Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Bay of Silence stars Claes Bang (who was excellent in Dracula), Olga Kurylenko and Brian Cox. Above is the poster and below the trailer.
Will believes his wife Rosalind is innocent of their son’s suspected murder, only to discover the devastating truth behind her past links her to another unsolved crime.
Starring: Claes Bang, Olga Kurylenko and Brian Cox
Directed by: Paula van der Oest
That’s Rafael Grampá’s cover art to the first issue of BRZRKR coming to a comic shop near you this October.
Does the hero look a bit like Keanu Reeves? He should since Keanu is co-writing the 12 issue series with Matt Kindt. Artist Alessandro Vitti, colorist Bill Crabtree, and letterer Clem Robins will take care of the interior art. Here’s the synopsis for the series…
The man known only as Berzerker is half-mortal and half-God, cursed and compelled to violence…even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the world for centuries, Berzerker may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, Berzerker will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.
Click over to Boom Studios to learn more about the series, see more art and read what Keanu has to say!
The poster and trailer for Hard Kill are here. Pretty generic looking on both counts, don’t ya think?
The work of billionaire tech CEO Donovan Chalmers is so valuable that he hires mercenaries to protect it, and a terrorist group kidnaps his daughter just to get it.
Here we have the Project Power poster and trailer which asks, “What would you risk for five minutes of power?” I’m not sure, but I will risk a couple of hours to check out this movie.
What would you risk for five minutes of pure power?
On the streets of New Orleans, word begins to spread about a mysterious new pill that unlocks superpowers unique to each user. The catch: You don’t know what will happen until you take it. While some develop bulletproof skin, invisibility, and super strength, others exhibit a deadlier reaction. But when the pill escalates crime within the city to dangerous levels, a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) teams with a teenage dealer (Dominique Fishback) and a former soldier fueled by a secret vendetta (Jamie Foxx) to fight power with power and risk taking the pill in order to track down and stop the group responsible for creating it.
Dan Grant, at Top 10 Films, in honor of the 45th anniversary of the release of the first summer blockbuster presents: 45 Things About “Jaws” You Might Not Know. Before you click over, here are three of my favorite Jaws facts as well as my thoughts on each…
4. Richard Dreyfuss’ casting – Richard Dreyfuss originally turned down the role of Hooper because he thought making the movie would be a pain in the ass. After he saw himself on big screen in the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz he thought he was so awful that his career would be over and he immediately called Steven Spielberg to ask if he could have the role.
(Funny the difference a day or perceived poor performance can make. – Craig)
9. Percy Rodriguez’s iconic trailer voice-over – Percy Rodriguez did the voice-over in the trailer for Jaws. When the producers first came to him, they wanted an upbeat, happy-sounding and almost adventurous voice-over for the trailer. It was Percy’s idea to have a darker and brooding and ominous sounding tone. It worked a treat.
He eventually got his way and many people credit lines in the trailer like “there is a creature that is alive today which has survived millions of years of evolution” and “it was as if God created the devil and gave him (dramatic pause) Jaws”, as major reasons why people flocked to the theatre to see it.
(Watching the “Jaws” trailer attached to this fact at Grant’s post it reminded me of how, in the pre-internet days, important a trailer was to the success of a film. The “Jaws” trailer made you want to see the film. Much credit needs to go to Percy Rodriguez. He was right to push for a darker, more ominous tone! – Craig)
14. Dreyfuss’ surprise – Richard Dreyfuss was so disillusioned with the movie that after his time on set was done, he proceeded to trash it on several different talk shows in the United States. But when he saw the film opening day, after he left the theatre, he jumped into Roy Scheider’s arms and exclaimed “He did it! He did it!” Roy asked him who he meant and he said “Spielberg, Spielberg actually did it!”
(Sounds like Dreyfuss was going through a period of seeing the glass half-full. He only agreed to star in “Jaws” because he thought he was so terrible in his previous film that he wouldn’t be offered more roles. Then filming wraps on “Jaws” and Dreyfess downplays how good it is… until he sees it with an audience. – Craig)
Check out the Valley of the Gods trailer below, read the plot summary and then please tell me what we’ve just seen.
Starring Josh Hartnett, Bérénice Marlohe, and John Malkovich, Valley of the Gods contrasts abundance and poverty through three separate storylines, featuring a middle-class writer (Hartnett), an eccentric trillionaire (Malkovich), and a struggling Navajo community. Post-divorce, copywriter John Ecas undertakes the biography of the richest man on earth, who is dead-set on mining sacred lands for uranium. When modern advance runs afoul of long-dormant guardians from ancient legend, even the most unimaginable wealth may soon meet its match.
Happy Birthday, Sly Stallone!
At first glance the art above looks like the cover to the classic comic Superman vs Muhammad Ali, right?
Wrong!
It is actually the cover created created by the great Joe Kubert. Yes, it’s hard to believe that beautiful piece of art wasn’t used. Neal Adams took Kubert’s idea and created a new masterpiece that was actually used for the cover. Adams also went a step further by drawing the faces of 172 celebrities in the crowd.
The fine folks at The Bristol Board have posted up not only large versions of Kubert’s art and Adams’ finished cover but also a key listing all of the celebrities in the crowd. Click over and you’ll see that Superman’s bout against Muhammad Ali was attended by folks such as President Jimmy Carter, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Christopher Reeve and many others!
(Thanks to Jerry Ordway for the tweak to this original post.)
Today Sly Stallone posted this rarely seen Rocky art by LeRoy Neiman with the message:
Happy birthday!! Keep Punching America!
The only thing I’ll add is: Have fun and stay safe!
Here’s the poster and trailer for David Ayer’s Tax Collector. I’m an Ayer fan and will check out anything he does. Tax Collector looks to add to the reasons why I follow Ayer’s films.
In Theaters, VOD and Digital HD August 7th
Written and Directed by David Ayer
Starring Bobby Soto, Cinthya Carmona, George Lopez and Shia LeBeoufSynopsis: David (Bobby Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), are “tax collectors” for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings. But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.
Hey! I just wanted to let everyone know that my buddy, Jarrod Alberich aka the Yardsale Artist, is teaming with his pal Bermuda Mark Hatherley for an Art Livestream. Jarrod will be drawing Sly Stallone as Rocky with Mark creating a Carl Weathers as Apollo companion piece. You can tune in at 5pm CENTRAL using this link. I hope to “see” you there!
Colin McCormick at ScreenRant decided to do a little research and came up with the 10 Best Sylvester Stallone Films, According To IMDb. Well, you know me and lists. Below I’ve compared the IMDb rankings to mine followed by my thoughts…
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IMD Rating |
Craig |
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10. Rocky IV (1985:) 6.9 |
10. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (2017) |
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9. Cop Land (1997): 6.9 |
9. Rocky IV (1985) |
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8. Rambo (2008): 7.0 |
8. Creed II (2018) |
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7. Rocky Balboa (2006): 7.1 |
7. Rocky II (1979) |
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6. Creed II (2018): 7.1 |
6. Creed (2015) |
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5. Rocky II (1979) 7.3 |
5. First Blood (1982) |
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4. Creed (2015): 7.6 |
4. Rocky Balboa (2006) |
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3. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (2017): 7.6 |
3. Rambo (2008) |
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2. First Blood (1982): 7.7 |
2. Cop Land (1997) |
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1. Rocky (1976): 8.1 |
1. Rocky (1976) |
The IMDb list is a good one. For my rankings, I put a little more emphasis on the films that starred Sly than for one’s where he co-starred or had a cameo (GotG2). Creed rated higher than Rocky 2 because of Sly’s performance. He should have received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Had I made the Top Ten List I would have tried to find a way to include Nighthawks and Get Carter… Paradise Alley and FIST… but there are just too many Stallone favorites to list just ten. Still, it was a fun exercise. Your mileage may differ, but give it a shot!
Wearing a mask is not political. Even if you’re in a low-risk group, do it for others who may not be so fortunate. Be like Sly…
Jake Rossen from Mental Floss is back and this time he brought Chuck Norris with him. Check out 8 Surprising Facts About Chuck Norris. Here are three of my favorite facts and my thoughts on each…
STEVE MCQUEEN GOT CHUCK NORRIS INTO ACTING.
(This one surprised me. I would have thought Bruce Lee would have gotten credit for this since it was Lee who gave Chuck Norris his first big break. Maybe it was McQueen who first suggested that Norris give acting a try. – Craig)
CHUCK NORRIS NEEDED TO OBEY A PRODUCER’S REQUEST IN ORDER TO FACE OFF AGAINST BRUCE LEE.
(Chuck Norris tells the story that when Bruce Lee contacted him about co-starring in Way of the Dragon, Norris jokingly asked who would win the climatic fight. Lee replied that he would. Norris said, “So you want to beat the World Karate Champion?” Lee’s response: “No, I want to kill the World Karate Champion.” 🙂 – Craig)
CHUCK NORRIS HAD HIS OWN CARTOON SERIES.
(It’s easy to forget just how popular Chuck Norris was. At one point he had his own line of jeans, a cartoon, a comic book series, a television series, made movies, created his own style of martial arts and more. Oh, and let’s not forget the ever popular Chuck Norris jokes. – Craig)
If you’ve read this far, you’ll enjoy Rossen’s 8 Surprising Facts About Chuck Norris.
Oscar Martinez created the Rocky art above. You can see more of his art here.
