Tag Archives: review

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/24/24 — 11/30/24

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Spending this Thanksgiving week with my sisters, I didn’t watch a lot of television.  I did watch and review episodes of Homicide, Degrassi High, Miami Vice, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, Baywatch Nights, The Love Boat, and Monsters.

And, earlier today, I watched episodes of CHiPs, Degrassi High, Baywatch Nights, Monsters, Malibu CA, Check It Out, and Friday the 13th: The Series and I wrote up reviews that will post over the course of the upcoming week.  It’s always nice to have a head start on all of that.

On Tuesday, Erin and I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Charlie Brown really was way too nice about Peppermint Patty inviting herself over to his house and then getting upset over being served popcorn.  Myself, I love the fact that Snoopy had a fully cooked turkey that he basically hid from everyone else until it was just him and Woodstock at the house.

On Wednesday, I watched the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen.  I was not surprised to see Lulu eliminated.  I hope Brandon wins this season.

I watched bits of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and also the four football games that were played on Thursday.  My cousins were really into the football games.  I said I thought it would be nice if everyone could win and I got booed and accused of being a commie.  As for the parade, it just made me wish that I was in New York to see it in person.  Maybe next year!

On Friday, I watched episodes of two old 90s shows — Rollergames and Happy Hour.  They were both enjoyably dumb.

And that’s it for this week!

WHITE LIGHTNING – #ArkansasMovies, my celebration of movies filmed in the Natural State!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I love watching movies that are filmed in my home state of Arkansas. There’s something cool about seeing places I’ve been before showing up on the big screen, and if I haven’t been there before, I can go visit. We’ve had our share of big stars show up in the Natural State. Burt Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton, Robert De Niro, Dennis Quaid, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, and Andy Griffith have all filmed really good movies here. Heck, Martin Scorsese directed one of his very first movies in southern Arkansas. It’s going to be fun revisiting some of my favorites and sharing them with you!

I’m kicking off #ArkansasMovies with WHITE LIGHTNING, the 1973 film from director Joseph Sargent that was filmed almost entirely within 30 minutes of my house in central Arkansas. Burt Reynolds is Gator McKlusky, a good ol’ boy who happens to find himself serving a stint in prison for “stealin’ cars, runnin’ cars, and runnin’ moonshine whiskey.” One day a cousin comes to visit him in prison and tells him that his younger brother Donny has been killed in Bogan County. Suspecting foul play, Gator first tries to escape. When that doesn’t work, he agrees to go stool pigeon and work with the federal authorities to infiltrate the world of illegal moonshining in Bogan County and provide them the names of the big money people in the area. This includes the crooked county Sheriff J.C. Connors (Ned Beatty), who Gator immediately zeroes in on as the key person responsible for his brother’s death.

In my opinion, WHITE LIGHTNING is one of the best of the good ‘ol boy, southern redneck films that were so popular in the 1970’s. One of the main reasons I like WHITE LIGHTNING so much is that while it does has some of the clowning that’s expected in these types of films, the tone gets deadly serious as McKlusky zeroes in on what happended to his brother. Reynolds is especially badass when he stops his signature laughing and goes into vengeance mode. And Ned Beatty is perfect casting as the small-town sheriff who is completely and irredeemably evil. The opening scene shows Beatty boating a couple of bound and gagged young men out into the middle of the lake, shooting a hole in the their boat, and then casually paddling away as the boat sinks. If you came up on him a little later, you’d think he was just heading in from a day of crappie fishing. For a guy that doesn’t look menacing at all on first glance, we know just how dangerous Sheriff J.C. Connors is. And so does Gator. We have a rooting interest in seeing Gator get his revenge.

The primary filming locations in WHITE LIGHTNING are practically in my backyard. My wife and I got married at the Saline County Courthouse in downtown Benton, which is featured very prominently in the film. It’s a beautiful courthouse, with a distinctive clock tower. They decorate it so beautifully for the Christmas season (see picture below). Burt also spends time at the “Benton Speedway” in the film.  This is actually the old I-30 Speedway that was in operation in Little Rock for 66 years. Sadly, the Speedway held its final race on October 1, 2022, which is almost 50 years after filming completed. The rest of the locations used were also in central Arkansas in the towns of North Little Rock, Keo, Scott, Wrightsville, and Tucker. FYI, I don’t recommend poking around Tucker if you’re into film tourism. Tucker is the primary prison unit for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. If you do head that way, just don’t pick up any hitchhikers!

All in all, WHITE LIGHTNING is a movie I whole-heartedly recommend, and it’s especially meaningful to me since it’s so close to home. Billy Bob Thornton would be back in this same area in 1996 to film SLING BLADE.

DRUNKEN MASTER – Jackie Chan gets soused!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

The first Hong Kong actor I ever heard of was Bruce Lee. After that, it was Jackie Chan. I remember in the mid-90’s when RUMBLE IN THE BRONX opened in America and became the number 1 movie at the box office on its opening weekend. Jackie Chan had been trying out for U.S. stardom since the early 80’s with BATTLE CREEK BRAWL, THE CANNONBALL RUN movies and THE PROTECTOR. Now, all of a sudden he was a hot property. Some of Chan’s older movies, like OPERATION CONDOR (1991), SUPERCOP (1992) and DRUNKEN MASTER II (1994) were being dusted off the shelves and re-released in America. The entire world was witnessing just what an amazing talent Jackie Chan truly was. 

But long before he became a star in America, Jackie Chan was already one of the biggest stars in Asia. In DRUNKEN MASTER from 1978, Chan plays the martial arts hero Wong Fei-hung. Although Wong Fei-hung was a Chinese martial artist, physician & folk hero in real life, in DRUNKEN MASTER he’s played as a mischievous & arrogant young man who thinks he knows way more than he actually does. He’s such a pain in the butt that his dad, Master Wong, sends for his Uncle So to train him. Uncle So has a reputation as a master teacher who has been known to physically cripple his students in order to teach them the discipline it takes to learn his drunken kung fu. One day, after constantly rebelling against his uncle’s teaching, Wong escapes and runs into the mysterious assassin, Thunderleg. Not realizing who he’s dealing with, the disrespectful young man gets his ass kicked and is thoroughly humiliated. It’s so bad that he goes back to his uncle’s house and submits to his teaching. He finally realizes just how much he has to learn. Wouldn’t you know it, it’s also about this time that Thunderleg is commissioned to kill Master Wong. It seems a greedy guy named Mr. Lee wants access to land under Master Wong’s control for the sole purpose of removing its natural resources without regard for how it affects the other people in the area. When Master Wong says no, he unknowingly signs his death sentence. Will young Wong Fei-hung be able to learn the secrets of drunken kung fu in time to save his dad from the man who had soundly defeated him a short time ago? You’ll just have to watch and find out! 

Jackie Chan is amazing as Wong Fei-hung. I’ve read about the rigorous training and harsh conditions that Chan himself endured in the Peking opera school that he attended as a child and teenager. The positive from that difficult situation is that he learned a brand of acrobatics and martial arts that helped make him an international movie star. As a 24 year old at the time of filming DRUNKEN MASTER, he’s in peak physical condition. As great as he is in his later American movies like RUSH HOUR and SHANGHAI NOON, his athleticism is off the charts here. When you combine Chan’s physical talents with the martial arts director Yuen Woo-ping, you can expect special results. The fight scenes are the primary draw here and they deliver. There’s a reason that filmmakers like the Wachowski’s, Ang Lee & Quentin Tarantino would ask Yuen Woo-ping to choreograph the martial arts in movies like THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, and the KILL BILL’s. 

DRUNKEN MASTER would be a huge financial success and its combination of action and comedy would be the blueprint for success throughout the rest of Jackie Chan’s career. It’s one of the best of its kind. 

Music Video of the Day: When The Earth Swallows Us by Sludge Mother (2024, dir by Jared Robinson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been a while since I shared any songs about the end of the world.  Will you be watching Inception when the Earth swallows us?  I’ll probably be watching It’s A Wonderful Life for one last time.

Enjoy!

Retro Television Reviews Will Return On December 2nd!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Thanksgiving!  Due to the holiday, Retro Television Reviews will be taking a few days off!  This feature will return on Monday, December 2nd, with Miami Vice and CHiPs!

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 2.24 “The Family Man”

Posted on 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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, the second season of Monsters reaches its conclusion!

Episode 2.24 “The Family Man”

(Dir by Michael Warren Powell, originally aired on June 3rd, 1990)

Neil (Calvin Armitage) is not happy.  The young son of Angie (Annie Corley), Neil is upset that she is dating a condescending psychologist named Warren (Michael O’Gorman).  Making things even worse is that Neil seems to be the only person who dislikes Warren.  Even Neil’s older sister, Terri (Kelli Rabke), thinks that Warren is a great guy and would be a wonderful stepfather.

Adding to Neil’s problems is his terrible eyesight.  He’s recently gotten new glasses, which he cannot stand.  He would rather wear the glasses that once belonged to his late father.  When Neil puts those old glasses on and looks at Warren, he is shocked to see that Warren is actually a lizard-like alien with sharp teeth.  It doesn’t take long for Warren to figure out that Neil has seen through his human disguise but, as Warren explains it, no one is going to believe Neil.  Instead, Warren is just going to drain the life forces of Angie, Neil, and Terri, killing them as he’s killed so many other humans.

At first, it looks like Warren is correct.  Angie refuses to listen to Neil and she also refuses to put on the glasses.  As for the glasses themselves, they are eventually shattered by Warren.  What can Neil possibly do!?  Luckily, the glasses were not the only thing that Neil’s father left behind….

The second season finale of Monsters owes a great deal to They Live, with the exception being that, instead of seeing how he’s being manipulated by the media, Neil uses his glasses to discovers that his potential stepfather is actually a murderous lizard person.  I think that anyone who has ever watched in horror as their divorced or widowed mother dated a new weirdo will be able to relate to this episode.  I remember, immediately after my parents got divorced, I tended to view almost every guy that my mom talked to as being a potential lizard person.  Eventually, of course, I came to accept that not all strangers were alien beings.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met an actual alien or an actual lizard person.  That’s good luck on my part, I suppose.

As for this episode, the lizard person makeup was effective and Michael O’Gorman certain gave a good performance as the manipulative Warren.  Probably the most disturbing thing about Warren was the he didn’t seem to be particularly worried about Neil discovering his true identity because he knew there was no way anyone was going to believe a word that Neil said.  That said, the episode really was a bit too much of a rip-off to be totally successful.  Still, if you’re going to rip someone off, you might as well rip off the best.

The second season of Monsters ends on an above average note.  The season itself was, overall, uneven.  There was some very good episode and, unfortunately, there were also some very bad ones.  I guess that’s to be expected with anthology shows.

Next week, we’ll begin the third and final season of Monsters!

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 5.7 “The Lady from Laramie/Vicki Swings/Phantom Bride”

Posted on 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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

The Love Boat promises something for everyone!

Episode 5.7 “The Lady from Laramie/Vicki Swings/Phantom Bride”

(Dir by Jack Arnold, originally aired on November 14th, 1981)

As I did with this week’s episodes of Miami Vice, CHiPs, and Fantasy Island, I’m going to save time by doing this one bullet point style.

  • Before getting to the storylines, I want to point out that this week’s episode was directed by Jack Arnold.  Jack Arnold may not be a household name but he directed some of this site’s favorite science fiction and monster movies, including Tarantula, The Incredible Shrinking Man, It Came From Outer Space, and The Creature From The Black Lagoon!
  • As always, this cruise presents us with three stories.  One of the three stories definitely does benefit from Arnold’s macabre touch.  Juliet Mills and Buddy Hackett play Kate and Julian Garfield, who are married psychic researchers.  The board the boat in search of a ghost.  Captain Stubing doesn’t believe in ghosts and good for him!  (Neither do I!)  However, Gopher is totally convinced and he’s soon wandering around the boat with a bunch of garlic hanging around his neck.  Gopher, they’re looking for ghosts, not vampires!
  • At one point, Gopher is convinced that he’s managed to take a picture of a ghost but it’s actually just Kate looking through a porthole.
  • I have to admit that I groaned a bit when I saw that Juliet Mills was going to, once again, be a passenger on The Love Boat.  But then I remembered that Hayley is the Mills sister that gets on my nerves.  Juliet and Buddy Hackett had a surprising amount of chemistry.  They were likable together.
  • It is kind of funny that there are certain guest stars — like Juliet Mills — who show up over and over again but who always play different characters.  I’m always waiting for someone on the boat to be like, “Hey, weren’t you here last week?”
  • The least interesting story featured Nancy Dussault as a plain-spoken (or maybe just annoying) widow from Wyomin’ who fell in love with an Italian gigolo (Cesare Danova) who was on the boat with a rich socialite (Marti Stevens).  Cesare Danova played the mob boss in Mean Streets and the mayor in Animal House.  He did not look happy at all to be on The Love Boat.
  • Poor Vicki!  In this episode, 14 year-old Vicki pretended to be 18 in an attempt to flirt with Todd Andrews (Patrick Labyroteaux), a teenager who was traveling by himself.  The Captain grew very worried about Vicki, especially after he heard Todd suggesting that he and Vicki had fooled around late into the night.  (Todd was lying and, oddly enough, everyone seemed to be strangely forgiving of Todd’s actions.)
  • At one point, The Captain tells Vicki that he wanted her to spend time with people her own age.  Vicki replies that she was the only fourteen year-old on the ship.  And, seriously, Vicki has a point.
  • Vicki living on the ship has always seemed kind of strange to me and I always appreciate the episodes that try to honestly deal with the situation.  How can you not have mixed feelings about spending your teen years on a boat, largely surrounded by people who are quite a bit older than you?  That said, Gavin MacLeod was always at his best when he was playing Stubing as a father and Jill Whelan was refreshingly non-cutesy in the role of Vicki.  As a result, you couldn’t help but feel that, ultimately, the Captain and his daughter were right where they belonged.
  • This was an okay cruise.  The ghost storyline was fun.  MacLeod and Whelan tugged at the heartstrings.  When it comes to good stories on The Love Boat, two out of three is not bad at all!

Next week — The Love Boat goes on a Thanksgiving cruise!  (If only I had started reviewing The Love Boat a week earlier than I did, the timing would have been perfect.)  ‘Til then, set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance….

Late Night Retro Television Review: Baywatch Nights 2.20 “Hot Winds”

Posted on 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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch Nights, a detective show that ran in Syndication from 1995 to 1997. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, the world goes mad!

Episode 2.20 “Hot Winds”

(Dir by Parker Stevenson, originally aired on May 3rd, 1997)

A hot wind is blowing down from the hills and into Los Angeles.

People are going crazy in the streets.  Strangers are attacking each other for no reason.  Riots are breaking out.  The world seems like it’s gone off its axis and no one knows how to react.  Is the heat driving everyone mad or is it something else?  Diamont Teague tells Mitch and Ryan that he suspects that something supernatural is happening.  Mitch, as usual, argues that people in Los Angeles have always been crazy.  Not like this! Diamont says.

Is Diamont correct?  As he, Mitch, and Ryan leave the office, they run into an aggravated man who proceeds to beat on a brick wall until his hands are covered in blood.  Mitch assumes that the man must be on drugs.  Diamont says that they need to drive out to the desert so that they can find the source of the wind.  Mitch is skeptical until he starts seeing a ghostly image of a robed man carrying a scythe.

It’s a long trip out to the desert, made even longer by the rioting and the madness all around.  Mitch stops long enough to keep a woman from throwing her baby over a ledge.  But, as soon as Mitch grabs away her baby, the woman jumps anyway.  It’s quite a fall and somehow, the woman survives.  Luckily, Mitch is there to render CPR while the crazed crowd watches.  The world may going mad but Mitch is still a lifeguard, dammit.

Driving through the desert, Ryan wonders why she, Mitch, and Diamont aren’t going crazy like everyone else.  It’s a good question.  Seriously, last week was a lot of fun because it gave us a chance to watch the Hoff got possessed by a demon.  It’s hard not to regret that he didn’t get a chance to go crazy in this episode.

In the desert, the robed man with the scythe dances.  The scythe apparently is what sends down the hot air.  If Mitch can get the scythe away from the man, the violence can stop.  Who is the man?  Apparently, he’s a devil worshipper.  Ryan suspects that there might be hundreds of similar people out there.  Maybe they’re the ones who are responsible for all the madness in the world!  Has Ryan already forgotten that, a few episodes ago, it was established that the Knights Templar secretly controlled the world?

This episode was actually not bad.  The scenes of people suddenly going mad were effective and the man in the desert was actually a pretty ominous image.  Even the show’s overreliance on Dutch angles felt effective for once, drawing the audience into a world that was permanently off-balance.  I enjoyed this episode and I’ll remember it the next time I see a stranger yelling on a street corner.