Category: Movies

“Homefront” / Z-View

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The Pitch: “Hey, Sly has a great action screenplay that he was gonna use for Rambo available.  It’s based on a book by Chuck Hogan.  Sly says Jason Statham is up for the lead.”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “How far would you go to protect your home?”

The Overview:  Jason Statham plays Phil Broker, a retired under-cover DEA agent who moved to rural Louisiana to raise his 9 year old daughter after the death of his wife.  When his daughter bloodies the nose of a class bully (who happens the be the child of the local meth dealer) things quickly escalate and Statham’s past as a DEA agent becomes known. Soon an outlaw motorcycle gang and local thugs are both looking for revenge.

*** Beware – minor spoilers can be found below ***

The Good:

  • The cast.  Kate Bosworth kills in her role as, Cassie Bodine Klum, a redneck, methhead who is used to getting her way thanks to her brother being the local “Walter White.”  James Franco as “Gator” Bodine is surprisingly effective in a role that wouldn’t at first seem to fit him.  Winona Ryder, Clancy Brown and Chuck Zito all make welcome appearances.  Jason Statham is of course Jason Statham (that’s good).
  • Broker does his best to avoid trouble, but there is a line he won’t cross and God help you if you cross it!
  • The fight scenes and the fact that they avoided Statham giving “wise-cracks.”
  • Broker mistakenly thinks that Jimmy Klum is behind the threats to him.

The Bad:

  • What happens when you don’t let Broker finish filling his tank.
  • When you are a friend of Broker’s and go to pick up his horses.
  • If you’re the class bully and you decide to pick on Broker’s daughter.
  • Being married to Cassie Bodine Klum.

The Ugly:

  • One of Gator Bodine’s thugs ankles after Broker has had enough.
  • When you raise your gun towards dozens of cops who are armed, hyped up and have warned you to drop it.
  • That Homefront is doing better at the box office.

Rating: 4 out of 5

(Re)Discovering Hitchcock’s Rope

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When movie fans talk about the films of Alfred Hitchock the first ones mentioned are usually, Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, and Rear Window.  Often the list goes on a bit more before Rope is mentioned.  And that’s too bad because many folks never get around to seeing it.

Rope stars Jimmy Stewart in Hitchock’s adaptation of a play based on the infamous Leopold-Loeb murder case.  (Another excellent movie based on the Leopold-Loeb murder case is Compulsion starring Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.)  It’s interesting to note that Hitchcock filmed Rope as if it was done with one continuous shot to keep the feel of a stage play!

Z-View: “Rififi”… Means Trouble

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The Pitch: “Hey, Jules Dassin the director behind American films such as “Brute Force” and “The Naked City” has been blacklisted in America.  I bet we could get him on the cheap to make a low-budget heist film!”

“Let’s do it!”

 

The Tagline:  “Rififi …means Trouble!”

The Overview:  After returning home after a five-year stint in prison for a jewelry heist, Tony le Stéphanois is recruited by his old crime partners for a hit and run heist on a jewelry store.  Tony declines, but later counters with a bigger plan… against all odds they’ll pull a robbery that will get them millions if they’re successful and dead if they’re not.  Before it is over one of the crew will betray them.  A child will be kidnapped and both the cops and gangsters will be after them.

 

The Good:

  • The planning for the heist.  It’s interesting how the characters work out their elaborate plan where any mistake – any sound – could cause it to go sideways.
  • The heist itself – around 30 minutes without dialogue.  It’s tense, brilliant film-making.
  • The fact that the robbery isn’t at the climax of the film.  It would be the endgame in a normal film.  In “Rififi” it is the catalyst for a bigger story.
  • The characters in this film are perfectly cast.
  • The director’s stylistic choices.  I love this movie! “Rififi” is a classic!

 

The Bad:

  • What happens when Tony finds out his girl has taken up with a mobster.
  • How a foolish mistake [to impress a dame!] causes everything to unravel.
  • What happens [even when you are sincerely sorry] for breaking “the rules.”

 

The Ugly:

  • Even the best laid plans…

Rating: 5 out of 5

Z-View: “Red Dawn” 2012

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The Pitch: “Hey, we could remake ‘Red Dawn’!”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “Welcome To the Home of the Brave”

The Overview: When North Korea invades the US, a group of high school resistance fighters [led by Thor on leave from the Special Forces] decide to become resistance fighters.

The Good:

  • The original movie.
  • The scenes when North Korea parachute into town and the kids make their getaway is exciting.
  • Making the Patrick Swayze character a military man is a nice touch.

The Bad:

  • The invading force was originally filmed as Chinese.  Producers decided to change the invaders to North Korean in post-production so as to not alienate the Chinese box office.  “Hey, the invading force looks Chinese… but they are really Korean?”  “Those clever ********.”
  • The invading army in the original 1984 movie was the Soviet Union, which no longer exists.  Now you know just how bad the “original” Wolverines were!
  • These high school kids go in and out of the occupied town easier than they could sneak out of their parents homes at night before the takeover.
  • Hiding in the woods, the students shoot off dozens [hundreds?] of rounds of ammo, without a worry that the invading force will use the sound to locate them.
  • Hiding in the woods, the students shoot off dozens [hundreds?] of rounds of ammo, without a worry that they will run out.  [I guess there is no worry since it is so easy to sneak in and out of town and get more.]
  • What teenage love will cause a freedom fighter to do… or not do.

The Ugly:

  • What happens to Thor when he doesn’t have his hammer.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Tomer Hanuka is an Amazing Artist

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Tomer Hanuka created the piece above.  The art, of Rocky Balboa in battle with Apollo Creed as Adrian looks on, appeared recently in The New Yorker accompanying a preview of Rocky on Broadway.

I liked Hanuka’s art a lot and decided to do a search.  I discovered Mr. Hanuka’s website and spent a good amount of time checking out all the art he had on display. Hanuka not only shares his art, but often breaks down his process in creating a piece.

Recently my friends started e-mailing me links to the piece below. Tomer Hanuka created it as a limited edition silk screen print, for Mondo.  The Rambo piece wasn’t at Tomer’s sitewhen I first checked, but it is now.  What a beautiful poster!

Tomer Hanuka is an amazing artist and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Z-View: “The Evil of Frankenstein”

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The Pitch: “Hey, I think Frankenstein is in the public domain.  Let’s make a Frankenstein movie!”

“We can but Universal has a copyright on the look of the monster.”

“Oh well.  Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “He’s never been more shocking! shocking! shocking!”

The Overview: Dr. Frankenstein is at it again.  He creates a monster that he can’t control.  So Frankenstein gets an assist from a carnival hypnotist.  The sideshow mentalist hypnotizes the monster and then secretly sends it in to steal from the townspeople.  This does not sit well with either the townspeople or Dr. Frankenstein.

The Good:

  • Minute 85.  [The movie runs 84 minutes.]
  • Actually, if you’re watching with the right crowd, this is a great movie to goof on as it plays.  MST3K, anyone?

The Bad:

  • The story.
  • The look of the monster.
  • Dr. Frankenstein and his partner wearing masks that make them look like cosplayers.
  • The carnival hypnotist’s name is Zoltan.

The Ugly:

  • Have you seen the monster?

Rating: 2 out of 5

Rare “Thing from Another World” Photos

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One of my favorite sci-fi movies/monster movies is The Thing from Another World.

Jame Arness (who would later go to fame as Marshall Matt Dillon in the long-running western series Gunsmoke) played the Thing.  Arness is seen in a rare photo above without full make-up as they prep him for a shot.

The photo below is Arness in full Thing make-up (and in a shot clearer than any ever seen in the movie)!

Source: Vic’s Movie Den and Classic Horror Movies.

“Devil” / Z-View

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The Pitch: “M. Night Shyamalan has an idea for a story about 5 people trapped in an elevator and one of them is not what they seem.”

“What is this person who isn’t what he/she seems?”

“Well, let’s just leave it at the movie will be called ‘Devil.'”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “Five strangers trapped. One of them is not what they seem.”

The Overview: Five people find themselves trapped in a high-rise elevator.  Help is on the way, if they can live long enough for it to arrive.

The Good:

  • The concept.
  • The movie starts off immediately with action.
  • The movie has some creepy/scary moments but isn’t a gorefest.
  • One person almost immediately figures out what is going on, but no one believes him.
  • The way suspicions constantly shifted.

The Bad:

  • Being stuck in an elevator is bad enough, but stuck with the devil someone who is not what they seem really stinks.
  • Be stupid enough to step in water with a live wire sparking.

The Ugly:

  • Being able to look behind yourself while facing front.

Rating: 3 out of 5

All Time Top Ten Best Film Noir

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Recently The Guardian posted their choices for the Top Ten Film Noir.

Their list is a good one and included:

10.  They Live by Night
09.  Kiss Me Deadly
08.  Blood Simple
07.  Lift to the Scaffold
06.  The Third Man
05.  Out of the Past
04.  Double Indemnity
03.  Touch of Evil
02.  Chinatown
01.  The Big Sleep

Yeah, that’s a nice list.  I’ve seen 8 of the 10 [missing out on They Live by Night  and Lift to the Scaffold].

If I were to quibble, I’d move Double Indemnity  to the #1 spot and move something out to bring in The Postman Always Rings Twice  [original version, thank you].

Kings. Queens. Soldiers. Bikers. War.

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“Hey Craig, do you think Cymberline will be any good?”

I don’t know.  What’s Cymberline about?

“Kings.   Queens.   Soldiers.   Bikers.   War.”

Ok, you’ve got my interest.  Tell me more.

“It’s an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Cymberline.”

Huh?  Really?  Ok.  It has a good cast.  Let’s see the trailer.

You still have my attention.  I’m still interested.  My guess is Cymberline will show up on Netflix. I’ll check it out.  Then I can give a more definitive answer.

Mike Torrance and the Demolition Man Cast

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back and he’s brought Sly and the cast of Demolition Man with him!  Mike often surprises me with his commissions.  Sometimes it is an extra character, placing Sly in a role you wouldn’t expect or upgrading a sketch card to include the entire major players.

You can see more of Mike’s art at his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.  I’m ready to order a new batch… perhaps he’ll have a Black Friday sale.  ; )