Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
How cool is this Bride of Frankenstein painting by Alex Ross? As cool as it is, this is still my favorite Alex Ross painting… but The Bride is a close second.
You can see more Universal Monster paintings by Alex Ross here and here thanks to Cool Comic Art.
TCM is running a Kirk Douglas Movie Marathon Tribute starting at 6am on March 5th. Here’s the schedule…
My favorites are Along the Great Divide at 12:15, immediately followed by Out of the Past and then Spartacus at 9:45.
Check out this trailer for Gangs of London. If you like crime and action films, you should like this!
I really like Alex Bodin’s bold poster for The Irishman. I think this is the first piece I’ve ever seen from Bodin, but I’ll be on the lookout for more.
Source: Alternative Movie Poster Movement.
Sly Stallone is attached to star in Little America which is set to star filming this summer.
Set in a dystopian future where America has become bankrupt and turned into a war zone, Sly will play a former Army Ranger hired by an Asian billionaire to find his daughter.
With the highly skilled sister of the missing woman along for the ride, Sly’s Ranger must navigate the dark underbelly of Little America, a walled-off city within a city in Hong Kong where many Americans have fled.
Rowan Athale will direct from his own screenplay. Michael Bay is set to serve as Executive Producer.
For more details check out Deadline.
Tony Stella created another great poster with his take on The Most Dangerous Game. You can see a bigger version at Stella’s Twitter.
First published in 1924, The Most Dangerous Game began life as an award-winning short story by Richard Connell. Over the years The Most Dangerous Game became required reading in schools across the nation. I was in 9th grade when I first read it. The Most Dangerous Game was the most popular of all our assigned reading assignments.
Over the years The Most Dangerous Game has been adapted for movies, television and even radio. Tony Stella’s poster is for the first movie adaption. Made in 1932, the adaptation starred Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong with the team of Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper behind the camera (Schoedsack and Cooper would go on to make King Kong the following year).
I highly recommend The Most Dangerous Game (both the short story, now in public domain, and the 1932 movie).
Robert Conrad died today at age 84. Conrad best known for acting was also a singer, writer and director. Although he starred in feature films, it was Conrad’s television roles that made him a star. First with Hawaiian Eye, then his biggest hit, The Wild, Wild West and later The D.A., Black Sheep Squadron, A Man Called Sloane and High Mountain Rangers.
But it was The Wild, Wild West that Conrad’s fans loved the most. Perfectly cast as James West who partnered with Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin, also perfectly cast) as spies in the old west. The show ran for four seasons and was still doing well in the ratings when it was cancelled by CBS in an effort to reduce network violence. The Wild, Wild West was so popular in re-runs that two tv movies were made over a decade later.
Conrad was a member of the Stuntman’s Hall of Fame and winner of the Distinguished Service Award in Broadcasting.
On a personal note, the death of Robert Conrad is heartbreaking. I can’t tell you how many times I pretended to be James West as a kid or how many times I’ve watched each episode of The Wild, Wild West. It’s still set to be recorded daily on my dvr (and I own the complete series on dvd). A huge piece of my childhood died with him.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Robert Conrad’s family, friends and fans.
How about Steven Chorney’s poster for Bullitt! If you’d like to see a larger version, click over to Alternative Movie Poster Movement. If you’d like to check out more of Chorney’s art (and why wouldn’t you?) – click over to his site.
Kevin Conway, the multi-talented actor who appeared in movies, on television and the stage died Wednesday, February 5th of a heart attack.
I first became aware of Mr. Conway when I saw him in back-to-back Sylvester Stallone films. First up was FIST where Conway played Vince Doyle, a local mobster who provides Johnny Kovak (Stallone) with some “muscle” against the trucking company’s strike breakers. A few months later Conway and Stallone appeared together again, this time in Paradise Alley. Conway was a small town gangster but this time he and Stallone were adversaries.
What I didn’t know at the time was that Conway had already made appearances on Broadway, television and films! Conway was still acting in movies and television as well as doing voice work for commercials, trailers and documentaries up until his death at age 77. Some of Conway’s best known roles include his work in Mystic River, The Quick and the Dead, 13 Days and Gettysburg.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kevin Conway’s family, friends and fans.
Here’s the poster and trailer for The Vast of Night. Looks interesting. I wish the poster had more of a UFO or unexplained vibe to it.
In the twilight of the 1950s, on one fateful night in New Mexico, a young, winsome switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever. Dropped phone calls, AM radio signals, secret reels of tape forgotten in a library, switchboards, crossed patchlines and an anonymous phone call lead Fay and Everett on a scavenger hunt toward the unknown.
Written by James Montague and Craig W. Sanger, directed by Andrew Patterson. The Vast Of Night is coming soon to theaters and Prime Video.
The 2 Graves in the Desert has both a drive-in movie and pulp novel feel to it and that’s a good thing.
When Eric wakes up, tied and gagged in the trunk of a truck, it’s instantly clear he’s been kidnapped. However soon he discovers he’s accompanied by a young woman, Blake, another hostage. Neither can recall how they ended up in this dire situation, and together they desperately try and get any help they can. With no helping coming, and as things become more and more hopeless, it soon becomes fearfully apparent that there is more going on than it first seems. The two kidnappers have their own agenda, and it’s not a pleasant one… Starring Michael Madsen and William Baldwin, 2 Graves In The Desert is a cold thriller set on the blazing road to Las Vegas, provoking the ultimate question – is there any way the hostages can escape alive?
I like the poster and the trailer is interesting.
Many believe the “Mothman” to be a 1960’s phenomenon, an omen only appearing before tragedy, and disappearing after a flap of sightings and the subsequent “Silver Bridge” collapse in 1967. But what if there’s more? What if the origins of this “omen” trace back much further and go much deeper than anyone realized? And, what if…the sightings never ended?
The Mothman Legacy is the direct sequel to 2017’s highly regarded, The Mothman of Point Pleasant. The new film will tell the story of dozens of sightings of a being that was simply said to be a part of folklore, but who, none-the-less continues to be seen around the area today. With nearly a dozen eyewitness interviews, the film promises to offer some of the most intense, and terrifying encounters ever recorded.
The Mothman Legacy is directed by Seth Breedlove, and produced by Adrienne Breedlove. Lyle Blackburn returns to narrate with cinematography by Zac Palmisano and an original score by Brandon Dalo. The Mothman Legacy is being funded through a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter which launches Thursday, February 6th. Rewards include copies of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, posters, t-shirts and more.
The Mothman Legacy is the 10th feature film from indie film production company, Small Town Monsters. The new trailer gives audiences a glimpse into some of the dark, haunting landscapes captured around West Virginia, along with sound clips from witnesses interviewed for the new film. The trailer is also accompanied by a new one-sheet from acclaimed artist, Christopher Shy (Mandy, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) which gives a haunting look at the titular creature.
The Mothman Legacy will debut on September 18th, 2020 and will have a big screen premiere as part of the kickoff for the annual Mothman Festival held in Point Pleasant, WV the same weekend as the release.
Kirk Douglas died today at the age of 103. His son, Michael Douglas posted (in part):
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” son Michael Douglas wrote on his Instagram account. “To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the Golden Age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to.”
Kirk Douglas was an actor, a director, a producer and writer. He was always the coolest guy in the room. Douglas made movies that he believed in, not always taking the roles that paid the most or had the best chance for box-office appeal. It didn’t matter if Douglas played a hero or villain, he had audience appeal. Douglas was a three-time Oscar nominee for Best Actor and received an Honorary Oscar in 1996.
Some of my favorite Kirk Douglas movies include: Spartacus; Out of the Past; Detective Story; Along the Great Divide; The War Wagon (thanks to memories of watching it with my Grandpa) and Oscar (with Sly Stallone. Years earlier, Douglas was set to star as Col. Troutman in First Blood but it didn’t work out.).
Kirk Douglas was indeed a living legend. 103 years is a long life and Douglas lived it to the fullest.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his friends and his fans.
Blood on Her Name has a Blood Simple vibe to it and that’s a good thing!
A woman’s decision to cover up an accidental killing spirals out of control when her conscience demands she return the dead man’s body to his family.
When I posted The Burnt Orange Heresy poster and trailer here, the poster wasn’t liked near as much as the trailer. Well, above is a new poster which is much better. Right?
