Category: Movies

Mike Torrance Hits the Bullseye with Rambo

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd shows us his take on Sly as Rambo.

Recently Mike ran a “Black Friday” discount on his sketches and sketchcards. Since I’m a fan of Mike’s art, I naturally jumped on board for several. Mike, as he always does, went above and beyond. Next week I plan to share the present he included. It’s too cool.

Until then, you can see more of Mike’s art at The Daily Sketch with The Krayola Kidd and his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.

 

“Expendables 2” Trailer Hits

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If you don’t like this trailer for The Expendables 2, then turn in your man card.

 

Drive Sequel Due in April 2012

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Just a little over five years ago I posted about two great crime noir novels I’d just read.  One was Drive by James Sallis.  [The other was The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski.]  Drive was the story of a get-a-way driver brought in on a heist that was a set-up from the start.  It went on to become a major motion picture that fans and critics loved.  This coming April, James Sallis and the Driver return in the sequel, Driven. 

Six years later – Phoenix.  Out of nowhere someone wants Driver dead.
Who?  Why?  Big mistake.

I’m looking forward to the novel and would love to see the team that made the movie return for the sequel.

Steve Niles’ Photo Blog

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Steve Niles at one time had a photo blog where he shared photos from his collection.  Some were behind-the-scenes pictures like the one above of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, still in costume, on a break from filming the original Star Trek tv series to check out the latest issue of Mad magazine.

Here’s Frankenstein taking a little “me time” for a smoke and a cup of joe.

And here we have one of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.  If you’ve read this far, my guess is you’ll dig Steve’s photos.

 

10 Remakes That Are Better Than the Original

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Here’s an article that looks at 10 Movie Remakes That Are Better Than The Originals. Let’s look at the list…

  • Cape Fear (1991) – I’m a fan of the noir classic starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, but in the remake DeNiro took Max Cady to a level unavailable to movie audiences in 1962.  Both versions are excellent, but the nod goes to the remake.
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – I totally disagree.  The 1956 original is a classic that still holds up.  The remake doesn’t come close.
  • Little Shop of Horrors (1986) – Didn’t care for either version.
  • The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) – I know I’m in the minority, but I never was a big Steve McQueen fan.  The original film is definitely a product of the 60’s.  The remake was okay, and good enough to get the nod as the better film.
  • The Fly (1986) – The remake benefited from advanced special effects and Jeff Goldblum as the off-center scientist.  Having Geena Davis was also a plus!  The remake was much scarier although who can forget the little voice in the original crying, “Help me! Help me!” as the spider advanced across his web?  Nod to the remake.
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – Neither are Hichcock’s best but the second is better.
  • 3:10 to Yuma (2007) – Three things really help the sequel: 1] Russell Crowe 2] Christian Bale and 3] fans hungry for a good western.  Both the original with Glenn Ford and the remake are good, but I’ll give the nod to the remake.
  • A Star is Born (1954) – I’ve never seen the Judy Garland version, or the 1937 original.  Sorry.
  • The Ten Commandments (1956) – Since I’ve only seen the remake…
  • My Fair Lady (1964) – I’m quite content to say that I’ve never seen either version.


This will probably not surprise regular readers, but I think Stallone’s “Get Carter” [although not a perfect film] is better than the Michael Caine original.


Jeff Johnson Knows the Cure

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The piece above was drawn by Jeff Johnson at last year’s Heroes Con. Jeff is one of the founding fathers of Drink and Draw [along with Rev. Dave Johnson and Dan Panosian]. When I asked him to autograph my hardcover Drink and Draw, Volume 2, I also asked Jeff about doing a Stallone piece for my collection. Jeff was up for it and chose Cobra. He then proceeded to kill it with this sketch.

Hopefully, Jeff will be up for another Stallone piece in the future.