Jennifer Lopez has had ENOUGH (2002)!

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Bradley Crain

This morning I got up to make coffee for me and my wife. When I came back to our room, she had started the movie ENOUGH (2002) with Jennifer Lopez on the new projector that she bought me for Christmas. I’m not that big of a fan of Lopez, but I decided I’d go ahead and sit down to sip on my coffee prior to starting my day. I ended up watching the whole movie!

Jennifer Lopez plays Slim, a waitress in a diner in L.A., who meets a rich guy named Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell) who impresses her when he gets rid of this rude jerk (Noah Wyle) trying to hit on her. Mitch and Slim get along famously, eventually getting married and having a cute little girl named Gracie. Everything seems perfect in their little world. Unfortunately, things aren’t what they seem, and one night Slim checks her husband’s pager. She calls the number and discovers Mitch has been cheating on her. When she confronts him about the affair, his entire countenance changes, and he begins beating the crap out of her. After the altercation, and before heading out to continue his affair, Mitch warns Slim not to leave because he refuses to live without her. With the help of her friend Ginny (Juliette Lewis) and a couple of others, Slim takes Gracie and they escape from Mitch. With all his money and connections, Mitch is able to track her down no matter where she goes. Feeling like she has no other options, Slim turns to her wealthy, estranged father, Jupiter (Fred Ward). He provides her the funds she needs to set up a new life and identity. Unfortunately, that damn Mitch tracks her down again. Narrowly escaping, Slim decides that she’s done running. She sends Gracie away with Ginny and begins training rigorously in self defense techniques. This time she’s taking the fight to Mitch with plans to end this shit once and for all.

If you’re looking for a realistic drama about the effects of spousal abuse on the family unit and then across the larger society, ENOUGH is not the movie for you. This movie is more for the Charles Bronson crowd, where the bad guys are truly evil and the audience is in complete agreement with their need to perish. This is a formula that continues to work even if you have to completely suspend your disbelief. For example:

-Is it realistic that Mitch would be able to conceal what a complete and total asshole he is for many years from Slim, but then one night turn out to practically be the sidekick of Satan?

-Is it realistic that Mitch would be able track Slim and Gracie down time and time again, no matter where she goes across the country, even after she uses her Dad’s resources to change her identity?

-Is it realistic that Slim would be able to get enough self defense training in a short period of time to be able to confront the extremely fit Mitch at the end and kick his ass?

While the setup is probably not the most realistic, we have to see images of Mitch beating up Slim on multiple occasions, even trying to kill her at one point. We also see him knock little Gracie to the ground and hurt her. We see him terrorizing her and anyone who tries to help her. This audience member just wanted to see Mitch pay.

I don’t really have any close connections to the main actors in ENOUGH, but they all do their jobs well enough to keep me involved. I have always been a fan of its director, Michael Apted. He’s made a few movies that I really like in CLASS ACTION (1991) with Gene Hackman, THUNDERHEART (1992) with Val Kilmer, and BLINK (1993) with Madeleine Stowe. He’s a more than competent director who knows how to get a reaction from his audience. This certainly may not reflect his best work, but he still handles the material in a professional manner.

My final word on ENOUGH… I enjoyed the film in the same way I like the 3 piece combo at KFC, which I really do enjoy. I know it’s probably not the best stuff out there, but the classic formula still works, and I’m satisfied when it’s all gone!

See the trailer for ENOUGH below:

Music Video of the Day: Studio 54 by TTSSFU (2024, dir by Seth Lloyd)

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day brings back some memories, though admittedly the clubs of Denton could not really match the legendary reputation of Studio 54. Still, the important thing is that everyone’s a legend to someone.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.7 “Just Friends”

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991! The series can be streamed on YouTube!

This week, Wheels breaks another heart.

Episode 1.7 “Just Friends”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on December 12th, 1989)

Heather Farrell has a crush on Wheels so Erica Farrell helps her throw a party so she can invite Wheels to their house and share a dance with him and maybe discover if he feels the same way about her that she does about him. Of course, Wheels doesn’t feel that way about Heather and is surprised when Snake informs him that Heather obviously has a crush on him. Still, that doesn’t stop Wheels from making out with Heather on her front porch while all of the party guests watch through the front window.

Heather has a boyfriend!

Well, no. Actually, Wheels tells Snake that he still doesn’t like Heather like that and that making out with her is just something that happened. He’s only interested in her as a friend. (AGCK! I mean, don’t get me wrong. This is actually a lot more realistic than what happens on most high school shows but poor Heather!) Wheels is supposed to call Heather when he gets home so that they can talk. Of course, Wheels doesn’t call Heather and he ends up with not one but both of the Farrell twins mad at him and giving him their trademark evil eye.

(Of course, as we all know, Wheels is eventually going to be sent for prison after he runs over a kid while driving drunk so, really, the Farrell twins kind of lucked out here.)

The main problem with any episode that centers around the Farrell twins is that it’s difficult to remember which is which and neither one of them is really that interesting of a character. I spent most of this episode trying to remember whether it was Erica or Heather who had the abortion. I’m pretty sure it was Erica, which explains why Erica freaked out when she saw Heather making out with Wheels. Erica doesn’t want the same thing that happened to her to happen to Heather. But, aside from that, the Farrells have always kind of been boring characters and their party looked kind of lame as well.

Lucy was invited to the party but, instead of going, she instead went to the hospital to visit with L.D., who had just been told that she had Leukemia. Good for Lucy! One of the best parts of Degrassi High has been watching Lucy go from being self-centered and kind of mean to being one of the show’s most genuinely nice characters. To the show’s credit, it’s shown her slowly becoming more emotionally mature as opposed to just having her change overnight. It’s another example of how Degrassi High was realistic in the way that most teen shows were not and still aren’t.

Finally, Kathleen, Melanie, and Diana went to a movie but they didn’t invite their friend Maya (Kyra Levy) because Maya is in a wheelchair. They didn’t think Maya would have been able to take the “streetcar” to the movie and the theater was not wheelchair accessible. The next day, an angry Maya tells them that she could have gotten a ride from her mom and that they could have gone to a different theater that was accessible. Maya angrily tells them not to assume that she can’t do things just because she’s in a wheelchair. Good for Maya! Myself, I’m just happy to see that Kathleen has apparently dumped the abusive Scott and is refusing to speak to him. Good for for Kathleen!

This episode was a good example of how Degrassi High dealt realistically with being a teenager. The Farrell twins are kind of boring but the L.D. and Maya subplots were well-handled. This was a good episode, even if both Joey and Caitlin were noticeably absent.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 2.3 “Black and Blue”

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC! It can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Pembleton gets a confession.

Episode 2.3 “Black and Blue”

(Dir by Chris Menaul, originally aired on January 20th, 1994)

In this week’s episode, Pembleton manipulates a man into confessing to a murder that he didn’t commit. Pembleton does it with the full knowledge that the man is innocent and that, if the man is indicted and goes to trial, he will undoubtedly be found guilty as a result of that coerced confession. Pembleton does it to prove a point to Giardello.

The man is Lane Staley (Isaiah Washington), who has been identified (by his grandmother, who was just trying to be helpful) as an eyewitness to the shooting of Charles Courtland Cox. Pembleton is convinced that Cox was shot by a policeman and he only wants to interrogate Staley as a witness. Giardello, who feels that Pembleton is to obsessed with his cop theory and who, as a proud member of the police force, does not want Pembleton to be right, insists that Pembleton treat Staley as a suspect. Pembleton responds by going into the Box and pretending to be sympathetic to Staley’s situation. He and Staley talk about how they’re both expected to always be polite and careful about what they say around white detectives. Pembleton jokes that he always has to be extra polite when he comes to work.

Staley starts to open up to Pembleton and eventually admits that he was present when Cox was shot. That’s when Pembleton starts shouting at Staley, accusing him of being responsible and basically browbeating Staley until Staley is in tears. Pembleton makes Staley feel guilty for not doing more to protect Cox and continues to yell at him until, eventually, Staley feels that Cox’s murder was his fault. Staley finally signs a confession, even though it’s obvious that the sobbing man is not a murderer. Pembleton hands Giardello the confession and reminds him that’s the way that the police have been getting confessions out of young black suspects for years.

It’s a powerful moment and one that took me totally by surprise. Andre Braugher and Yaphet Kotto both gave excellent performances in this episode. The dynamic between Pembleton and Giardello has always been one of the more interesting parts of the show. The fact that both of them are black and both of them are portrayed as being fully aware of the racism surrounding them brings an extra edge to their debate as to whether or not the black Cox was shot by a white policeman. (At one point, Giardello snaps at Pembleton to speak to him as respectfully as he speaks to the white lieutenants and it’s the exact type of moment that most shows would never have the courage or insight to portray.) Pembleton is a great detective because he’s laser-focused on getting a confession, to the exclusion of worrying about anything else. Giardello is a great lieutenant because he’s enough of a pragmatist to understand that some battles are not worth the price of victory. In the end, Giardello comes to realize that Pembleton is right about the shooting but one still has to wonder what would have happened in Giardello hadn’t torn up Staley’s confession. The murder of Cox would have disappeared from the headlines but the innocent Staley would have disappeared into the system.

The scenes with Pembleton and Staley were so electrifying that it made up for the fact that this is yet another episode that features Bolander feeling sorry for himself after his divorce. Fortunately, for Bolander, he meets and befriends a young waitress named Linda (Julianne Margulies) who mentions that she plays the violin. Bolander reveals that he plays the cello — WHAT!? Since when has Bolander, someone who has expressed no interest in art or creativity or even music during his entire time of the show, become a cello player? The episode ends with Bolander and Linda playing their instruments together and it’s a sweet scene but it’s still a bit hard to buy that apparently every woman in Baltimore is instantly attracted to a middle-aged, balding cop who spends all of his time talking about his divorce. Ned Beatty was one of the great character actors but it sometimes feels like Homicide wasn’t sure what to do with his character.

But, hey, maybe Bolander will finally stop being so whiny. That’s my hope. This episode found Munch breaking up with his girlfriend after he accidentally gave her a carnivorous fish that ate all of her other fish. At one point, Munch says that he can’t accept the idea of Bolander being happier than him. Seriously, Munch, don’t jinx this. I’ve been listening to Bolander complain nonstop for 15 episodes. If he’s happy now, let him have it!

Next week …. life on the street continues!

Made-For-Television Movie Review: Red Alert (dir by William Hale)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1977 made-for-television movie, Red Alert, opens with a man walking through a cemetery on a rainy day. As we watch Howard Ives (Jim Siedow) move amongst the tombstones, we hear his thoughts. He’s a sad and bitter man, wondering why he’s wasted so many years of his life at work. He thinks about someone close to him who has died. He’s obviously very troubled.

(Of course, any horror fans in the audience will immediately recognize Jim Siedow from his role as the Drayton Sawyer in the the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He was troubled in that film as well!)

Howard works at the local nuclear power plant. Ominously, when the film cuts to the plant, the first thing we see is a leak of very hot water. I don’t know much about nuclear power plants but I imagine any type of leak is not a good thing. The water leak causes the computer that runs the plant assuming that a nuclear disaster is minutes away from happening. The compound is automatically sealed off, trapping fourteen men (including Howard), inside the reactor. As Commander Stone (Ralph Waite) tries to keep a possible nuclear disaster from occurring, two investigators (played by William Devane and Michael Brandon) try to determined whether the accident was the result of a malfunction or of deliberate sabotage. When the local sheriff (M. Emmet Walsh) informs them that Howard Ives’s wife has committed suicide, the investigators look into the troubled man’s history. Eventually, the two investigators realize that the only way to prevent a nuclear disaster is by risking their lives by entering the sealed-off power plant. The two investigators attempt to do their work under the cover of night and without causing a panic. Needless to say, it doesn’t work. One of them calls his wife (Adrienne Barbeau) and tells her that she needs to leave the area. She tells her mother, who then tells her neighbor and soon the airport is crowded with people looking to get out of town.

Red Alert contrasts the intuitive approach of the two inspector with Commander Stone’s insistence that every bit of a data be fed to his computer before any decisions are made. Stone’s hands are so tied by protocol and red tape that he stands by while the fourteen men who are trapped in the nuclear power plant die. Wisely, though, the film doesn’t turn Stone into a cardboard villain. He’s very much aware of what will happen if the plant suffers a core meltdown. When one of his assistants mentions that he hasn’t been given any instructions on how to evacuate the town in case the plant does explode, Stone tells him that no plans have ever been drawn up because the plans would be useless. There would be no way to evacuate everyone in time.

In the end, Red Alert is scary not because it deals with nuclear power but because it presents us with a world where no one — not even Devane and Brandon’s heroic investigators — seems to know what to do. Everyone is slowed down by a combination of red tape and their own personal angst. Devane is a strong investigator because, as a widower whose only son died in Vietnam, he has no family to worry about. Unlike everyone else in Red Alert, he has nothing left to lose. In the end, the film suggests that the only way to save the world is to cut yourself off from it.

Red Alert is a compelling and intelligent thriller, one that is well-acted by the entire cast and which builds up to strong conclusion. The film’s anti-nuclear message is a bit heavy-handed but I imagine it was an accurate reflection of the fears that people were feeling at the time. Today, the film works best as a warning about bureaucracy and depending too much on AI to make important, life-or-death decisions. In the end, it’s human ingenuity that saves the day and that message is timeless.

Song of the Day: Goldfinger (performed by Shirley Bassey)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Goldfinger (1964, dir by Guy Hamilton)

It’s Shirley Eaton’s birthday!

Shirley Eaton has since retired but she had a busy acting and singing career in the 1960s. Her best-know role was playing the ill-fated Jill Masterson in the 1964 Bond film, Goldfinger. She was the one who ended up getting suffocated in gold paint after helping Bond expose Goldfinger as a card cheat.

It seems appropriate, therefore, that today’s song of the day should be that film’s title tune. Enjoy Goldfinger, performed by the great Shirley Bassey.

Goldfinger, he’s the man
The man with the midas touch
A spider’s touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don’t go in

Golden words he will pour in your ear
But his lies can’t disguise what you fear
For a golden girl knows when he’s kissed her
It’s the kiss of death from Mister Goldfinger
Pretty girl, beware of his heart of gold
This heart is cold

He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold
He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold

Songwriters: Tim Wheeler

Film Review: The Hole In The Wall (dir by Robert Florey)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Released in 1929, at the dawn of the sound era, The Hole In The Wall tells the story of The Fox (Edward G. Robinson) and two women known as Madame Mysteria.

The Fox is a con artist, a veteran criminal who takes care of the people working for him. He may not be an upstanding citizen but he seems to truly care about his sidekick Goofy (Donald Meek) and his partner-in-crime, Madame Mysteria (Nellie Savage). Madame Mysteria is a fake psychic. She sits in a chair and does readings while The Fox sends her a series of electric shocks in morse code to let her know what she should say about each victim of their con. They’ve got a pretty good thing going until Madame Mysteria is killed in a train accident.

(Since this film is from 1929, the train accident is recreated with a miniature train that falls off a track in what appears to be a plastic city. Basically, it looks like a primitive YouTube video made by an enthusiastic toy train hobbyist. It may not be convincing but there’s something charming about just how cheap it all is.)

Shortly after Mysteria is killed, Jean Oliver (Claudette Colbert) wanders into The Fox’s shop. Jean is looking for a job and for revenge. As she explains it, she used to have a good job in a department store until her manager accused her of stealing. Though Jean was innocent, she still spent some time in jail. Her life was ruined. Now, she wants to be the new Madame Mysteria and she wants to kidnap the daughter of the woman who accused her. She doesn’t want to get any ransom or anything like that. Instead, she wants to raise the little girl to become a criminal. Fox and Goofy agree, which leads me to wonder if the Fox is really as clever as he thinks he is. Is Jean really the only person they could find to be the new Madame Mysteria? Surely they could find a Madame Mysteria who doesn’t demand they commit a major felony just for her services. Still, kidnap the little girl they do and strangely enough, she never seems to be upset over being taken from her parents. (Even more strangely, we don’t actually see or learn the details of how she was kidnapped. She just suddenly shows up at the Fox’s home.) Goofy becomes a babysitter and Jean becomes Madame Mysteria.

By an amazing coincidence, the reporter (boring David Newell) who decides to write a story on the amazing psychic Made Mysteria just happens to be Jean’s ex-boyfriend! While the Fox falls in love with Jean and the police search for the abducted child, Jean herself starts talking to the dead….

In many ways, The Hole In The Wall is typical of the melodramas that came out during the early sound era. The majority of the supporting actors are still adjusting to acting with sound and the action often feels rather stagey. That said, it’s an entertaining film, largely due to the performance of Claudette Colbert and Edward G. Robinson, both of whom were just starting their careers and on the cusp of stardom. This was Robinson’s first role as a gangster and he snarls with style while Colbert actually keeps the audience guessing at her motivations. The Hole In The Wall is definitely a film from a different era but, for a film that was made nearly 100 years ago, it holds up remarkably well.

#SundayShorts – WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE (1986)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Since Sunday is a day of rest for a lot of people, I present #SundayShorts, a weekly mini review of a movie I’ve recently watched. Today’s movie is WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE from 1986.

Former CIA agent Nick Randall (Rutger Hauer) now works as a bounty hunter. After the authorities find out that Malak Al Rahim (Gene Simmons) is responsible for blowing up buildings in Los Angeles, Nick’s former employers request his assistance. With the help of his old friend Philmore (Robert Guillaume), Nick signs on to take Malak out and end his reign of terror!

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE is one of those movies I enjoyed watching back in the mid-80’s as a junior high teenager. Rutger Hauer makes for a badass bounty hunter and Gene Simmons makes for a mean villain. Robert Guillaume plays Hauer’s friend and primary law enforcement contact in the movie. He was just coming off his 158 episode run on the TV show BENSON (1979-1986). Although he was good in the film, I still remember being surprised when Benson kept saying the F-word. If you like 80’s action movies and Rutger Hauer, like I do, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE is still a fun watch.

Five Fast Facts:

Rutger Hauer plays Nick Randall, a descendant of Josh Randall, who was played by Steve McQueen on the WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE TV series that ran from 1958-1961.
Actor Ted White who portrays Pete, Charlie Higgins friend in the bar & the store robbery, also portrayed killer Jason Voorhees in FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (1984).
According to writer and director Gary Sherman, Mel Gibson was also considered for the part of Nick Randall since he was still largely unknown outside of Australia at the time. The producers settled on Rutger Hauer for the role because it would have cost twice as much to get Gibson for the role.
Gary Sherman also directed the 1982 film VICE SQUAD starring Season Hubley, Gary Swanson, and Wings Hauser. I loved Rutger Hauer and Wings Hauser in the 80’s. Wings’ son Cole plays Rip Wheeler on the YELLOWSTONE TV series.
Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS specialized in playing bad guys on screen in the 1980’s. Aside from WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, he was also a villain in RUNAWAY (1984) and NEVER TOO YOUNG TO DIE (1986).

I’ve included the trailer for WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE below.

Music Video of the Day: Look Up By Ringo Starr (2025, dir by Wyndham Garnett)

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day comes to use from Ringo Starr and …. hey, this is the first 2025 video that has been shared on the Shattered Lens! I’m happy to give that honor to the most likable member of the Beatles.

This song is from Ringo’s new country-and-western album. Despite being from the Southwest, I tend to prefer EDM to C&W but still, it’s a nice little song. I like the positivity of it. I honestly feel like my prediction that the 2020s would be a lot like the 1970s is finally starting to come true. People are tired of being depressed and stressed all the time.

Enjoy!

January Positivity: Mercy Streets (dir by Jon Gunn)

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2000’s Mercy Streets is a strange film.

Two twin brothers, John and Jeremiah, grew up in a series of terrible group homes. One night, John fell off a bridge and Jeremiah failed to rescue him from the water below. Jeremiah was convinced that John drowned. Wracked with guilt, Jeremiah turned his life around. He became an upstanding citizen and, as an adult, he’s an Episcopal deacon who is just a few weeks away from being ordained. His girlfriend (Cynthia Watros) loves him but can tell that he’s not always open with her about his past and his emotions.

What Jeremiah doesn’t know is that John did not drown. He survived and grew up to be a career criminal. Having spent the last few years in jail, he tracks down his mentor, Rome (Eric Roberts), as soon as he’s released. (That’s right! This is an Eric Roberts film!) Rome wants John to help him out with a scheme involving counterfeit money. John decides to grab the money and run. When Rome can’t catch John, he decides to abduct Jeremiah instead.

Meanwhile, John takes over Jeremiah’s life. Pretending to be his brother, John fixes Jeremiah’s relationship with his girlfriend and he even proves to be better at delivering sermons than Jeremiah, despite the fact that John is not religious at all. While Jeremiah gets a crash course in how to be a counterfeiter, John learns how to be an upstanding member of society.

Of course, it doesn’t last. Jeremiah eventually escapes from Rome and finds himself on the streets, where he struggles to not fall into the same criminal lifestyle that previously captured his brother. Fortunately, Jeremiah runs into a priest named Tom (Stacy Keach), who offers some good advice. Meanwhile, John learns about the importance of forgiveness and redemption and discovers that Jeremiah has spent his entire life mourning the brother who he thought was dead.

Mercy Streets is an odd mix of religion and action. On the one hand, the film features David A.R. White playing two brothers who feel like they could have walked out of one of his wholesome Pureflix movies. (White, while being a decent actor, is not exactly the most believable hardened criminal that I’ve ever seen.) On the other hand, you’ve got Eric Roberts teaching Jeremiah how to be a criminal and basically taking over the entire film whenever he’s onscreen. (The scene where Rome teaches Jeremiah how to pass fake money is surprisingly well-acted and directed.) The movie runs into the same problem that plagued many a DeMille production. The heroes may all be Godly but the sinners appear to be having more fun. That said, this film at least reminds us of what a good actor Eric Roberts can be when he’s got a decent role.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: