Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Covenant looks like a winner.
A bond. A pledge. A commitment. Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim star in Guy Ritchie’s #TheCovenant. Watch the official trailer now and see the film only in theaters April.
Directed By: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim
Written By: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies
Bill Sienkiewicz gives us a riff on Marv and Nancy from Frank Miller’s Sin City.
Source: Simply Sienkiewicz.
Jack Hawkins at /Film ranked his favorite John Wayne films. It got me thinking about how I’d rate the Duke’s best. So without further jibber-jabber, here’s how thinks shook out.
|
Hawkins |
Zablo |
| 10. The Cowboys | 10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance |
| 9. Stagecoach | 9. The Shootist |
| 8. Fort Apache | 8. Red River |
| 7. The Longest Day | 7. 3 Godfathers |
| 6. El Dorado | 6. Rio Bravo |
| 5. Baby Face | 5. Hondo |
| 4. Hatari! | 4. True Grit |
| 3. True Grit | 3. The Cowboys |
| 2. The Shootist | 2. Stagecoach |
| 1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | 1. The Searchers |
Last Looks (2021)
Director: Tim Kirkby
Screenplay: Howard Michael Gould based on this novel Last Looks
Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Mel Gibson, Lucy Fry, Clancy Brown, Robin Givens, CC Castillo, Method Man, Dominic Monaghan, Paul Ben-Victor and Josh McDermitt
Tagline: This city is a bad place to be a good guy.
The Plot…
Charlie Waldo (Hunnam) is an ex-cop who has withdrawn from society. He lives a quiet life in a trailer outside the city. All of that changes when he is convinced to look into the murder of a Alastair Pinch’s wife. Pinch (Gibson) is a an arrogant, alcoholic, but extremely popular tv star. Pinch is also the prime suspect in his wife’s murder. He claims he was blackout drunk when she was killed.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Last Looks has a great cast with Gibson and Hunnam leading the way. Although Hunnam gets top billing, Gibson steals the show with his take on Alastair Pinch. It’s fun to see see Clancy Brown, Dominic Monagham and Josh McDermitt show up as well.
Last Looks has the feel of a quirky detective show from the 1970s or 80s. You know the shows where the “guest star” gets the flashy part and there’s plenty of interesting characters along the way. I enjoyed Last Looks and could see it producing a sequel if the box office would support it.
Last Looks earns 4 of 5 stars.
Merry Mavericks (1951)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Edward Bernds
Stars: Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Emil Sitka, Al Thompson and Blackie Whiteford
Tagline: Meet The Three Stooges as up-and-coming… always leave-’em-laughing con-men in the wild and woolly west!
The Plot…
The boys are kicked out of a frontier town as vagrants. When they arrive at the next town, our guys are mistaken for gunfighters who’ve come to clean up the place. What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Merry Mavericks finds the Stooges in the old west PLUS we get a haunted house!
Merry Mavericks earns 5 of 5 stars.
Shot in the Frontier (1954)
Director: Jules White
Screenplay: Felix Adler
Stars: Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Diana Darrin, Kenneth MacDonald, Mort Mills and Emil Sitka
Tagline: Hey! Here’s hilarious horseplay!
The Plot…
Our guys are cowboys in the wild west. Immediately after getting hitched, they guys learn that the dastardly Noonan brothers are coming to kill them and steal their wives. The boys can run or fight. They decide to run, but they’re too late! Now Shemp, Larry and Moe was go gun to gun and toe to toe with the Noonan brothers. What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Shot in the Frontier uses sets from the classic western High Noon!
Shot in the Frontier earns 4 of 5 stars.
Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Screenplay by: Emily Carmichael, Colin Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow based on characters created by Michael Crichton
Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Daniella Pineda and Scott Haze
Tagline: The epic conclusion of the Jurassic era.
The Plot…
It’s four years after the events of the last Jurassic Park sequel. Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dern) is trying to determine a way to stop genetically enhanced locusts from destroying crops around the world. Alan Grant (Neil) is studying dinosaur fossils. Owen Grady (Pratt) and Claire Deering (Howard) are raising Maisie Lockwood (Sermon) and their “pet” raptor. Meanwhile Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) is the guest on a billionaire’s dinosaur island that — you know what, let me cut to the chase. All the stars are going to end up together battling dinosaurs as they attempt to thwart a billionaire’s evil plans.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Dinosaurs are cool. Dinosaurs in a modern world are even cooler. It’s great that all the past stars of the Jurassic Park films return for this one. There are some excellent scenes with dinosaurs chasing / attacking people, but we know that our stars are going to survive.
Part of the problem with Jurassic World: Dominion is the writing. Any time a dinosaur is about to attack (and it doesn’t matter if it’s a raptor or a t-rex), raise your right hand in front of you and your left hand away from your side. This stops them in their tracks.
Characters who should know better, do stupid things. You’re walking across thin ice and it begins to crack. Instead of flattening out, moving away from the person next to you and sliding across the ice, you look at the other person next to you and both begin to run. When the group is moving through the jungle, you have the ones with weapons talking to each other behind the group and the weakest leading. I could go on, but why? We get plenty of dinosaur action and that’s the selling point.
Jurassic World: Dominion earns 3 of 5 stars.
Rockin’ Thru The Rockies (1940)
Director: Jules White
Screenplay: Clyde Buckman
Stars: Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Dorothy Comingore, Dick Curtis and Cy Schindell
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
The boys are frontier guides taking a female acting troupe through Indian territory. The chief of a local tribe has given them a deadline to be out of the area (with an emphasis on DEAD). Time is running out. What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Rockin’ Thru The Rockies gives Curly a lot of solo screen time! There’s also an fun gag with Curly and Moe ice fishing in different holes. They both catch a big fish at the same time. You can guess the rest!
Rockin’ Thru The Rockies earns 4 of 5 stars.
Cindy Williams, best known as Shirley Feeney who first appeared on Happy Days, and then in the popular television series Laverne & Shirley, died on January 25, 2023. Today her family announced Ms. Williams passing after a short illness. She was 75.
Cindy Williams wrote and acted in high school. She attended Los Angles Community College as a theater major. After graduation Ms. Williams began getting roles in commercials. In 1970, Cindy Williams won roles in both a feature film and two television series. She would continue to get work in both television and feature films for the rest of her career.
Some of Cindy Williams’ television appearances include: My World and Welcome to It; Nanny and the Professor; Room 222 (3 episodes); Love American Style (2 episodes); Hawaii 5-0; Cannon; Police Story; Laugh-In (2 episodes); Happy Days (5 episodes); Laverne & Shirley (158 episodes); CHiPs (2 episodes); Laverne & Shirley in the Army (13 episodes); Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour; The Magical World of Disney (2 episodes); Just Like Family (5 episodes); Perry Mason: The Case of the Poison Pen; Normal Life (13 episodes); Getting By (31 episodes); Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman; Touched by an Angel; Strip Mall (6 episodes); For Your Love (4 episodes); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Girlfriends (2 episodes) and Drive (3 episodes).
Some of Cindy Williams’ feature film appearances include: Drive, He Said; Beware! The Blob; American Graffiti; The Conversation; The First Nudie Musical and More American Graffiti.
Although Cindy Williams played Shirley Feeney on Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley (and other places), her career encompassed so much more. She appeared in so many popular television series before and after getting that role. Jack Nicholson directed her in Drive, He Said. She had a featured role in the classic American Graffiti. The same could be said for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. While I wasn’t a Laverne & Shirley fan, Cindy Williams always seemed the anchor of it when I watched.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cindy Williams’ family, friends and fans.
I like the poster and trailer for Viking Wolf. Since it will be on Netflix, watching will be a no-brainer. Deal me in.
17-year-old Thale must move with her parents to a small town when her mother gets a job at the local police department. After a student is brutally murdered at a party that Thale attends, she suddenly becomes a key witness. Who, or rather what, was the killer?
Lisa Loring, best known as Wednesday on The Addams Family, died on January 28, 2023. Ms. Loring suffered a massive stroke four days earlier and had been on life support.
Lisa Loring began her career as a child model at the age of three. She appeared on an episode of Dr. Kildare in 1964. This was the same year that The Addams Family premiered. The series ran for two years. Following that Lisa Loring occasionally worked on television and in feature films.
Some of Lisa Loring’s television appearances include: Dr. Kildare; The Addams Family (64 episodes); The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.; Halloween with the New Addams Family; Fantasy Island; Barnaby Jones (2 episodes) and As the World Turns (7 episodes).
Some of Lisa Loring’s feature film appearances include: Blood Frenzy; Savage Harbor and Doctor Spine.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lisa Loring’s family, friends and fans.
Up in the Air (1940)
Director: Howard Bretherton
Screenplay: Edmond Kelso
Stars: Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland, Tristram Coffin, Dick Elliott, John Holland and Carleton Young
Tagline: Murder in a radio station…while the public listens!
The Plot…
Frankie Ryan (Darro) is a radio station page. Jeff Jefferson (Moreland) is a janitor at the same station. They dream of becoming a comedy team. Their antics have almost gotten them fired more than once. When one of the radio’s singers is murdered at the station, Frankie and Jeff hope to solve the crime before the cops. What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Mantan Moreland was the reason I decided to check out Up in the Air. Mantan is good, the movie less so.
Up in the Air is a low-budget production that clocks in at just 62 minutes. If you’re a Mantan Moreland fan, then it’s worth a view. Even so, be advised that there’s a scene where Darro and Moreland do a comedy bit with Darro in blackface. Darro and Moreland made several films together. I plan to check out as many as possible.
Up in the Air earns 2 of 5 stars.
Tricky Dicks (1953)
Director: Jules White
Screenplay: Felix Adler
Stars: Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Phil Arnold, and Murray Alper
Tagline: A Mad Melee of Mirth!
The Plot…
The boys are police detectives dealing with folks (a pickpocket, a compulsive confesser to crimes, an organ grinder, his monkey, and a person off the street). What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Tricky Dicks reuses the file cabinet gag from Hold That Lion. The killer fires his gun 85 times without reloading!
Tricky Dicks earns 3 of 5 stars.
Dangerous Money (1946)
Director: Terry O. Morse
Screenplay: Miriam Kissinger, based on characters created by Earl Derr Biggers
Stars: Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, John Harmon, Dick Elliott, Tristram Coffin, Selmer Jackson and Dudley Dickerson
Tagline: THE RIDDLE OF THE “KNIVES OF DEATH!”
The Plot…
While traveling on an ocean liner Charlie Chan is approached by a Scott Pearson, a Treasury Agent. Pearson is on a case involving counterfeit money and stolen art. There have been two attempts on his life when Chan saves Pearson from a third! When Pearson is later murdered, Chan is determined to find the killer.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Mantan Mooreland doesn’t appear in Dangerous Money. Charlie Chan’s valet is now Chattanooga Brown (perhaps Birmingham’s nephew?), played by Willie Best. Chattanooga and Charlie Chan’s son make an interesting team, but I missed Mooreland.
Dangerous Money, like all Charlie Chan films, is a low-budget affair that runs just over an hour. It gives us several likely suspects for the killer, with most folks getting it wrong. Not Charlie Chan though. That dude is like Columbo before there was a Columbo.
Dangerous Money earns 3 of 5 stars.
Mummy’s Dummies (1948)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman
Stars: Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Vernon Dent, and Philip Van Zandt
Tagline: The Stooges run riot through ancient Egypt!
The Plot…
The boys are shyster used chariot salesmen. When they are caught swindling the Captain of the Royal Guard, they are taken before King Rootentootin, who is suffering a terrible tooth ache. The King agrees to spare their lives if they can cure his toothache. What could go wrong?
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
The boys get a lot of mileage as incompetent dentists and the scene in Mummy’s Dummies is no exception. Get Shemp in the Coke-bottle-bottom glasses, give him a pair of pliers and all bets are off. There are some good laughs when the boys are on the run after discovering a plot to cheat the King out of tax money.
Mummy’s Dummies earns 4 of 5 stars.
