Category: Movies

23 Things We Learned from Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien Covenant’ Commentary

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Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 23 Things We Learned from Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

9.   At 24:26 he acknowledges this is the “same plot as the original Alien, there’s a transmission, they go and find out.”

11.   Astronauts and NASA scientists have told him that they sometimes get ideas from science fiction films because filmmakers have thought their way around problems in ways that they themselves don’t.

14. More than once Scott says he’s going to hold back from saying something so as not to spoil it for listeners — as if people are listening to the commentary for their first watch of the film.

 

Gargoyles (1972) / Z-View

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Gargoyles (1972)

Director: Bill Norton (as B.W.L. Norton)

Screenplay: Steven Karpf (as Stephen Karpf) and Elinor Karpf

Stars:  Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Grayson Hall, Bernie Casey and Scott Glenn.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a monster movie!”

Tagline: Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a best-selling anthropologist/paleontologist (Wilde) gets word of a mysterious skeleton found in the desert, he decides to drive out for a look.  He takes his photographer daughter with him even though he believes the skeleton will turn out to be a hoax.  Shortly after arriving he and the small town find themselves under attack by Gargoyles!

Scott Glenn and Bernie Casey in early roles plus a young Stan Winston provides the Gargoyles!

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Small Crimes (2017) / Z-View

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Small Crimes (2017)

Director: Evan Katz

Screenplay: Macon Blair and Evan Katz based on a novel by David Zeltserman

Stars:  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Robert Forster, Jacki Weaver and Gary Cole.

The Pitch: “Let’s turn David Zeltserman’s novel into a movie!”

Tagline: None.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When ex-cop, ex-con, Joe Denton is released from prison he finds himself still entangled with the crooks and crooked cop who got him sent up.  Each step Joes makes takes him deeper into a life of crime where his chances of survival are knife-blade thin.

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Custom Made “Alien” Pez Dispenser

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I don’t collect Pez dispensers, but if I did, an Alien dispenser would be a Must-Have.  Sadly for those that do collect ’em, this Pez dispenser is a custom made piece by Peter “Rat D” Davidson, so getting one may be difficult.

The pic to the left was photoshopped with the one on the right showing the actual Pez action.  Still cool enough to get Hudson to yell, “Game over, man.  Game over.”

Source: Geeks Are Sexy.

Tarzan and His Mate (1934) / Z-View

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Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

Director: Cedric Gibbons and Jack Conway (uncredited) and James C. McKay (uncredited)

Screenplay: James Kevin McGuinness based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Stars:  Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan and Neil Hamilton

The Pitch: “Let’s make a sequel to ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’!”

Tagline: Johnny Weismuller is back again!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Hunters from England come to Africa in order to bring Jane back to civilization along with a fortune in elephant tusks.  This doesn’t sit well with Tarzan.

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The 25 Best Action Movies to Get Your Blood Pumping

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Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present The 25 Best Action Movies to Get Your Blood Pumping.  Seddon has come up with a great list.  It was hard to pick just three, so depending on my mood, my choices could change.  But for now, here they are (with some thoughts to follow)…

5. Aliens (1986)
Action hero: Ellen Ripley

The film: Ridley Scott’s atmospheric opener saw Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) trapped on a spaceship with a single Xenomorph, so it made sense for James Cameron’s sequel to try and up the ante: an abandoned space colony, a unit of gung-ho marines and an entire hive of acid bleeding bugs.

Most action-packed scene: Confronting the queen in the bowels of the industrial complex, Ripley has a few nice mother-to-mother moments before later strapping into the power loader and fighting her claw to claw.

 

2. Die Hard (1988)
Action hero: John McClane

The film: New York cop John McClane picks the first of many wrong places and wrong times to visit his wife at work, but for star Bruce Willis and director John McTiernan, the timing couldn’t have been better. Putting an ordinary Joe in the middle of a firefight, confining a terrorist takeover to a single, claustrophobic building, and balancing quip-smart dialogue with hard and heavy action set-pieces, Die Hard set the mold and broke it at the same time.

Most action-packed scene: A rooftop bomb. A short fire hose. A plate glass window. The rest is history.

 

8. John Wick (2014)
Action hero: John Wick

The film: Director Chad Stahelski overcomes first-time jitters in his filmmaking debut, largely due to his experiences as a martial arts stunt co-ordinator. This revenge actioner throws in some dark motivating factors for Keanu Reeves leading man. His vendetta kill mission is the most dazzling work Reeves has accomplished since his first time tackling Neo.

Most action-packed scene: Wick enters a club wherein he punches, kicks, headbutts and shoots anyone who crosses his path. Each strike hits with an eerie precision.

I was glad to see Stallone made the top 25 with First Blood. I was also happy to see both John Wick films made the cut.  If it was my list I would have found room for Rambo and Enter the Dragon.

Shield for Murder (1954) / Z-View

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Shield for Murder (1954)

Director: Howard W. Koch and Edmond O’Brien

Screenplay: Richard Alan Simmons and John C. Higgins from a novel by William P. McGivern

Stars:  Edmond O’Brien, John Agar, Marla English, John Agar, Caroline Jones and Claude Akins.

The Pitch: “Let’s turn William McGivern’s best-seller into a movie!”

Tagline: The Story Of A Killer-Cop Who Used His “SHIELD FOR MURDER”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When tough cop Detective Nolan (O’Brien) kills a bookie for the 25 grand the bookie is carrying, he thinks there are no witness.  Nolan then learns a deaf/mute man saw the murder.  This leads Nolan down a path of no-return full of murder and mayhem.

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50+ Years of Hollywood’s Coolest Cars

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History.com presents 50+ Years of Hollywood’s Coolest Cars.   Here are three of my favorites and some thoughts at the end…

1963 ASTON MARTIN DB5
Goldfinger (1964)

James Bond’s bespoke British grand tourer wasn’t just suave. It was also menacing, which likely had something to do with all that supercool spyware: pop-out machine guns and tire slashers, rotating license plates, and a smoke screen and oil-slick sprayer that (temporarily) foiled the baddies in hot pursuit.

Most memorable? Its fully functional passenger-side ejector seat, activated by a button hidden on the gear-shift knob—an audience favorite despite the fact that the villain flung from it barely cleared the top of the car. In 1964, Corgi made a toy die-cast model complete with machine guns and ejector seat and a little toy bad guy to launch from it.

The DB5 went on to appear in Thunderball, Casino Royale and many other Bond films, becoming synonymous with 007. Of the two DB5s actually used in the film (two others were used for promotion), the one originally kitted out with all the gadgetry has disappeared, stolen from a Florida airplane hangar in 1997. The other, used in road scenes and later retrofitted with the spy goodies, sold at auction in 2010 for $4.6 million.

1967 SHELBY MUSTANG GT500 FASTBACK ‘ELEANOR II’
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

When it comes to leading cops on a chase, few scenes can match the climactic one in Nicolas Cage’s star vehicle Gone in 60 Seconds. Eleven cars were custom-made for the film, only three of which were driveable. One of those three, the “beauty car” Cage drove in that infamous chase (sporting a not-too-shabby 400 horsepower Ford V-B engine and its much copied “Go-Baby-Go” shifter knob), sold for $1.07 million at auction in 2013. A few years earlier, the other two fetched roughly $200,000 and $100,000 respectively. A cottage industry has emerged selling replicas.

1976 LOTUS ESPRIT
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

James Bond’s Aston Martin may have helped him defend Queen and country with an impressive collection of spy gear, but could it … swim? The 10th Bond film featured a funky disco soundtrack, a leggy Russian spy and a villain with mouthful of metal. And if that wasn’t enough, it showcased “Wet Nellie,” a futuristic, wedge-shaped Lotus best remembered for the shocking moment when it dove into the water, sprouted fins and retracted its wheels—essentially transforming into a submarine. (Reportedly, the bubbles it left in its wake were created with a cache of Alka-Seltzer tablets.) When it motored back up on the beach, it morphed back into a proper car.

The Lotus earned its spot in the 007 sports-car pantheon in a distinctly sneaky way: Lotus’s PR manager, on hearing of a new Bond film in the making, strategically parked the striking vehicle outside the office of franchise producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, hoping to catch his attention. Apparently, it worked.

Two of the three coolest cars were James Bond vehicles.  Not much is cooler than cars with weapons, ejector seats and that can go underwater.  The Shelby Mustang is also a favorite.  I had a Mustang in high school and my uncle owned a Shelby Cobra.  Gotta love those muscle cars.

Two cars that didn’t make the list that would have made mine –

  1.  The original Batmobile from the 1960’s Batman tv series
  2.  Stallone’s ’50 Ford Merc from Cobra

Kill Me Again (1989) / Z-View

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Kill Me Again (1989)

Director: John Dahl

Screenplay: John Dahl and David W. Warfield

Stars:  Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Michael Madsen and Bibi Besch.

The Pitch: “Let’s throwback detective story about a pretty woman, stolen money, a psycho boyfriend and down-on-his-luck private eye.”

Tagline: Her last request was his first mistake.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When an attractive woman (Whalley) offers Jack Andrews (Kilmer) enough money to get him out from under with his bookies, Andrews agrees to help her disappear.  What Andrews doesn’t know is that she’s on the run from her psycho boyfriend (Madsen) with the cash that they stole and killed to keep.

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Kansas City Confidential (1952) / Z-View

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Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Director: Phil Karlson

Screenplay: George Bruce and Harry Essex from a story by Harold R. Greene and Rowland Brown

Stars: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Donna Drake.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a crime movie with an ex-con trying to go straight framed for a heist by crooks and crooked cops!”

Tagline: Exploding! Like a gun in your face!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Joe Rolfe (Payne) is an ex-con trying to go straight who finds himself set-up to take the fall of a million dollar heist.  When the cops can’t beat a confession out of Rolfe, they release him.  This allows Rolfe to begin a real investigation. The trail takes him to Mexico where he finds himself up against the crooks and a crooked cop.

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The 25 Best ’90s Movies

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Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present The 25 Best ’90s Movies. The list is excellent and coming up with just three choices was really tough, but here are three of my favorites…

24. LA Confidential (1999)
The movie: Slow-burning, throwback-inspired noir was a big thing in the ’90s. Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead, Twilight, Red Rock West… and the one that tops the lot: Curtis Hanson’s tightly-plotted riff on James Ellroy’s L.A.-based novel. Its razor sharp script slowly unravels to reveal the rotten core of 1950s Hollywood, that’s made all the more enchanting by its killer cast: Kim Basinger, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe all deliver stonking turns.

Most ’90s moment: While the film is set during the ’50s, its last act twist is an utterly ’90s invention.

21. The Sixth Sense (1999)
The movie: It’s testament to the quality of The Sixth Sense that it even holds up when you know exactly what is coming. Just in case you haven’t experienced its twist yet (and I can’t imagine there are many who haven’t), I won’t do a cheap gag at its expense. Instead, I’ll praise M. Night Shyamalan’s masterful control of suspense and chills, and bemoan the fact that he’s rarely managed to repeat it. Regarding its iconic ending, I will say that the moment the end credits roll, you’ll dive straight back in to see just how you could have missed it.

Most ’90s moment: It really is the ending. Seriously, the ’90s were all about twists.

 

 

17. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The movie: Quentin Tarantino’s first – and, for some, still his best – feature introduced us to his world in brilliant fashion. From Mr. Pink’s (Steve Buscemi) opinion on tipping and the cool-as-fuck opening titles to the unforgettable ear-slicing, it showed us exactly what to expect from a Tarantino effort. And those elements remain today in The Hateful Eight, even if his recent movies have lacked the narrative tightness of his debut. Perhaps the only surprising thing for some first-time viewings is how restrained the filmmaker is. Modern-day Tarantino may see Aldo Raine carve a swastika in someone’s head but, back then, we didn’t even see the ear sliced off.

Most ’90s moment: Sure, it was twenty years old at the time but Stealers Wheel’s Stuck In The Middle Of You became a massive ’90s hit.