Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I like the poster and trailer for Breaking. Deal me in.
When Marine Veteran Brian Brown-Easley is denied support from Veterans Affairs, financially desperate and running out of options, he takes a bank and several of its employees’ hostage, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with the police. Based on the true story.
Brimstone (2016)
Director: Martin Koolhoven
Screenplay by: Martin Koolhoven
Starring: Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Emilia Jones and Kit Harington
Tagline: Retribution is coming
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
Brimstone is the story of Liz (Fanning), the Reverend (Pearce) and their twisted relationship. The story is told out of order, so when we first see Liz, she is a young married woman. The Reverend shows up to the wilderness town where she lives and we quickly learn that he means to harm Liz and her family. As the story unfolds we learn that their relationship goes back to Liz’s childhood and no matter where she runs, the Reverend finds her.
I wanted to like Brimstone. It has an interesting premise. I’m a fan of Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Kit Harrington and westerns. The set up for Brimstone leaves the audience with many questions and as the story unfolds most are answered. What turned me off was the slow pace, excessive and redundant violence and an ending that left me wishing I’d checked out before the nearly 2 and a half hour run time.
Guy Pearce is an excellent actor and he convincingly plays one of the most despicable characters you can imagine. Dakota Fanning is Pearce’s equal as far as acting goes, and perhaps it is their talents that kept me watching. Kit Harrington takes some getting used to with his southern accent, but he isn’t in the film for much more than a glorified cameo. The film is divided into four parts 1) Revelation 2) Exodus 3) Genesis 4) Retribution and loses me in the last section. I was having doubts about the film before, but it is when Liz pulls a Riddick in Pitch Black move to escape being tied to a post that I realized my doubts were well founded.
Throughout the movie we believe that the Reverend is out to get retribution. My interpretation of the ending is that despite it being a downer, Liz is the one to get poetic justice. If that’s the case the ending just doesn’t work for me. Everyone but one person in Liz’s life is murdered and Liz commits suicide. Plus there’s the whole question if the Reverend is a real person or something else.
I wish I liked Brimstone more but I also realize it just wasn’t for me. For that reason Brimstone gets 1 of 5 stars.
Posse (1993)
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Screenplay by: Sy Richardson, Dario Scardapane
Starring: Mario Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, Billy Zane, Charles Lane, Paul Bartel, Blair Underwood, Richard Edson, Richard Gant, Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, Robert Hooks, Reginald Hudlin, Richard Jordan, Big Daddy Kane, Tom Lister Jr., Tone Loc, Aaron Neville, Nipsey Russell, Woody Strode, Melvin Van Peebles, Reginald VelJohnson and Stephen J. Cannell
Tagline: The Untold Story of the Wild West
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
A group of Buffalo soldiers led by Jesse (Van Peebles) is ordered by Colonel Graham (Zane) to steal a Spanish gold shipment. If the Buffalo soldiers are successful, Graham plans to kill them and take the gold. Instead, the Buffalo soldiers steal the gold and go on the run!
Jesse’s posse heads west and have many adventures with Colonel Graham and his raiders never far behind. Everything comes to a head when Jesse’s posse attempts to help the people of a small frontier town. A crooked sheriff has learned a railroad is coming through and the land is going to be valuable. The Sheriff is running the townsfolk off or killing them.
Mario Van Peebles acts and directs (with style). Billy Zane makes a fun scenery-chewing villain. It’s a blast seeing so many familiar faces in supporting roles. I’m surprised there were never more Posse movies since this one rates 3 of 5 stars.
Today we have the full trailer for Carter. I love the concept and the movie takes place in real-time. This one has me stoked. August 5th is coming but can’t get here fast enough.
A man with no memory
Has only one mission to complete
A man wakes up missing his memories. Directed by a mysterious voice from a device in his ear, he sets off on a hostage rescue mission rife with danger.
Witness nonstop, real-time action
In this extreme action spectacularCarter | August 5, only on Netflix
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Director: Bob Rafelson
Screenplay by: David Mamet based on the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, John Colicos, Michael Lerner, John P. Ryan and Anjelica Huston
Tagline: In the heat of passion two things can happen. The second is murder.
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
Frank Chambers (Nicholson) is a drifter who plans to scam a meal from a roadside diner and move on. When the diner’s owner, Nick Papadakis (Colicos), offers Chambers a job, he declines… then he catches a look at Papadakis’ young wife (Lange). Chambers takes the job,
Soon he and young Mrs. Papadakis are involved in a low-rent romance. As things heat up, their thoughts turn to cold-blooded murder. With Mr. Papadakis permanently out of the way, they’ll have each other and the diner to themselves. They think they’ll be on the way to easy street, but depending on how things turn out it could be the electric chair!
This film is the fourth version of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. It was David Mamet’s first produced screenplay and had Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange in the lead roles. My expectations were high. Sadly, I was disappointed. The advertisements for the film boasted of the heat between Nicholson and Lange. I didn’t feel it. Chambers and Papadakis’ wife need to be so in love (or at least in lust) that they’re willing to risk everything. I had the feeling that either of them could have moved on without a glance back. The love scenes weren’t loving or even sexy.
I’m a huge fan of the 1946 movie version starring Lana Turner and John Garfield which I thought was a 5 star film. This could have influenced my feelings toward the remake which earns 2 of 5 stars.
The Spoilers (1942)
Director: Ray Enright
Screenplay by: Lawrence Hazard, Tom Reed based on The Spoilers novel by Rex Beach
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay and Harry Carey
Tagline: BOLD WOMEN! BRAWNY MEN! Living…loving in the Hot-spot of the Frozen North!
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
Roy Glennister (Wayne) and his partner, Al Dextry (Carey) are goldminers in a partnership with saloon owner, Cherry Malotte (Dietrich). The trio’s goldmine has a rich vein and they found it. Things are looking good until the new gold commissioner, Alex McNamara (Scott) arrives. McNamara is claim-jumping mines that are paying off! He’s doing it “legally” with the backing of a crooked judge that he secretly has in his pocket. In addition, to Glennister’s mine, McNamara has his eyes on Glennister’s woman, Cherry Malotte! The tension mounts as it becomes obvious there is only one way this will end…
I was surprised at the innuendo in dialogue and actions of Dietrich, Wayne and Scott. There is a whole other level to this film that you usually don’t see in westerns of the 1940s. Wayne’s character is a player! I loved Randolph Scott as the bad guy! There is chemistry between the Dietrich, Wayne and Scott that adds to the believability of the film. The climatic fight between Wayne and Scott lives up to it’s reputation. The Spoilers is a fun ride and rates 4 of 5 stars.
The Velvet Vampire aka Cemetery Girls (1971)
Director: Stephanie Rothman
Screenplay by: Stephanie Rothman, Charles S. Swartz, Maurice Jules
Starring: Michael Blodgett, Sherry E. DeBoer and Celeste Yarnall
Tagline: She’s Waiting To Love You…To Death
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
Lee Ritter (Blodgett) and his wife Susan (Miles) meet and take a liking to a mysterious woman named Diane LeFanu (Yarnall). When Diane asks them to spend a weekend at her remote desert home, they accept. Only too late do they discover that Diane is a vampire!
The Velvet Vampire is a perfect example of low budget 70s horror films that often became the second or third films shown at drive-ins. The movie features a small cast (of low-level stars), a remote location, women who bare their boobs and sex scenes spaced throughout the film. (Where you usually find the bare boobs.) There’s even a dune buggy scene in The Velvet Vampire! Does it get any more “early 70s” than that? Diane isn’t your traditional vampire – she goes out in the sun (but too much isn’t good for her).
Normally movies I make it through earn at least a 2 star rating. I made it through The Velvet Vampire and (despite the bare boobies) it only earned a 1 of 5 star rating.
I saw this posting of IMDb’s Top 100 movies and decided to check how many I’ve viewed. Turns out the number is 81. Not bad. How’d you do?
Dead Man (1995)
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Mili Avital and Billy Bob Thornton
Tagline: Sometimes it is preferable not to travel with a dead man.
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
William Blake (Depp), a mild-mannered accountant, travels by train to a small town on the edge of the frontier. There he meets a prostitute named Thel (Avital) who takes him home. The next morning Thel’s ex-boyfriend, Charlie (Byrne) confronts Blake and Thel while they’re still in bed. Charlie shoots at Blake. The bullet hits (and kills) Thel and then strikes Blake in the chest when the bullet passes through her. Blake picks up Thel’s gun and kills Charlie. Blake then hightails it out of town.
Although he escaped into the wilderness, Blake’s chest wound is serious. He passes out. When he comes to he is surprised to find a huge Native American named Nobody (Farmer) standing over him. Nobody says that the bullet is too close to his heart to be removed. Blake is a walking dead man. Nobody says he will help Blake prepare for his journey back to the spiritual world. Along the way Blake has run-ins with many unusual characters including the three notorious killers hired by Charlie’s dad (Mitchum) to avenge his son’s murder.
Jim Jarmusch brought together an all-star cast to tell a strange, almost mesmerizing tale, Dead Man was shot in black and white, with fadeouts after each scene enhanced by an improvised Neil Young soundtrack. Truth be told, I started to watch Dead Man years ago and couldn’t get into it. This time, I loved every minute. Dead Man earns 4 of 5 stars.
The poster and trailer for Paradise Highway are here. I like the looks of this one.
Academy Award® winners Juliette Binoche and Morgan Freeman lead this riveting thriller set in the trucking industry and its seamy underbelly of human trafficking. To save the life of her brother (Frank Grillo), Sally (Binoche), a truck driver, reluctantly agrees to smuggle illicit cargo: a girl named Leila (Hala Finley). As Sally and Leila begin a danger-fraught journey across state lines, a dogged FBI operative (Freeman) sets out on their trail, determined to do whatever it takes to terminate a human-trafficking operation — and bring Sally and Leila to safety.
The poster and trailer for What Joshua Saw do what they should do… make me want to know more!
A family with buried secrets reunite at a farmhouse after two decades to pay for their past sins. Starring Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, with Jake Weber and Tony Hale. Directed by Vincent Grashaw.
Attack of the Puppet People (1957)
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Screenplay by: George Worthing Yates from a story by Bert I. Gordon
Starring: John Agar, John Hoyt and June Kenney
Tagline: Terror Comes In Small Packages!
The Overview: Beware of spoilers…
Mr. Franz (Hoyt) owns a doll company that makes popular, lifelike dolls. Little does anyone know that Mr. Franz’s personal doll collection is made from real people that he has shrunk to doll size. When Mr. Franz’s secretary, Sally Reynolds (Kenney) discovers what Franz has been doing, she goes to the police. Of course they don’t believe Franz is doing anything wrong,.. until Sally turns up missing and Franz has a new doll in his collection!
Attack of the Puppet People was given the greenlight due to the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man. It was rushed into production with Bert I. Gordon (The Amazing Colossal Man) at the helm. Fair warning, if the poster for Attack of the Puppet People sold you on the movie, please know… 1) They weren’t really puppet people. 2) There were no “Doll Dwarfs”. 3) No “giant beasts” were crushed or did crushing. 4) No giant dog vs steak knife wielding little folks… Just so ya know.
Attack of the Puppet People earned a 2 of 5 star rating.
Ben Droys came up with a cool, iconic alt poster for The Terminator! If you’d like to see more of Droys’ art, you can at his Instagram page.
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
Director: Nathan Juran
Screenplay by: Martin Berkeley based on a story by William Alland
Starring: Craig Stevens, William Hopper and Alix Talton
Tagline: The most dangerous monster that ever lived!
The Overview: Beware of spoilers
When volcanic eruptions set a gigantic prehistoric preying mantis free, the world becomes his buffet. It is up to Col. Joe Parkman (Stevens), Dr. Nedrick Jackson (Hopper) and Marge Blaine (Talton) to find a way to stop this giant insect.
Documentary footage of Eskimos and jets taking off make poor filler footage. The giant praying mantis looks good in scenes where it is busting into a building, but not so good when flying. This viewing didn’t rate as high as the first time I saw The Deadly Mantis. Of course I’m no longer eight. The Deadly Mantis rates 2 of 5 stars.
Now we have a poster and firm release date for Samaritan starring Sly Stallone directed by Julius (Overlord) Avery. Samaritan drops August 26th on Prime!
