Category: Movies

Z-View: “Westworld”

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Ed Neumeier recently introduced Westworld   at the Trailers from Hell site and it reminded me how much I love that movie.

Spoilers lurk below…

Man, I was the right age to love Westworld  when I saw it in a theater when it premiered in 1973.  I loved the concept of a Disney-like park where adults could vacation and live out their fantasies.  Heck, who wouldn’t?  Maybe any age is the right age for that.

Yul Brynner was on-point as the Cowboy killing machine.  James Brolin was the perfect movie-star-leading-man who would save his nerdy buddy [played by Richard Benajmin] and the day.  So when Brolin was gunned down by the gunslinging Brynner and Benjamin was left to make it out on his own, I was shocked.  And hooked.

Westworld  Rating: 4 out of 5

15 Things You Might Not Know About “Conan the Destroyer”

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I enjoyed Chris Hutchinson’s 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Conan the Destroyer more than the movie Conan the Destroyer.  Here are my three favorite things…

1. THE DIRECTOR INSPIRED HIS WAY.

Director John Milius drew major inspiration for the first Conan movie, Conan the Barbarian, from 1958’s The Vikings. When Milius was unavailable to direct the Conan sequel, Conan the Destroyer, producer Dino De Laurentiis went to the original source by hiring The Vikingsdirector Richard Fleischer. [They should have waited for Milius. – Craig]

11. ANDRE THE GIANT MAKES A VERY SUBTLE CAMEO.

Who was the actor underneath the rubber suit created for the monstrous deity Dagoth? None other than André René Roussimoff, better known as the wrestler André the Giant.

 

15. AND THEN POLITICS SCRAPPED ANOTHER SEQUEL.

Original director John Milius came close to making a third Conan movie with Schwarzenegger in 2002. His script, entitled “King Conan: Crown of Iron,” was to be directed by The Matrix’s Andy and Lana Wachowski, but was scrapped after Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California. [Can you imagine what that Conan film would have looked like.  Crom!  – Craig]

Source: Mental Floss.

32 Movies With Unbelievably Bleak Endings

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Louis Peitzman at Buzzfeed recently took a look at…32 Movies With Unbelievably Bleak Endings.

These endings aren’t just unhappy — they’ll leave you feeling completely hopeless.

Of the 32 movies with bleak endings, I’ve seen 22.

Of the 22, while more upbeat endings could be imagined, the bleak finales seem right.  I am still surprised that The Mist  ended the way it did.  Talk about bleak endings. That is the bleakest ending of all the movies listed.  I commend the folks behind it to have the stones to go with it.

The Franchize, Stallone & The Lords of Flatbush

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Jerry Gaylord aka The Franchize returns with his take on Sly from Lords of Flatbush.  This may be his best Stallone sketch yet, and they’ve all been winners!

I highly recommend Jerry to all sketch collectors. He quickly responds to e-mails, his turnaround time is fast and he packages the art to ensure it arrives safely.

To check out more of Jerry’s art, head here. – Craig

“Curse of the Werewolf” is the Best…

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As a kid the wolf man was always my favorite monster.  This is interesting because werewolf movies weren’t [and aren’t] my favorite monster movies.  Perhaps it was because the wolf man was a victim and easier to relate to than an undead vampire, a monster made of corpses or a fishman.

Ah, but I digress…

So the wolf man was always my favorite monster.  The Curse of the Werewolf  was [and remains] my favorite werewolf movie.  I agree with everything John Landis has to say about The Curse of the Werewolf  and would only add that the design of the wolf man for Curse of the Werewolf  has never been topped.

Hollywood’s 10 Toughest Tough Guys

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Empire Magazine asked Frank Grillo, the star of The Purge: Anarchy to pick his Ten Toughest Hollywood Tough Guys.

I love Grillo’s picks and the rationale for them.  Here’s a taste:

Jimmy Cagney: …Jimmy Cagney was tiny – the size of my wife. But when you think about Jimmy Cagney, he owned it. It’s one thing to be The Rock and the biggest guy on the planet and knock people around, but to be Jimmy Cagney and have people believe that you are that guy? That’s a task…

Tom Hardy: …Tommy, like Cagney, has got this inner rage and this believability about him…

Tom Laughlin: … Tom Laughlin who played this (Navajo and ex-Green Beret) character was a small guy, but he just took care of business…

Lee Marvin: …To me, he might be the guy. I love The Dirty Dozen. He’s not quintessentially handsome, he’s tall but he’s lanky, but you want to be that guy… The Lee Marvins, the guys who fought in World War II or Korea and became actors, they’re men…

Charles Bronson: …I love Charles Bronson. He didn’t have a lot of range and he wasn’t a great actor, but you couldn’t take your eyes off him…  He’s not likeable and he doesn’t apologise. I’m attracted to that because I’ve been raised in a movie world where men have become emasculated…

Steve McQueen: …He’s one of my favourite actors. Again, not a great actor – in fact, maybe not even a good actor – but when he’s on screen you don’t take your eyes off the guy…

Jason Statham: …Who’s the toughest guy I’ve worked with? Statham. He’s a great athlete; a great drinker. He’s not a big guy – he’s smaller than me – but he’s physically imposing…

Clint Eastwood: …Clint Eastwood is in a category all by himself…

Kurt Russell: …Snake Plissken and John Carpenter…

Sylvester Stallone: …I gotta throw in Stallone – he’s been a badass for a long time…

I suppose Bruce Lee didn’t make the list because he wasn’t considered Hollywood?

Top Ten Roles Dwayne Johnson Was Born to Play

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Alex Maidy over at JoBlo.com recently posted his choices for the Top Ten Roles Dwayne Johnson Was Born to Play.

I agree with: Samson, Predator, Lobo, Conan, Terminator (do we see an Arnold pattern forming?), and Shazam,

I disagree with: Transformers (of course I am not a Transformers fan), Venom (again, not a fan), Flash Gordon (I’m on the fence on this character but leaning towards, “no”) and He-Man (again on the fence and pointing to “no”).

The role I’d really like to see Dwayne Johnson take on?  The “black market mercenary” in Cuidad.