Category: TV

The Poster and Trailer for “Carnival Row” is Here!

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I just saw the trailer for Carnival Row.  Here’s the official description…

Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne star in Carnival Row, a Victorian fantasy world filled with mythological immigrant creatures. Feared by humans, they are forbidden to live, love, or fly with freedom. But even in darkness, hope lives, as a human detective and a faerie rekindle a dangerous affair. The city’s uneasy peace collapses when a string of murders reveals a monster no one could imagine.

This doesn’t sound like something I’d normally like.  But I watched the trailer and liked the looks of it.  I’ll tune in and give it a shot.

Presenting Sly Stallone’s Balboa Productions

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Matt Donnelly at Variety checks in with Sylvester Stallone’s Production Company Wants to Be the Blumhouse of Action Films and it is well worth a read.  The piece talks about the goal of Sly creating Balboa Productions…

“My goal is for us to be the go-to place for action,” says Aftergood. He wants Balboa to follow the specialty model of Blumhouse, the company behind “Get Out” and “The Purge.” “I appreciate that statement is grandiose, but Blumhouse has done an extraordinary job owning the horror space,” says Aftergood. “There is no reason why we can’t own the action space in a similar way.”

The rationale  behind Sly creating Balboa Productions…

“At one of our first meetings, I asked him why he wanted to do this,” Aftergood recalls. “Starting and running a company is a pain in the ass. I don’t care who you are or how many people are underneath you — at some point you have to answer a question about payroll, about office decor. In Stallone’s case, he seemed to have graduated past all of that.” Stallone answered with one word: legacy.

Balboa Productions that are in the pipeline…

  • Arcane, a monster movie from director Corin Hardy
  • The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil  remake co-starring Sly
  • The Bellhop, starring Iko Uwais star of The Raid: Redemption
  • Samaritan starring Sly
  • Biopic of black boxing legend Jack Johnson produced by Sly
  • Nighthawks reboot for USA network based on Sly’s 1981 film
  • The Tenderloin, a cop drama for History.

For all the details click over to Sylvester Stallone’s Production Company Wants to Be the Blumhouse of Action Films.

(The only thing missing is Sly’s adaptation of Hunter by James Byron Huggins.  Cannot wait to see what Sly does with this great action/horror novel.  It is a natural for him and Balboa Productions! – Craig)

The 10 Best Vampire Movies

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ComingSoon posted their choice for The 10 Best Vampire Movies.  I’ve only seen four of the ten (Dracula; Nosferatu; The Lost Boys and What We Do in the Shadows), but my Top Ten Vampire Movies would be (in alphabetical order)

  • 30 Days of Night
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Blade 2
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula
  • Dracula
  • Dusk til Dawn
  • Interview with a Vampire
  • Near Dark
  • Salem’s Lot
  • What We Do in the Shadows

And while we’re at it, I’d also suggest the following vampire tv series:

  • The Passage
  • The Strain

“Alfred Hitchcock Presents” Trivia

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Jake Rossen and Mental Floss present 10 Facts About Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  I love AHP… especially the half hour episodes.  Here are my top three facts from a very good list…

5. IT COULD HAVE BEEN TITLED HENRY SLESAR PRESENTS.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents drew primarily from published short stories it optioned from writers. One such author, Henry Slesar, was a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, the monthly short story collection that had the director’s endorsement. When producer Norman Lloyd realized the prolific Slesar and three other authors had a story in the magazine every month, he invited all four of them out to California for a meeting about writing teleplays based on their stories. According to Lloyd, only Slesar showed up. This was because the other three writers were all his pseudonyms. Slesar ended up writing 55 scripts for the series, the most of any contributor.

3. HITCHCOCK’S DIRECT INVOLVEMENT IN THE SERIES WAS VERY LIMITED.
In style and substance, Alfred Hitchcock Presents shares a lot in common with Hitchcock’s films, particularly the scheming characters with murder on the mind in 1948’s Rope and 1951’s Strangers on a Train. Despite the Hitchcock aesthetic, his direct involvement in the show was limited. Because he was so busy with his movie career, he was convinced by MCA executive Lew Wasserman that lending his name and likeness to the series would not take up much of his time. Producers and frequent Hitchcock collaborators Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd handled most of the production chores, though Hitchcock did direct 17 episodes over the course of the series. The director later said his supervision of the show extended to delivering “fatherly words of advice without trying to usurp their position.”

Viewers, however, seemed to infer he wrote and directed much of what they saw, sending fan letters to the director stating as much. While his effort was not as significant as they believed, it proved to be lucrative. Hitchcock drew a reported $129,000 per episode from CBS and sponsor Bristol-Myers.

8. ONE EPISODE WAS DEEMED TOO GRUESOME TO AIR.
While none of the criminal deeds depicted in Alfred Hitchcock Presents were explicit, one episode in season 7 written by Psycho author Robert Bloch inferred something so disturbing that it was kept off the air by NBC. (Spoilers follow.) In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a boy who dreams of becoming a magician is coerced into murdering his stage idol by the performer’s cheating spouse. She convinces him to do it by telling the boy—who is none too quick of mind—that he will absorb her husband’s “powers” once the deed is done. He believes it, and proceeds to saw her in half despite not having much of an idea about how the illusion is actually supposed to work. At the conclusion, Hitchcock makes a characteristically grim observation that the scheming widow must be “beside herself.” The episode later ran in syndication.

RIP – Leon Redbone

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Leon Redbone, the singer-songwriter known for his sense of humor and songs performed in the musical styles of the 1920’s has died at the age of 69.

Redbone’s website announced his passing with the following…

“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th, 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127.  He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat. He’s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence, and has plans for a rousing sing along number with Sári Barabás. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, ‘Oh behave yourselves. Thank you…. and good evening everybody.’”

I first became aware of Leon Redbone from his performance on Saturday Night Live.  I loved that he was so willing to do his own thing in a style no one else (at least to my knowledge) was doing.  Redbone went on to create albums, provide songs for movies and do voice work for movies and television.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.