Category: Celebs

Stephen King’s New Novel BILLY SUMMERS is Coming!

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Stephen King has a new book coming out on August 3rd.  Billy Summers is described as “…a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job.”

Tell me more.

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything.

This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Entertainment Weekly has an excerpt if you’d like to know more.  As for me, I’m in.

“Body Brokers” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Body Brokers – the poster and trailer are here!  The poster is okay — it looks like a good start but needs more.  I liked the trailer okay.  The main selling point to me is Michael Kenneth Williams and Frank Grillo.  These guys are under-rated actors.

Utah and Opal are junkies living on the streets of rural Ohio until a seemingly chance encounter with the enigmatic Wood brings them to Los Angeles for drug treatment. Utah appears to find sobriety with the help of treatment center shrink, Dr. White, and tech turned love interest, May. They soon learn that drug treatment is but a cover for a predatory business, enlisting addicts to recruit other addicts.

Starring: Jack Kilmer, Alice Englert, Michael Kenneth Williams, Melissa Leo, Jessica Rothe and Frank Grillo
Directed by: John Swab

RIP: Cloris Leachman

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Cloris Leachman, whose acting career spanned over 70 years, died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 94.  It is hard to say the role that she was best known for since she had so many memorable and award-winning parts.  Leachman was nominated for 22 Primetime Emmy Awards (earning her the record for the most nominations).  She won 8 Primetime Emmy Awards (tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most actress wins in Emmy history.)  Leachman also won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award!

My first memory of Cloris Leachman is from her role as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Her character was so popular that Leachman played her in two spin-off series; first on Rhoda and then in her own show simply titled Phyllis.  Although my first memory of Cloris Leachman is from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, there is no doubt that I’d seen Leachman in many other television guest appearances.   Her tv credits include dozens and dozens of appearances on popular shows… everything from Lassie to The Twilight Zone.

Cloris Leachman wasn’t just limited to television roles.  Her appearances in Mel Brooks’ films were always funny, welcome additions. Her role as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein is a classic.  Who can forget her first major movie role as Christina Bailey in Kiss Me Deadly?  Leachman also appeared in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Last Picture Show (where she won the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress), High Anxiety and many other features.

Cloris Leachman has nearly 300 acting credits on her resume and she made everything she was in better by her presence.  She will be missed.

Our thoughts and prayers go our to Cloris Leachman’s family, friends and fans.

 

    

RIP: Larry King

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Larry King died this morning.  He was 87.  King had been hospitalized in December for complications from Covid-19.  King, who was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger worked on radio and television for over 60 years.

King became a national celebrity when his Larry King Live interview program on CNN went viral in 1985.  King hosted the show for 25 years and interviewed just about everyone who was making headlines.  That was the joy of King’s program, one night he might be talking to a top political figure, the next night a celebrity or psychic.

King became so popular and well known that he began to appear in movies and television roles (hundreds listed on IMDb) usually playing himself.  Throughout his career King earned an Emmy, two Peabody awards and 10 Cable Ace awards.  When King left CNN he continued to work in television with Larry King Now (2012-2020) on Hulu and Politicking with Larry King (2013 until his death).

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Larry King’s family, friends and fans.

RIP: Gregory Sierra

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Although Gregory Sierra died on January 4, 2021, from cancer, his death wasn’t made public knowledge until yesterday.  Sierra, who had a long career acting in television and movie roles was probably best known for his co-starring role on Barney Miller.

Sierra made guest appearances on dozens and dozens of television shows with reoccurring roles on The Flying Nun, Sanford & Son, Soap, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Murder She Wrote and more.  Sierra’s major theatrical film roles were in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Papillon, The Towering Inferno, Vampires and Vic (written and directed by Sage Stallone).

I always enjoyed tv shows and movies a bit more when Gregory Sierra appeared.   Our thoughts and prayers go out to Gregory Sierra’s family, friends and fans.

“The Godfather, Part III” Trivia!

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I imagine that most folks reading this would agree that The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II are two excellent films.  I wonder how many of us would agree that The Godfather, Part III, while not on the same level as I or II is still a good film? 

Todd Gilchrist at Mental Floss presents 20 Facts About The Godfather Part III.  Before you click over, here are my thoughts on three from Gilchrist’s list and one that didn’t make the cut.

ROBERT DUVALL WAS WRITTEN OUT OF THE GODFATHER PART III DUE TO A SALARY DISPUTE.  It was a mistake to not bring Duvall back.  Then they replaced him with George Hamilton as a new character.  It felt wrong and didn’t help the film.

ANDY GARCIA HAD A LOT OF A-LIST COMPETITION FOR HIS ROLE IN THE GODFATHER PART III.  Some of the actors in the running included Alec Baldwin, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Val Kilmer, Charlie Sheen, and Billy Zane.  I thought Garcia did an excellent job in the role. From those listed my second choice would have been Alec Baldwin.

THE GODFATHER PART III FEATURED MANY FAMILIAR FACES BOTH IN FRONT OF AND BEHIND THE CAMERA.  This helped strengthen the film… and only made Duvall’s absence felt that much more.

A Godfather III fact that didn’t make the list is that at one point when it didn’t look like Francis Ford Coppola was going to return there were discussions of getting Sylvester Stallone to direct and star along with John Travolta.  While that would have been very interesting, critics would have been all over it with negativity… and we’d have never gotten Coppola’s return.

For Gilchrist’s complete list and his thoughts on each, click over.

“Creature from the Black Lagoon” Trivia

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One of my favorite horror movies is Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Nicholas Furnal at CBR.com recently posted 10 Things Everyone Missed In Creature From The Black Lagoon.  I’m proud to report that I only missed one, but it is a doozy.  Before you click over, I’ll tell you the one I missed plus two others that are favorties.

Telephone Pole In The Amazon.  I’ve watched Creature from the Black Lagoon dozens and dozens of times (once as recently as last week).  I never noticed the telephone pole.  Of course I am usually watching in the 1.37:1 screen ratio.  Well, now I have an excuse for another viewing.

No Visible Air Bubbles.  I applaud that director Jack Arnold made sure that no air bubbles were present for the Creature’s underwater scenes.  It made the monster all that more realistic.  Hats off to Ricou Browning for being able to hold his breath underwater during several minutes of filming!

Two Separate Creature Suits.  It would have been easier and cheaper to just create one suit, but the folks behind the movie made two (one for land and one for underwater) that varied in flexibility and color.  It’s attention to details like these that make Creature from the Black Lagoon a classic.

Click over to check out the other trivia items and see if any are new to you!

Syfy’s “Day of the Dead” Limited Series Ties into the Romero Classic and Sounds Great!

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John Squires at Bloody Disgusting broke the story that Syfy’s Day of the Dead Series Will Have Some Ties to George Romero’s Original Classic.  This is great news for Romero fans.  Not only will the 10 episode limited series tie in to Romero’s film, but will focus on…

 …six strangers trying to survive the first 24 hours of an undead invasion.

The thing I love about the best zombie (or any apocalyptic) movies is the interplay between strangers trying not only to figure out what is going on, but also how to best survive.  As you can guess, I’m looking forward to Day of the Dead.

For more details click over to Syfy’s Day of the Dead Series Will Have Some Ties to George Romero’s Original Classic at Bloody Disgusting.

Joe Dator’s Rediscovering “Columbo”

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Over the last year I’ve posted about my wife’s and my renewed interest and love for Columbo starring Peter Falk.  Because the series is so popular it appears on several networks daily which makes recording episodes easy. My wife and I have been working our way through every episode.  Joe Dator is doing the same thing.

Joe Dator is an accomplished cartoonist whose work can regularly be found in The New Yorker, often be found in Mad Magazine and Esquire and believe it or not, at his personal website.  Joe was a winner of The National Cartoonists Society’s 2018 Silver Reuben Award.

I tell you all of this as a way of introduction into Joe Dator’s Rediscovering “Columbo” in 2020.  The cartoon strip first appeared in The New Yorker last October, but can be seen in full at Joe’s website.  I agree with everything Joe says about the joys of watching Columbo.  The one thing I would add is that while Columbo’s first name is never spoken it does appear to eagle-eyed viewers when Columbo shares his ID in a few episodes.

RIP: Peter Mark Richman

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Peter Mark Richman died yesterday at the age of 93 from natural causes.  Richman was an accomplished actor who appeared in feature films, television and on Broadway, an author who wrote plays, short stories and novels, and an artist.  Talk about being a Renaissance Man.

I’d be willing to bet that you’ve seen Peter Mark Richman perform, even if you don’t recognize his name.  Richman has 159 credits on his IMDb resume.  I remember him best from the classic Twilight Zone episode The Fear, but that was one of well over 100 appearances Peter Mark Richman made on television.  In addition to Cain’s Hundred (which he starred in), you could see Richmond regularly show up on tv shows starting in the 1960s through the 1990s.  He had reoccurring roles on Longstreet, Three’s Company, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, and guest appearances on just about every other major television show.  

 Richman’s features films include The Strange One, Black Orchid, Naked Gun 2 and Friday the 13th, Part 8, and Vic (a short film co-written and directed by Sage Stallone).  Starting the in the 1990s, Richman began doing voice work for Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.  

Mr. Richman appeared on Broadway, had several of his one-act plays, novels and short stories published.  He also had 17 one-man exhibitions of his paintings.  

Peter Mark Richman was married to his wife, Helen for 67 and they have five children.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Peter Mark Richman’s family, friends and fans.  What an amazing creative life he led.

“Adverse” – 2 Posters, 2 Trailers and 2 Different Vibes for the Same Film. Let’s Take a Look!

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We have two posters and two trailers for Adverse.  Let’s take a look at each, because although they’re for the same movie, they give off a different vibe.

The first poster above has a pretty generic crime movie feel.  We have the heads of the stars photoshopped into the main figure.  The cast should be a selling point, but their names don’t really stand out due to the colors of the font and the poster’s background.

The poster above works much better.  Although you lose the headshots of Mickey Rourke and Penelope Ann Miller, the names of the cast (and their awards/nominations) show up much better and are more impressive.  The main shot of the guy with a crow bar is a medium shot with the city in the background, making him look less heroic and more like an “everyman”.  The photoshopped face of the young girl (his daughter) let’s us know what he is fighting for.  FInally, the film festival logos adds a bit of prestige to the movie.  This is my favorite of the two posters.

Let’s look at each trailer.

Trailer 1 above and 2 below

Okay.  Have you watched both?  If so, which did you prefer?

I liked the first one much better than the second.  The first had a good crime movie vibe.  The music was menacing and the pace of the trailer made it feel like the movie would move.  This is a film I want to see.

The second trailer’s vibe was more of a Lifetime movie.  I didn’t care for the music used or the way the trailer set up the film.  It left me feeling like it would be a movie I might watch if there was nothing else on.

Amazing how the same film can be sold two different ways.  I wonder which trailer best represents the final film.  I do like the cast and hope the movie aligns with the first trailer.  We shall see.

“Bliss” Staring Owen Wilson & Salma Hayek – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The Bliss poster and trailer are here.  I like Wilson, Hayek and the Matrix vibe, so I’ll check out Bliss.

An unfulfilled man (Owen Wilson) and a mysterious woman (Salma Hayek) believe they are living in a simulated reality, but when their newfound ‘Bliss’ world begins to bleed into the ‘ugly’ world they must decide what’s real and where they truly belong.