Category: Celebs

Tax Collector (2020) / Z-View

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Before we get into my review of Tax Collector, let me say that I’m a David Ayer fan and after seeing the poster and trailer for Tax Collector back in July, I posted them both saying that I looked forward to seeing the movie.

ComingSoon.net  recently had a contest for a free DVD of Tax Collector.  I entered and won a copy.  That copy is what I am reviewing.

Tax Collector (2020)

Director: David Ayer

Screenplay: David Ayer

Stars:  Bobby Soto, Cinthya Carmona, Shia LaBeouf, Jose Conejo Martin, Cheyenne Rae Hernandez, George Lopez and Brian Ortega.

The Pitch: “David Ayer is ready to make another movie!”

Tagline: From the Creator of  “Training Day” and “End of Watch”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

David Cuevas (Soto) and his crime partner, Creeper (LaBeouf) are tax collectors for a crime lord known as The Wizard.  They collect a 30% tax on all illegal gang activity in the city.  If the money isn’t on time or the count comes up short, Cuevas and Creeper resolve the issue so it doesn’t happen again.

Cuevas is living a double life of sorts.  He has a beautiful wife and two children. He wants to be a good husband and father.  The life Cuevas lives has given him a nice house, lots of money and respect, but the things he does to earn them are hard to justify.  While Cuevas is a religious man, his partner, Creeper has come to terms with who they are and what they do.

Things go smoothly until a Conejo (Martin), a rival gang lord, returns to the city with intent to take over the Wizard’s operation.  Conejo meets with Cuevas and offers him a choice: join Conejo or Cuevas and his family will be killed.

To tell more would be to give away too much.  The movie contains more than a few twists, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone going to see Tax Collector that there are scenes of brutal violence.  If you’re a fan of David Ayer, then you know what to expect.

As a screenwriter, Ayer got my attention with Training Day.  As a director, it was with Street Kings.  Then as a writer/director he brought us Harsh Times, End of Watch, Sabotage (one of Arnold’s best), and Fury just to name a few.  Ayers’ films take us into a world where men are placed in violent situations and there are consequences to their actions.

I’ve never been a big Shia LaBeouf fan, but man, he owns every scene he is in.  His character, Creeper, is a stone cold killer, and LaBeouf was perfect for the part.  Remember No Country for Old Men and the character Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem?  Remember the universal praise Bardem rightly received?  I’d rate LaBeaouf’s performance at the same level.

Other standout performances include Cheyenne Rae Hernandez as Gata and  Jose Conejo Martin as Conejo.  It was also cool to see George Lopez playing against character and Brian Ortega from the UFC in a supporting role.

I really liked the Tax Collector.  If you’re a David Ayer fan, you probably will as well.


Rating:

RIP: Conchata Ferrell

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Conchata Ferrell passed away yesterday as a result of complications following a cardiac arrest.  She was 77.

Best known as Berta on Two and a Half Men, this is just one of her 131 acting credits!  Check out all the appearances.  What a career, but even if Conchata had only been on Two and Half Men, her career would have been made.  She was perfect in that role.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Conchata Ferrell’s family, friends and fans.

“Billie” – The Trailer is Here!

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I want to see the documentary, Billie!

Billie Holiday had one of the greatest voices of all time and changed the face of American music. She was a woman of breath-taking talent and global popularity while also stirring controversy. She started a notable rebellion singing “Strange Fruit” which exposed the realities of Black life in America and earned her powerful enemies. Raw, emotional and brutally honest, Billie is filled with never-before-heard interviews from musical greats like Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie.
Director: James Erskine

David Fincher’s “Mank” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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David Fincher is back with Mank!

1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.

Starring Academy Award Winner Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, and Charles Dance. MANK is directed by David Fincher.

In Select Theaters November and on Netflix on December 4.

“News of the World” starring Tom Hanks – The Trailer is Here!

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The trailer for News of the World starring Tom Hanks is here!

This Christmas, Universal Pictures is proud to present Tom Hanks starring in News of the World, a moving story written and directed by Paul Greengrass, reuniting for the first time with his star from their 2013 Best Picture nominee Captain Phillips.

Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a widower and veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe.

In the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.

Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.

News of the World is directed by Greengrass (the Bourne films, United 93) from his screenplay with Luke Davies (Lion), based on the National Book Award finalist and best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles. The film is produced by Gary Goetzman (Mamma Mia! franchise, Greyhound), Gail Mutrux (The Danish Girl, Donnie Brasco) and Gregory Goodman (22 July, 8 Mile). The executive producers are Steven Shareshian and Tore Schmidt. The film’s music is by eight-time Academy Award® nominee James Newton Howard.

“The 355” Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for The 355 are here and both look good.

A dream team of formidable female stars come together in a hard-driving original approach to the globe-trotting espionage genre in The 355.

When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Oscar®-nominated actress Jessica Chastain) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger, In the Fade), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Oscar® winner Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), who is tracking their every move.

As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the wealth and glamour of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.

The film also stars Sebastian Stan (Avengers: Endgame) and Edgar Ramírez (The Girl on the Train).

The 355 is directed by genre-defying filmmaker Simon Kinberg (writer-director-producer of Dark Phoenix, producer of Deadpool and The Martian and writer-producer of the X-Men films), from a script by Theresa Rebeck (NBC’s Smash, Trouble) and Kinberg, and is produced by Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Chastain’s Freckle Films and by Kinberg for his Genre Films. The film is executive produced by Richard Hewitt (Bohemian Rhapsody).

Ranking Every Arnold Schwarzenegger Sci-Fi Movie!

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Phil Pirrello at Syfy.com took on the task to Rank Every Sci-Fi Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie.  I decided to play along.  Below is the chart comparing our rankings and some thoughts after.

Phil Pirrello

Craig

9. Terminator: Salvation (2009)

** Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

8. Terminator: Genisys (2015)

8. The Running Man (1987)

7. The Sixth Day (2000)

7. The Sixth Day (2000)

6. The Running Man (1987)

6. Terminator: Salvation (2009)

5. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

5. Terminator: Genisys (2015)

4. Predator (1987)

4. Total Recall (1990)

3. Total Recall (1990)

3. The Terminator (1984)

2. The Terminator (1984)

2. Predator (1987)

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  • I haven’t seen Terminator: Dark Fate, yet so I didn’t include it in the ratings.
  • I was surprised The Running Man rated so high for Phil.  I’m not a fan of it.
  • Seems neither of us are fans of The Sixth Day.
  • I was surprised Phil didn’t rate Predator higher.
  • I almost rated Terminator at #2 and Predator at #3.

“Thief” Gets the Cinephilia Treatment!

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Thief, directed by Michael Mann and starring James Caan gets the Cinephilia and Beyond Treatment.  Click over and you’ll get…

  • Rarely seen production and behind-the-scenes photos
  • Thief script
  • Michael Mann video interview
  • James Caan interviews
  • Johannes Schmoelling of Tangerine Dream interviewed about Thief
  • Michael Mann on his filmmaking process
  • An evening with Michael Mann
  • Robert Rodriguez’s The Director’s Chair with Michael Mann
  • and much more!

“Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something” – The Poster and Trailer!

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And now the poster and trailer to Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something.

HARRY CHAPIN: WHEN IN DOUBT, DO SOMETHING is the inspiring story of Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter/activist Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle”). Chapin sold over 16 million albums and was one of his generation’s most beloved artist-activists who spent his fame and fortune trying to end world hunger before his tragic passing.

The film features Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Peter Seeger, Sir Bob Geldof, Kenny Rogers, Graham Nash, Pat Benatar, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Robert Lamm, Richie Havens, and Harry Belafonte intimately reflecting on Chapin’s larger-than-life impact on music and the world including his founding, along with Bill Ayres, of WhyHunger – the nonprofit organization leading the movement to end hunger and advance the human right to nutritious food in the U.S. and around the world.

——
Director: Rick Korn
Cast: Harry Chapin, Harry Belafonte, Pat Benatar, Sir Bob Geldof, Billy Joel, Robert Lamm, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Kenny Rogers, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen

“UFC1: Origins” – The Trailer is Here!

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Below is the trailer to UFC1: Origins.  I am a huge fan of UFC and mixed martial arts.  Truth be told, when the UFC first began, I wouldn’t tune in.  There were no weight classes and few if any rules.  I loved the idea of the top talent of each style (boxing, karate, wresting, jujitsu, etc.) facing each other in contest but to me it wasn’t a true sport yet…

Once there were rules and weight classes in place I was on board.  I watch UFC and Bellator regularly.  The interesting thing that has happened over the last 20 years or so is that the best fighters no longer have just one style.  They have grown up to be true mixed-martial artists!

From the producers of THE LAST DANCE. Tracing the roots of the pro-MMA league back to its tumultuous first event in 1993, UFC1: ORIGINS explores the improbable tale of how Rorion Gracie, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist, and Art Davie, once a used car salesman, teamed with Bob Meyrowitz’s pay-per-view company SEG to mount UFC 1 in Denver and launch a sports phenomenon.

RIP: Helen Reddy

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Helen Reddy, the multi-talented singer and actress died yesterday at age 78.  Reddy became widely known on the music scene in 1971 when she recorded, I Believe in Music by Mac Davis and I Don’t Know How to Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar.  The A-side wasn’t showing much impact but when some DJs started playing the B-side (I Don’t Know How to Love Him) people took notice.

Reddy followed up with the song she co-wrote and is most known for, I am Woman.  The song went to number one and earned Reddy a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  Reddy went on to record hits such as Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), You and Me Against the World and Angie Baby.

Reddy made many appearances on variety shows in the 1070s and even hosted her own.  Reddy also acted in movie and tv roles and probably best know for her roles in Pete’s Dragon and Airport 1975.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Helen Reddy’s family, friends and fans.

RIP: Mac Davis

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Mac Davis, the multi-talented singer-songwriter and actor died yesterday at age 78 from complications of a recent heart surgery.

Davis was an award-winning song writer who first came to notice for writing the popular Elvis Presley songs, In the Ghetto, Don’t Cry Daddy and A Little Less Conversation.  Other singers such as Kenny Rogers, B.J. Thomas, Perry Como, and Helen Reddy (to name just a few) were happy to cover Mac Davis songs.

Davis wrote hits for himself such as Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me, Stop and Smell the Roses and One Hell of a Woman.  In 1974, Davis was named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year.  This success led to The Mac Davis Show which ran from 1974-1976.  Davis caught the acting bug and began his career in North Dallas Forty.  Davis would spend the rest of his life singing and acting alternating between movies and television and live concerts.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mac Davis’ family, friends and fans.

Sly Scouting Locations for His Next Movie?

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There is speculation at JoBlo.com that…

Sly (Stallone) himself may be about to make another action movie with frequent purveyors of gunplay and heist flicks Randall Emmet and George Furla. According to a new Instagram pic posted by Emmet himself, the producer and his partner are currently scouting locations for an unnamed movie. Joining them is none other than Sylvester Stallone.

ANY movie added to Sly’s schedule is ALWAYS welcome.  Fingers crossed it is for Hunter based on the James Byron Huggins’ novel of the same name written for Sly!