Tag Archives: Patrick Smith

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Halloween

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Halloween!

Well, October is our biggest month of the year at the Shattered Lens.  We spend 30 days waiting for Halloween and then when it arrives, it’s always a little hard to know how to react.  I watched several horror movies.  Val watched some movies about Arsene Lupin.  Leonard reviewed a few movies.  Case has got his super cool sick voice going.  Jeff watched a documentary on mummies.  Erin is watching the World Series.

Here’s a little of what Halloween was like here at the Shattered Lens:

https://twitter.com/ShootThePicture/status/1454883030804275205

https://twitter.com/ShootThePicture/status/1454893582888816649

That #704 means that Val has watched nearly a hundred more movies than I have this year  I’m running behind!  What have I been doing that’s been taking me away from my first love of movies?

Agck!

By this point, I was watching Psycho on TCM.

All in all, it’s been a good October here at the Shattered Lens.  So, from our family to yours, Happy Halloween and to all a good night!

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Oscar Sunday

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Patrick, I think, had the right idea. While Doc and Epoch slept and he read, Leonard, Jeff, and I watched a live tweeted this year’s Steven Soderbergh-produced Oscar ceremony. That it was an odd ceremony should not have come as a surprise, all things considered. Still, the three of us found ourselves shocked by not only the strange placement of the categories (i.e., putting Best Director in the middle of the show) but also by just the entire style of the entire ceremony. It was very Soderberghian, in that it was occasionally interesting but overall rather uneven. We were especially surprised when Best Picture was given out before the acting prizes but then we realized that they were obviously building up to the emotional moment when Chadwick Boseman would win his posthumous Oscar. Of course, for that to happen, Boseman would have to win Best Actor and …. well, here’s a few of our tweets from the very odd ceremony:

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets The Golden Globes

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It turns out that Patrick had the right idea.  Jeff, Leonard, Case, and I watched the Golden Globes tonight and it was seriously the most depressing awards show that I can remember.  The tables were largely empty and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s attempts at humor felt forced and awkward.  The constant bragging about the amount of money that the show was raising for charity felt like an attempt to deflect from all of the negative publicity that the HFPA has received over the past few weeks.  Nothing about the show felt right.

The winners accepted from home.  I enjoyed seeing Eugene Levy’s house.  It’s a very nice house.  But it still felt, to use that familiar term again, forced and awkward.  Even the surprise winners — and there were more than a few — could do little to alleviate the gloomy feel of the show.  At a time when we could use a little glamour, the Golden Globes were subdued and painful.  One can only imaging how painful the Oscars are going to be.

Here’s a few tweets from tonight:

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Super Bowl Sunday!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today was probably the most low-key Super Bowl Sunday is the history of the Shattered Lens.

The reasons for that are fairly obvious.  The Super Bowl is tradition.  It’s something that people look forward to as a sign of normalcy and continuity.  Some people care about the game.  Some people care about the commercials.  But the main thing is that the Super Bowl is always there and it’s always a big deal.  This year, though, was different.

For one thing, the commercials were different.  Usually, we struggle to keep up with all of the movie advertisements but this year, there were only four to share.  For another things, no one really had a team in the game.  Jeff was excited about Tom Brady winning another Super Bowl.  Leonard wanted anyone but Brady to win.  But it’s not like anyone here at the TSL is a huge fan of either Kansas City or Tampa Bay.

So, it was a subdued Super Bowl Sunday.  Everyone observed it in their own way:

In the end, the team that score the most points won so congratulations to them! Here’s hoping that next year’s Super Bowl’s commercials will be a little bit more memorable.

 

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets The First Day of 2021

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy 2021, everyone!  However you chose to welcome the new year, I hope you’ve managed to recover.

Today was the first day of the New Year and, for me, it was also a day to start a new list of films.  It’s something I and a lot of people do every year.  We keep a list of every film that we watch and, of course, the idea is to see as many possible.  In 2020, I watched 820 films at least once.  (Some films, like It’s A Wonderful Life, I watched several times but, for list purposes, I only counted the first time.)  This year, I’m hoping to watch at least 1,000.

I watched Thank God It’s Friday as a part of #FridayNightFlix, which is a weekly live tweet that I host.  Every Friday, at 10 pm et, we watch a movie.  So far, we’ve watched Starcrash, Ator, Split Image, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Robot Monster, and now Thank God It’s Friday.  If you’re reading this and you’re on twitter, consider yourself invited to next Friday’s film.

As always, the work here at the TSL Bunker is never done.

Still, for the most part, the first day of 2021 was a rather mellow and peaceful one and, after 2020, I don’t think anyone can complain about that.  One thing about almost everything being on hold right now is that it gives us a chance to reflect and think about both the past and the future.  For instance, I spent a good deal of today staring at my film collection and realizing that I need to spend this entire year watching every piece of physical media that I own, if just to make sure that they all still work.  So, you can consider that one of my resolutions for 2021.  I will sit down and watch all of the movies that I own.  And maybe I’ll even review them!

I wasn’t the only one making resolutions around here, of course.  Patrick also set himself up for a challenge:

That was pretty much it for today.  I watched some movies.  I listened to some music.  And I made some last-minute resolutions for the new year.  It was a quiet day but it was a good day.  I can’t complain about that.  Instead, we can all sing along:

Have a good year everyone.  Keep reading.  Keep listening to music.  And as always, keep watching, talking, debating, discussing, and making your opinions known!  Let’s make 2021 a year to be remembered!

 

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Christmas

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy holidays!

Today was Christmas and, as you can see, even the TSL cats got into it:

This year, Christmas was, for many of us, a bit more low-key than usual.  That’s understandable, of course.  For instance, I’m used to having a big family gathering for Christmas.  Usually, on this day, I would be catching up with aunts and uncles and cousins from all over the country.  The morning would be spent at one house and the afternoon at another and the evening and yet another.  That didn’t happen this year, for obvious reasons.  That said, my sisters and I were still able to keep a few our traditions alive.

For instance, I kept alive the tradition of waking up early and then wondering why everyone else was still asleep:

Every year, I make it a point to go for a drive on Christmas Day.  It may sound like a minor thing but it’s something that I always look forward to.

And finally, there were the most important traditions.  Like this one about watching certain movies over the course of the day.  I’m happy to say that I not only watched A Christmas Story this morning (before we even unwrapped presents, if you need an example of just how early I woke up compared to everyone else) but that it was also the 800th films that I’ve watched this year.

After A Christmas Story, it was time to rewatch It’s A Wonderful Life on E!  I also watched the 1983 Tom Cruise football film, All The Right Moves before joining my family in observing one of the greatest of all Christmas traditions:

Everyone celebrated Christmas in their own way.  Here’s a few thoughts from the TSL crew:

To be honest, that’s what I always thought Boxing Day was but apparently, it’s a shopping holiday.  That’s pretty nice since I was already planning on shopping tomorrow anyways.

Anyway, Happy Holidays, everyone!  I hope it was a good one without any fear.  Another year over and a new one just begun.

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Christmas Eve

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

It’s been a relatively quiet Christmas Eve down here at the TSL Offices.  We’ve wished each other a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

We’ve definitely devoted some time to trying to keep up with what’s going on with Santa and his trip around the world.

There was a brief moment of panic when it appeared that Santa may have disappeared.  I wondered if maybe he had been called away to once again conquer the Martians.

Fortunately, we eventually found him on a beach in Florida and sent the Ice Cream Bunny out to get things moving again.

Resolutions were made:

https://twitter.com/casewrites/status/1342142271551131648

Treats were considered:

Nostalgia was indulged:

And, in the end, we watched a lot of movies.  Myself, for instance, I watched Less Than Zero, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, and It’s A Wonderful Life today.  I’ve still got the first two Die Hards and A Christmas Story to look forward to.  That’ll be after midnight mass, of course.

And finally, as he does every year, Patrick helped bring this Christmas Eve to a perfect close by sharing the Night Before Christmas.

Here’s hoping that everyone has a good holiday tomorrow!  Thanks for reading and we look forward to ringing in the new year with you!

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Thanksgiving

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, another Thanksgiving is coming to an end.

Needless to say, with everything going on in the world, this Thanksgiving is a bit different than what I’m used to.

With all that in mind, though, the TSL crew had an active Thanksgiving.  Here’s a few highlights of our day:

So, another Thanksgiving comes to a close.  Usually, I do a big long list of what I’m thankful for each and very year but this year, I’m just thankful for all of you.  2020 has not gone the way that any of us planned it would.  I was certainly expecting the year to be a lot more festive and I think that the rest of this decade probably will be.  People have been locked away for too long.  I have a feeling that once the pandemic is under control, there’s going to be a lot of pent up energy being released.

So, this year, I’m thankful for our readers, our contributors, and just this site in general.  TSL has been around for ten years now.  We’re going to be around for the next ten as well.

So, let’s sit back and enjoy the ride, shall we?

Hooray for Santa Claus! (And Hooray for Milton DeLugg and the Little Eskimos!)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Did everyone have a good Christmas?  Did everyone get everything that they wanted?

If the answer’s yes, you have one man to thank for that!

Hooray for Santy Claus!

(You might recognize this song from one of our favorite holiday classics, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians!  Apparently, it was performed by Milton DeLugg and the Little Eskimos.)

(Be careful listening to this song.  As TSL contributor and Late Night Movie Gang founder Patrick Smith can tell you, once this song gets stuck in your head, it’ll never leave.)

Horror on the Lens: Feeders (dir by Jon McBride, John Polonia, and Mark Polonia)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For this morning’s horror on the lens, we have a low-budget alien invasion film from 1996.  The name of the film is Feeders and, much like Exorcist II: The Heretic, this is one of those films that simply has to be seen to be believed.

Patrick and I watched this with the Late Night Movie Gang back in July.  And we had a lot of fun with this film.  Feeders definitely rewards a snarky attitude.  Now, if you’re looking for a film with amazing special effects, great acting, and a good script, Feeders may not be for you.  But if you’re looking to enjoy watching a true WTF!? epic, so bad-its-watchable Feeders is for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRerIA37vg0