Category: Movies

THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD by Jay Glennie is Coming!

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Quentin Tarantino fans are gonna love this.  THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD by Jay Glennie premieres soon.  Here’s the lowdown…

Legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino personally introduces the definitive and official examination of his entire oeuvre with the Quentin Tarantino Library written by Jay Glennie.

In the first book in the series, THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, writer Jay Glennie pulls back the curtain on the visionary writer/director/producer’s ninth film, with unprecedented access to the filmmaker, cast, and crew. This epic tome is a stunning and faithful deep dive into the mind of a masterful auteur and a must-have book for all film lovers and Quentin Tarantino fans.

For the first time ever Academy Award winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has granted respected journalist and author Jay Glennie unique access revealing the never-before-told behind-the-scenes making of one of the most iconic films of all time, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.

Quentin Tarantino personally introduces the volume, as well as providing hundreds of behind-the-scenes photographs, along with production memos, concept art, and costume and production design sketches. There are also exclusive reproductions of letters, studio documents and film ephemera. The result is an account of the monumental effort undertaken to produce Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and is the official record of how it was achieved, from inception to the world premiere and on to ten Academy Award nominations, resulting in two Oscars.

The book includes new and exclusive interviews undertaken by Jay Glennie with key cast and crew members, including Oscar winning actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, Oscar nominee Margot Robbie, and the brilliant supporting cast including Oscar winner Mikey Madison, Margaret Qualley, Oscar nominee Austin Butler, Lena Dunham, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Damian Lewis, Maya Hawke, and Sydney Sweeney.

First book in the series!!

THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD  Hardcover

THE MAKING OF QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD  Kindle

RIP: Drew Struzan

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It was announced that Drew Struzan died yesterday.  Mr. Struzan had dealt with Alzheimer’s disease for may years . Drew Struzan was 78.

Drew Stuzan was born in Oregon City, Oregon.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles.  After graduation Drew Struzan began working for the design studio Pacific Eye & Ear.  During his time there Mr. Struzan designed many record album covers including covers for the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, Roy Orbison, Black Sabbath, Glenn Miller, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many others.  Perhaps the most famous of Drew Struzan’s album art is Welcome to My Nightmare created for Alice Cooper.

Drew Struzan and a friend decided to start their own company, Pencil Pushers.  In these early days, Mr. Struzan began to get movie poster work, but it was mostly for B-films such as Empire of the Ants.  In 1977, Drew Stuzan was asked to work with Charles White III on a poster for the re-release of Star Wars.  Mr. Struzan painted the human likenesses and Mr. White worked on the spacecraft, robots and Darth Vader.  The poster was a hit.

Drew Struzan was considered by many to be THE go-to guy for a great movie poster.  Steven Spielberg said that Drew Struzan was his favorite artist and “I had to almost live up to the art that we later were going to ask Drew to create for the poster.”  High praise indeed.

Some of the movies that featured posters by Drew Struzan include: Escape to Witch Mountain; Robin and Marian; Harry & Walter Go and New York; Food of the Gods; Futureworld; Car Wash; The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; Tentacles; Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope; Empire of the Ants; The Last Remake of Beau Geste; March or Die; California Suite; The Muppet Movie; The Frisco Kid; Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back; Fame; Oh, Heavenly Dog; Raise the Titanic; All Night Long; Raiders of the Lost Ark; The Cannonball Run; The Great Muppet Caper; The Fox and the Hound; I, the Jury; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; The Thing; Blade Runner; Tron; First Blood; The Dark Crystal; The Sting II; The Pirates of Penzance; Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi; Under Fire; Risky Business; To Be or Not to Be; Police Academy; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Ladyhawke; Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment; The Goonies; Back to the Future; Better Off Dead; White Nights; Police Academy 3: Back in Training; Big Trouble in Little China; The Name of the Rose; An American Tail; Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol; Harry and the Hendersons; Adventures in Babysitting; Masters of the Universe; Coming to America; The Land Before Time; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Harlem Nights; All Dogs Go to Heaven; Back to the Future Part II; Back to the Future Part III; Hook; Aladdin; The Muppet Christmas Carol; The Flintstones; Angels in the Outfield; The Mask; The Shawshank Redemption; Mallrats; Cutthroat Island; Mars Attacks; The Lost World: Jurassic Park; Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace; The Green Mile; Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone; Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Hellboy; Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith; War of the Worlds; Pans Labyrinth; The Mist; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; This is the End; Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Animal Crackers.

I first became aware of Drew Struzan’s art before I even knew who he was.  I saw a drawing of Sly Stallone for First Blood on a paperback cover.  I actually wrote to the publishing company with a self-addressed stamped envelope asking for the name of the artist that did the art.  I held out little hope for a response, but I got one.  Sadly, the person who responded didn’t know the name of the artist.  They did tell me that the company used was Pencil Pushers.  Since this was the days before the internet, I never found where Pencil Pushers was located.  Or that Drew Struzan created the art.  I would learn that later when I like every other movie fan fell in love with his beautiful movie posters.

My favorite Drew Struzan posters are the First Blood paintings he did followed very closely by his artwork for I, the Jury starring Armand Assante.  Thanks to the internet, as well as Drew Struzan’s personal website and his instagram page, we’ve been able to see many pieces of his art that weren’t movie posters.  I love Drew Struzan’s sketches, drawings, commissions and personal work.  There’s always a thrill to see a Drew Struzan piece for the first time.  Like all great artists, the thrill of repeated viewings is always there.

Out thoughts and prayers go out to Drew Struzan’s family, friends and fans.

“The Conversation” (1974) written & directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Gene Hackman / Z-View

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The Conversation (1974)

Director:  Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay: Francis Ford Coppola

Stars: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth MacRae, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford, Mark Wheeler, Ramon Bieri, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Robert Duvall  and Robert Shields.

Tagline: Harry Caul is an invader of privacy. The best in the business. He can record any conversation between two people anywhere. So far, three people are dead because of him.

The Plot…

Harry Caul is an audio recording specialist.  Perhaps the best in the business.  That’s why Harry is hired to secretly record conversations for high priced clients.  Harry says he doesn’t care how the recordings are used once he turns them over.  Truth is Harry feels guilty that some of his recordings may have led to the murders of three people.

When on his current job Harry pieces together muffled audio, the conversation indicates someone is going to be murdered.  Now Harry feels it is his responsibility to stop the killing.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Conversation was nominated for three 1975 Academy Awards…

  • Nominee for Best Sound – Walter Murch, Art Rochester
  • Nominee for Best Writing, Original Screenplay – Francis Ford Coppola
  • Nominee for Best Picture –Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola’s screenplay for The Conversation, written in 1966, couldn’t get financing until his success with The Godfather.

Harrison Ford’s part was originally written as a cameo.  His character didn’t even have a name.  Ford’s suggestion to play the character as gay (an unusual choice in 1974) and his suggestions to Coppola, led to the part being expanded.

Gene Hackman and Terri Garr would also appear together in Young Frankenstein the same year.

Most folks rate The Conversation higher than me.  It currently has a 7.7 rating on IMDB and on Rotten Tomatoes it has a 94% reviewers rating and 89% users’ rating. So, as always, your mileage may vary.

The Conversation (1974) rates 3 of 5 stars.

PUSH THE WALL: MY LIFE WRITING, DRAWING, AND THE ART OF STORYTELLING by Frank Miller is Coming!

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Frank Miller the genius behind Sin City, 300, The Dark Night Returns, Batman: Year One, Ronin and so many more great comic tales has a new book coming.  Here’s the lowdown…

From the all-time bestselling mind behind Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, 300, and Sin City, Push the Wall is part memoir, part master class for budding artists and writers by one of the greatest living creators whose work has influenced pop culture for decades.

Frank Miller is our greatest living comic book writer and artist.

Frank Miller shares his life, and through, his artistic process. Miller’s artistic influence is evident in so very much of our popular culture, perhaps most notably with Batman — every film adaptation from the past forty years has been influenced by Miller’s work with the Dark Knight.

Simply, Frank Miller has transformed the way comics are told.

Here, Frank’s mix of autobiographical lessons evokes Patti Smith’s Just Kids as it weaves his struggles as a seventeen-year-old kid fresh from Vermont into a seedy 1970s New York City with his eventual success on reimagining Daredevil and Wolverine. From there to Miller’s rescue and revitalization of Batman, to his time in Hollywood, the Sin City comics and film adaptations he would codirect, and the retelling of the Spartans’ last stand in 300. Miller, by constantly challenging himself as an artist and writer on his terms, built an iconoclastic career.

With over a dozen illustrations of Miller’s art, PUSH THE WALL is the work of his career—it is a masterclass as it encapsulates his life in sixteen lessons for the aspiring creative reader.

This will be a must-have for aspiring writers and artists, as well as die hard Miller fans.

PUSH THE WALL Hardcover
PUSH THE WALL Kindle

“The Burrowers” (2008) / Z-View

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The Burrowers (2008)

Director:  J. T. Petty

Screenplay: J. T. Petty

Stars:  Clancy Brown, Joel Kinnaman, Jocelin Donahue, Doug Hutchison, Laura Leighton, Suzi McLaughlin, Tatanka Means, David Midthunder and William Mapother.

Tagline: Evil will surface.

The Plot…

1879.  When a family of settlers is found brutally mutilated, it is thought that hostile Indians did it.  Some family members, including a young girl are missing and believed to have been kidnapped.  Although there are strange holes in the ground surrounding the kill zone, not much notice is paid to them.  A group is formed to track the Indians and save the survivors.

Little does the posse know that the holes were created by vicious creatures that live beneath the prairie.  And the posse is heading straight into their territory.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The creatures are pretty cool.  I wish we had more action with them.

The Burrowers (2008) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Brothers by Blood” aka “The Sound of Philadelphia” (2020) / Z-View

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Brothers by Blood aka The Sound of Philadelphia (2020)

Director:  Jeremie Guez

Screenplay: Jeremie Guez; based on BROTHERLY LOVE by Pete Dexter

Stars: Matthias Schoenaerts, Joel Kinnaman, Maika Monroe, Nicholas Crovetti, Antoni Corone, Michael McFadden, Joshua Lacey and Ryan Phillippe.

Tagline: Loyalty Has a Price

The Plot…

Peter and Michael are cousins raised together in a family of criminals from childhood.  Now adults, the two of positions of power within the Irish mob.  Tensions have been high between the Irish and Italians.  To make matters worse, Peter’s behavior has grown increasingly erratic.  Michael will need to make some tough choices before they are made for him.  He will also have to come to grips with the tragedy that cost his sister and father’s lives years ago.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

I was expecting more.

Brothers by Blood aka The Sound of Philadelphia (2020) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Warfare” (2025) / Z-View

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Warfare (2025)

Director:  Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Screenplay: Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Stars: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Alex Brockdorff, Finn Bennett, Evan Holtzman, Michael Gandolfini and Noah Centineo.

Tagline: Everything is based on memory.

The Plot…

A team of Navy SEALS secretly set up an observation post in a house in the middle of an Iraqi town known to be a hotbed of terrorists.  As some of the soldiers hold the family hostage, the others monitor enemy activity.

The SEALS come to realize that as they are watching the terrorists, the terrorists are aware of them.  One of the SEAL translators monitoring radio chatter, hears an Iraqi call to arms.  The enemy is gearing up for battle with the SEALS.  Soon after a granade is thrown through the window.  One of the SEAL snipers is badly injured.

The SEALS call for air support and evacuation.  It will come, but not immediately.  Outnumbered and outgunned, the SEALS are in a battle for their lives.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Warfare is based on a true SEAL mission.  The movie plays out in real time.  The screenplay was based on memories of the soldiers who were there.  Before a scene was set, at least two of the soldiers verified it for accuracy.

The action is intense and at times terrifying.  It’s hard to imagine being in the middle of a battle, fighting for your life with all of the chaos.  Minutes seem like hours waiting for back-up.  When all is said and done, you’re glad to have survived (and for your teammates that made it).  But there is no ultimate resolution that good triumphed over evil.  There is just the bond you will forever have with the men who shared the experience.

Warfare (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” Alt Poster by Yvan Quinet!

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Yvan Quinet is the artist behind this creative alt poster for Bram Stoker’s Dracula!  This is so cool.  I love the colors and composition.  How about the design around Dracula?  Check out the Dracula’s shadow.  And don’t forget to look into Dracula’s goblet.

Bravo!

You can see more of Yvan Quinet’s art at his website and/or his Instagram page.

“Nuremberg” – The Trailer is Here!

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Judgment is coming.
The official trailer #1 for NUREMBERG, only in theaters November 7.

The Allies, led by the unyielding chief prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon), have the task of ensuring the Nazi regime answers for the unveiled horrors of the Holocaust while a US Army psychiatrist (Rami Malek) is locked in a dramatic psychological duel with former Reichsmarschall Herman Göring (Russell Crowe).

Written & Directed by: James Vanderbilt
Based on the Book: THE NAZI AND THE PSYCHIATRIST By Jack El-Hai

Starring: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Leo Woodall, and Michael Shannon

“Ivory King” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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We have the poster and trailer for Ivory King.

Deal me in.

King Ivory features a star-studded ensemble including James Badge Dale (The Departed), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water), Michael Mando (“Better Call Saul”), Rory Cochrane (Black Mass), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight), George Carroll (The Town), Sam Quartin (Candy Land), newcomer Jasper Jones, Academy Award®-nominee Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves), and Academy Award®-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter).

Based upon extensive research with law enforcement, gangs, inmates, migrants, and addicts, all walks of life intersect in this fentanyl exposé. With potency one hundred times that of heroin and nearly undetectable at the border, fentanyl has flooded the market, triggering a tidal wave of overdoses, crime, and addiction.

Work hits too close to home for Tulsa drug cop, Layne West (Dale), when his son, Jack (Jones), becomes an addict. In conjunction with his partner, Ty (Carroll), and FBI counterpart, Beatty (Cochrane), West makes it his mission to take down those responsible, including the Mexican cartel’s local shot-caller, Ramón Garza (Mando), Indian Brotherhood War Chief, Holt Lightfeather (Greene), who controls state-wide trafficking from inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester a.k.a. “Big Mac,” and the local Irish Mob family outfit, led by George “Smiley” Greene (Foster), along with his mother, Ginger (Leo), and uncle, Mickey (Coster). As Holt educates West: “The cartels want your kids, the next generation, who want what is new, and fentanyl is new.”

Sly Stallone as Barney Ross from “The Expendables” by Andrew Charipar!

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Andrew Charipar is a Florida artist that I met going to conventions throughout the state.  Andrew was always friendly.  Getting a sketch at any show Andrew attended was mandatory.

In addition to his work as an artist, Andrew owns and manages Misfit Corner Comics in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here we have Andrew’s take on Sly Stallone as Barney Ross from The Expendables!

The 25 Best One Man Armies in the Movies

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Way back in 2009, EmpireOnLine.com posted their list of The 25 Best One Man Armies in the Movies.  Of course, Rambo came in at #1.  Who could argue with that?  Using just their choices I made my top ten list.  You can check it out here should you desire.

But since that list was made so long ago, I felt it was time to come up with an updated list of The 25 Best One Man Armies in the Movies.   These choices can [and should] be debated.  Isn’t that the purpose of lists?

Here are my suggestions…

  1. Rambo played by SYLVESTER STALLONE in the RAMBO franchise
  2. Lee played by BRUCE LEE in ENTER THE DRAGON
  3. John Wick played by Keanu Reeves in the JOHN WICK franchise

The rest appear in alphabetical order

Alejandro played by BENECIO DEL TORO in SICARIO

Billy Jack played by TOM LAUGHLIN in the BILLY JACK franchise

Bryan Mills played by LIAM NEESON in TAKEN

Chance Boudreaux played by JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME in HARD TARGET

Detective Dave Bannon played by GLENN FORD in THE BIG HEAT

Geno Felino played by STEVEN SEAGAL in OUT FOR JUSTICE

Jack Reacher played by TOM CRUISE in the REACHER franchise

John Matrix played by ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER in COMMANDO

John McClane played by BRUCE WILLIS in the DIE HARD franchise

John Patrick Mason played by SEAN CONNERY in THE ROCK

Leon played by JEAN RENO in LEON THE PROFESSIONAL

Martin Riggs played by MEL GIBSON in the LETHAL WEAPON franchise

Marv played by MICKEY ROURKE in the SIN CITY franchise

Max Rockatansky played by MEL GIBSON in the MAD MAX franchise

Porter played by MEL GIBSON in PAYBACK

Scott Ward played by DAVE BAUTISTA in ARMY OF THE DEAD

Snake Plissken played by KURT RUSSELL in the ESCAPE FROM franchise

Tom Sharky played by BURT REYNOLDS in SHARKY’S MACHINE

Toorop played by VIN DIESEL in BABYLON A.D.

Tyler Rake played by CHRIS HEMSWORTH in the EXTRACTION franchise

Walker played by LEE MARVIN in POINT BLANK

Walker played by TOM HARDY in HAVOC