Category: Celebs

“Osiris” (2025) directed by William Kaufman, starring Max Martini and Linda Hamilton / Z-View

Posted on by

Osiris (2025)

Director: William Kaufman

Screenplay: William Kaufman, Paul Reichelt

Stars: Max Martini, Linda Hamilton, Brianna Hildebrand, LaMonica Garrett, Michael Irby, Linds Edwards, Jaren Mitchell and Tyler Galpin.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

One night in the middle of an intense fire fight, a US Special Forces squad led by Sergeant Kelly, is suddenly transported away.  Kelly and his team awaken aboard an alien craft.  As they come to grips with what occurred, they see skinned corpses and strange weapons all around.

As the soldiers gather their weapons and scavange others, aliens attack.  The creatures are huge, armored, eyeless beings with sharp teeth, claws and energy weapons with shields.  Kelly leads his soldiers as they retreat.  Suddenly Ravi, a Russian soldier appears to direct the team to a safe location.

Ravi explains that she has survived by hiding throughout the ship.  The aliens collect humans for food… but she has a plan to kill them all as well as their ability to communicate with their home planet.  If they can live long enough to pull it off.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Osiri draws inspiration from Aliens, Predator and even Planet of the Apes.  Sadly, it falls far short of all of them. (And the Planet of the Apes nod, made me groan.)

Osiris (2025) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Johnny O’Clock” (1947) starring Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes and Lee J. Cobb / Z-View

Posted on by

Johnny O’Clock (1947)

Director: Robert Rossen

Screenplay: Robert Rossen; story by Milton Holmes

Stars: Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, Lee J. Cobb, Ellen Drew, Nina Foch, Thomas Gomez, John Kellogg, Phil Brown, Fred Aldrich and Jeff Chandler.

Tagline: Time Was Running Out For Johnny O’Clock … and so were his women!

The Plot…

Johnny O’Clock runs a casino for gangster Guido Marchettis.  Johnny is everything that Guido is not.  Johnny is well-liked, well-spoken and a favorite of everyone… especially Nelle, Guido’s wife.  She keeps her attraction to Johnny a secret from everyone but Johnny.

Johnny has no interest in Nelle.  That doesn’t stop Nelle from giving Johnny the gift of an expensive engraved watch.  It’s an even better version of one she gave Guido on his birthday.  Johnny doesn’t want the watch or Nelle’s attention.  He writes a note telling Nelle to stop.  Johnny gives the note and watch to the casino’s hat-check girl, Harriett to return to Nelle.

The next day Harriett is found dead from an apparent suicide.   Harriett’s sister, Nancy is notified of her sister’s death.  Nancy arrives wanting to know why her sister killed herself.  She meets Johnny and they learn that Harriett was murdered.  As Nancy and Johnny work to sort out who would want to kill Harriett, they begin to fall in love.

Police Inspector Koch gets the case.  He learns that Harriett was dating Chuck Blayden, a crooked cop interested in leaving the force and taking over Johnny’s role at the casino.  Inspector Koch finds Johnny’s note and the expensive watch.  This adds both Johnny and Guido to his list of suspects.  It also makes Guido believe that Johnny and his wife, Nelle were having an affair.

The person behind Harriett’s death decides Johnny is next… and Nancy too if she gets in the way.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Johnny O’Clock features Robert Rossen’s debut as a director.  Although in a TCM interview Nina Foch (who played Harriett) asserted that Rossen wasn’t the film’s actual director.  Foch never said who it was though.

Jeff Chandler, although uncredited, appears in his second feature film role.  Chandler credited Dick Powell for getting him the part.

I enjoyed Johnny O’Clock but most folks like it even more than I do.

Johnny O’Clock (1947) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Shattered” (1991) written & directed by Wolfgang Peterson, starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins and Greta Scacchi / Z-View

Posted on by

Shattered (1991)

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Screenplay: Wolfgang Petersen; based on THE PLASTIC NIGHTMARE by Richard Neeley

Stars: Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, Greta Scacchi, Joanne Whalley, Corbin Bernsen, Bert Rosario, Kellye Nakahara, Frank Cavestani and Theodore Bikel.

Tagline:  A love he can’t forget. A murder he can’t remember.

The Plot…

Dan Merrick wakes up in a hospital with no memory of how he got there.  His injuries were gruesome.  He barely lived.  His face required reconstructive plastic surgery.  The concussion left him with psychogenic amnesia.  But he lived.

Dan learns driving home late one night he and Judith, his wife, were involved in a terrible accident. The car went off the road and over a steep embankment.  Judith suffered minor injuries when she was thrown from the car.  Dan has no memory of the accident or anything from his past.  The doctors say it could slowly return… or not.

Judith is so loving and attentive to Dan as he recovers.  Dan learns he was a partner in an architectural firm.  Slowly flashes of memory come to Dan but they make no sense.  As Dan is going through things he comes across hidden photos.  They are of Judith.  With another man.  Judith was cheating on him!

As Dan’s memory slowly returns he begins to wonder about the accident. The same wreck that nearly killed him, left Judith with minor injuries.  If Judith and her lover were trying to kill him, Dan is sure that they will conspire to finish the job.

If only he could remember…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Shattered delivers as a Hitchcockian psychological erotic thriller.  It’s a fun neo-noir mystery filled with surprises and a fun twist ending.

Shattered reminds me of a film that would have been made in the 1940s, but instead is a product of 1990s film sensibilities.

I love it.

Shattered (1991) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“Caught Stealing” written by Charlie Huston, directed by Darren Aronofsky; starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio and Benito Martinez Ocasio / Z-View

Posted on by

Caught Stealing (2025)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Screenplay: Charlie Huston; based on CAUGHT STEALING by Charlie Huston

Stars: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Griffin Dunne, Shaun O’Hagan, Action Bronson, Matt Smith, Nikita Kukushkin, Yuri Kolokolnikov, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Oleg Prudius, Liev Schreiber, Benito Martinez Ocasio, Bad Bunny, Carol Kane and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Tagline: 2 Russians, 2 Jews and a Puerto Rican walk into a bar…

The Plot…

Henry “Hank” Thompson was a baseball phenom headed to the big leagues straight out of high school.  Then a tragic auto accident left a friend dead and Hank with a career-ending injury.  A career that never even had a chance to get started.

That was ten years ago. 1988.  Now Hank is a New York City bartender.  He drinks too much, lacks real ambition, and still loves The San Francisco Giants.  Oh, Hank also loves Yvonne.  She’s a positive influence and it looks like they may have a future.  Life is good.  Except for his nightmares about the car crash. What could have been and what was.

Still, with Yvonne, life is on the right track.

When Hank’s neighbor, Russ Miner has to leave for a few days to visit his hospitalized father, Hank is talked into taking care of Russ’ cat.  It isn’t long after, that two Russian mobsters show up.  They’re looking for Russ.  When Hank cannot give the thugs the answers they want, they beat Hank nearly to death.

Detective Elise Roman questions Hank. She thinks he’s withholding information.  He’s not.  Detective Roman informs Hank that the Russians are dangerous. (No kidding.)  Worse still, his neighbor Russ works for the infamous Drucker brothers.  The Drucker brothers are known killers, but never leave anyone alive willing to testify against them.  Detective Roman warns Hank that with the Russians and the Druckers after him, he won’t have long to live.  Neither will anyone close to him.  If the Russians don’t get them, the Druckers will.

Hank has no clue what everyone is looking for.  Hank understands if he doesn’t figure it out, he’s dead… and so are his family and friends.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Charlie Huston’s Henry “Hank” Thompson trilogy (CAUGHT STEALING / SIX BAD THINGS / A DANGEROUS MAN) earned the #1 spot in my favorite books of 2006.  They get my highest recommendation.  Although the movie makes changes from the novel, I still loved the adaptation.

Caught Stealing is exceptionally well cast.  It is my favorite Austin Butler film.  It would be cool to see the rest of the Hank Thompson trilogy adapted and Butler make the transformation to A DANGEROUS MAN.  Zoë Kravitz is perfect as Hank’s love interest.  Kudos also to Regina King, Griffin Dunne, Shaun O’Hagan, Liev Schreiber, Bad Bunny, Carol Kane and Vincent D’Onofrio.  They shine.

Caught Stealing has a couple of shocking twists.  It also has the right mix of suspense, humor and action.  I loved it.  Caught Stealing gets my highest recommendation.

Caught Stealing (2025) rates 5 of 5 stars.

Sly Stallone is the “Tulsa King” by Thomas Boatwright!

Posted on by

A couple of months ago I was going through the Zablo vault, and I came across a watercolor of Cobra by Thomas Boatwright that I’d never posted.

At that time I said that Boatwright used to regularly livestream art and for a few years was a guest at HeroesCon.  Getting art from Thomas Boatwright was always a joy.  Sadly, that was years ago.

Well, just this week Boatwright posted in his newsletter that he was taking a limited number of watercolor digital commissions.  I usually am not interested in digital art for my collection, but getting another from Thomas Boatwright was just too sweet to pass on.  I asked for his take on Sly as Dwight Manfredi from “Tulsa King” and Boatwright came through royally.

“Sean Combs: The Reckoning” (2025) / Z-View

Posted on by

Sean Combs: The Reckoning (2025)

Executive Producer: Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson

Director: Alexandria Stapleton

Cast: Sean Combs, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Janice Combs, Mark Curry, Kirk Burrowes, Aubrey O’Day, Suge Knight, Andre Harrell, Kalenna Harper, Al B. Sure!, Kim Porter, Cassie Ventura and Snoop Dogg.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Sean Combs: The Reckoning uses archival footage/interviews from the early 1990s to present day to cover the rise of Sean Combs from a college student intern to hip hop mogul to industry powerhouse able to put his name on a variety of products and make them best-sellers to a convicted felon doing several years in prison.

The four part documentary, through the use of archival news reports, court verdicts and interviews with accusers and those who claim to witnessed the events, details Sean Combs’ proven and or/alleged…

  • longterm sexual and emotional abuse of women
  • sexual assault and drugging of women… including rape, videotaping sexual assaults and playing the tapes for friends
  • sexual assault and harrasment of men
  • drugging men and women in order to take advantage of them
  • using intimidation and threats to regularly take advantage of business partners, cheating them out of money due or simply not paying them.
  • questions about Combs’ involvement in the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
  • infamous “freak off” parties where people were secretly videotaped having sex, coerced or drugged for sex
  • involvement as co-promoter of the 1991 “first annual Heavy D and Puff Daddy Celebrity Charity Basketball Game” where dozens of people were injured and nine people died when nearly 5,000 people pushed to get in a gym with a capacity of 2,730.  No criminal charges were filed, but Combs settled with families in civil court.
  • involvement in a 1999 shooting incident while dating Jennifer Lopez.  Combs was arrested on a weapons and bribery charge.  He was acquitted of all charges. Still there are those who say Combs should have been found guilty.
  • and more.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

If only some of the allegations are true (and we know many are), Sean Combs is perfect example of how power can corrupt.

I am not a huge hip-hop fan, but I found the documentary compelling.

Sean Combs: The Reckoning (2025) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“Uncontained” (2025) written, directed by and starring Morley Nelson / Z-View

Posted on by

Uncontained (2025)

Director: Morley Nelson

Screenplay: Morley Nelson

Stars: Morley Nelson, Peter O’Meara, Brett Zimmerman.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

When a zombie-like apocalypse began, most people sought shelter from the spread of the virus.  Now, several years later, even the most remote havens are in danger.

Dan, a former soldier, lives in the wilderness.  He is capable and feels safer on his own, never staying in one place for long.  Then Dan comes across a remote home.  He discovers two children, a boy and his sister living there.  There mother ventured out and never returned.  Dan knows the children cannot survive on their own.

Reluctantly, Dan becomes their caregiver unaware that danger is closing in.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Morley Nelson, a former police officer, wrote, produced, directed and played the lead in Uncontained.

Don’t go in expecting a typical low-budget zombie gore fest.  Uncontained is more of a character study with an unexpected twist. I give Nelson props for having the guts to make a slower placed zombie flick.

I’ll be interested to see if Morley Nelson continues to write, direct and star in his own productions or if he’ll get an opportunity in Hollywood.

Uncontained (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Rocky” Legacy by Leo Leibelman!

Posted on by

Leo Leibelman is a freelance artist who has provided art for comics, trading cards, novels, instructional materials, film storyboards and more.  Leo Leibelman takes commissions.

Hope you dig his Rocky painting as much as I do.

“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.” – Rocky Balboa

“The Strip” (1951) starring Mickey Rooney and Sally Forrest / Z-View

Posted on by

The Strip (1951)

Director: László Kardos

Screenplay: Allen Rivkin

Stars: Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig, Louis Armstrong, Tom Powers, Vic Damone, Monica Lewis, Don Anderson  and Tommy Rettig.

Tagline: Torchy romance tingling with mystery and throbbing with the rhythm of Dixieland along the glamorous avenue of night clubs!

The Plot…

When Stanley Maxton is released from a long hospital stay due to injuries sustained in the Korean War, he heads for LA..  He dreams of becoming a successful drummer and owning his own club some day.

A chance encounter earns Stanley a high-paying job working for mobster Sonny Johnston. In no time Stanley has money, a fine car and flashy clothes.  Then he meets Jane Tafford.  She’s a nightclub dancer who dreams of becoming a movie star.  Stanley falls hard.

So hard, he quits working for Sonny and takes a lower paying job as a drummer at the club where Jane is a dancer.  But it’s no go.  Jane is only interested in becoming a star and a nightclub drummer can’t help her with that.

Stanley takes Jane to meet Sonny.  Stanley figures Sonny’s mob connections can get Jane an audition.  Problem is, even though he’s married, Sonny falls for Jane.  This puts Stanley and Sonny at odds.

So when a woman is murdered, and evidence points to Stanley, he knows who set him up.  Time is running out to prove his innocence.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

The Strip earned one 1952 Academy Award nomination…

  • Nominee for Best Music, Original Song – For “A Kiss to Build a Dream On” – Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Oscar Hammerstein II

The Strip is as much (if not more) a musical than a crime noir. The film features songs performed by Vic Damone, Monica Lewis, Jack Teagarden, and Louis Armstrong, floor show routines by Sally Forrest as well as drum solos by Mickey Rooney.

The film features an unexpected dark (for a musical featuring Mickey Rooney) twist.

Louie Armstrong, Vic Damone and Monica Lewis play themselves.

The Strip (1951) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Crime 101” starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry – A New Poster and Trailer are Here!

Posted on by

Crime 101 starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry – A New Poster and Trailer are Here!

Get an inside look at the making of #Crime101 starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry. Experience it in theaters and IMAX on February 13.

Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, Crime 101 weaves the tale of an elusive jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose string of heists along the 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime, his path crosses that of a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads. Convinced he has found a pattern, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) is closing in, raising the stakes even higher. As the heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are faced with life-defining choices–and the realization that there can be no turning back.

Adapted from Don Winslow’s acclaimed novella of the same name, the film is written and directed by Bart Layton (American Animals, The Imposter). Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte round out the cast.