Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
We have the poster and trailer for On Call, the new series which premieres on PRIME VIDEO on January 9th. On Call stars Troian Bellisario, Brandon Larracuente, Lori Loughlin, Eriq La Salle and Rich Ting.
Bellisario and Larracuente play a veteran and rookie teamed to fight crime in Long Beach, California.
On Call looks to be worth a look.
Deal me in.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Director: Fritz Lang
Screenplay: Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang
Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke, Oscar Beregi Sr., Gustav Diessl
Tagline: Fritz Lang’s masterpiece. The most tremendous film of the present.
The Plot…
Hofmeister, a disgraced ex-police detective, uncovers an underworld criminal organization. Barely escaping with his life, Hofmeister calls police Inspector Karl Lohmann. As Hofmesiter lays out what he’s discovered, the connection is cut. When Hofmeister is found, he’s gone insane.
Inspector Lohmann finds clues indicating that Dr. Mabuse is the mastermind behind the underworld criminals discovered by Hofmeister. Lohmann is puzzled to learn that Dr. Mabuse went mad ten years prior. He’s been housed at Professor Baum’s asylum. Dr. Mabuse, locked in his cell with no outside contact, spends his days writing comprehensive plans for heists. Mabuse’s cell is full of them. Making things even stranger, since no one has access to these plans, is that they’re being used to commit crimes.
How can that be?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The Nazis banned showing of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse because it might “incite people to anti-social behavior and terrorism against the State”.
Director Fritz Lang said that he was called to a meeting with Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi Party. Goebbels said that he and Adolph Hitler were fans of Fritz’s earlier movies but his latest films (M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) could be interpreted as against the Nazi Party. Goebbels then offered Lang the opportunity to direct films for the Nazis. Lang said he would consider the offer. He left Germany not long after this meeting.
Fritz is a master a direction, use of sound (talkies were still relatively new) and tension building scenes.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) rates 5 of 5 stars.
Frank Miller’s Sin City character Hartigan by Freddie Williams II. I absolutely love this piece. It’s bold, iconic and makes great use of negative space.
Source: Tom Forbes.
The Joker by Rafael Kayanan. Raf’s take on The Joker is terrifying.
5 Steps to Danger (1957)
Director: Henry S. Kesler
Screenplay: Henry S. Kesler; story by Donald Hamilton, Turnley Walker; based on The Steel Mirror by Donald Hamilton
Stars: Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer, Richard Gaines, Peter Hansen, John Mitchum, Leonard Bremen, Sidney Clute and Ken Curtis.
Tagline: First she lured him into her car … then she let him taste her lips … and then … THE TERROR BEGAN !
The Plot…
John Emmett has just learned that his car is beyond repair. John sells it to the mechanic and asks about the nearest bus station. Ann Nicholson overheard John’s problem and offers him a ride. She’s driving to Santa Fe. Ann suggests John ride with her. They can split the drive time and motor straight through the night. John agrees.
When they stop for gas, a woman, claiming to be a nurse approaches John. The woman says that Ann has mental issues. The woman claims Ann is a patient of Dr. Frederick Simmons. John isn’t sure what to believe and says nothing to Ann.
Later, Ann and John are pulled over by two cops. They begin to question Ann about a murder in Los Angeles. She argues with a cop and in the struggle the policeman is knocked down the embankment. The other cop handcuffs Ann to John. The cop and John struggle and John knocks him down the hill. Ann and John take off.
On the run from the police, Ann tells John that she accidentally discovered a foreign government’s plot against the US. Ann says that she has important scientific information that she must get to trusted authorities. John is unsure if Ann is mentally unstable, a murderess or a patriot on the run.
One thing John does know, is that he’s now a wanted man. His life may depend on unraveling the mystery that is Ann Nicholson.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Wilder’s Garage in the opening scene was named that as a nod to Billy Wilder who opened Ace in the Hole with a similar scene.
Werner Klemperer went on to fame as Colonel Klink on Hogan’s Heroes. FBI Agent Jim Anderson is played (uncredited) by Ken Curtis who became famous as Festus on Gunsmoke.
5 Steps to Danger (1957) rates 2 of 5 stars.
SKULL FULL by Anthony Neil Smith drops tomorrow. Here’s the lowdown…
A collection of stories by 2024 Horror Showdown Finalist Anthony Neil Smith about f****d-up families, f****d-up relationships, f****d-up crimes, and f****d-up f**kedness, and are adorably twisted around a darkly humorous core.
Anthony Neil Smith is a novelist whose short fiction has appeared in HAD, Bull, Cowboy Jamboree, Maudlin House, Reckon Review, and many more. He’s a professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and current editor of online lit mag Revolution John. One of his stories appeared in Best American Mystery & Suspense 2023. He’s been nominated for a Pushcart twice, and for Best of the Net twice. Another story collection, THE TICKS WILL EAT YOU WHOLE, is forthcoming in March of 2025.
REVELATION by Robert Knott
First sentence…
Augustus Noble Driggs was lying inside the small stone room on a bunk, thinking about Jesus and whatnot.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
US Marshall Virgil Cole and Deputy Everette Hitch receive word that several convicts have escaped prison. Worse still, they have taken the warden’s wife with them. One of the escapees is none other than Augustus Noble Driggs. Driggs is “square-jawed, handsome, and built like a muscled thoroughbred stallion.” He’s well educated, resourceful and a West Point graduate. Driggs is accurate with both pistol and long rifle. Smart, physically fit and capable. Driggs is a stone cold killer and dangerous adversary.
Virgil and Everette ride out to track down Driggs and the convicts. Little do they know that an equal danger is brewing in Appaloosa.
+++++
Robert Knott does Robert B. Parker proud with another Virgil and Everett yarn.
Rating:
Brothers (2024)
Director: Max Barbakow
Screenplay: Macon Blair; story by Etan Cohen
Stars: Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Taylour Paige, Jen Landon, Brendan Fraser, Glenn Close, M. Emmet Walsh, Margo Moorer, Joshua Mikel, Nathan Hesse, Taylor St. Clair and Marisa Tomei.
Tagline: Family is a life sentence.
The Plot…
Thirty years ago, Mike and Jady’s mother took off with the cops in hot pursuit. Mom and her boyfriend had stolen emeralds worth millions. Mom was not caught or heard from again. After mom split, Mike and Jady began a life of small time crime. Jady was eventually caught and sent to prison. Mike married and hoped to turn his life around.
When Jady is released from prison, he visits Mike. Jady has a plan for a road trip and one last score. Desperate since he just lost his job, Mike agrees. Had Mike known that it would involve an overly-friendly orangutan, a cop with a vendetta and their long lost mother, he might have reconsidered.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Brothers has a great cast with a story that has potential. Sadly the film falls short. I didn’t care for any of the characters. The go-to for laughs was seeing people fall off roofs, get punched, run over or knocked down. I made it to the end. Barely.
Brothers is M. Emmet Walsh’s last feature film appearance. He deserved better. So did the other talents in this movie. Brendan Fraser and Marisa Tomei are Academy Award winners. Josh Brolin and Glenn Close are Academy Award nominees. Peter Dinklage is a 4 time Emmy Award winner.
Although Marisa Tomei is listed on the movie poster, her name doesn’t appear in the film credits.
Brothers (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.
Here’s a vintage Dave Johnson sketch of Dizzy.
I’m a big fan of Jonathan Maberry’s novels. My favorite is his JOE LEDGER series, but everything I’ve ever read by Maberry has been worthy.
MYSTIC: THE MONK ADDISON CASE FILES is on my “must-buy” list. (How about that cover by Lynne Hansen!)
MYSTIC: THE MONK ADDISON CASE FILES drops December 3rd, 2024. Below is the synopsis…
Gerald “Monk” Addison used to be a soldier. Sometimes he’s a bounty hunter. Mostly, he’s a killer of killers.
His body is covered with the faces of victims of serial killers, human traffickers, and other monsters. Their blood is mixed with holy water and then inked onto his skin, allowing him to relive their deaths. To feel what they felt, and to see what they saw. The faces of the killers.And then Monk goes hunting.
He is forever haunted by the ghosts who hire him. A madman mystic. A man driven to darkness and acts of shocking violence. Monk is a good man on a dark and dangerous road in search of personal redemption. In search of red justice.
MYSTIC collects the Monk Addison case files, pitting him against the most dangerous kinds of human monsters. These are stories of a complex and driven hunter of men. They are tales of a mystic hunting the nightmare streets and back alleys.
Leon: The Professional turns 30 this year. A new Blu-Ray with extras is coming. To celebrate with have the alt poster by Joshua Lane Johnson above and the 30th anniversary trailer below.
A film by Luc Besson
12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Leon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégé and learns the assassin’s trade.
Black Dynamite (2009)
Director: Scott Sanders
Screenplay: Michael Jai White, Scott Sanders, Byron Minns, story by Michael Jai White, Byron Minns
Stars: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Phyllis Applegate, Obba Babatundé, William Bassett and Mykelti Williamson.
Tagline: He’s super bad, he’s outta sight. He’s Black Dynamite.
The Plot…
Black Dynamite (White) is a Viet Nam vet, fung fu expert, ex-CIA, love machine. He’s a mean muther — I’m just talking about Black Dynamite. When Black Dynamite’s brother is killed, evidence leads to an organization that is providing heroin to black orphanages, and poisoning malt liquor headed for the ghetto. The CIA reinstate Black Dynamite so he can make those muthers pay.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Black Dynamite is a love letter to the low-budget blaxploitation movies of the early 1970s. It definitely captured the look, sound and feel of those films. We get split screen, slow-motion, boom mic errors, jump cuts, bad dialogue and music that take us back to those wonderful days of one cool cat willing and able to take down the man in between loving the ladies.
Kudos to Michael Jai White for not only playing the lead, but coming up with the idea and hitting the right mix of homage and parody.
Black Dynamite (2009) rates 4 of 5 stars.
Cross: Season 1 (2024)
Created by: Ben Watkins; based on the ALEX CROSS novels by James Patterson
Director: Nzingha Stewart (Eps. 1-2); Craig Siebels (Eps. 3-4); Stacey Muhammad (Eps. 5-6); Director X (Ep. 7); Carl Seaton (Ep. 8)
Teleplay: Ben Watkins (Ep. 1); Aiyana White (Ep. 2); Ron McCants & Sam Ernst (Ep. 3); Blaize Ali-Watkins & Jim Dunn (Ep. 4); Gary Lundy (Ep. 5); Ali Salerno; story by Ali Salerno & Sonja Perryman (Ep. 6); Sam Ernst & Jim Dunn (Ep. 7);Ben Watkins & Aiyana White (Ep. 8)
Stars: Aldis Hodge, Isaiah Mustafa, Juanita Jennings, Alona Tal, Samantha Walkes, Caleb Elijah, Melody Hurd, Jennifer Wigmore, Eloise Mumford, Ryan Eggold, Stacie Greenwell, Sharon Taylor, Karen Robinson, Mercedes de la Zerda, Siobhan Murphy and Johnny Ray Gill.
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
D.C. Detective Alex Cross (Hodge) and (his best friend since childhood) Detective John Sampson (Mustafa) are assigned the case of a well known Black Lives Matter activist, Emir Goodspeed, found dead in his car. Initial reports indicate an accidental drug overdose. Cross examines the evidence and believes it was murder. The powers that be want the case quickly wrapped up.
Chief Anderson orders Cross to quit making waves. Cross digs deeper. He finds evidence that Goodspeed was the victim of a serial killer. Chief Anderson, not convinced, orders Cross to stand down. Only Cross’ partner, John Sampson and one other person believe Cross is right. The other person is the serial killer.
Cross doesn’t know how connected and powerful the serial killer is. He’s about to find out.
Cross also doesn’t realize the killer who murdered Cross’ wife (and was never caught) is coming back for more revenge.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
I absolutely loved this season. Alex Cross isn’t a perfect hero by any stretch. He’s suffering from the unresolved murder of his wife. Often deaths in movies/television shows have little ramifications for the heroes. That isn’t the case here.
Cross is populated with characters and a great cast. Standouts are Aldis Hodge, Isaiah Mustafa (who plays my favorite character), Ryan Eggold and Johnny Ray Gill.
The story feels grounded in reality which makes us more willing to accept the connections of the serial killer. I loved the twists and the secondary story that doesn’t immediately become clear that it’s not part of the main crime.
I am looking forward to season 2.
Cross: Season 1 (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.
High Wall (1947)
Director: Curtis Bernhardt
Screenplay: Sydney Boehm, Lester Cole, story by Alan R. Clark, Bradbury Foote based on HIGH WALL by Alan R. Clark and the play adapted by Bradbury Foote
Stars: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, H.B. Warner, Warner Anderson, Moroni Olsen, John Ridgely, Morris Ankrum, Elisabeth Risdon and Vince Barnett.
Tagline: So tense! So taut! It closes in on you like a high wall!
The Plot…
Steven Kenet (Taylor) needs an operation for a brain injury he suffered in the war. Kenet is currently being held in the county psychiatric hospital. Police believe Kenet murdered his wife. Kenet needs psychiatric testing to see if he’s sane enough to stand trial.
Kenet initially doesn’t know if he killed his wife or not. As he regains bits of his memory, Kenet begins to believe he’s innocent. But how can he prove his innocence if he’s locked up in the looney bin? If he could only get Dr. Ann Lorrison (Trotter) to believe he’s not a killer…
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The High Wall takes some daring angles for a film made in the 40s. The hero starting to strangle his wife. A war hero’s wife cheating on him and caring nothing for her child. The killer admitting it to Kenet to incite him. Kudos for being daring.
Contrast this with the easy way Kenet gets in and out of custody plus the killer’s “confession” and we end up with a mixed bag. Still I liked High Wall.
High Wall (1947) rates 3 of 5 stars.
Gun Crazy (1950)
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo, MacKinlay Kantor based on Gun Crazy a 1940 story in The Saturday Evening Post by MacKinlay Kantor
Stars: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Trevor Bardette, Virginia Farmer, Robert Osterloh, Shimen Ruskin, Ray Teal and Russ Tamblyn.
Tagline: SHE BELIEVES IN TWO THINGS… – love and violence!
The Plot…
Bart Tare (Dall) has always had a fascination with guns. Bart is a crack shot and even taught marksmanship in the service. One night at a traveling carnival with friends, Bart is encouraged to accept a challenge from sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Cummins). Even though she’s really good, Bart wins the contest. But Laurie wins Bart’s heart.
Laurie gets Bart a job with the carnival. They fall in love and marry. Laurie wants more than the sideshow life can provide. She convinces Bart they should use their gun skills to rob enough places to live the good life. When Laurie threatens to leave Bart, he agrees as long as no one gets hurt.
That’s a promise she can’t keep. She’s gun crazy.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The bank robbery scene was shot in one take. Dall, Cummins, the actor playing the police officer and the people inside the bank knew the scene was being filmed. At no time during the scene do we see the inside of the bank. That was a bold move for the director to make. It works!
Dalton Trumbo was listed in the credits since he was a blacklisted writer at the time.
Bart and Laurie are loosely based on Bonnie and Clyde.
I appreciate Gun Crazy more with each viewing.
Gun Crazy (1950) rates 4 of 5 stars.
