It would be hard to overstate how much I loved THE KARATE KID (1984) when I was growing up. The movie came out when I was 10 years old, and I think it would be fair to say that I wanted to be the karate kid. I was a scrawny little runt, and the whole storyline about getting the better of the big bullies appealed to me. Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita will always be special to me because of their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. It’s also fair to say that my very first movie crush was Elizabeth Shue. I thought she was so beautiful as “Ali with an I,” and I still do!
It was so easy to hate Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his band of bullies. The show, COBRA KAI, has finally helped me get over my anger at them. And then there’s Martin Kove as John Kreese, the head of that snake that was cobra kai. He is such an asshole in the movie! When I saw it was his birthday, I had an excuse to share one of my favorite scenes in cinema!
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!
103 years ago, on this date, Pier Paolo Pasolini was born in Italy. His controversial films and his mysterious death continue to inspire debate to this very day. Both the man and his works were full of intriguing contradictions. Pasolini was an atheist who made one of the best Biblical films ever made. He was a communist who made films that celebrated individual freedom and who had little use for the upper class liberals who made up much of the European counterculture of the 1960s. In the end, he was an artist unafraid to challenge all assumptions, whether they were found on the right or the left. His final film, Salo, was the most controversial of his career. It was also projected to be the first part of a trilogy, though those plans were ended by Pasolini’s murder.
It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Pier Paolo Pasolini Films
Accatone (1961, dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)
The Gospel According To St. Matthew (1964, dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)
The Hawks and The Sparrows (1966, dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini, DP: Mario Bernardo and Tonino Delli Colli)
Salo (1975, dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)
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.
Today, the Shattered Lens pays homage to the greatest of Mardi Gras cities, New Orleans!
4 Shots From 4 New Orleans-Set Films
Easy Rider (1969, dir by Dennis Hopper, DP: Laszlo Kovacs)
Zandalee (1990, dir by Sam Pillsbury, DP: Walt Lloyd)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008, dir by David Fincher, DP: Claudio Miranda)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Peter Zieitlinger)
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.
Today the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to one of our favorite people, George Miller! The doctor-turned-director began his cinematic career with 1979’s Mad Max and he’s gone on to become one of the most influential and important filmmakers out there. In honor of George Miller’s birthday, here are….
4 Shots From 4 George Miller Films
Mad Max (1979, dir by George Miller, DP: Dave Eggby)
The Road Warrior (1981, dir by George Miller, DP: Dean Semler)
Babe: Pig In The City (1998, dir by George Miller, DP: Andrew Lesnie)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, dir by George Miller, DP: John Seale)
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday March 3rd, we’re watching CARBON COPY starring George Segal, Susan Saint James, Jack Warden, Dick Martin, Paul Winfield, and “introducing” Denzel Washington.
CARBON COPY is the story about a rich, white corporate executive (George Segal) who finds out that he has an illegitimate black son (Denzel Washington). This creates a variety of issues for him at home, at work, and in his social circles.
Although CARBON COPY was chosen by Sierra, I’m looking forward to watching it for the first time for several reasons:
This is the theatrical film debut of one of the all-time great actors in Denzel Washington. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it will be interesting to see Denzel at the very beginning.
George Segal starred in a movie with Rod Steiger called NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1968). My dad used to always tell me about this movie. I bought it on DVD and added it to my collection simply because my dad loved it. I even took it to their house one year for our annual Christmas celebration so we could watch it together. That doesn’t have anything to do with CARBON COPY, but it’s always given me a reason to appreciate Segal.
George Segal reportedly turned down the lead role in the film ARTHUR (1981) in order to make CARBON COPY. I enjoyed ARTHUR when I watched it growing up. It will be interesting to see how the two films compare.
Director Michael Shultz also directed movies like COOLEY HIGH (1975), CAR WASH (1976), GREASED LIGHTNING (1977), WHICH WAY IS UP (1977), and BUSTIN’ LOOSE (1981) leading up to CARBON COPY. It will be interesting to see how he handles the material.
So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch CARBON COPY! It’s on Amazon Prime.
It was quite a night for Anora and Sean Baker! Sean Baker tied Walt Disney’s record by winning 4 Oscars in one night. After being dismissed as an als0-ran by many critics, Anora made a comeback and swept the Oscars. It was actually kind of fun to watch.
(As far as my predictions go, I hit 12 out of 23 correctly. That’s one of my worst showings ever but at least I managed to stay over 50%, albeit barely.)
It would be hard to overstate just how excited I was about the film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (2000). Having only discovered the work of Chow Yun-Fat a few years earlier, I had turned into a superfan and followed his every move. In the latter part of the 90’s, I dove into his entire filmography from Hong Kong. And that mostly meant buying movies online because there were not many options for purchasing his Hong Kong films, other than the classics THE KILLER (1989) and HARD-BOILED (1992), anywhere near my home in Arkansas. I soon discovered that Chow Yun-Fat was much more than just an action star as I would be watching serious dramas and crazy comedies along with his action fare. I’ll never forget my reaction when I first saw Chow play crazy comedy. It was the kitchen sink, cross-genre affair GOD OF GAMBLERS (1989), which starts with him playing the badass, unbeatable gambler of the title. He then falls down, hits his head and for a big part of the movie plays the simple minded goofball “Chocolate,” who will still gamble, but only for his favorite treats. Once I got used to such a jarring change within the same movie, I was able to appreciate just how good he is comedy. To this day, it’s one of my favorites.
While I was busy trying to watch every film I could get my hands on during that time, Chow Yun-Fat was making the move to American films. I was at the movie theater on opening night for THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (1998), THE CORRUPTOR (1999) and ANNA AND THE KING (1999). While I personally enjoyed each of these movies, Chow did not seem to be catching on with the American public with only ANNA AND THE KING breaking $100 Million worldwide. The other two would struggle to reach $20 Million.
And then I started reading about Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh working on a film with director Ang Lee in China called CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I had really enjoyed Lee’s film of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995), so I thought it might be interesting to see how he would handle a Chinese “wuxia” film. I would try to find as much information as I could, but I mainly just had to wait. As it premiered at Cannes and was being released around the world to enthusiastic reviews and big time box office, all I could do was read about it and bide my time. I then did something that I had never done before, and I have never done since. I found an e-mail address for Sony Pictures Classics and sent them an e-mail asking when CROUCHING TIGER was coming to Arkansas. To my great surprise, they responded that it would be in Little Rock on February 2nd, 2001. I could not be there on February 2nd, so I would have to wait until February 3rd to see the film, and I loved every second of it. And this time I wasn’t the only one as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON was lighting the box office on fire in America on its way to a record $128 million, which was unheard of for a foreign language film. The world had a fever, and it seemed the only prescription was crouching tigers and hidden dragons!!
Ten days after that beautiful night at the movies in Little Rock, the Oscars were announced, with CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. I was so excited. At that same time, I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly that put out on issue on February 23rd, 2001 with Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh on the cover. There were small pictures of people like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts around the edges, but Chow and Michelle were the centerpiece, and I was down for all of it! I watched the Oscar ceremony on March 25th, 2001 and saw my film take home 4 Oscars, those being Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score. It was almost surreal watching Chow Yun-Fat being shown over and over during the telecast, always with a big smile and a genuine excitement for their film’s triumph. All of that joy I had found in searching out Chow’s work, and reading about him, and showing up on opening nights for his new movies… it all seemed be culminating that amazing night at the Oscars. Those were some of the most exciting “movie times” of my life, and I would take up residence on cloud 9 for weeks/months afterwards.
After taking a break for a few years, I watched part of the Oscar telecast last year and really enjoyed the triumph of OPPENHEIMER. I’ll be back again tonight watching along with my wife and my friends at TSL. I have to admit I’m really looking forward to it.
8 Shots From 8 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, 8 Shots From 8 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
My list of my favorite Best Picture winners is a fluid one. There are a few — like All About Eve, It Happened One Night, the two Godfathers — that are always on the list. I love these four films with all my heart. Then there are films like No Country For Old Men that I think about and say, “Of course that’s going on the list!” There are other films that have snuck up on me. Until I was making out this list, I didn’t realize how much I truly did like Coda.
Anyway, here’s my top 8!
8 Shots From 8 Oscar-Winning Films
It Happened One Night (1934, dir by Frank Capra, DP: Joseph Walker)
Casablanca (1942, dir by Michael Curtiz, DP: Arthur Edeson)
All About Eve (1950, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Milton R. Krassner)
West Side Story (1961, dir by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, DP: Daniel L. Fapp)
The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)
The Godfather Part II (dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)
No Country For Old Men (2007, dir by Joel and Ethan Coen, DP: Roger Deakins)
CODA (2021, dir by Sian Heder, DP: Paula Huidobro)
Today is practically a holiday for me. As someone who loves movies and who also loves award shows, the Oscar Ceremony is an important annual event. I really don’t feel like the previous year is over until the Oscars have been handed out. For me, I won’t truly be able to move on from 2024 and really plunge into 2025 until the award for Best Picture is handed out.
This Oscar Sunday might be a little bit more lowkey than past Oscar Sundays but we’ll be here, the TSL crew, watching the show and rooting for our favorite films! We’ll be posting all the winners, maybe a few reviews, and I’ll be tossing out some Oscar thoughts throughout the day.
Remember that picture below? That was supposed to be the defining moment of the Oscars, an announcement that the Academy was still relevant and that Hollywood could compete with an increasingly online world. Today, it can easy to forget just how fawning the coverage was over the 2014 Oscar selfie. The picture is kind of a Rorschach test. Do you see Hollywood fun and glamour or do you see a bunch of smug celebrities? I’ve heard both answers. I’ve always liked Bradley Cooper’s smile and Jared Leto trying to get in the shot. What’s often forgotten is that poor Liza Minnelli was in the back of that crowd, trying to get in the picture but being not making it.
The Oscar selfie started out as a good thing but then it inspired other “celebs are just like us!” Oscar moments and boy, did those get old fast. Chris Rock making people buy Girl Scout cookies was okay. Jimmy Kimmel sending an army of celebs to interrupt a movie playing next door was Hollywood at its most self-important, walking into a movie that people had paid to see and loudly announcing themselves. (If that movie’s audience cared about the Oscars, they wouldn’t have been at a movie during the ceremony.) The infamous Stephen Soderbergh-produced Oscars were the worst, a COVID-era slog that couldn’t even pull off its grand emotional finale. Probably the most spontaneous and human moment on a recent Oscar telecast was Will Smith punching Chris Rock on live TV, cursing at the top of his lungs, and then rambling about God after winning his Oscar. Last year, Oppenheimer’s victory felt right and Robert Downey, Jr’s Oscar win felt like a moment that deserved a cheer. It was a return to the wonderful Oscars of old but now, this year, we’re back to largely obscure nominees and the front runner’s chances falling apart because of things she posted online. The big question tonight is not whether Emilia Perez will win (it won’t) but whether or not Karla Sofia Gascon’s tweets have taken down Zoe Saldana’s chances along with her own. The old Oscar selfie hits a bit differently after all that.
Of course, the most interesting thing about this selfie is that, for all the attention it received, it ended up being memory holed, largely because of Kevin Spacey managing to get in the frame. Ellen DeGeneres, as well, is no longer quite as beloved as she once was. This picture truly is an artifact of a different time. Myself, I like old movie so I’m always going to prefer Audrey Hepburn with her telegrams.
Through the Shattered Lens 