Heartbreaks and Headshots: The Action Movie Majesty of the ‘John Wick’ Series
John Wick fans will want to check out Jacob Hall’s excellent Heartbreaks and Headshots: The Action Movie Majesty of the ‘John Wick’ Series over at /film.
Category: Movies
Captain Blood (1935)
Captain Blood (1935)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay: Casey Robinson
Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a swashbuckler!”
Tagline: THE MOST MAGNIFICENT & THRILLING SEA ADVENTURE EVER FILMED
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
After unjustly condemned to slavery for being a traitor against England, Dr. Peter Blood [Flynn] escapes and becomes a infamous pirate.
Most folks like this much better than me so be aware your mileage may vary greatly.
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Cinephilia Goes In-Depth with John Carpenter on “They Live”
Fans of John Carpenter’s They Live will want to check out ‘THEY LIVE’: JOHN CARPENTER’S BRILLIANTLY SIMPLE AND HUGELY ENJOYABLE ASSAULT ON REAGAN’S AMERICA at Cinephilia and Beyond.
There you’ll find John Carpenter’s They Live script, an interview with Carpenter and a whole lot more.
Gilda (1946)
Gilda (1946)
Director: Charles Vidor
Screenplay: Marion Parsonnet and Ben Hecht (uncredited)
Stars: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and George Macready
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a Rita Hayworth movie!”
Tagline: There NEVER was a woman like Gilda!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Johnny Farrell [Ford] befriends the shady owner of an Argentine casino and quickly works his way to being the boss’ right-hand man. Things are going swell until the boss returns from a short trip with a wife. It turns out that the boss’ new bride had a prior relationship with Johnny… and they still have strong feelings for each other.
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Forbidden Planet (1956)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Director: Fred McLeod Wilcox
Screenplay: Cyril Hume based on a story by Irving Block and Allen Adler
Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman, James Drury, Gavin Macleod and Robby the Robot.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a big budget sci-fi film!”
Tagline: IT’S OUT OF THIS WORLD!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
An interplanetary crew sent to a distant planet to discover what happened to the colony set up there years ago, are contacted as they enter the planet’s atmosphere and told to stay away. Upon landing they meet the two remaining colony survivors, a doctor and his daughter — the rest were killed by a giant monster.
As the ship’s commander digs deeper he becomes aware that all is not as it seems. He doubts the doctor’s story until the monster kills some of his crew. Then he learns that the doctor is hiding even more information and things go really bad.
Forbidden Planet is a lot of fun. I absolutely loved it as a kid and it still holds up pretty well.
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“Reservoir Dogs” Trivia from Quentin Tarantino
Matt Hoffman and Film School Rejects present What We Learned While Revisiting Reservoir Dogs with Quentin Tarantino. Here are two of my favorite things…
Tarantino learned a lot about his characters when a producer gave him the advice to search for the subtext.
“Just writing down the obvious opened up different avenues, different thoughts, and so you think you’re writing one line and you write three, or four, and all of a sudden I started realizing, ‘Oh wow, this is kind of a father-son story.’ “Isn’t it interesting that throughout the whole piece Mr. White keeps telling Mr. Orange ‘Wait for Joe, wait for Joe and when Joe gets here he’s going to take care of everything.” Well when Joe gets there he’s come to kill Mr. Orange. And the whole interesting thing at the end, which I hadn’t thought about frankly, which is that Mr. White is kind of almost a de facto son character for Joe, and Mr. Orange has become a de facto son character for Mr. White. At the end, Mr. White has to choose between his father and his son and he chooses his son but he’s wrong, but he’s wrong for all the right reasons. All that kind of started coming to me. So I finished it and I go, ‘Oh wow, that was a really interesting exercise…I never want to do this ever again.’
Working with Lawrence Tierney (Joe) was a nightmare.
“The worst moment on set was the last ten minutes of the last day of the first week we were shooting. Me and Larry got into a fist fight. It was more of a shoving match frankly. Harvey Keitel and Lawrence [Bender] broke it up. I fired Larry in front of everybody, the crew applauded because they’d hated him. Harvey told us to settle down and then he ran out and then Larry ran out. I took a walk around the trucks. I’d done nothing but shoot Lawrence Tierney all week long, so if I wanted to get fired, I’m going to get fired because they’re going to keep Larry. We have a week’s worth of footage. But I wasn’t going to put up with his ****. So I’m literally walking around the trailers thinking, “Well okay, you wanted to know how it’s going to end well it’s going to end this way. I guess it was nice while it lasted but I guess you’re not going to put up with ****, you’re going to go back to the video store but you’re not going to put up with ****. Aren’t you the smart guy?”
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) / Z-View
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan and David Patrick Kelly.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a sequel!”
Tagline: None
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
John Wick [Reeves] is still grieving the death of his wife when Santino D’Antonio shows up. D’Antonio expects Wick to fulfill a blood oath made when Wick was still in the business. Wick plans to complete the hit and once again leave the life. Instead Wick learns that D’Antonio has placed an open contract on him!
If you liked John Wick, you’ll dig Chapter 2. Bring on Chapter 3!
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34 Things We Learned from the John Sturges’ “Bad Day at Black Rock” Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 34 Things We Learned from the John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
6. He says Spencer Tracy was such a fantastic actor and engrossed viewers so well in a scene that he himself would “get so caught up I’d forget to say ‘cut!’” Other actors would approach Sturges surprised at the impact Tracy’s presence and performance had on their own.
10. He says a strange thing happened on the film in regard to their lack of extras. “A town is supposed to have wanderers,” he says, and they had a group of ten or so available for just such a purpose. And yet the film has none. “Every time the assistant director would put someone in, I didn’t like it.” He didn’t like it when they were up close, and he liked it less when they were just dots in the distant background. “That’s worse. Are those the rescuers coming?!” They distracted him, “and I’m a movie maker, not a documentary maker.”
25. He says the production was free of conflict between talent with one exception “that amused me and absolutely scorched Spence.” Tracy had won three Academy Awards by this time, but Walter Brennan had won four, and before each shared scene Brennan would look at Tracy and hold up four fingers.
John Wick (2014)
John Wick (2014)
Director: Chad Stahelski, David Leitch (uncredited)
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Keith Jardine and Kevin Nash.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make an action movie that takes it to the next level!”
Tagline: Don’t Set Him Off!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
John Wick [Reeves] is grieving the death of his wife. A chance meeting with Iosef Tarasov, the privileged son of a Russian mobster, leads to Tarasov and some of his thugs breaking into Wick’s house, beating him badly, killing his dog and stealing his prized vintage Mustang.
Tarasov learns way to late that Wick is a legendary retired hit man. And now Wick is coming for revenge.
Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, Derek Kolstad and Keanu Reeves have created a unique world that is just slightly different from the one we live in. It feels real. Each character has a backstory that is told without it feeling like backstory. The action is amazing. I loved this movie and want more!!
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“The Big Sleep” Character Connections Score Card
The Big Sleep is a classic adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel of the same name. There’s so much going on on-screen and off with so many twists and character interactions you can enjoy the ride without getting all of the details. And don’t feel bad if you don’t. Even the actors and film makers weren’t sure who committed one of the murders!
TATJANA SL has provided us a score card to keep track of all the characters and their relationships.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Screenplay: Robert Ardrey and John Gay based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Stars: Glenn Ford, Ingrid Thulin, Charles Boyer, Lee J. Cobb, Yvette Mimieux and Paul Henreid.
The Pitch: “Hey, adapt the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez!”
Tagline: From Ibanez’ immortal classic, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents an unforgettable motion picture
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
As World War II rages, Julio [Ford] a playboy from Argentina is living in Paris. Although not a fan of the Nazis, like his country, Julio is neutral… until he falls in love with a married woman [Thulin] whose French freedom-fighting husband is a prisoner of war. Julio begs Marguerite to leave Paris before it is overrun by Germans, but she refuses.
The German take over Paris and Julio is not to surprised to learn that his cousin and uncle are high ranking Nazis. When Julio discovers that Marguerite is a member of the French underground he knows that he will have to chose sides.
Vincent Minnelli has created a unique film. I really enjoyed it but bet it won’t be for everyone.
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Amazing “John Wick: Chapter 2” Poster by Denys Cowan, Bill Sinkiewicz and Elizabeth Breitweiser
“Yeah. I’m thinkin’…” this is the poster that they should have used for John Wick: Chapter 2.
I am so diggin’ this poster by Denys Cowan, Bill Sinkiewicz and Elizabeth Breitweiser. As I was looking up the artist links I came across the slightly different version of the poster below.
Chef’s choice.
The First Hellboy Sketches Ever by Mike Mignola!
Most Hellboy fans are familiar with the drawing above. It’s the first pass Mike Mignola made at what became Hellboy, one of comic’s most iconic characters. Much rarer is another early riff on Hellboy by Mignola.
You can see larger versions of both sketches, get the story behind them and how a random sketch stuck with Mike Mignola and ultimately morphed into the Hellboy character we all know and love at CBR.com.
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Director: Lloyd Bacon and Byron Haskin … (uncredited) and Raoul Walsh (uncredited)
Screenplay: John Howard Lawson
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale and Ruth Gordon.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put Bogie in a war picture to support the troops!”
Tagline: Warner Bros. thunderous story of the men of the merchant marine!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Survivors of an American transport ship sunk by a German sub and left lost at sea for nearly two weeks, decide to re-up on another ship joining an international convoy to take supplies to troops through waters patrolled by German sub wolf packs. As luck would have it…
The opening scenes of the men dealing with their sinking ship is impressive!
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The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Director: John Huston
Screenplay: Ben Maddow and John Huston from a novel by W.R. Burnett
Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso and Marilyn Monroe.
The Pitch: “Hey, John Huston wants to make The Asphalt Jungle!”
Tagline: The City Under the City
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Ex-con, “Doc” Riedenschneider (Jaffe) brings together a team for a $750,000 heist. Even though the job goes sideways, they get away with the money. Then the double-crosses start.
Marilyn Monroe has a bit part — she wasn’t even listed in movie poster credits on the film’s initial release — but she made such an impact future posters featured her prominently. The Asphalt Jungle made Marilyn a star!
John Huston with another classic!
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