Category: Crime

Ace Atkins & Marco Finnegan: Last Fair Deal Gone Down Interview!

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Ace Atkins [writer] and Marco Finnegan [artist] the team behind the graphic novel Last Fair Deal Gone Down recently were interviewed by Alex Dueben for The Beat.

Last Fair Deal Gone Down…

It’s Christmas in New Orleans. For many, it’s the best season of the year. But instead of spending time with the people he cares about, Nick Travers is searching for the killer of his friend, Fats, one of the best saxophone players you could find in the Crescent City. At first it appears that Fats took his own life, but Nick quickly discovers that the saxophone is missing from Fats’ apartment and he hits the streets to track it down. He soon learns that there is more to the story than a simple suicide, and the woman who Fats had been paying to keep him company may hold the answers.

Last Fair Deal Gone Down will be the first in a series of Nick Travers graphic novel adaptations from 12-Gauge Comics― introducing the character and his stories to a brand new audience.

Preview of Moonshine by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

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Moonshine by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso the creative team behind the award-winning series 100 Bullets is…

Set during Prohibition, and deep in the backwoods of Appalachia, MOONSHINE #1 tells the story of Lou Pirlo, a city-slick “torpedo” sent from New York City to negotiate a deal with the best moonshiner in West Virginia, one Hiram Holt. What Lou doesn’t figure on is that Holt is just as cunning and ruthless as any NYC crime boss. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he’ll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret…a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day… or better still, the light of the full moon. MOONSHINE #1 marks the first time AZZARELLO and RISSO have worked together for Image Comics and reunites the Eisner Award winning creative team that defined modern crime comics with 100 Bullets… and now puts a horror-twist on a classic gangster tale.

Moonshine is for mature audiences due to violence and language.  If you meet those qualifications, CBR.com has a five page preview of things to come.

The Lineup (1958) / Z-View

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The Lineup (1958)

Director: Don Siegal

Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant

Stars: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel.

The Pitch: “Hey, if it works on tv…?”

Tagline: “The Manhunt They Had To Put on the Giant-Sized Movie Theatre Screen!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A criminal organization gets heroin into the US by hiding it in tourists’ luggage (without the tourists’ knowlege).  A psycho hitman and his partner then retrieve the heroin (by whatever force needed).

Two police detectives investigating a murder discover what is going on.  As the bodies pile up they learn that a woman and her little daughter are next on the psycho’s list!

I was expecting a lot more than a by-the-numbers police procedural from director, Don [Dirty Harry] Siegal, writer and Sterling [Route 66] Silliphant.  There’s a lot of potential here but only Eli Wallach rises above the material given. 

Perhaps my rating is a bit tough because I was expecting so much more.

 

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A First Look at the Training Day TV Series!

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I’m a huge fan of the original Training Day movie and I think the Training Day series has a lot of potential.

Based on the hit feature film, this crime thriller begins 15 years later when an idealistic young police officer is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD and he is partnered with a seasoned yet morally ambiguous detective. Starring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell, Training Day. Coming soon to CBS.

Spectre (2015) / Z-View

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Spectre (2015)

Director: Sam Mendes

Screenplay: John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth based on character created by Ian Fleming

Stars: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Dave Bautista.

The Pitch: “Hey, I’ve got an idea on a new James Bond movie!”

Tagline: “The dead are alive”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Bond [Craig] discovers SPECTRE, a mysterious worldwide organization behind many terrorist activities. As Bond follows clues in the field, the new head of National Security in England has decided to shut down the MI6 division of National Security.  Bond is alone and without backup when SPECTRE turns their sights to Bond.

I really like Daniel Craig as Bond and much of Spectre was fun, but I found myself wanting more — more from the opening action sequence and more from the main fight between Craig and Batista.  Perhaps Casino Royale just set the bar too high…

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Takers (2010) / Z-View

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Takers (2010)

Director: John Luessenhop

Screenplay: Peter Allen & Gabriel Casseus and John Luessenhop & Avery Duff

Stars: Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, Idris Elba, Paul Wakler and Zoe Saldana.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie about a pair of cops after a gang of thieves and will put in two twists at the end!”

Tagline: “Everyone’s after something.”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A very successful group of thieves finds a huge score suddenly placed before them by a team member who just go out of prison.  The short time for prep before the score is going to be as much of an issue as the pair of cops that they don’t know are on their trail.

There are a couple of nice twists near the end of the film.

 

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“Sicario 2” is “Sicario” on “Steroids”

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Sicario was one of the best movies in recent memory.  Naturally, a sequel is planned with Taylor Sheridan returning to write the screenplay which will focus Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin).

To read more about Sicario 2 and how Taylor Sheridan describes it check out Jack Giroux’s “Sicario” Screenwriter Says the Sequel Is The First Movie on “Steroids” at /Film.

The Courier (2012) / Z-View

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The Courier (2012)

Director: Hany Abu-Assad

Screenplay: Brannon Coombs, Pete Dris

Stars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Josie Ho, Til Schweiger, Miguel Ferrer, Lili Taylor, Mark Margolis and Mickey Rourke.

The Pitch: “I’ve got an idea for a new ‘Transporter’ movie!”

Tagline: “He delivers”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A transporter courier is hired to deliver a briefcase containing who knows what.  He’ll be paid a million dollars if he meets the deadline.  If he is late his family will be killed.

I’m a Jeffrey Dean Morgan fan and The Courier starts out fun enough with a girl held at gunpoint on a plank from the top of a roller coaster.  The clock is clicking down — will the courier get the money there in time.

I won’t spoil it for you but after that intro we’re off and running (the clock is ticking again after all).  Great cast and a fun movie right up until the very end.  Things seem rushed and convoluted as the movie comes to a close.  Mickey Rourke has a glorified cameo.

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Is This a Photo of the Alcatraz Prison Escapees?

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The photo above is purported to be Clarence Anglin and John Anglin, two of the three convicts who escaped from Alcatraz prison in 1962.  This picture was reportedly taken in 1975 on a farm where they allegedly lived in Brazil.

The Alcatraz prison break is probably the most famous prison escape ever since it was thought to be impossible and the three convicts were never caught.  Of course the Clint Eastwood movie, Escape from Alcatraz, probably helped with public awareness a bit.

At any rate, if you’re interested you can see vintage photos of the convicts, their cells, escape route and more at  Could the Alcatraz Escapees Still Be Alive? Here Are Some of Historical Photos of The Great Escape from Alcatraz in 1962 at Vintage Everyday.

O.J.: Made in America (2016) / Z-View

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O.J.: Made in America (2016)

Director: Ezra Edelman

The Pitch: “The make a documentary like ‘Making a Murderer’ but with the most famous murder trial in American history!”

No Tagline.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

An amazing documentary that explores in detail the trial of OJ Simpson for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman as well as the history of the years leading up to the murders. And not just the history of OJ and Nicole, but also the United States – the evolution of civil liberties, the reputation of the LA police, the rise of O.J. Simpson’s celebrity as a sports and movie star and how these different factors came together to create a climate that gave us the OJ Simpson murder trial.

The documentary takes us past the criminal trial to the civil trial, OJ’s life following it and the subsequent activities and trial that cost OJ Simpson his freedom.

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The Night Stalker (2016) / Z-View

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The Night Stalker (2016)

Director: Megan Griffiths
Screenplay: Megan Griffiths
Stars: Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips and Louis Herthum.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie about the real life serial killer known as ‘The Night Stalker’.”

No Tagline.

The Plot…

A young woman [Young] is given the job to get to know Richard Ramirez aka “The Night Stalker” in an effort to find out if he is responsible for a murder attributed to another man who is sentenced to die for it.

Thoughts…

Phillips is convincing as The Night Stalker.

The drawings that are seen in Richard Ramirez’s cell are actual drawings done by Ramirez.

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David Morrell’s Ruler of the Night

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Word on a new David [First Blood] Morrell novel is always welcome here!

On November 15, 2016, we’ll get the third part of Morrell’s Victorian mystery trilogy featuring Thomas De Quincey with Ruler of the Night.

Like David Morrell’s previous De Quincey novels, Ruler of the Night blends fact and fiction to an exceptional degree, this time focusing on a real-life Victorian murder so startling that it changed the culture-in this case, the first murder on an English train. The brutality of the crime stoked the fears of a generation who believed that the newly invented railway would “annihilate time and space.”

In Ruler of the Night, readers feel they’re actually on the harrowing fogbound streets of 1855 London as the brilliant Opium-Eater, Thomas De Quincey, and his irrepressible daughter, Emily, confront their most ruthless adversary. The stakes couldn’t be greater: both the heart of Victorian society and De Quincey’s tormented soul.

 

 

The fast-paced narrative matches the speed with which the railway changed Victorian life. It brings back Scotland Yard detectives Ryan and Becker, along with Lord Palmerston, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert, and introduces a host of new characters from this fascinating era. Master storyteller David Morrell transports readers back in time, away from the modern world and into the dangerous shadows of the past.

I Died a Thousand Times (1955) / Z-View

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I Died a Thousand Times (1955)

Director: Stuart Heisler
Screenplay: W.R. Burnett
Stars: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin, Lon Chaney, Jr., Earl Holliman and Dennis Hopper.

The Pitch: “Let’s remake ‘High Sierra.’”

Tagline: “The Story Behind The Terrifying 60-Day Hunt For Desperado ‘Mad-Dog’ Earle!”

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Roy Earl [Palance] an infamous bank robber [think Dillinger] is sprung from prison by an old crime boss who wants Earl for a big robbery. Obligated for his freedom, Earl drives west to check out the set up.

Once he meets up with his old boss, Earl discovers the robbery plan is good and the money is right, but his partners are young, inexperienced thugs [Marvin & Holliman] looking to make a name for themselves… plus they have a woman [Winters] with them and everyone knows women and crime plans don’t work out.

Before it is over there will be a robbery, people killed, double-crosses and a manhunt for the “Mad Dog Killer” Roy Earl.

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