Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I met Steve Bryant at HeroesCon 2025. I had set up a commission of Jack Carter with him. I was floored by Steve’s piece. So, of course, I set up another pick-up for HeroesCon 2026. This time I asked for Sly as Cobra. Again, Steve brought fire. I can’t wait to see what awaits at HeroesCon 2027.
The Bride! (2026)
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Screenplay: Maggie Gyllenhaal; based on FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley
Stars: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz.
Tagline: Here comes the mother f*%#ing BRIDE!
The Plot…
Mary Shelley, the author of FRANKENSTEIN, had another story she wanted to tell. Sadly she died before she could write it. But she’s not letting that stop her…
1930s. Chicago. Ida, a dame who hangs around mobsters, suddenly becomes possessed. During a rant, Ida falls down a flight of stairs and dies.
Frankenstein’s monster has traveled the world and settled in Chicago. He’s assumed the identity of a gangster named Frank. Frank has learned that Dr. Cornelia Euphronius is working to bring the dead back to life. Frank gets Dr. Euphronius to create a companion for him. She uses Ida’s corpse.
Ida has no memory of her past life. Frank tells her she was his bride. Together they go on a crime spree of, uh, monstrous proportions.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The Bride is not for everyone. It’s an outrageous mash-up of genres that include horror, romance, gangster, musical and comedy.
I appreciate what was attempted, but for me it was a swing and a miss. Your mileage, as always, may differ.
The Bride! (2026) rates 2 of 5 stars.
I’m diggin’ how this Motor City poster and trailer have a throwback to the 70s feel.
Deal me in.
In 1970s Detroit, a working-class romantic is framed by a ruthless gangster after falling for his girlfriend. After years in prison, he returns with only one mission: revenge.
In Theaters July 24th
Directed by: Potsy Ponciroli
Starring: Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Pablo Schreiber, Ben Foster
Bang (2025)
Director: Wych Kaosayananda
Screenplay: Peter M. Lenkov, Ken Solarz
Stars: Jack Kesy, Peter Weller.
Tagline: Once a killer, now the mark.
The Plot…
William Bang is the best hitman in Morgan Cutter’s organization. Bang is an efficient, heartless killer. He always gets the job done. When a rival ambushes Bang, shooting him seven times in the chest, it appears Cutter’s number one man is a goner.
But an emergency heart transplant saves Bang.
Bang recovers. He learns that the heart he was given came from a kind man who was newly married and expecting a child. Bang develops a conscience. Bang has, if you will, a change of heart. Bang decides to give up his life of crime and become a better person.
This doesn’t sit well with Cutter. If Bang won’t kill for him, then by gosh, he’ll have Bang killed. Cutter orders everyone in his criminal organization to find and kill Bang.
Bang not only had a miraculous change of, ahem, heart in his attitude, but for a guy who just survived an emergency heart transplant, he’s physically ready as well.
Bring on the bad guys!
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
A heartless hitman named Bang who has a change of heart after getting a heart transplant. THAT says it all.
Bang (2025) rates 2 of 5 stars.
Leon: The Professional is an action movie that you don’t hear brought up much. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, I wonder how it would hold up on a re-watch. Fredlobo Lopez created this alt poster that brought Leon: The Professional to mind.
THE GIRL WITH THE DEEP BLUE EYES by Lawrence Block
First sentence…
The phone woke him from a dream.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Gallatin County Florida Sheriff William Radburn has information that Lisa Otterbein plans to have her husband killed. A local no-good snitched to Radburn after being approached by Lisa. She was looking for a killer. Someone to murder her wealthy husband.
So Sheriff Radburn decides to set up a sting. If Radburn gets Lisa on tape asking a hitman to murder her husband, she will go to prison and a life will be saved. Radburn approaches Doak Miller. Miller is a retired New York City cop with 24 years of service. Miller recently moved to Gallatin County after his wife divorced him. Miller is new to the area, experienced and could pass as a killer.
Radburn meets with Miller and lays out the plan. Miller will wear a wire, act as the hitman, and record Lisa asking him to kill her husband.
Miller meets with Lisa. She’s beautiful. More than beautiful really. Stunning. With amazing deep blue eyes. Miller is attracted to her. But he has a job to do. Miller says all the right things and gets Lisa’s responses on tape.
Radburn is surprised when he listens to the recording. Lisa doesn’t want a hitman. She doesn’t want her husband killed. Sure, their marriage has hit a rough patch, but kill him? Never. Miller says his experience dealing with criminals and liars tells him Lisa is telling the truth. The sheriff was given bad info.
Except he wasn’t.
Miller told Lisa how to respond. Practiced his questions and her answers until they sounded right. THEN he recorded the exchanges.
Now Miller and Lisa are heading into a red hot affair and planning a cold-blooded murder.
+++
Lawrence Block wrote this in 2015, but it has the feel of the erotic tales he wrote under pseudonyms at the start of his career. If you’re a fan of tales like DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, this one is for you.
Rating:
Niccolò Fioriti worked up a clever alt Rear Window poster. I like how on point and well done this one is.
“Why would a man leave his apartment three times on a rainy night with a suitcase and come back three times?“ – L.B. Jefferies
The art above was a prelim John Beatty created back in 1986 for a painting he thought about doing. John had seen the trailer for Sly Stallone’s Cobra and thought the film had potential. Unfortunately, the prelim was as far as he got. Luckily for me, John let me keep it.
I don’t know how, but Tuner flew under my radar until someone posted about it on my forum (https://craigzablo.proboards.com/). Tuner has a unique concept, an interesting poster, a good cast and a trailer that works.
Deal me in.
In #tuner, Academy Award-winning director Daniel Roher’s first narrative feature, Leo Woodall stars as a gifted young piano tuner whose heightened sense of hearing draws the attention of criminals, who see his talents as useful for opening safes as for tuning Steinways.
With his once-promising musical career over, he works across New York with his mentor Harry Horowitz (Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman), encountering a range of characters, including composition student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), with whom he forges an unexpected connection. Niki’s safecracking work threatens his budding romance with Ruthie and pulls him into increasingly dangerous territory. Blending romance, drama, and the taut suspense of a heist thriller, TUNER also features performances from Tony Award-winner Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno, and Lior Raz.
LEATHER MAIDEN by Joe R. Lansdale
First sentences…
When you grow up in a place, especially if your childhood is a good one, you fail to notice a lot of the nasty things that creep beneath the surface and wiggle about like hungry worms in rotten flesh. But they’re there.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Cason Statler, a Gulf War vet and Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter was on top of the world. Then he blew it. Cason had an affair with his boss’ wife… and the boss’ thirty-year-old stepdaughter. That cost Cason his job… and his reputation.
So Cason returned to his small hometown of Camp Rapture, Texas where he was able to get a job as a reporter for the local newspaper. It’s a big step down for a Pulitzer Prize nominee. Cason is drinking too much. He’s fighting jealous feelings towards his older brother who is a happily married college professor. Plus Cason is spending too much time checking up on his ex-wife.
One day digging through old files, Cason discovers the unsolved murder of Caroline Allison. Caroline was an intelligent college student who just vanished. The only clue was her abandoned car. Cason realizes this could be his ticket back to the big leagues. He begins a series of articles about Caroline. As Cason digs deeper he discovers other linked crimes of blackmail, torture and murder. Worse still Cason’s brother is somehow involved.
Cason has no choice but to keep digging, no matter the cost.
+++
Joe Lansdale has written another winner.
Rating:
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Director: William Dieterle
Screenplay: Brown Holmes; based on THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett.
Stars: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, Arthur Treacher, Porter Hall, Olin Howland and Marie Wilson.
Tagline: She recalled how three men met their death…searching for a treasure that had left a trail of blood through twelve centuries!
The Plot…
Detective Ted Shane has just returned to town. Milton Ames, Shane’s former partner reluctantly agrees to work with Shane again. They parted ways since Shane, a lady’s man, once was romantically involved with Ames’ wife. Shane has a paying client and money overrides hurt feelings.
A woman named Valerie Purvis wants to hire Shane and Ames to find a man named Farrow. When both Ames and Farrow are found murdered, Shane realizes there is much more to this case than a missing man.
Shane is soon approached by Madam Barrabas and Kenneth, her slow-witted, trigger happy son. They want to hire Shane to find an 8th century jewel-filled ivory horn. An English gentleman, Anthony Travers, wants to hire Shane to find it as well. And don’t you know, that’s what Valerie is after too.
Shane, never one to turn down money, decides to play each against the other and accepts payment from all. Shane’s charm and quick wit have always served him well, but this time he may be in over his head.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Satan Met a Lady is based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel THE MALTESE FALCON. Screenwriter, Brown Holmes not only changed the title, he changed the names of the characters (including the lead), the sex of the main antagonist and the object everyone wanted.
Bette Davis hated the script and complained to studio head Jack Warner. She said she would not do the film. Warner promised Davis better scripts in the future and then suspended her without pay. Reluctantly Davis agreed to the movie. Unfortunately she hated the end result and often said it was her worst film.
I recently revisited Satan Met a Lady. I enjoyed it much more than previous viewings. I always liked the movie, but this time out liked it even more. I think in the past I compared this adaption of THE MALTESE FALCON to Huston and Bogart’s take. Obviously Satan Met a Lady suffered by comparison. I was also influenced by Bette Davis’ feelings about the film. This time out, I put past feelings aside and enjoyed a lighthearted 1930s comedy/mystery.
Much of my enjoyment of Satan Met a Lady came from Marie Wilson’s performance as the ditzy, sexy blonde assistant.
Satan Met a Lady (1936) rates 4 of 5 stars.
Trav Hart came through with his take of Sly Stallone as Jack Carter at HeroesCon 2017. Hart is best known for his monster/horror art and I like the vibe he created for this one.
You can see more of Trav’s art at his site.
I like the poster and trailer for By Any Means.
Deal me in.
When the system is broken, break the rules By Any Means.
Watch the trailer for #ByAnyMeansMovie, only in theatres this September.
Inspired by a true story, a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. Forced to work alongside notorious mafia hitman Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg), he finds himself pulled into a deadly hunt where justice and vengeance begin to blur.
When the system is broken, two men divided by everything agree on one thing: the law has limits. They don’t.
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 a Marv by Andrew Krahnke.
My buddy, Little John, comes up with the coolest cross-overs for artists. LJ got me thinking about a couple of favorite characters that I’d like to see on-screen together. So I asked Karl Slominski to create a sketch with ’em.
Here we have Sly Stallone as Jack Carter and Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens.
