Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
David Gallaher recently got a chance to talk about High Moon, the supernatural/western graphic novel that he created with artist, Steve Ellis. The interview (and High Moon) are worth a look.
Source: Monster Library.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
Director: Charles T. Barton
Screenplay: Hugh Wedlock Jr. & Howard Snyder
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff
The Pitch: “It’s time for Bud and Lou to meet Boris!”
Tagline: MORE GHOULISH GLEE THAN WHEN THEY MET FRANKENSTEIN
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When the bellboy (Costello) becomes the prime suspect of a murder in a remote hotel full of shady characters, only the hotel dick (Abbott) believes his innocence. The race is on to find the killer before he kills again… and the bellboy is in the killer’s sights!
I was surprised that Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff didn’t hold up as well as I remembered it. I was sure it would get a “B” rating or higher. As a kid, it would have gotten an “A” — yet it is still fun with some good laughs.
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Blood Simple (1984)
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (uncredited)
Screenplay: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Stars: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh
The Pitch: “Let’s make a noir!”
Tagline: Breaking up is hard
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When a vengeful husband (Hedaya) learns that his wife is cheating on him, he hires a sleazy PI to kill them. What follows is a classic throwback film noir that jumpstarted the Coen brothers’ career.
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Rio Bravo (1959)
Director: Howard Hawks
Screenplay: Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell
Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell and Claude Akins.
The Pitch: “The Duke wants to make Rio Bravo.”
Tagline: You’ve seen nothing like ’em together… and in the heat and hate of Rio Bravo nothing can tear ’em apart!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) refuses to let a rich rancher’s brother walk after committing a murder, Chance finds himself up against nearly 2 dozen hired guns. Coming to Chance’s aid is an old man, a drunk who used to be a gun fighter and a kid with a fast draw.
The basis of Rio Bravo was used to a comedic effect in Blazing Saddles.
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Here’s the international trailer to The Snowman. Lookin’ good.
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody makes a better short crime movie than you might think. Give the link below a go and see if you don’t agree.
The Teaser is Here! Frank Grillo is the Wheelman!
Saboteur (1942)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Peter Viertel & Joan Harrison & Dorothy Parker
Stars: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings and Otto Kruger
The Pitch: “Hitchcock want to make ‘Saboteur’”
Tagline: You’d like to say – IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE!… but every jolting scene is TRUE!!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
After an aircraft manufacturing plant is destroyed by sabotage, an innocent worker, Barry Kane (Cummings) finds himself on the run from authorities who believe he was saboteur. Kane’s efforts to clear himself lead him to a bigger plan of sabotage. Can he prove his innocence and convince authorities of the next planned attack before it is too late?
Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings make a great couple!
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Crime of Passion (1957)
Director: Gerd Oswald
Screenplay: Jo Eisinger (original story and screenplay)
Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr and Faye Wray
The Pitch: “Let’s make a film about a couple where one’s ambitions and lack of morals destroy them, but we’ll flip it so the female lead is the bad ‘guy’!”
Tagline: The stripped-of-shame story of a cop’s wife who committed one sin too many!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Kathy (Stanwyck) is an ambitious newspaper columnist who falls for LA detective, Bill Doyle (Hayden), in a whirlwind romance that leads to marriage. Soon enough Kathy realizes her husband is content with his rank and has no desire to rise to the top. Kathy becomes jealous and envious of others and begins to plot a way to change the status quo. That it involves infidelity and murder matters little to her.
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Frailty (2001)
Director: Bill Paxton
Screenplay: Brent Hanley
Stars: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe
The Pitch: “Bill Paxton wants to direct ‘Frailty’ – let’s do it!”
Tagline: There are demons among us
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Adam and Fenton are young brothers, being raised by their single parent dad. Dad is a hard-working loving parent and all is well with the family… until one night when their father wakes them up to reveal that he had been visited by an Angel. The Angel told dad that demons live among them and they have been chosen to slay them.
Fenton realizes his father had gone crazy, while Adam is convinced their dad was visited by an Angel. Fenton hopes this will pass, but when dad brings home a normal looking man who dad claims to be a demon and kills him, Fenton knows this is just the start…
Frailty is a classic that gets better with repeated viewings. Paxton’s acting and direction (the only film he directed!) is point on. Powers Boothe is, as always, excellent. This may be Matthew McConaughey’s best performance. Love the twists and turns.
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Eduardo Risso, genius that he is, takes the Punisher to Sin City… and yes, that is Nancy Callahan!
Source: In Trash We Trust
The trailer for Brawl in Cell Block 99 didn’t knock me out, but I still can’t wait to see S. Craig Zahler’s follow-up to Bone Tomahawk.
Small Crimes (2017)
Director: Evan Katz
Screenplay: Macon Blair and Evan Katz based on a novel by David Zeltserman
Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Robert Forster, Jacki Weaver and Gary Cole.
The Pitch: “Let’s turn David Zeltserman’s novel into a movie!”
Tagline: None.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When ex-cop, ex-con, Joe Denton is released from prison he finds himself still entangled with the crooks and crooked cop who got him sent up. Each step Joes makes takes him deeper into a life of crime where his chances of survival are knife-blade thin.
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Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present The 25 Best Action Movies to Get Your Blood Pumping. Seddon has come up with a great list. It was hard to pick just three, so depending on my mood, my choices could change. But for now, here they are (with some thoughts to follow)…
5. Aliens (1986)
Action hero: Ellen RipleyThe film: Ridley Scott’s atmospheric opener saw Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) trapped on a spaceship with a single Xenomorph, so it made sense for James Cameron’s sequel to try and up the ante: an abandoned space colony, a unit of gung-ho marines and an entire hive of acid bleeding bugs.
Most action-packed scene: Confronting the queen in the bowels of the industrial complex, Ripley has a few nice mother-to-mother moments before later strapping into the power loader and fighting her claw to claw.
2. Die Hard (1988)
Action hero: John McClane
The film: New York cop John McClane picks the first of many wrong places and wrong times to visit his wife at work, but for star Bruce Willis and director John McTiernan, the timing couldn’t have been better. Putting an ordinary Joe in the middle of a firefight, confining a terrorist takeover to a single, claustrophobic building, and balancing quip-smart dialogue with hard and heavy action set-pieces, Die Hard set the mold and broke it at the same time.Most action-packed scene: A rooftop bomb. A short fire hose. A plate glass window. The rest is history.
8. John Wick (2014)
Action hero: John WickThe film: Director Chad Stahelski overcomes first-time jitters in his filmmaking debut, largely due to his experiences as a martial arts stunt co-ordinator. This revenge actioner throws in some dark motivating factors for Keanu Reeves leading man. His vendetta kill mission is the most dazzling work Reeves has accomplished since his first time tackling Neo.
Most action-packed scene: Wick enters a club wherein he punches, kicks, headbutts and shoots anyone who crosses his path. Each strike hits with an eerie precision.
I was glad to see Stallone made the top 25 with First Blood. I was also happy to see both John Wick films made the cut. If it was my list I would have found room for Rambo and Enter the Dragon.
Shield for Murder (1954)
Director: Howard W. Koch and Edmond O’Brien
Screenplay: Richard Alan Simmons and John C. Higgins from a novel by William P. McGivern
Stars: Edmond O’Brien, John Agar, Marla English, John Agar, Caroline Jones and Claude Akins.
The Pitch: “Let’s turn William McGivern’s best-seller into a movie!”
Tagline: The Story Of A Killer-Cop Who Used His “SHIELD FOR MURDER”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When tough cop Detective Nolan (O’Brien) kills a bookie for the 25 grand the bookie is carrying, he thinks there are no witness. Nolan then learns a deaf/mute man saw the murder. This leads Nolan down a path of no-return full of murder and mayhem.
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