Author: Craig Zablo

Zombie Diaries 2 (2011) / Z-View

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Zombie Diaries 2 (2011)

Director: Michael G. Bartlett, Kevin Gates

Screenplay: Kevin Gates

Stars: Philip Brodie, Alix Wilton Regan and Rob Oldfield

The Pitch: “Zombie movies are profitable and we’ve already made one…let’s do another!”

Tagline: Humanity’s Last Stand!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A zombie outbreak is underway.  The movie is another in the “found film” genre.  A soldier documents the outbreak with a video camera.  People make stupid decisions and are killed.  Zombies are everywhere and you can follow along with the shaky camera, jump cuts and all.  Its like watching a bad home movie with zombies.  Not my cup of joe.

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To Have and Have Not (1944) directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Walter Brennan / Z-View

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To Have and Have Not (1944)

Director: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: Jules Furthman and William Faulkner based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan and Hoagy Carmichael.

Tagline: Humphrey Bogart…with his kind of woman in a powerful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s most daring man-woman story!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Harry Morgan [Bogart] is a US citizen living on the  island of Martinique in 1940.  World War II rages in Europe but is just starting to reach Martinique.  Morgan makes his living taking tourists on his fishing boat.  When a group of freedom fighters approach Morgan about sneaking one of their own to safety using his boat, Morgan turns them down.  It’s not his war and he won’t risk his boat or his neck.

Things change when Morgan meets Marie [Bacall], a young, tough, self-sufficient woman.  One thing leads to another and Morgan finds himself falling for Marie and pulled into alliance with the freedom fighters…

… an alliance that could get them all killed.

Thoughts…

To Have and Have Not was Lauren Bacall’s first film.  She was nervous during filming and discovered keeping her chin down and eyes up helped calm her.  It also gave her the sultry look she became famous for.

Lauren Bacall was just 19 years old during filming.  Humphrey Bogart was 44 and on his third marriage.  Bogie and Bacall fell in love.  He divorced his wife, and in 1945 were married.  The marriage lasted until Bogart’s death in 1955.  To Have and Have Not was the first of four films in which Bogie and Bacall co-starred.

Another hit for Bogart — one of his best. Walter Brennan is perfect as Bogart’s alcoholic friend.

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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) / Z-View

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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Director: Edward Zwick

Screenplay: Richard Wenk and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz based on the novel by Lee Child

Stars: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany and Robert Knepper.

The Pitch: “Let’s get Tom Cruise and make ‘Jack Reacher 2’!”

Tagline: Never give in, never give up, never go back.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Jack Reacher finds himself framed for the murder of a military officer and on the run with Major Turner, a tough women officer also framed for murder because she was investigating the murder of two soldiers in her command.  To complicate matters, they also have a teenage girl in tow who may or may not be Reacher’s child.

If you liked the first Jack Reacher movie, you should love this one.  It starts with a bang, has a great cast and well-written script.  There’s no real mystery to viewers who the bad guys are or how things will turn out, but the joy is the journey.

Cobie Smulders as Major Turner holds her own with Cruise in the action scenes and doesn’t come off as a damsel in distress.  It was also cool to see Holt McCallany and Robert Knepper in smaller but important roles.

I liked Jack Reacher a lot and enjoyed Jack Reacher: Never Go Back even more.

 

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Kyle Baker Career-Spanning Interview

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Steve Morris at Comics Alliance recently conducted a career-spanning that is worth a look.  Here are a couple of quotes from Baker for a taste…

“I think that it’s never wise to measure one’s worth by the opinions of strangers. I’m just trying to create the work I enjoy…

 

“When I work, I do the best job I can according to my skill level at the time. I’m always studying, and looking to learn how to write and draw better, and that’s what’s important to me…

 

“If I am listening to a street-corner trumpet player, and I enjoy it, why should it matter that he is not performing for thousands?…

Some suggestions of Kyle Baker‘s work that I highly recommend…

The Zombie Diaries (2006) / Z-View

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The Zombie Diaries (2006) 

Director:  Michael G. Bartlett and Kevin Gates

Screenplay: Michael G. Bartlett and Kevin Gates

Stars:  Scott Ainslie, Toby Bowman and Victoria Summer.

The Pitch: “Zombie movies are cheap, let’s make one!”

Tagline: Brace yourself… This time it’s for real.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Zombie Diaries is one of those “found movie” films.  The idea this time out is that we’re watching video that was recorded during the start of a zombie apocalypse.  It begins and ends with a documentary crew but there are three interconnected “stories” along the way.

I’m not a fan of “found films” because it usually means jumpy, headache inducing photography and poor editing (or no editing – just jump cuts from one “scene” to the next). The Zombie Diaries is no exception and in fact is an excellent example of why lost films don’t work (at least for me).

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The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) / Z-View

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The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954)

Director: Edward Bernds

Screenplay: Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds

Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Ellen Corby and John Dehner.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the Bowery Boys in with a mad scientist and an ape and a monster!”

Tagline: SCARIEST, SCREWIEST LAUGH RIOT IN MONSTER HISTORY!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Bowery Boys find themselves in another creepy, old house with a mad scientist looking to transplant human brains into a monster! Wha- what? Again?  You better believe it!

The boys end up in a creepy old house with, get this, a mad scientist, a gorilla, a robot, a vampiress, a monster and a flesh-eating plant.  The usual hi-jinks ensue but at a funnier level than to be expected.

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The Girl on the Train (2016) / Z-View

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The Girl on the Train (2016)

Director: Tate Taylor

Screenplay:  Erin Cressida Wilson based on the novel by Paula Hawkins

Stars: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney and Lisa Kudrowan.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie based on The Girl on the Train!”

Tagline: What you can see can hurt you.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

It’s rare for a movie to have as many unlikable characters as The Girl on the Train.  Get this, we have…

  • An alcoholic, out of work, ex-wife who rides a train daydreaming when she’s not showing up at her ex-husband’s house and scaring his wife.
  • An ex-husband who is cheating with every woman he can get his, uh, hands on.
  • A wife who gained her husband by cheating with him while he was still married.
  • A woman who is living with a man but is cheating on him with a married man.
  • An abusive man with a hair-trigger temper who is living with a woman.
  • A psychologist who is crossing the line with the sexual behavior of one of his clients.
  • Two detectives investigating a murder who seem to have no interest in solving it.

 There’s a murder.  Some red herrings are given.  What you see is not what you think you’re seeing.  The murder is solved.  One of those unlikable characters did it and gets his/her just reward.  The end.

Based on the best-selling book.

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Spook Busters (1946) / Z-View

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Spook Busters (1946)

Director: William Beaudine

Screenplay: Edmond Seward and Tim Ryan

Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Douglass Dumbrille and Bobby Jordan.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in with a mad scientist and an ape!”

Tagline: The Fun’s Getting FEAROCIOUS! MAD DOCTORS! HAUNTED HOUSES! GORILLAS!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Bowery Boys find themselves in another creepy, old house with a mad scientist who kidnaps Satch [Hall] to place his brain in a monster ape!  Wha- what?

The boys start a pest exterminating business and find themselves in a haunted house with a mad scientist looking to put Satch‘s brain in a gorilla.  Guess he wants to dumb-down the monkey.  The usual hi-jinks ensue when the Boys set out to rescue Satch.

It is almost as if the writers put the screenplays for Spooks Run Wild and Ghosts Run Wild in a blender.

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