100 Bullets’ Megan & Cole by Eduardo Risso!
One of the all-time best crime comics is 100 BULLETS written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso. Here Risso gives us two characters from the tale, Megan and Cole.
Category: Crime
“Let Us Prey” (2014) / Z-View
Let Us Prey (2014)
Director: Brian O’Malley
Screenplay: Fiona Watson, David Cairns
Stars: Liam Cunningham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Bryan Larkin, Douglas Russell, Niall Greig Fulton and Brian Vernel.
Tagline: Darkness shall rise.
The Plot…
In a remote small town police station it’s going to be a strange night. Police officer Rachel Heggie (McIntosh) has booked Caesar Sargison. He’s the driver of a hit and run. Sargison is placed in a cell with Ralph Beswick. Reggie is charged with domestic battery for beating his wife. Police officers Jennifer Munday and Jack Warnock (Larkin) arrive with the man Caesar drove into. Except for a few scratches the man seems okay.
Dr. Duncan Hume (Fulton) is brought in to check the mystery man for injuries. Suddenly Dr. Hume attempts to stab the man. Hume is stopped and placed in a cell. The man has no identification and when his fingerprints come back, they belong to a person that died decades ago. The man is carrying a small notebook full of people’s names. When he talks he makes references to the Old Testament.
As the evening progresses, secrets are revealed, murders are committed and murders are solved. It’s going to be a hell of a night.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Let Us Prey has an interesting set-up. It just didn’t resonate with me.
Let Us Prey (2014) rates 2 of 5 stars.
“72 Hours” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!
The poster and trailer for 72 Hours are here!
Two brothers, one an FBI agent and the other an international money launderer, must put aside their differences and band together to execute a perilous extraction to save their family being held captive by a dangerous kingpin.
In Theaters & On Demand November 1
“Touch of Evil” by Sean Phillips!
Sean Phillips gives us a cool shot of Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles), Mike (Charlton Heston) and Susan Vargas (Janet Leigh) from Touch of Evil!
If you’re not familiar with Sean Phillips or Touch of Evil, you should correct that straight away.
“Untold: The Murder of Air McNair” (2024) / Z-View
Untold: The Murder of Air McNair (2024)
Director: Rodney Lucas, Taylor Alexander Ward
Stars: Steve McNair.
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
Steve “Air” McNair had a wonderful NFL career. McNair was the third player chosen in the first round. He played for 12 years. McNair was an all-pro, a passing leader and very wealthy. McNair was married with two sons (and two sons from relationships before he was married). At the age of 35, Steve McNair retired with a family farm in Mississippi and a restaurant he owned in Nashville.
Life should have been great.
On July 4, 2009, Steve McNair was found dead in his Nashville apartment. He has been shot multiple times. Next to him, also dead from a gunshot wound was Sahel “Jenni” Kazemi. McNair and Kazemi had been involved in an affair. The person who found the two didn’t call 911 straight away. He needed to do some things first.
When the police finally got the call the investigation ruled it a murder/suicide. But was it?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
If you’re looking for a one and done murder documentary, this might fit the bill. It clocks in at 57 minutes.
Untold: The Murder of Air McNair (2024) rates 3 of 5 stars.
Marv by Joelle Jones!
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love seeing artists do their “take” on the big lug. Today we have Marv by Joelle Jones.
“The Glass House” (1972) directed by Tom Gries, screenplay by Tracy Keenan Wynn, starring Vic Morrow, Alan Alda, Clu Gulager & Billy Dee Williams / Z-View
The Glass House aka Truman Capote’s The Glass House (1972)
Director: Tom Gries
Screenplay: Tracy Keenan Wynn; story by Truman Capote, Wyatt Cooper
Stars: Vic Morrow, Alan Alda, Clu Gulager, Billy Dee Williams, Kristoffer Tabori, Scott Hylands, Roy Jenson, Alan Vint, Luke Askew, G. Wood and Dean Jagger.
Tagline: The most brutal prison story ever filmed!
The Plot…
It’s Brian Courtland’s (Gulager) first day on the job as a prison guard. The same day a new bus load of prisoners arrive. In the new group is college professor Jonathan Paige (Alda) and a nineteen year old named Allan Campbell (Tabori). Paige is there on a manslaughter charge for accidentally killing a man. Campbell was caught selling marijuana. Neither Paige nor Campbell are built for prison. The jury is still out on Courtland.
All three quickly learn that Hugo Slocum (Morrow) is the inmate who runs things. Slocum leads a gang of convicts. He also has at least one guard on the take. What Slocum says goes. Failure to fall in line leads to a beating or worse. Slocum and his crew think nothing of killing to keep their power.
Paige warns Allan about Slocum. Allan is young and naive and doesn’t see how he’s being played. Slocum is treating Allan good, offering protection with no strings attached. Or so it seems.
The Warden (Jagger) wants Paige put to work in the prison pharmacy. Courtland warns against that. He knows Slocum’s man works there. To switch him out will cause problems for Paige. The warden doesn’t want to hear it.
When Paige starts work in the pharmacy, he learns about Slocum’s system to get drugs into the prison. Paige refuses to play along. He becomes a marked man. Slocum decides to make an example out of Allan in the worst possible way.
What chance does Paige have? He’s a college professor in a corrupt prison, marked for death by the con who runs things. Don’t expect a happy ending.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The Glass House was nominated for three Primetime Emmys and won one…
- winner for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama – A Single Program: Tom Gries
- nominee for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Adaptation: Tracy Keenan Wynn
- nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television: Gene Fowler Jr.
The Glass House was filmed at Utah State Prison. Real prisoners were seen in the movie.
The Glass House was filmed for television, but a cut released for theaters and video features slight male nudity and profanity.
I saw The Glass House when it premiered on television. I was thirteen. It opened my eyes to things I’d never considered. Over 50 years later it still is powerful filmmaking. You might not believe it was made for tv.
Director Tom Gries directed episodes of many television programs and feature films that I enjoyed as a kid. He’s probably best known for directing Charles Bronson in Breakheart Pass and Breakout in the same year. The Glass House is my favorite of his films.
Screenwriter Tracey Keenan Wynn was the son of actor Keenan Wynn. He had written the excellent television movie The Tribe starring Darrin McGavin and Jan-Michael Vincent two years prior. Wynn won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Original Teleplay. He followed The Glass House with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman. For that he won another Primetime Emmy for Best Writing in Drama – Adaptation. Wynn followed with the screenplays for The Longest Yard starring Burt Reynolds and Harper starring Paul Newman. Wynn was on quite a roll.
Vic Morrow should have won or at least been nominated for a Primetime Emmy. This is arguably his best performance ever.
A young Bill Dee Williams coming off of Brian’s Song has a co-starring role.
The Glass House aka Truman Capote’s The Glass House (1972) rates 5 of 5 stars.
“Dead Ringer” (1964) starring Bette Davis, Karl Malden & Peter Lawford / Z-View
Dead Ringer (1964)
Director: Paul Henreid
Screenplay: Albert Beich, Oscar Millard; based on The Other aka Dead Pigeon by Rian James
Stars: Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford, Philip Carey, Jean Hagen, George Macready, Estelle Winwood, George Chandler, Cyril Delevanti, Monika Henreid, Ken Lynch, Henry Beckman and Bert Remsen.
Tagline: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, now who’s the fairest twin of all?
The Plot…
For nearly two decades, twin sisters Margaret and Edith (Davis) haven’t spoken. Their friendship ended when Margaret cheated with Edith’s fiancé Frank DeLorca. To add insult, Margaret faked being pregnant and married the extremely wealthy man.
So Margaret got the life of luxury. Money, a mansion, maids and a butler. Edith barely got by. With each passing year Edith has grown more bitter.
So when Edith sees a funeral notice for Frank, she decides it is time for revenge. Edith and Margaret are identical sisters. No one can tell them apart by looking. So if Edith killed Margaret and took her place who would know?
Who would know indeed. The best laid plans…
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Director Paul Henreid is best known as the actor who played Laszlo in Casablanca.
Dead Ringer (1964) rates 4 of 5 stars.
MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL by Saurav Mohapatra & Vivek Shinde / Z-View
MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL BOOK ONE: GOOD COP, BAD COP by Saurav Mohapatra (writer), Vivek Shinde (artist)
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Five years ago life was good. Arjun Kadam was happily married. He was a cop with a bright future. Kadam was personally selected by the Chief to join the Mumbai Encounter Squad. The squad was a strike force authorized to use whatever force necessary to take down the worst criminals.
But that was then.
After Kadam’s wife died, things began to spiral. The Squad was crossing lines in the name of justice that were questionable at best. Then a hit and run driver put Kadam in a coma and killed the little girl he was talking with.
Now Kadam has recovered. He’s no longer a cop. Kadam’s dealing with depression and drug dependency. The thing that keeps Kadam going is his determination to find the little girl’s killer.
Kadam’s journey will take him from slums and back alleys to the richest Bollywood nightclubs. As Kadam digs deeper into the Mumbai Underworld the difference between gangsters and cops becomes blurred. No longer a cop, Kadam is on his own. Survival is unlikely when mobsters and out of control cops want you dead.
Arjun Kadam doesn’t care. He’s going to take them all down… or die trying.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
If you’re a fan of noir, The Shield, and 100 Bullets, then MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL is for you. Featuring a non-linear storyline and wonderful art, it reads like a novel. Saurav Mohapatra has the tough guy dialogue down. Vivek Shinde’s art compliments the story with his exciting visuals and muted colors. (It was originally conceived to be done in ink wash.)
As the story unfolds we get interludes by different artists that take us deeper in the world of MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL. I found the different art styles interesting and added to my enjoyment of the main storyline. The interludes are…
- Remaster by Sid Kotian
- House of Cards by Saumin Patel
- Missed Call by Vinay Brahmania and Shounak Jog
- Full Moon by Vinay Brahmania
- Demand and Supply by Devaki Neogi
MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL gets my highest recommendation!
MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL BOOK ONE: GOOD COP, BAD COP by Saurav Mohapatra (writer), Vivek Shinde (artist) rates 5 of 5 stars.
Rating:
“Killer’s Game” (2024) starring Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins & Ben Kingsley / Z-View
Killer’s Game (2024)
Director: J. J. Perry
Screenplay: Rand Ravich, James Coyne, based on THE KILLER’S GAME by Jay Bonansinga
Stars: Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Ben Kingsley, Raffaello Degruttola, Domonkos Pardanyi and Sharon Rabinowitz.
Tagline: Winning is all in the execution.
The Plot…
Joe Flood (Bautista) has made his living as a hit man. He only takes contracts on evil men. No women. No children. No civilians.
Joe meets a dancer named Maize (Boutella) and they begin dating. It soon becomes clear that they’re falling in love. Joe’s never been happier although his headaches have been getting worse. When Joe goes to the doctor, results show he has a fatal disease with no cure. The disease is fast moving and will leave Joe blind, in pain and mindless in a matter of months.
Joe decides to take matters into his own hands. He breaks it off with Maize. Then Joe uses his connections to put a hit on himself. When word gets out, hit teams from around the world are determined to collect the two million dollar bounty.
The Joe gets a call from his doctor. The test result were mixed up. Another patient has the disease, not Joe. Except for his headaches, Joe is perfectly healthy. The doctor says Joe could live for years.
Of course the doc doesn’t know about the hit men and women on their way to punch Joe’s ticket. Since there’s no calling off the hit, Joe’s only way to survive is to kill the killers.
Game on.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
This is the second time Dave Bautista and Sofia Boutella appeared together in a film. The first was Hotel Artemis (2018) which I highly recommend.
Killer’s Game (2024) is a fun ride. It features over the top characters, cartoonish violence, a bit of romance and a twist or two.
Killer’s Game (2024) rates 4 of 5 stars.
“From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996) directed by Robert Rodriguez, written by Quentin Tarantino, starring George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis & Quentin Tarantino / Z-View
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, story by Robert Kurtzman
Stars: George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Quentin Tarantino, Ernest Liu, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson, Brenda Hillhouse, John Saxon, Marc Lawrence, Kelly Preston, John Hawkes, Greg Nicotero, Robert Rodriguez and Michael Parks.
Tagline: From Quentin Tarantino. From Robert Rodriguez. From Dusk Till Dawn
The Plot…
Seth (Clooney) and Richie (Tarantino) Gecko are bank robbers on the run. They’re desperate to get to across the border to Mexico. If they make it, they’ll meet Carlos at a strip club called The Titty Twister. From there, for a price, they’ll be taken to a sanctuary.
The trip won’t be easy. Every cop including the Texas Rangers are after them. There are roadblocks, constant news reports plus Richie is liable to royally screw things up. Seth is a thief and will kill anyone who attempts to bring him in, but there are lines he won’t cross. Richie is a sadist, sexual deviant and is an eager killer.
Opportunity presents itself when the Gecko brothers see Jacob Fuller (Keitel) and his two teenage kids, Scott (Liu) and Kate (Lewis) outside their RV. They kidnap the family and force Jacob to drive them across the border.
Now it’s a short journey to The Titty Twister. Once there the family will be set free and the brothers will go to sanctuary. Or so they think. No one can imagine the horrors that await. Not everyone will survive.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
I love how From Dusk Till Dawn morphs from a crime flick to a horror movie.
There are movie easter eggs throughout the film. Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) appears here and in Kill Bill, Planet Terror and Death Proof. Big Kahuna Burgers, made famous in Pulp Fiction (and later Death Proof) show up. A Precinct 13 shirt worn by Scott is a reference to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. The crotch-gun that Sex Machine uses was also seen in Rodriguez’s film Desperado. Chango Beer seen in this film was also a beverage in Desperado.
Cheech Marin plays three roles in the film: a border patrol agent, the barker at The Titty Twister and Carlos.
From Dusk Till Dawn fits in perfectly with Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse double feature… instead make it a triple feature that would run from, uh, dusk till dawn.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) rates 5 of 5 stars.
“Wolfs” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt – The 2nd Trailer is Here!
The second trailer for Wolfs starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt is here.
Deal me in.
He works alone. So does he. Wolfs is streaming September 27 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/Wolfs_
George Clooney and Brad Pitt reunite for the action comedy WOLFS. Clooney plays a professional fixer hired to cover up a high profile crime. But when a second fixer (Pitt) shows up and the two “lone wolves” are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected.
“Cross” starring Aldis Hodge – The Poster and Trailer are Here!
The poster and trailer for Cross starring Aldis Hodge are here!
Meet Detective Alex Cross. Cross premieres November 14 on Prime Video.
“The Big Bang” (2010) directed by Tony Krantz, starring Antonio Banderas & Sam Elliott / Z-View
The Big Bang (2010)
Director: Tony Krantz
Screenplay: Erik Jendresen
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, William Fichtner, Sienna Guillory, Delroy Lindo, Autumn Reeser, James Van Der Beek, Jimmi Simpson, Bill Duke, Rebecca Mader, Robert Maillet, Snoop Dogg and Sam Elliott.
Tagline: The search for the ultimate missing person ends… at the beginning of time.
The Plot…
Late one evening private eye Ned Cruz (Banderas) is in his office after a rough day. When Anton ‘The Pro’ Protopov (Maillet) suddenly appears in front of his desk, Cruz is shocked. Who wouldn’t be? Anton is a solid, 7 foot tall ex-prize fighter, ex-con. Anton’s career ended when he killed an opponent in the ring.
Anton wants Cruz to find Lexie. Lexie wrote Anton regularly while he was in prison. Anton didn’t know Lexie, but wants to meet her. And he’s willing to pay.
As Cruz follows leads, people turn up dead. Then Cruz realizes he’s being followed. Cruz isn’t surprised since there’s $30 million in diamonds at the center of the case.
Soon Cruz is pressured by Anton and three crooked cops. Cruz is in over his head and that’s before the trail leads to a genius/crazy physicist on the verge of discovering the “God particle”.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The Big Bang owes a lot to Farewell, My Lovely. It’s more of a love letter than rip off.
If you’re into physics, you’ll get a kick out of the Easter eggs in this film.
The Big Bang (2010) rates 4 of 5 stars.
Marv by Klaus Janson!
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my favorite characters. I love seeing different artist’s take on the big lug. Today we have an awesome Marv piece by frequent Miller collaborator, Klaus Janson.
