Music Video of the Day: Liquid Dreams by O-Town (2000, dir by ????)

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this music video, the clean-cut members of O-Town sing about having a collective wet dream about a dominatrix super model. The song is directed to the person who they wish was in their collective wet dream which …. yeah, that’s not creepy at all, guys. According to the lyrics, this person is a combination of Madonna, Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, Janet Jackson, Salma Hayek, and Jennifer Lopez. Apparently, in between performances, the members of O-Town spent all of their time masturbating on posters of their favorite celebs and then singing songs about it. O-Town was creepy af.

Of course, O-Town was a fairly creepy enterprise from the start. The band was put together by the notorious Lou Pearlman, who was responsible for a lot of boy bands. He was also apparently a crook who defrauded the musicians he managed and who later served time in prison for all sorts of financial crimes. He also just looked like a creepy fellow. I can say that because O-Town was actually a part of the first ever season of Making the Band. Though the show was technically about the band, most episodes centered on Pearlman gloating about how much money he was going to make off of O-Town. I don’t really remember a whole lot about the show, beyond Pearlman being scary. I do know there was one episode where the band’s choreographer threw a fit because the members of the band weren’t doing the steps correctly. O-Town apparently didn’t have that much say about their music or their image.

Liquid Dreams finds the members of the band making out with water people. Since the song is about a wet dream, I guess that means that …. well, never mind.

Enjoy!

Posters of love surrounding me
Lost in a world of fantasy
Every night she comes to me
And gives me all the love I need

Now this hot girl (hot)
She’s not your average girl
She’s a morphorotic dream from a magazine
And she’s so fine (dang), designed to blow your mind
She’s a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen (oh)

I dreamed about a girl who’s a mix of Destiny’s Child
Just a little touch of Madonna’s wild style
With Janet Jackson’s smile
Throw in a body like Jennifer’s
You’ve got the star of my liquid dream (my liquid dreams)

Angelina Jolie’s lips to kiss in the dark
Underneath Cindy C’s beauty mark
When it comes to the test well Tyra’s the best
And Salma Hayek brings the rest (oh-oh)

Now this hot girl (hot)
She’s not your average girl
She’s a morphorotic dream from a magazine
And she’s so fine (dang) designed to blow your mind
She’s a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen (oh)

I dreamed about a girl who’s a mix of Destiny’s Child (oh, Destiny’s Child)
Just a little touch of Madonna’s wild style
With Janet Jackson’s smile (Janet Jackson’s smile)
Throw in a body like Jennifer’s (oh, ooh)
You’ve got the star of my liquid dreams (my liquid dreams)
(My liquid dreams)

Seem everything she’s got the sweetest personality
(Like Halle B) Halle B
My mama thinks I’m lazy, my friends all think I’m crazy
But in my mind, girl I leave the world, oh
(World behind every night I dream)

Liquid dreams, my (she’s my) liquid dreams
She’s my liquid dreams
Waterfalls and streams, these liquid dreams
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)

I dreamed about a girl who’s a mix of Destiny’s Child (I dreamed, I dreamed)
Just a little touch of Madonna’s wild style
With Janet Jackson’s smile (Janet Jackson’s smile, ooh yeah)
Throw in a body like Jennifer’s (she’s my)
You’ve got the star of my liquid dream (my liquid dreams)
(My liquid dreams)

I dreamed about a girl who’s a mix of Destiny’s Child (be my liquid dreams)
Just a little touch Madonna’s wild style (be my liquid dreams)
With Janet Jackson’s smile (oh)
Throw in a body like Jennifer’s (Jennifer’s)
You’ve got the star of my liquid dreams
(You got it, you got it, you got my liquid dreams)

Novel Review: Scarface by Armitage Trail

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

First published in 1930, Scarface tells the story of Tony Guarino. Tony was an 18 year-old hoodlum, working his way through the Chicago rackets. Unfortunately, for Tony, he started to draw too much attention from the cops and his gangster boss told Tony to stop hanging around so much. Miffed, Tony decided to join the Army.

Tony served with a valor in World War I. He was natural leader and had no hesitation when it came to killing people. He was “a good soldier,” as the novel puts it. When he’s wounded in battle, he’s left with a facial scar that changes his appearance to the extent that even his own family doesn’t recognize him when he returns to Chicago. Of course, due to a clerical mistake, they also think that Tony’s dead. After killing his former mistress and her new lover, Tony somewhat randomly decides to change his name to Tony Camonte and take over the Chicago underworld.

He gets a job working for Johnny Love. Scarface Tony, as he is called now, works his way up. Soon, Tony is in charge of the Lovo mob and he even has a girlfriend, a former “gun girl” named Jane. Unfortunately, Tony also has a lot of enemies. Captain Flanagan may take Tony’s money but he still wants to put Tony behind bars. The DA may take Tony’s money but he still wants to put Tony behind bars. The cops way take Tony’s money but …. well, okay, you get the idea. Tony can’t trust anyone. Complicating things is that his older brother is moving his way up in the police force and his younger sister has been hanging out with Tony’s main gunman. And there’s a new gang boss in town. His nickname is Schemer. You know he has to be bad with a nickname like that!

I read Scarface yesterday. It’s only 181 pages long and it’s a quick read. It’s also not a particularly well-written book. The prose is often clunky. The dialogue is awkward. Tony really doesn’t have any motivation beyond the fact that he’s a jerk. We’re continually told that Tony has become one of the most powerful gangsters in the country but we don’t really see any evidence of it. One of the basic rules is that it’s better to show than to tell and this novel is all about telling instead of showing. What there is of a plot feels like it was made up on the spot. For instance, with the exception of an off-hand mention of her in the first chapter, the character of Tony’s sister doesn’t even figure into the story until it is nearly done and, yet, the story’s conclusion pretty much hinges on her existence. Though not as well-written, Scarface is still a bit like The Epic of Gilgamesh. Writer Armitage Trail just kept coming up with complications until he finally ran out of tablets and had no choice but to abruptly end things.

That said, the book is notable in that it served as the inspiration for Howard Hawks’s 1932 film, Scarface. The Hawks film, which only loosely follows the plot of Trail’s book and which wisely abandons some of the less credible plot points, would later be remade by Brian De Palma, with Al Pacino stepping into the role of Tony.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Film Review: Assault on VA-33 (dir by Christopher Ray)

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Adrian (Weston Cage Coppola) is an international criminal and terrorist, a man who isn’t going to let a little thing like being wanted by the FBI prevent him from getting what he wants. Adrian wants his brother to be freed from prison. He wants money. He wants a plane that he and his criminal associates can use to get out of the country. His plan is to take over a veteran’s hospital and hold the patients and the doctors hostage until he gets what he wants. Among the hostages is General Welch (Gerald Webb) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Also inside of VA-33 is Jason Hill (Sean Patrick Flannery). Jason is a decorated veteran who is struggling with PTSD and a bad leg. Jason’s wife, Jennifer (Gina Holden), is a doctor at the hospital and also one of the hostages. With his 14 year-old daughter waiting for him outside and the initially skeptical police chief Malone (Michael Jai White) providing as much support as he can, Jason must take out of the terrorists and liberate VA-33.

Assault on VA-33 is an entertaining action film. The film was directed by Christopher Ray, the son of Fred Olen Ray. From his father, Christopher Ray obviously picked up the ability to make an enjoyable film on a low budget. However, Ray also served, for seven years, in the U.S. Navy and there’s a deep respect for veterans that runs throughout Assault on VA-33, a respect that sets this film apart from many of the other Die Hard-inspired action films that have come out over the years. For me, the film’s key scene is not any of the many action sequences but instead it’s when Jason first attempts to call the police and finds himself being dismissed because the man on the other end, upon hearing that Jason is at the VA, just assumes that Jason is suffering from paranoid hallucinations. “Thank you for your service,” the voice at the other end of the line says somewhat condescendingly as Jason struggles to get the police to understand that this is all really happening. The consequences of war is a theme that runs through the entire film as both Jason and the General struggle to deal with the physical and mental scars with which they’ve been afflicted.

Sean Patrick Flannery is a good action hero, playing Jason not as being superhuman but instead as just being a tough but weary man who, due to his past injuries, doesn’t move quite as fast as he used to but who is still trying to do the right thing and protect innocent people, including his wife and his daughter. Adrian’s henchmen are all properly memorable and menacing. I especially liked Tim McKiernan as the terrorist who is left in charge of the front desk. Rob Van Dam has some good moments as the terrorist who has been assigned to wait outside in the van and who keeps reminding everyone that his name is Zero.

Assault on VA-33 is a fun and quickly paced action movie. Flannery is an effective hero and the villains are all properly evil. I would also suggest sticking around through the end credits, just so you can enjoy the film’s musical score, which is definitely a bit better than the music that we typically associate with indie action films. It’s an enjoyable movie and a good way to spend 88 minutes of your life.

Music Video of the Day: Cruisin’, covered by Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow (2000, dir by Bruce Paltrow)

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Does anyone remember that film Duets?

It came out in 2000 and it was a film about the cutthroat world of karaoke competitions. If you don’t remember it, that’s okay. It’s not like it’s some sort of lost classic or something. I saw it a few years ago and my main impression was that whoever made it was so fascinated by the world of karaoke that he never considered that not everyone else would be.

Anyway, when the movie came out, the main thing that everyone knew about it was that it featured a scene where Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis sang a song together. That song was a cover of Smokey Robinson’s Cruisin‘ and even though the movie was never a big hit, the song was on the radio all through 2000 and 2001. Some people thought it was weird that they were singing a somewhat romantic song when they were playing father and daughter. Well, maybe so. But let me tell you something about karaoke — you go with whatever song you can sing. My sisters and I used to sing karaoke all the time. We would embarrass the Hell out of my mom and we once had a DJ yell at us because one of us very dramatically dropped the microphone on the stage after we finished our song. (Yes, it was me.) Now, my sisters all have good singing voice. Me, I can barely carry a tune. I can dance but I can’t sing. However, I did discover that I could sing backup on Love Shack so every time my sisters and I hit karaoke night at Grandpa Tony’s, the first thing that we would do would be find some guy drunk enough to sing Love Shack while Erin and I provided backup. As long as I got to yell “Rusted!” after Erin said, “Tin roof!,” I was happy. Grandpa Tony’s, by the way, was a nice little restaurant that was near the airport. It was owned by an ex-boxer who always came out to flirt with mom. They had the best chips and queso and, every Friday night, there would be a lot of drunk pilots and flight attendants singing Love Shack along with us. Unfortunately, the place has since closed down.

Where as I? Oh yeah, today’s music video of the day is Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis covering Crusin. Enjoy!

Baby, let’s cruise away from here
Don’t be confused, the way is clear
And if you want it, you got it forever
This is not a one-night stand, baby, yeah
So, let the music take your mind
Ooh, just release and you will find

You gonna fly away, glad you’re goin’ my way
I love it when we’re cruisin’ together
The music is played for love, cruisin’ is made for love
I love it when we’re cruisin’ together

Baby, tonight belongs to us
Everything’s right, do what you must
And inch by inch we get closer and closer
To every little part of each other
Let the music take your mind
Just release and you will find, baby

You gonna fly away, glad you’re goin’ my way
I love it when we’re cruising together
The music is played for love, cruisin’ is made for love
I love it when we’re cruisin’ together

Cruise with me, baby
Cruise with me, baby

Cruise
Ooh, ooh, baby, yeah
Oh, baby
Oh, oh, ah, baby
So good to cruise with you, baby
So good to cruise with you, baby
Ooh, yeah, you and me, baby

Oh, baby, let’s cruise
Let’s flow, let’s glide
Ooh, let’s open up, and go inside
And if you want, it you got it forever
I can just stay there inside you
And love you, baby, oh…
Let the music take your mind
Just release and you will find, baby

You gonna fly away, glad you’re goin’ my way
I love it when we’re cruising together
The music is played for love, cruisin’ is made for love
I love it when we’re cruisin’ together

You gonna fly away, glad you’re goin’ my way
I love it when we’re cruising together
The music is played for love, cruisin’ is made for love
I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it…

Music Video of the Day: Atomic by Blondie (1999, dir by ????)

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Through the Shattered Lens has already shared the original video for Blondie’s Atomic, the one that was released in the late 70s and which featured the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in a small role. This second music video is for the live version of the song. It was filmed in 1999, while the band was performing at New York’s Town Hall. The entire show was filmed by VH-1.

What can I say? I just like this song. It’s a song that makes me want to dance. It’s also a song that makes me appreciate my hair. “Your hair is beautiful” is a simple lyric but it’s also one that perfectly captures a very certain feeling, that feeling that this night is going to be greatest night of all. Of course, the song itself is often interpreted as being about the end of the world. If the world was ending, wouldn’t you want your hair to be beautiful?

(For the record, Debbie Harry says that “Atomic” was simply a way of describing something as being powerful, that the lyrics were just some words that sounded good to her, and that there really isn’t any sort of deep meaning to the majority of the song. I would argue that the fact that Atomic is about nothing makes it about everything. I would also argue that it’s occasionally fun to make pseudo-profound pronouncements and see if anyone takes them seriously.)

Enjoy!

Uh huh make me tonight
Tonight make it right
Uh huh make me tonight
Tonight
Tonight
Oh uh huh make it magnificent
Tonight
Right
Oh your hair is beautiful
Oh tonight
Atomic
Tonight make it magnificent
Tonight
Make me tonight
Your hair is beautiful
Oh tonight
Atomic
Atomic
Oh

Music Video of the Day: John Carpenter by Wyre (2013, dir by Evan Wyre)

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is John Carpenter’s birthday, which is a bit of an unofficial holiday around these parts! So, I figured what better way to celebrate than by starting off the day with a video that pays homage to the master and which contains references to many of Carpenter’s classic films, including Christine and Halloween?

There is no better way! I mean, it’s about everyone’s favorite director and …. this is key …. you can dance to it!

Anyway, enjoy!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/9/22 — 1/15/22

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Another week and I have yet to watch the latest season of Cobra Kai. What can I tell you? This was a busy week and I was sick for a good deal of it. No, not COVID sick. Instead, I was just sick with the cold and the allergies that I get hit with every January. You would think that would lead to me having a lot of extra time in which I would have nothing to do but watch all the latest shows but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Anyway, I’m feeling better now and David Lynch’s birthday is next Thursday so this upcoming week is going to be a good one.

Here’s my week in television.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

LeClerc was nearly executed in the town square by Herr Flick. Apparently, it was because Flick is still searching for the stolen money. (To be honest, it can be a bit difficult to keep up with everyone’s motivations on Allo Allo.) Fortunately, the British bombers flew over the town just in time to provide a distraction. “The bummers!” Office Crabtree announced, in his mangled French, “Just in the nock of tome!” LeClerc escaped with his life but the British airmen are still stuck at Rene’s café.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

The Amazing Race went to Scotland this week, which made me feel very nostalgic for the last time that I was in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the end of this leg of the race, Phil announced that shooting was being suspended due to the COVID lockdowns. The action then picked up over a year later, with the remaining teams gathering in Switzerland to continue the race. Unfortunately, not all of the teams could return, including my favorite, the team of Anthony and Spencer. Boo hoo. Anyway, I reviewed this week’s episode here!

The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)

This Monday, I watched the Bachelor while also watching a Steven Seagal film. I’m still trying to decide which leading man had less charisma. Seagal is pretty boring but Clayton is just like a piece of cement that can speak in barely legible sentences.

Bar Rescue (Weekday Morning, Paramount)

I had this on the TV for background noise on Thursday morning. While Windows updated, I listened to Jon Taffer yell at an owner who forgot to call a cab for a drunk guy. Usually, I think Taffer needs to calm down but, in this case, he did have a point.

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

On Sunday, MeTV aired four episodes of The Brady Bunch and they all featured Alice being taken for granted. In the first two episodes, her boyfriend took her for granted. In the next two, the family took her for granted and even drove her to quit at one point. The new maid wasn’t as nice as Alice so the family went down to Alice’s new waitressing job and basically got her fired. What a bunch of jerks. Why did Alice put with all that? Was the money that good?

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the series finale here! For the record, I refuse to believe that Dexter’s dead.

Judge Steve Harvey (Monday and Tuesday Night, ABC)

I watched this new series on Monday. It came on after The Bachelor and I was too busy (or maybe lazy) to change the channel. I can’t really say I paid that much attention to it. Why would you air a cheesy courtroom show in Primetime? Why would you get Steve Harvey to be the judge? Why, why, why?

By the way, since Steve Harvey is now an ABC employee, you know he’s going to end up hosting the Oscars right? The Oscars are going to come back from commercial and Steve’s going to say, “If you ain’t thanking God in your speech, that Oscar’s not going to provide much comfort while you’re burning in Hell.”

King of the Hill (Weekdays, FXX)

I watched a few episodes of King of the Hill on Sunday afternoon. My favorite of them was the two-part episode where Hank was briefly a murder suspect and he feared that, due to accidentally taking one hit off a joint, he might be guilty. “My God, I’m hearing things. That’s a side effect of the marijuana poisoning.”

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

This is a 90s sitcom that aired on HBO, about a neurotic talk show host (Garry Shandling), his sleazy sidekick (Jeffrey Tambor), his profane producer (Rip Torn), and the show’s staff. Jeff loves this show so we watched two episodes on Sunday morning. The first one we watched featured Larry freaking out over David Duchovny having a crush on him. The second one featured Larry’s sidekick, Hank, freaking out because one of his sex tapes had been stolen. In short, there were a lot of people freaking out. Both episodes were pretty funny, though the whole thing was definitely a relic of a different era. (The highlight of the second episode was a bizarre conversation between Norm McDonald and Henry Winkler. Winkler thought Hank’s sex tape was an exercise video. McDonald said, “Hank’s got a huge cock,” in that Canadian way of his. Winkler replied, “Then why is he so upset?” Trust me, it was funny.) Rip Torn was hilarious as Larry’s producer. That said, I don’t think I would have wanted to spend any time with any of the characters on The Larry Sanders Show. They were all funny but kind of mean. They probably would have made me cry.

The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

MeTV paid tribute to Betty White on Sunday by showing a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, in which she was a passenger. Also on the Boat for that cruise: Carol Channing, Rue McClanahan, Michelle Phillips, Cesar Romero, Alan Thicke, Dick Van Patten, and Fred Willard.

Betty White and Carol Channing played showbiz veterans who were trying to convince Cesar Romero to publish White’s memoirs. Thicke played a man who was trying to convince his ex-wife (Phillips) to marry Fred Willard so he wouldn’t have to pay any more alimony. Meanwhile, in a totally serious subplot, Dick Van Patten played an abusive salesman married to McClanahan. The serious subplot was kind of jarring when mixed in with scenes of White and Channing singing and Fred Willard doing his amiable goof routine.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

MeTV showed four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, all featuring Betty White in the role of Sue Anne Nivens. Needless to say, they were all funny but it was hard to watch them without considering that the entire cast is now gone.

Mom (Weekday Afternoon, Paramount)

On Thursday, I forgot the change the channel before Paramount started their two-hour Mom bloc. All four of the episodes dealt with the moms and their friends freaking out over people smoking weed. The few time that I’ve seen Mom have made me happy that I don’t have an addictive personality because I don’t think I could handle being a Recovery person.

The Office (Weekday Evenings, Freeform)

I’m happy to say that The Office is now on FreeForm, so I can watch it without having to deal with Comedy Central’s weird, mental health commercials. (“The past two years have been difficult for everyone….” Yeah, no shit. That’s why I’m watching your station, so I can escape for a few hours.) I watched a few episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday and then a few from Season 5 on Friday.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

While Arkwright cheated his customers and sold them spoiled food, Granville swept the store in quiet misery.

Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules (Saturday Morning, E!)

The children of celebrities work at a ranch, that’s the plot of this show. On the episode I saw, Billy Bob Thornton’s son was fascinated by a cow giving birth. Then everyone went back to their cabin and talked about how difficult it was being only relatively famous.

Silk Stalkings (Tubi)

On Sunday morning, I decided to get back to binging Silk Stalkings, the 90s show about half-naked people committing crimes. The first episode that I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a hair dresser. At first, they thought it was mob-related but then it turned out to be relationship related. This was actually an episode that I had seen before but it was still enjoyable to rewatch. The second one I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a surgeon and again, this turned out to be one that I had seen before. (Both episodes previously aired on ZLiving while I was dealing with that terrible sinus infection last year.) Still, even if it was a rewatch, it was still enjoyable. Silk Stalkings was delightfully trashy.

The first episode that I watched on Monday was another one that I saw last summer, while I was dealing with that sinus infection. (Yuck. I hate word sinus and I hate the word infection.) A real estate tycoon was beaten to death by a baseball bat and all the suspicion fell on the baseball player that Rita happened to be dating. This was followed by an episode in which an obnoxious radio talk show host bullied people into committing murder and suicide. It was a well-done episode. Rodger Bumpass (who is perhaps best-known for voicing Squidward Tentacles on Spongebob) was perfectly cast as the evil talk show host. The third episode I watched involved Chris and Rita solving a homicide that was witnessed by a teenage runaway. Rita encouraged the runaway to get back in school. Good for Rita! Finally, the fourth episode featured Rita investigating the murder of a friend’s nanny. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but, from what I saw, everyone appeared to be having fun.

On Tuesday, I got things started with an episode that featured Chris and Rita investigating a murder at an exclusive casino. Chris got to wear a tux while Rita went undercover as a dealer. They were so cute together! This was followed by an episode with Rita and Chris investigated the death of a drug dealer, despite the fact that the new DA wanted them to lay off the case because it might make the department look bad. It was a bit of bland episode, to be honest. The third episode was considerably better, as it featured Chris shooting a suspect and then the suspect’s sister trying to get revenge by seducing him. It was trashy and fun. Even more trashy and fun was the final episode that I watched on Tuesday, in which a prostitute witnessed a murder and Chris and Rita ended up investigating a judge.

I didn’t watch the show on Wednesday but I did return to it on Thursday. The first episode I watched featured Chris, Rita, and their captain (played by Broadway legend Ben Vereen) going undercover to bust a bunch of drug dealer who were working out of a club. Vereen seemed to be having a lot of fun and that made this otherwise pedestrian episode entertaining. This was followed by an episode that found Chris and Rita going undercover yet again, this time on the set of a trashy film shoot. It turned out that one of the actresses on the film was Chris’s mother! It was a fun episode.

On Friday, the first episode that I watched featured the great Patrick Muldoon as a serial rapist who had just been released from prison. Chris and Rita made sure that he didn’t go back to prison by sending him to the graveyard instead. Muldoon, in his younger years, was always perfectly cast as a villain and this episode was effectively disturbing. Rita and Chris’s fury felt real and cathartic. At its best, Silk Stalkings was trash with a conscience. That was followed by an episode where Chris and Rita went undercover as a married couple and were totally adorable as they solved the murder of a man who was found on the beach wearing a tuxedo.

I did not watch the show on Saturday but I look forward to returning to it over the course of the upcoming week!

WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)

This 70s sitcom dealt with the daily life at a radio station in Cincinnati. Jeff loves this show so we watched a few episodes on Sunday morning. One dealt with a man in a pig costume painting the station’s lobby. Another one featured the station manager running unsuccessfully for city council. And the third one featured the station’s ad guy appearing on an early reality show called Real Families. WKRP was a pretty funny show. Like The Larry Sanders Show, it was very much a show of its time. Unlike The Larry Sanders Show, the show’s characters were really likable and I would have probably enjoyed working with them. No one would have made me cry.

Music Video of the Day: Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers (1969, dir by ????)

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hey, it’s the song where they keep yelling, “TIME!” over and over again.

That’s how I best know this song. It’s one that I’ve heard in a few movies and in a few commercials and I always assumed that it was just like three minutes and that “TIME!” was the chorus. Then, last year, I decided to track it down on YouTube and I discovered that it’s actually a 15 minute song and it takes them a while to get to the “TIME!” part.

The 60s were apparently a good time for extended jams about the nature of the universe but I can imagine legions of hippies yelling, “GET TO THE TIME PART!” whenever this song was performed. I also have to admit that, listen to this song, I found myself thinking about my friend Suzi who was determined to put on a production of Hair in Denton. Everyone she hit up for money asked her if her version was involve much nudity, as Denton was seen as being a fairly conservative town and there was also some question about whether or not community actors would be willing to get naked for free.

“It’s not about the nudity, man!” she would reply, “It’s not about the nudity.” I have to admit that, for a few years afterwards, I would randomly bust out that line for no particular reason. Any conversation can be made suddenly awkward by suddenly shouting either “It’s not about the nudity, man!” or “TIME!”

That all being said, it’s a good song so here’s an early music video that was shot for German television.

Enjoy!

Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can’t put it off another day
I don’t care what others say
They say we don’t listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

Oh
The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I’m thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time

Oh
Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time

Time
Yeah

Miniseries Review: Ford: The Man and The Machine (dir by Allan Eastman)

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Henry Ford changed the world, for both the better and the worst.

Starting from his own small workshop in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford designed the first mass-produced automobile. He transformed cars from being a luxury item to being something that nearly every family owned. He created the concept of the assembly line. He argued that workers needed to be paid a livable wage and he also advocated for an 8-hour workday. At a time when every facet of American life was heavily segregated, he encouraged his factories an auto dealerships to hire black employees. He was a pacifist, who took part in a widely-ridiculed but apparently sincere effort to try to convince the leaders of the world to just stop fighting.

Unfortunately, Henry Ford was also something of an unhinged lunatic, a man whose skill at engineering and his empathy for his underpaid workers did not necessarily translate into a sophisticated understanding of anything else. When the workers in his factories tried to unionize, Ford employed violent strike breakers and he felt that most of the population were like a children and therefore incapable of governing themselves. He understood how to make car but he also fell for all sorts of quack science and was a believer in reincarnation.

Worst of all, he was a rabid anti-Semite, who blamed almost all of the world’s problems on “Jewish bankers” and who played a huge role in popularizing a scurrilous work called The Protocols of Elder Zion in America. Claiming to lay out the details of a Jewish plot to secretly control the world, The Protocols were a ludicrous document but many people believed them because they were promoted by Henry Ford, who was as big a celebrity in the early 20th Century as all of the social media influencers are today. All these years later, The Protocols are still cited by anti-Semites. A series of anti-Semitic editorials (which Ford later claimed to have signed off on but not actually written) were published in Germany under the title The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem. Hitler wrote of his admiration for Ford in Mein Kampf. Ford, it should be noted, did keep his distance from Hitler, though whether that was due to a personal distaste or the threat of an economic boycott is not known. (Jewish leaders had already organized one successful boycott of Ford in the 20s, which led to Ford closing down his newspaper and offering up an apology.) At the Nuremberg Trials, many of the Nazis said that they had first been introduced to anti-Semitism through the writings of Henry Ford. Reportedly, when Ford saw newsreel footage of the concentration camps, he was so overcome with emotion that he collapsed from a stroke.

(Two years ago, when Nick Cannon regurgitated the usual anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on a podcast, he was pretty much saying the exact same thing that Henry Ford said at the start of the 20th Century. Later, under threat of economic boycott, both Ford and Cannon would off up half-hearted apologies for their statements. Ford continued to make cars. Cannon continues to host a handful of television shows. How does that work?)

First broadcast over two nights in 1987, Ford: The Man and the Machine was a Canadian miniseries about the long and controversial life of Henry Ford. Cliff Robertson played Henry Ford. Hope Lange played his wife while Heather Thomas played his mistress. R.H. Thomson played Ford’s son, the sensitive Edsel. Michael Ironside played Harry Bennett, a sinister figure who was hired to break up union activity and who eventually became Ford’s right-hand man. If I remember correctly, I believe Canadian law actually required that Michael Ironside appear in almost every Canadian film and television show made in the 80s and the 90s. His glowering presence and menacing line delivery practically shouted out, “Don’t mess with Canada,” and he does bring a note of genuine danger to his performance here.

Ford: The Man and the Machine opens in the late 20s, with an aging Henry Ford already starting to lose control of his mental faculties. A series of flashbacks then show how Ford built his first engine, his first car, and eventually his first factory. We watch as Ford goes from being an enthusiastic, self-taught engineer to being one of the most powerful men in the world. Along the way, Ford grows arrogant. The same stubbornness that led to his early success also leads to his later problems. For all of his ability, Ford’s ego and his refusal to reconsider his conclusions leaves him vulnerable to both flattery and manipulation, whether it’s coming from the White House of Woodrow Wilson, from his own executives, or from the authoritarians who rose to power in Europe following the first World War. As portrayed in the movie, he’s a loving father who also flies into a rage when Edsel designs a car on his own. He loves his wife but he keeps a mistress. He loves his family but he’ll always prefer to spend time working on his cars than spending time with them. Henry Ford changes the world but his own hubris makes it impossible for him to change with it.

The miniseries is built around Cliff Robertson’s performance as Ford and Robertson does an excellent job in the role, convincingly playing Ford as he goes from being an enthusiastic dreamer to a paranoid millionaire to a doddering old man, a Bidenesque figuredhead who is only nominally in charge of his own company. Neither the film nor Robertson shy away from showing us Henry Ford’s flaws. Instead, both the production and the actor offer up a portrait of a complex man who transformed the way that people lived but who couldn’t escape from his own prejudices and resentments. Ford: The Man and The Machine is a history lesson but it’s a valuable one. If you’re a student of history, you’ll find much to think about in this miniseires.

For the record, I do drive a Ford and it’s a good car. However, I tell myself that it’s named after Gerald Ford.

The Films of 2021: Dear Evan Hansen (dir by Stephen Chbosky)

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I finally watched Dear Evan Hansen.

Dear Evan Hansen is the film adaptation of the Tony-award winning Broadway musical of the same name. Recreating his stage role, Ben Platt plays Evan Hansen, a teenager who suffers from social anxiety and who is mistaken for having been the best friend of Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), a troubled classmate who committed suicide after stealing a letter that Evan had written to himself. (Somewhat awkwardly, it was also a letter in which Evan somewhat obliquely wrote about the crush that he had on a member of Connor’s family.) When the letter is subsequently found on Connor’s body, it’s assumed that it’s a suicide note that Connor meant for Evan. Evan, who is in love with Connor’s sister, Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever), allows everyone to believe that he and Connor were friends. Connor’s mother, Cynthia, (Amy Adams) and his stepfather (Danny Pino) adopt Evan as a sort of replacement for their dead son. Cynthia views Evan as being the only way that she’ll ever understand what Connor was going through and Evan continually reassures that Murphys that Connor really did love all of them and that he was trying to change his life for the better. With the Murphys now treating Evan as a member of their own family, Evan’s mother (Julianne Moore) feels that her son is now ashamed of her. And Evan’s classmate, Alana (Amandla Stenberg), launches a movement to raise money to preserve the apple orchard where Evan claims that he and Connor spent all of their time together.

As a musical, Dear Evan Hansen was very popular. As a film, it doesn’t work and it doesn’t work for all the reasons that everyone assumed that it wouldn’t work. Believe me, I wanted it work. From the minute that the trailer first dropped, the reaction to the film has been so overwhelmingly negative that I was really hoping that the film itself would turn out to be an overlooked gem. I was really hoping that this would be one of those underappreciated films that just needed a few brave champions. Instead, it turned out to be not terrible in the way that Cats was terrible but still too flawed to be considered a success.

First off, the plot itself doesn’t transition well from the stage to film. There’s too many holes and there’s too many places in the story where you find yourself wondering why you should care about Evan and his problems. Those plot holes may not have been as big of a problem when the story was presented on the stage because watching any story play out against an artificial backdrop requires a certain suspension of disbelief. But, on film, seeing Evan attending an actual school and walking down an actual street and visiting an actual house, you’re much more aware of how inauthentic the story feels. Evan’s actions rarely make sense and it’s difficult to accept that anyone, even Connor’s emotionally desperate parents, would believe the stories that Evan concocts about his friendship with Connor. On stage, you could perhaps accept that Zoe would buy that Evan and Connor were friends who confided in each other despite the fact that Evan doesn’t seem to know anything about Connor’s family or home life. On screen, especially when one considers the fierce intelligence that Kaitlyn Dever brings to the role of Zoe, it’s a bit more difficult to believe.

The other big problem with the film is Ben Platt is too old for the role of Evan. Platt first played the role in 2015, when he was 23. He won a Tony and certainly, he deserves a lot of credit for creating the role from the workshop phase all the way to Broadway. Now, however, he’s 28 and he looks considerably older. So much of what Evan does is acceptable only if you believe that he’s an immature 17 year-old who is desperately looking for a place and a family where he belongs. The same actions go from being poignant to being creepy when they’re done by someone who appears to be in his mid-30s. While Platt has a great singing voice and shines in the musical numbers, he’s a bit too mannered when he just has to recite dialogue. He’s still giving a stage performance, even though he’s now playing the role on film and everyone around him is giving a film performance. Platt’s talent is undeniable but he’s miscast here and casting him opposite performers who can actually still pass for teenagers doesn’t help the situation at all.

(When I watched the film, I thought that obvious age difference between Ben Platt and Kaitlyn Dever occasionally made the scenes between Evan and Zoe uncomfortable to watch. Then I did some research and discovered that Dever is only three years younger than Platt. It’s just that Dever still looks like a teen while Platt looks very much like an adult. And there’s no shame in looking your age. Someone just needs to cast Platt in an adult role.)

In Platt’s defense, the film doesn’t really make perfect use of any of the members of its talented cast. Amy Adams is such a good actress but the film casts her as a stereotypically flakey rich suburbanite who flitters from one trend to another. Julianne Moore and Amandla Stenberg are similarly wasted, playing characters who have potential but who are never quite given as much to do as they deserve. Of the cast, Kaitlyn Dever is the stand-out, even though Zoe is a bit of an inconsistent character. Initially, she seems like the one person willing to call out everyone on their BS and then, just as suddenly, she’s oddly forgiving of someone who essentially manipulated her emotions for his own benefit.

Not surprisingly, Dear Evan Hansen works best when people are singing. Ben Platt and Colton Ryan bring so much energy to Sincerely, Me that I briefly had hope that the film was turning itself around. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case but still, it’s a good production number. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn’t really live up to it.