Category: Movies

Svengoolie, Horror Movies and Bernie Gonzalez!

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When I was a kid growing up in Indiana, I looked forward to staying up late each weekend and watching a horror movie.  They were hosted by Sammy Terry.  It was something most of my friends did and it was always cool either watching with them or knowing they were watching too.

These days you don’t have to stay up late (unless you call 8 – 10pm late) and you can still catch a weekly horror movie.  These monster films are hosted by Svengoolie.   A lot of folks watching post comments on Twitter and it’s almost like watching with friends when I was a kid.  You might want to give it a try if this sounds like fun.

Each week, Bernie Gonzalez, the creator, artist and writer of Midnight Mystery (highly recommended) posts foreign movie posters for the film Svengoolie runs.  This week he posted the cool French poster for The Horror of Dracula.  Gonzalez’s posts are just another good reason to join in the fun!

“Peninsula” the “Train to Busan” Follow-Up Update!

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Hey!  We have an update for Peninsula the Train to Busan sequel.

First up, ComingSoon has a Peninsula photo slideshow and update.  This quote from director Yeon Sang-Ho jumped out…

“The scale of Peninsula can’t compare to Train to Busan, it makes it look like an independent film…”

Next we have an update on JoBlo.  Again a quote from Yeon Sang-Ho…

“It takes place four years after Train To Busan, in the same universe, but it doesn’t continue the story and has different characters. Government authority has been decimated after the zombie outbreak in Korea, and there is nothing left except the geographical traits of the location – which is why the film is called Peninsula.”

Check out both sites for more info!

“Spenser Confidential” / Z-View

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Spenser Confidential (2020)

Director: Peter Berg

Screenplay: Sean O’Keefe & Brian Helgeland based on characters created by Robert B. Parker and the novel by Ace Atkins

Stars:  Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron, Donald Cerrone  and Post Malone.

The Pitch: “Let’s turn Ace Akins’ Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novel into a movie!”

Tagline: The Law Has Limits. They Don’t.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

If you’re not a fan of Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins Spenser characters there’s an outside chance you may like Spenser Confidential.  If you are a fan of the books, my guess is that you’ll hate this movie.  That’s because not a single character goes unchanged to something fundamentally different from the novels.

Spenser goes from an intelligent, wisecracking ex-cop to a less than stellar (IQ-wise) ex-con who aspires to be a trucker.  In the novels, Susan is a Harvard-educated, calm, supporting soul mate to Spenser.  In the movie she becomes a foul-mouthed, crazy girlfriend that Spenser works to avoid until he needs sex or help with the “case”.  In the novels Hawk starts out as a respected rival who works on the fringes of the law and ultimately becomes Spenser’s best friend (outside of Susan).  In the movie Hawk is a big, nerdy, untrained lug who dreams of being a MMA Champion who is forced to be Spenser’s roommate.

Peter Berg is usually a director that makes fun movies.  Not here.  Brian Helgeland wrote the screenplays for LA Confidential, Payback, Mystic River, and Man on Fire.  Spenser Confidential isn’t in the same ballpark… not even the same continent.

You may be thinking that if I wasn’t such a big fan of Parker and Atkins’ Spenser novels I would have liked Spenser Confidential better.  Perhaps I would have liked it a bit more… but not much.

Rating:

Rare & Vintage Paul Gulacy Morbius Sketch!

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Above is a rare, vintage sketch of Morbius the Living Vampire drawn by Paul Gulacy way back in 1980.

The sketch reminds me of the first Paul Gulacy art I ever owned.  It was also a Morbius and victim sketch that I purchased in 1978 or 1979.  At the time he was a second or third tier Marvel character.  Who’d have thought that Morbius would be the “star’ of a movie in 2020?

The Poster and Trailer for “The Quarry” Starring Shea Wigham and Michael Shannon!

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Here is the poster and trailer for The Quarry.  The poster is okay, I like the trailer more.  The Quarry looks like a winner.

From the novel by Damon Galgut comes this searing thriller, a tale of sin and redemption set in the wilds of Texas. After murdering a traveling preacher, a fugitive drifter (Shea Whigham, Joker) travels to a small town and poses as the man he killed. Though the congregation loves the drifter’s sermons of forgiveness, the local police chief (Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon, The Shape of Water) is suspicious of the man. Soon a gruesome discovery at a local quarry forces the killer to fight for his freedom.

Two Posters and a Trailer for “Arkansas” Starring Vince Vaughn, Liam Hensworth and Many Others!

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Here are two posters and a trailer for Arkansas.  I like both posters – love the Arkansas logo with the skull –  and the clever tag line “Kyle and Swin are working their way to the top… but the top has other plans.”  The trailer shows how quirky Arkansas will be.  The question is will it be too quirky?

The Most Popular Movie for each Year from 1950 On

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Jake Rosen at Mental Floss recently posted The Most Popular Movie for each Year from 1950 On.  Here’s how many I saw and my favorite for each decade.

  • 1950 – 1959:  6 and BEN-HUR (1959) gets the nod.
  • 1960 – 1969: 7 with BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) coming out on top.
  • 1970 – 1979: 10 (yep, I saw ’em all) and you know that ROCKY (1976) was my favorite.
  • 1980 – 1989: 10 again.  RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) wins.
  • 1990 – 1999: 10 (I’m on a roll.)  TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY is my fav.
  • 2000 – 2009: 6.  PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST (06) gets the nod in the weakest decade so far.
  • 2010 – 2019: 4.  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) in a decade when I’ve only seen four of the top ten.