Today’s scene that I love comes from Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. In this scene, the very first nuclear bomb is detonated and history is changed forever. Nolan captures the mix of pride and outright horror as the most deadly weapon of all is tested for the very first time. In much the same way that some of us cannot resist the chance to stare directly at a solar eclipse, Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer cannot help but stare directly at what he has helped to create.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director James Nguyen! Today’s scene that I love comes from Nguyen’s masterpiece, 2010’s Birdemic: Shock and Terror!
Those who claim that Brian De Palma stole too much from Hitchcock obviously never met James Nguyen.
1963’s Cleopatra is a guilty pleasure of mine.
On the one hand, it’s a historically inaccurate portrayal of the events leading to the transformation of the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. The pace is often slow. Some of the performances are regretful. It’s a film that was first envisioned as being a cheap B-picture but ended up nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Of all of the movies released in 1963, it sold the most tickets and yet, because of the films huge production costs, it still lost money.
On the other hand, it’s a truly gigantic film, one that recreates the perhaps imagined splendor of the ancient world and which does it without the use of CGI. The film may not exactly embrace historical accuracy but it does embrace the melodrama. And, finally, you have scenes like the one below, in which it was obvious that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton couldn’t wait for the cameras to stop rolling so they could toss off the costumes and make some history of their own.
The writer Mary Shelley was born on this date in 1797. Shelley, of course, is best-known for writing Frankenstein, a book that some claim is the first science fiction novel. (That’s debatable but it was still a major literary achievement.)
In this scene from 1936’s Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester appears as Mary Shelley, continuing her story. (Of course, Lanchester also played the Bride herself.)
Today, the Shattered Lens observes what would have been the birthday of the great William Friedkin. As a director, William Friedkin revolutionized both the horror genre and the crime genre. The car chase from 1971’s The French Connection has been much imitated but rarely equaled.
A few years ago, I attended a showing of The French Connection at the Alamo Drafthouse. As exciting as this chase is, it’s even more amazing when viewed on a big screen.
Last night, I watched Thank God It’s Friday with the Tubi Thursday gang. (I also watched the eclipse!)
Thank God It’s Friday is admittedly not a great film but it does have a few fun moments. One of my favorites is Chick Vennera’s exuberant dance scene. Here he is, using a bunch of cars as his dance floor.
Today’s scene that I love comes from Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. Von Trier is always going to be controversial filmmaker but no one has ever matched his brilliance when it came to capturing the end of existence.
In Melancholia, a depressed woman (played in a revelatory performance by Kristen Dunst) finds unexpected strength in the end of the world. As can be seen in the scene below, it’s a beautifully sad film, one that ends on a note of triumphant apocalypse:
Yesterday, the great actor Tim Curry passed away at the age of 80.
Though Tim Curry will probably always be best-known for his role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, my favorite Tim Curry film is 1985’s Clue. Here he is, in all three of the film’s endings.
Today’s scene that I love features Sean Connery, born on this day 95 years ago. In this scene from 1964’s Goldfinger, Connery needs only one simple line — “I must be dreaming,” — to create an iconic moment.
Daniel Craig could never have pulled this off. Indeed, Craig probably would have found the whole thing beneath him. Only Sean Connery could have made this scene unforgettable and that’s why Sean Connery will continue to be the Bond to which all others should be compared.
Today is the birthday of actor Steve Guttenberg!
Here he is in 1984’s Police Academy, showing the type of impulsive behavior that would eventually lead to him becoming his city’s best cop.
Through the Shattered Lens 