Stanley Kubrick was born in New York City. The rest, as they say, is history.

In honor of one of the world’s greatest directors, here are….

6 Shots From 6 Stanley Kubrick Films

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick, DP: Gilbert Taylor)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Geoffrey Unsworth)

Barry Lyndon (1975, dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: John Alcott)

The Shining (1980, dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: John Alcott)

Full Metal Jacket (1987, dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Douglas Milsome)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999. dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Larry Smith)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Michele Soavi Edition

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 65th birthday to one of our favorite directors, Michele Soavi! In other words, it’s time for….

4 Shots from 4 Michele Soavi Films

Stage Fright (1987, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Renato Tafuri)

The Church (1989, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Renato Tafuri)

The Sect (1991, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Raffaele Mertes)

Dellamorte Dellamore (1994, dir by Michele Soavi, DP: Mauro Marchetti)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Sydney Pollack Edition

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

87 years ago today, Sydney Pollack was born in Indiana. Though Pollack got his start as an actor, he soon moved into directing and was one of the key television directors of the 1960s. He eventually branched out into film, making a name for himself as a director of intelligent and sensitive comedies and dramas. Though he only directed 21 films over the course of his career, his films received a total of 48 Oscar nominations and 11 wins. 1982’s Tootsie and 1985’s Out of Africa were both nominated for Best Picture. Out of Africa won.

Pollack also returned to acting in the 90s, making a name for himself as a skilled character actor. I’ll always remember him from Eyes Wide Shut, interrogating Tom Cruise while playing pool.

When he passed away in 2008, Pollack was remembered as one of the best directors of Hollywood’s second golden age.

In honor of Sydney Pollack, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Sydney Pollack Films

Jeremiah Johnson (1972, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Duke Callaghan)

The Yakuza (1974, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Duke Callaghan and Kozo Okazaki)

The Electric Horseman (1979, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: Owen Roizman)

The Firm (1993, dir by Sydney Pollack, DP: John Seale)

Lisa Marie’s Early Oscar Predictions for June

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s the time of the month again! It’s time for me to share my brave attempts to randomly guess at what will be nominated for the Oscars next year! I do this on a monthly basis. For the first six or seven months of the year, it’s a bit of a fool’s errand. Usually, it’s not until late September and October that the Oscar race really starts to become a bit clearer and, even then, there’s always a few surprises and late additions. So, in other words, take the predictions below with a grain of salt. Actually, take them with several grains of salt. A few of these films and performers will definitely be nominated. Several probably won’t but these are the best guesses that I can currently make based on the rumors and speculation that I’ve seen online.

Probably the biggest Oscar news this month was that Top Gun: Maverick is still dominating the box office. That’s good new for Maverick, both because it reminds the Academy of how much people love the film and it will also help to keep the movie fresh on everyone’s mind as the rest of the year unfolds. To those who say that Top Gun: Maverick isn’t a traditional Oscar movie, I would say that 1) they have a point and 2) the same could have been and was said about Mad Max: Fury Road, Get Out, Joker, Black Panther, Dune, and several other recent nominees that both did well at the box office and scored several Oscar nominations. It’s probably time for us to stop thinking about whether or not a movie is a “traditional” nominee because it’s been a while since that’s really been a deciding factor. The times are changing.

Anyway, below you’ll find my nominees for the month of June! If you want to see how my thinking has progressed, be sure to check out my predictions for February, March, April, and May! They’re good for a laugh if nothing else.

Finally, if I had to predict a winner for Best Picture, I would probably go with The Fabelmans. I think Steven Spielberg making a film about his childhood will be hard to resist and I think there are some people who feel that Spielberg didn’t quite get the amount of Oscar love that he deserved for West Side Story.

Best Picture

Babylon

Empire of Light

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

Killers of the Flower Moon

My Policeman

Rustin

She Said

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

Best Director

Damien Chazelle for Babylon

Joseph Kosinski for Top Gun: Maverick

Maria Schafer for She Said

Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon

Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans

Best Actor

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick

Colman Domingo in Rustin

Brendan Fraser in The Whale

Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto

Brad Pitt in Babylon

Best Actress

Naomi Ackie in I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Cate Blanchett in Tar

Ana de Armas in Blonde

Margot Robbie in Babylon

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actor

Paul Dano in The Fabelmans

Tom Hanks in Elvis

Anthony Hopkins in Armageddon Time

Tobey Maguire in Babylon

Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actress

Jessie Buckley in Women Talking

Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Sally Field in Spoiler Alert

Li Jun Li in Babylon

Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Marilyn Monroe Edition

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Marilyn Monroe would have been 96 years old today. Sixty years after her mysterious death, Marilyn Monroe continues to intrigue film lovers and conspiracy theorists alike. Her legacy is such that, ever since her death, directors have been trying to recreate her life with biopics and actresses have been trying to recapture Marilyn’s magic. The latest to try will be Andrew Dominick and Ana de Armas with Blonde later this year.

While I wish them luck, Marilyn Monroe was an original and not someone whose talent and charisma can be easily duplicated. Needless to say, it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Marilyn Monroe Films

All About Eve (1950, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Milton R. Krassner)

Niagara (1953, dir by Henry Hathaway, DP: Joseph MacDonald)

Some Like It Hot (1959, dir by Billy Wilder, DP: Charles Lang)

The Misfits (1961, dir by John Huston, DP: Russell Metty)

Lisa Marie’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions for May

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s that time of the month again!

It’s time for me to once again try to predict what will be nominated for the Oscars. If you had to told me, at this time last year, that Top Gun: Maverick would emerge as an Oscar contender, I would have said that you were crazy but here we are. Admittedly, it is early in the year and I think there’s always going to be some ambivalence towards honoring Tom Cruise. (You just know that someone is having nightmares about him thanking David Miscavige in his Oscar speech.) But with the reviews and the box office success that Top Gun: Maverick is getting, it would be a mistake to dismiss it. After all, Mad Max: Fury Road came out around this same time of year in 2015. As well, one can be sure that A24 will be giving Everything Everywhere All At Once a heavy awards push as well. This could very well be the year of the genre blockbuster as far as the Oscars are concerned.

As for Cannes, it’s come and gone. George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing got some good reviews, even if those reviews didn’t translate into awards at the end of the Festival. David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future sounds like it’s going to be too divisive for the Academy and really, the thought of Cronenberg winning an Oscar has always been a bit implausible, regardless of how much he may or may not deserve one. As for James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Gray has always been more popular with critics than with audiences or Academy voters. If Gray couldn’t break through with something like The Lost City of Z, I doubt he’s going to do so with an autobiographical film about his life in private school. Steven Spielberg already has the autobiography slot wrapped up with The Fabelmans.

Of course, there’s still many films left to see and many more film festivals to be held. Let us not forget that Martin Scorsese is bringing us Killers of the Flower Moon. Personally, I’m looking forward to Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. In short, nothing has been settled yet. For all the acclaim that Top Gun and Everything are getting, who knows how the race is going to look at the start of the Fall season?

Anyway, here are my predictions for May. Be sure to check out my predictions for February and March and April as well!

Best Picture

Amsterdam

Babylon

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

I Want To Dance With Somebody

Killers of the Flower Moon

Next Goal Wins

Rustin

She Said

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Director

Damien Chazelle for Babylon

Kasi Lemmons for I Want To Dance With Somebody

Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon

Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans

Taika Waititi for Next Goal Wins

Best Actor

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick

Colman Domingo in Rustin

Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing

Brendan Fraser in The Whale

Brad Pitt in Babylon

Best Actress

Naomi Ackie in I Want To Dance With Somebody

Cate Blanchett in Tar

Margot Robie in Babylon

Tilda Swinton in Three Thousand Years of Longing

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actor

John Boyega in The Woman King

Leonardo DiCaprio in Flowers of the Killer Moon

Tom Hanks in Elvis

David Lynch in The Fabelmans

Tobey Maguire in Babylon

Best Supporting Actress

Jessie Buckley in Women Talking

Tantoo Cardinal in Flowers of the Killer Moon

Li Jun Li in Babylon

Samantha Morton in She Said

Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans

6 Classic Trailers For May 31st, 2022

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Delta Force (1986, directed by Menahem Golan)

93 years ago, on this date, Menahem Golan was born in Israel. After serving in the Israeli Air Force, Golan would attend the Old Vic Theater School in London before returning to Israel and launching his legendary career in film. With his cousin, Yoram Globus, and using Roger Corman as both a mentor and a inspiration, Golan would go on to producer and direct some of the most successful films in Israeli history. Eventually, Golan and Globus would purchase Cannon Films and would be responsible for some of the greatest (in a fashion) films of the 80s.

Though Golan was best-known as a producer, he never stopped directing. Today, on what would have been his birthday, Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse Trailers presents 6 trailers for 6 Golan films!

Lepke (1975)

After finding great success in Israel, Golan first attempted to break into the American market with this biopic about the head of the Mafia’s Murder, Inc., Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. Though the budget was low, Golan managed to get a name — in this case, Tony Curtis — to play the lead role. As you can tell, the trailer wanted to make sure that you knew that this film was about Lepke.

2. Enter the Ninja (1981)

This was, I think, the first film that Golan directed after buying Cannon Films. How great is Enter the Ninja? It stars Franco Nero as a ninja! Seriously, you don’t get much greater than that. Anyway, as I think I’ve stared on this site before, Enter the Ninja is a lot of fun and Franco Nero was the sexiest ninja of the 80s.

3. The Delta Force (1986)

Chuck Norris was a Cannon mainstay and it seems appropriate that he starred in The Delta Force, a film that was very important to Golan. The Delta Force was essentially a remake of an 1977’s Operation Thunderbolt, an Israeli film that earned Golan his only Oscar nominations when it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. The Delta Force did not receive any Oscar nominations but it has a legion of fans. Our own Jedediah Leland has frequently described this film as being the greatest ever made. I don’t know if I’d go that far but still, it is always satisfying to see Chuck blow up the bad guys at the end of the movie.

4. Mack the Knife (1989)

Menahem Golan directs a musical! Unfortunately, this film has never received a proper DVD or Blu-ray release. Though it was a Cannon production, Golan and Globus had a falling out (one that was, at least partially, caused by Golan spending money on films like Mack The Knife) and Golan ended up distributing this film himself. I find the trailer to be intriguing. The film itself is on YouTube so I’ll watch it someday …. maybe.

5. Hit The Dutchman (1992)

Much like Lepke, this film is about a real-life gangster. In this case, the gangster was Dutch Schultz. Interestingly enough, the trailer suggest that Al Capone was active in New York whereas everyone knows that, though Capone did get his start in New York, he didn’t become a prominent gangster until he relocated to Chicago.

6. Crime and Punishment (2002)

Finally, this adaptation of the great novel was a bit of passion project for Golan. He filmed it in Russia in 1993 but, because of financial difficulties, it was not given a release until 2002.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Rainer Werner Fassbinder Edition

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 77th birthday of that amazingly prolific Rainer Warner Fassbinder, if not for the fact that Fassbinder, along with being amazing prolific, was also amazing self-destructive. Fassbinder was a director who loved to inspire controversy. Chances are that viewers will either love or hate a Fassbinder film. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.

In honor of a great contrarian, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Rainer Werner Fassbinder Films

World on a Wire (1973, dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, DP: Michael Ballhaus)

The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978, dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, DP: Michael Ballhaus)

The Third Generation (1979, dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, DP: Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

Lola (1981, dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, DP: Xaver Schwarzenegger)

Today would have been the 77th birthday

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Howard Hawks Edition

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

126 years ago, on this date, the great American filmmaker Howard Hawks was born in Indiana. Over a career that spanned several decades, Hawks proved himself to be a master of every genre. He made great crime films, great noirs, great comedies, and great westerns. His influence continues to be felt to this day. In honor of his legacy, it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Howard Hawks Films