Category: Movies

“Zone of the Dead” aka  “Apocalypse of the Dead” (2009) Starring Ken Foree / Z-View

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Zone of the Dead aka  Apocalypse of the Dead (2009)

Director:  Milan Konjevic, Milan Todorovic

Screenplay by:  Milan Konjevic from a story by Vukota Brajovic, Milan Todorovic

Starring: Ken Foree and Kristina Klebe

Tagline:  This City Is a Living Hell

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Agents Mortimer Reyes (Foree) and Mina Milius (Klebe) are transporting a dangerous criminal when a zombie apocalypse breaks out.  The agents and criminal join forces in an effort to fight their way to safety.  Think Assault on Precinct 13 meets Night of the Living Dead (but not nearly as good as either).

Zone of the Dead isn’t good by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re in the right frame of mind and enjoy zombie films, you could do worse.

Zone of the Dead aka  Apocalypse of the Dead earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Last Son” (2021) Starring Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane & Heather Graham / Z-View

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The Last Son (2021)

Director:  Tim Sutton

Screenplay by:  Greg Johnson

Starring: Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane and Heather Graham

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Isaac LeMay (Worthington) is a heartless, wicked outlaw.  When a curse is placed on him, that he will be killed by one of his off-spring, LeMay decides to track down and kill the many children he left behind.  So he travels from town to town, locating and killing each of his off spring.  Until…

I thought The Last Son had an interesting premise.  I’m also a Thomas Jane fan.  Neither could keep me watching.  The Last Son moved at a snail’s pace.  Worthington played LeMay as a man of few words and when he did speak the words were hard to understand and gruff.  Think of the, “I’m Batman” voice by Christian Bale but as if Bale had chain smoked for 50 years.  There’s a scene where LeMay finds one of his off spring (he’d already killed a few).  It’s a daughter.  He decides not to kill her and instead puts his gun in her hand.  I was thinking, “Pull the trigger and end this mess.”  She doesn’t.  I didn’t last much longer.

The Last Son earns 1 of 5 stars.

“Hunter Hunter” (2020) / Z-View

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Hunter Hunter (2020)

Director: Shawn Linden

Screenplay by: Shawn Linden

Starring: Camille Sullivan, Summer H. Howell, Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl

Tagline:

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Joseph Mersault (Sawa) lives in a remote wilderness log cabin with his wife Anne (Sullivan) and daughter Renée (Howell).  Joseph is a modern day mountain man, living off the land, hunting and trading animal skins for goods.  They’re just barely getting by.  Anne doesn’t enjoy the life, but tolerates it.  Renée loves hunting with her dad and living in the wilderness.

When a huge, rogue wolf returns to the area, Joseph decides he will hunt and kill it.  When Joseph doesn’t return after a couple of days, Anne fears the worst.  But the worst is yet to come…

I liked a lot of Hunter Hunter.  For me it went off the rails when characters started doing really dumb things.  I could accept Joseph going to hunt the wolf.  But when he finds something totally unexpected and doesn’t go back to get his family away to safety and he doesn’t go to the police… well, that’s just dumb.  When Joseph doesn’t return after a couple of days, and Anne and her daughter have had a run-in with a wolf and Anne still decides to wait it out in the cabin… that just dumb.  When… well, you get the idea.

I had the feeling at the start of the film that we may be dealing with a werewolf.  The lingering shots of the full moon also added to that feeling.  Was the director just setting us up?  The thing that really brought down my rating of this film was the final act.  It seemed out of character for Anne, and the gore was over-the-top.  Then for the police to allow her to simply walk away?  C’mon, man.

Hunter Hunter earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Day” (2011) / Z-View

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The Day (2011)

Director: Douglas Aarniokoski

Screenplay by: Luke Passmore

Starring: Shawn Ashmore, Brianna Barnes and Dominic Monaghan

Tagline:  Fight. Or die.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

The Day has an interesting premise that is perfect for a low-budget film.  A group of five weary survivors living in a post-apocalypse, come upon a remote farm house.  In addition to shelter they find a basement stocked with canned goods.  Or so they think.  What they’ve really stumbled into is a trap set by a cannibalistic tribe!

I wish that The Day lived up to its premise.  I like the idea of cannibals, but once the fighting starts it’s just kill after kill. There was no real suspense and truthfully, I didn’t care one way or the other about which characters lived or died.

The Day earns 2 of 5 stars.

RIP: Gary Nelson

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It was just announced today that Gary Nelson died of natural causes on May 25, 2022, at the age of 87.  Mr. Nelson was a television and feature film director who had a career that spanned 65 years!  Gary Nelson began his career as a second assistant director in 1955.

Gary Nelson directed many episodes of popular television shows including: Have Gun Will Travel; The Andy Griffith Show; Gunsmoke; It’s About Time; F Troup; Gilligan’s Island; Gomer Pyle; Get Smart; The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Love American Style; Kojak; Police Story and The Magical World of Disney.

Television movies directed by Mr. Nelson include: To Kill a Cop; Murder Me, Murder You; More Than Murder; Get Smart, Again!; Revolver; The Return of Ironside and Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert, to name a few.

Gary Nelson also directed five feature films:  Molly and Lawless John; Santee; The Black Hole; Jimmy the Kid and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold.

What a long and distinguished career!  Gary Nelson is probably best known as the director of The Black Hole.  I love the range that he displayed as director, moving from situation comedies to one hour dramas and films of both genres with ease.  Gary Nelson was also the original director of Sly Stallone’s Nighthawks.  The IMDb lists him as an uncredited director, so I wonder if any scenes he shot made the final film.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Gary Nelson’s family, friends and fans.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino / Z-View

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper

First sentence…

The buzzer on Marvin Schwarz’s desk makes a noise.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the fictionalized account of Hollywood actor and tv star, Rick Dalton, his stuntman and best friend, Cliff Booth and the famous/infamous folks they run into in Hollywood in the late 60s.  If you’ve seen Tarantino’s movie of the same name, then you know the story… or at least most of it.  The novel goes into greater detail especially in regard to Cliff Booth.  If you liked the movie, you should enjoy the book.  If you think, I’ve seen the movie, I don’t need a rehash in a novelization, you might be surprised.  There’s a different story structure in the novel than the film and time to dig a deeper into the characters.

If you haven’t seen the movie, let me get you up to speed.  Rick Dalton was a rising movie star.  He had a western tv series called Bounty Law.  It was popular and ran for a few years.  Dalton then went into feature films, but that was then.  Now Dalton appears to be on his way down.  He’s been regulated to guest starring in television shows and usually ends up beaten and beaten up by the star of the show.  Dalton hopes he’ll get another run at feature films.  Cliff Booth is a World War II decorated vet, a stuntman and Rick’s best friend.  Booth may or may not have killed his wife (we find out for sure in the novel).  He also went toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee in a challenge that pretty much ended Booth getting stunt work.  Rick and Cliff will also have run-ins with the Charlie Manson family, Sharon Tate and others.  To say more would be to say too much,

Tarantino is more of a story-teller than a writer.  Someone said if the novel was better written, it wouldn’t be as good.  That may sound strange, but I get the sentiment.  As you read Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there’s the feeling that we’re hearing the tale from an insider and not a writer somewhere trying to polish his prose.  I loved the inside stories/legends of real life actors/actresses in Hollywood.

The Deluxe Edition also features a Rick Dalton Bounty Law episode script; Photos of lobby cards from two of Rick Dalton’s feature films, two Bounty Law stills, two Bounty Law TV Guide covers, two Bounty Law comic book covers, a Bounty Law lunchbox, Bounty Law production art, a Bounty Law board game, 8 movie posters featuring Rick Dalton and other real-life stars, and a MAD magazine Bounty Law parody featuring the cover and story by Andrew Secunda and Tom Richmond.

I enjoyed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and hope that Tarantino writes more novels.  I’m a sucker for a good story.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood rates 4 of 5 stars.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Paperback
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Kindle

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Starring Daniel Craig, Ed Norton, Janelle Monáe and Dave Bautista – The Trailer is Here!

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I liked the first Knives Out mystery and Glass Onion looks to be at least as good.  Oh, and how about that cast!

You’re invited to put the pieces together. In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.

Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.

Disturbing the Peace (2020) Starring Guy Pearce / Z-View

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Disturbing the Peace (2020)

Director: Chuck Hustmyre

Screenplay by:  Jay Simms

Starring: Guy Pearce, Devon Sawa and Branscombe Richmond

Tagline: What Would You Give Up to Save Everything?

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Jim Dillion (Pearce) was a Texas Ranger.  He stopped carrying a gun after accidentally shooting and paralyzing his partner in a hostage situation.  Now he’s Marshall Dillion. (I kid you not. If you’re old enough, you’ll recognize the name.) Like Andy Griffith, Dillion has one Deputy to assist him.  They are the law in a little Texas town.

A small motorcycle gang, barely large enough to be called a crowd, plans to rob an armored truck carrying 15 million dollars to be deposited in the town’s bank.  It will be up to Marshall Dillion and his deputy to stop them.

I wanted to like Disturbing the Peace.  Guy Pearce is a good actor.  The plot was perfect for a low budget film.  I was hoping for something along the lines of Tom Laughlin in The Born Losers.  What I got was a real mess.

The story goes off the rails.  For a lot of the film, Marshall Dillion and his deputy are running from place to place watching the bad guys take hostages or worse.  When Dillion finally decides to get a gun, he has to run home. He then stares at his pistol for an eternity before finally picking it up. Dillion captures one of the gang members and puts him in jail.  Dillion learns that the gangbanger was a former marine and tells him, “So was I.”  Dillion then opens the cell, hands him a rifle and turns his back on him!  Just like that the former gang member is now ready to go against his motorcycle brothers.

Then when Dillion and the gang member, both armed with rifles, come up against a guy with a handgun, they retreat!  It gets even worse.  The gang leader, Diablo (Sawa) fires a machine gun at Dillion as he walks down the center of an empty street.  Dillion isn’t even wounded.  We also get the classic: Dillon on a horse exchanging gunfire with Diablo on a motorcycle and then the horse catching the motorcycle!

With all that said, you’d probably think that Disturbing the Peace would earn one star.  It nearly did,  Still, I made it through the film so I’m barely rating it a two.

Disturbing the Peace earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Killer Shrews” (1959) / Z-View

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The Killer Shrews (1959)

Director: Ray Kellogg

Screenplay by:  Jay Simms

Starring: James Best, Ingrid Goude and Ken Curtis

Tagline: Ravaging beasts feed on human flesh!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Thorne Sherman (Best) and his partner dock their boat loaded with supplies at a remote island research base.  Despite an approaching hurricane, Dr. Marlowe Craigis wants Sherman to leave the island immediately and to take his grown daughter, Ann (Goude) as well.  Sherman  says that they need to hunker down and he’ll take her after the storm passes.

Sherman soon learns that Dr. Marlowe’s experiments have created a breed of killer shrews that must eat twice their body weight daily in order to survive.  The shrews’ food supply has dwindled and now the shrews have their eyes on the humans!  With teeth strong enough to eat through walls it is just a question of time until they get into the house… and then…

The Killer Shrews is a low-budget horror film that makes the most of the small cast.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the special effects.  It’s very obvious that the shrews are sometimes puppets and other times dogs wearing wigs.  There is a romance subplot that is low budget as well.  A pre-Gunsmoke, Festus (Curtis)  co-stars and produced.

The Killer Shrews is watchable in the Saturday night movie presented by a Horror Host kind of way.  In fact I remember first seeing The Killer Shrews on an episode of Sammy Terry’s Nightmare Theater back in the 60s.  I was in third or fourth grade. I loved the movie and couldn’t wait to tell the old lady crossing guard all about it on Monday.  I recently re-watched The Killer Shrews (this time hosted by Svengoolie).  It brought back great memories and I’m sure I’d have liked it better if I was still in elementary school.

The Killer Shrews earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Enforcer” Starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth – The Trailer is Here!

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I’m diggin’ the trailer for The Enforcer starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth.  Definitely deal me in!

Miami’s top mob enforcer Cuda (Antonio Banderas) sacrifices it all to tear down the criminal organization he’s spent his whole life building up when he discovers his boss Estelle (Kate Bosworth) is putting a young runaway’s life in grave danger. Now he has one last chance to make up for his past and find redemption – both for himself and his family – before the mob hunts him down for his betrayal.

“Project Legion” Starring Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Project Legion check all the boxes that get me to want to watch.  I even like that the star is Donald Cowboy Cerrone, one of the toughest UFC fighters in the world!  Fingers crossed for a great “drive-in” movie!

Against all odds, a former marine tries to escape his apartment after waking up to a city in chaos surrounded by creatures who prey on humans in the action/thriller PROJECT LEGION starring UFC superstar Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” – A Netflix Film – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I love the poster and trailer for All Quiet on the Western Front.  Deal me in.

All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.

“Red Stone” (2021) Starring Neal McDonough, Dash Melrose & Michael Cudlitz / Z-View

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Red Stone (2021)

Director: Derek Presley

Screenplay by:  Derek Presley

Starring: Neal McDonough, Dash Melrose, Michael Cudlitz and Billy Blair

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Motley Adams (Melrose) witnessed his older brother killed by order of Jed Haywood (Cudlitz), a local crime boss.  Now Motley is on the run from Haywood’s thugs led by a hitman named Boon (McDonough).  The local sheriff and the F.B.I. are looking for Motley too.  It’s just a question of time… and time is about to run out.

With McDonough and Cudlitz in the credits, I was expecting more.  Although Red Stone clocks in at just 97 minutes, it felt longer.  That’s never good.  There’s lip service paid to a subplot about Boon’s mom that could have been totally cut for all the impact it had.  Red Stone has some interesting ideas, but unfortunately the execution isn’t up to the same level.

Red Stone earns 2 of 5 stars.