Reckless: Destroy All Monsters by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips Now Available for Pre-order.

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The next graphic novel in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Reckless series. Destroy All Monsters, is now available for pre-order.

Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring us a new original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.

It’s 1988 and Ethan has been hired for his strangest case yet: finding the secrets of a Los Angeles real estate mogul. How hard could that be, right? Only what starts as a deep dive into the life of a stranger will soon take a deadly turn, and find Ethan risking everything that still matters to him.

Another smash hit from the award-winning creators of RECKLESS, PULP, MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES, CRIMINAL, and KILL OR BE KILLED — and a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans!

I can’t wait to get my mitts on it.

“Army of Thieves” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Here are the poster and trailer to Army of Thieves.  I look at the poster as more of a teaser.  The tagline More Safes Less Zombies is cute.  The trailer is pretty good and makes me want to see more.

I’m a huge fan of Army of the Dead and look forward to the animated prequel more than this movie, but I do want to see Army of Thieves.  It is interesting that Army of the Dead was a horror/zombie film while Army of Thieves is a heist movie.  Has there ever been movie sequels/prequels in different genres that carried over one character to both?

In this prequel to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, small-town bank teller Dieter gets drawn into the adventure of a lifetime when a mysterious woman recruits him to join a crew of Interpol’s most wanted criminals, attempting to heist a sequence of legendary, impossible-to-crack safes across Europe.

Top 10 Hitmen from Movies, Novels & Comics!

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I was reading a discussion between Andy Rausch and Michael Gonzales titled HOW TO WRITE A MEMORABLE HIT MAN: A CONVERSATION AMONG CONNOISSEURS.  If you’re a crime fiction fan, especially the sub genre of hitmen, then you’d enjoy the post by Michael Gonzales.

At the end of the article Gonzales listed his Top Ten Hitman List from popular culture.  It’s a good list, so I decided to come up with one of my own (listed in alphabetical order):

  1. Arthur Bishop played by Charles Bronson in The Mechanic
  2. Jackie Coogan played by Brad Pitt in Killing Them Softly
  3. John Rain written by Barry Eisler from his Hitman Series
  4. John Wick played by Keanu Reeves in the John Wick movies
  5. Keller written by Lawrence Block from his Hitman Series
  6. Leon played by Jean Reno in Leon aka The Professional
  7. Luca Torelli from the Torpedo Graphic Novels written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí and drawn by Jordi Bernet
  8. Michael Sullivan played by Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition based on the graphic novel written by Max Allan Collins and drawn by Richard Piers Rayner
  9. Robert Rath played by Sly Stallone in Assassins
  10. Vincent played by Tom Cruise in Collateral

M. Knight Shyamalan’s Films From Best to Worst!

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Chris Evangelista at /Film took a swing at ranking M. Knight Shyamalan’s Movies From Worst to Best.  Evangelista took into account all of M. Knight’s films including his newest (Old – which I haven’t seen) and his earliest work (that didn’t see wide release).  I decided to rank Evangelista’s top five to see how we’d compare.  I also included my thoughts on some of M. Knight Shyamalan’s films that didn’t make the top five.

Evangelista

Zablo
5. Split 5. The Village: I liked The Village up until the twist. It just didn’t work for me.
4. Signs 4. Unbreakable: I enjoyed Unbreakable but not as much as most. I need to revisit it.
3. Unbreakable 3. Split: I thought Split was surprisingly good.
2. The Village 2. Signs: I really love Signs, great cast and fun story with scares along the way.
1. The Sixth Sense 1. The Sixth Sense: Absolutely loved it. Proud to say I figured out the twist early on.
  • Lady in the Water: I’ve seen this once and remember liking it better than most folks.
  • Old:  I haven’t seen this and am in no rush to.
  • The Happening:  I had really high hopes for The Happening.  The trailers were creepy and I was excited to get to a theater to experience it.  What a let down The Happening turned out to be. I do remember that the scariest part was the old lady.
  • The Visit: I am a fan of The Visit.  I thought it was pretty good.  The tension builds and builds. It had the M. Knight twist near the end that he is known for.  I’d have included in this in the top five.

J.J. Abrams’ “UFO” Documentary Series – The Poster and Trailer are Here! “Are You Ready?”

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J.J. Abrams’ UFO documentary series looks interesting.  If I had Showtime, I’d tune in.  Oh, and I like the movie’s tagline: Are You Ready?

UFO is a four-part docu-series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Glen Zipper exploring our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena to further their own agendas. Watch the premiere on Sunday, August 8 at 9/8c on SHOWTIME.

 

 

“Way of the Gun” – Any fans of this film? I am!

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This alt movie poster for Way of the Gun by Derek Zimmerman got me thinking about the movie.  I’m a big fan of it, yet Way of the Gun isn’t a movie you often hear discussed.  That’s a shame.

Way of the Gun was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie lately best known for writing and directing the Mission Impossible mega-hits.  When Way of the Gun came out McQuarrie was best known as the writer of The Usual Suspects and that was enough to get me in the theater.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Way of the Gun also contains a amazing cast: Ryan Phillippe, Benico Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt, Geoffrey Lewis, Scott Wilson, James Caan and Sarah Silverman.  

Here’s the synopsis:

Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.

I think perhaps the opening turned off some folks and they didn’t finish the movie.  I’ve watched Way of the Gun more than a couple of times and enjoyed it more with each revisit.  Perhaps it’s time for another viewing.

Charles Bronson is “The Mechanic” in Nikos Bogris’ Poster!

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I really like this poster for Charles Bronson in The Mechanic.  The artist who created it is Nikos Bogris.  You can see more of his work here.  

The original movie poster had the tagline: “The call him the Mechanic.  He has 100 ways to kill… and they all work.”  Bogris left off the tagline, so his poster doesn’t really tell/show you that Bronson is a hit man.  For all we know he is a womanizing auto mechanic.  I still prefer Bogris’ poster to the original.  I hope you like it as well. 

“The Last Duel” directed by Ridley Scott; starring Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I know movie fans will like this one.  We have the poster and trailer for The Last Duel directed by Ridley Scott and starring Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Watch the new trailer for “The Last Duel” a tale of betrayal & vengeance set against the brutality of 14th century France directed by Ridley Scott and starring Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. In theaters October 15.

Al Jaffee Appreciates His Fans as Much as They Appreciate Him!

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Back in February I posted about something that Sam Vivano (former MAD magazine art director and friend of Al Jaffee) called The Jaffee Project.  Sam’s idea was to get friends and fans of Al Jaffee to send in birthday cards to celebrate Jaffee’s 100th birthday.  Al Jaffee was the artist who invented (and produced for decades) Mad Magazine‘s fold-in page as well as Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.  

I sent in a birthday card wishing Mr. Jaffee a happy 100th and thanking him for all of the smiles he brought to me and fans around the world with the art he produced art for Mad Magazine.  Little did I know Mr. Jaffee would present me with another smile.  I received the post card above yesterday.  What a cool gesture for Al Jaffee to respond to all of his fans.  I love it when someone you admire turns out to be worthy of the admiration.  

Sly Stallone’s Most Underrated Acting Scenes

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Tom at TV Over Mind came up with a list of Five Underrated Acting Scenes from Sylvester Stallone.  While the list or the presentation isn’t the best. (The used the photo above for heading <I added the text for my post> and it isn’t their number one choice.  Also some of the example that they picked were not the best choices for Sly most underrated acting scenes.  With that said, using just his top five, I’ll rank those same picks and then give you what I think are some much better choices.

Tom at TVOM

Craig

5. Talking to Adonis in Creed II during the fight

5. The final fight in Rocky V: Since this is more of a physical scene than an “acting” scene I rated it lower.

4. The final fight in Rocky V

4. The atrium scene in Oscar: Oscar is underrated. Sly’s performance is good but there are many scenes in other movies that should have made the grade.

3. The atrium scene in Oscar

3. Talking to Adonis in Creed II during the fight: Sly has better scenes in Creed II than this one.

2. PTSD scene in Rambo: First Blood

2. The Rocky Balboa speech: This is a good choice and it became so popular I can see why Tom listed it in his first spot.

1. The Rocky Balboa speech

1. PTSD scene in Rambo: First Blood: Sly gives a classic performance and shows that Rambo isn’t all blood and guts.

Other scenes that should have made the cut:

Rocky: So many to choose, but since I am going to limit it to one from each additional film, I’ll go with the scene where Rocky tells Adrian if he is just standing when the final bell sounds…

FIST: Again many to choose from, but this time I’ll go with the scene where Sly is talking to the men about the trucker that was hurt and although the company won’t take care of him., their union will.

Rocky III: The scene on the beach with Talia Shire where she asks Rocky what he’s afraid of and he answers…

Cop Land: So many great scenes… For me it is a toss up between Sly’s scene with Annabella Sciorra or his scene with DeNiro.

Get Carter: Sly’s rooftop scene with Rachel Leigh Cook is one of his best.

Rocky Balboa: Any scene where he is talking about Adrian.

Creed: The scene in the locker room when Rocky explains to Creed why he isn’t going to get treatment for his cancer.  One of Sly’s all-time best scenes.

“Alien” by Alex Ogle

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I really like everything about this Alien art by Alex Ogle.

First, it tells a story or at least makes you want to know what happened before and after what we see.  Second, Alex’s color choices are awesome.  They highlight the pen and ink work instead of drawing attention away from the foundation of the piece.

This art reminds me of a synthesis of Bernie Wrightson and Kyle Holtz, but is 100% Alex Ogle.  You can see more of Alex’s art at his Instagram page.