Death Sentence Trailer
We’ve seen the set-up [or a variation] a million times… but when done well, it always works. My guess is that “Death Sentence” will be a popular rental even if it doesn’t bust the box office.
Category: Movies
Return of the Man With No Name
The Man with No Name aka Clint Eastwood’s character from “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is finally making his way to comics. The new series will be published by Dynamite and written by Christos (Stormwatch PHD, Annihilation Conquest: Quasar) Gage with an artist to be picked later. Done correctly, this could be a very cool comic with appeal to everyone from teenagers to retirees. John Beatty [because of his love for the films and not because he’s my best friend] would make a great inker on the series. Let’s continue the dream and get Mike Zeck to do the covers [and I can’t even imagine in a dream that he’d take on the interior art as well]. So who should pencil the series?
Take You Back
Here’s the full trailer to “10,000 BC”. It looks like it could be fun in an “Independence Day” kind of way.
Get Funnier [Hopefully]
I was never a HUGE fan of “Get Smart”. Sure, it had it’s moments, and I can see where “Get Smart” could really work as a movie.
Despite the fact that “Get Smart” has been well cast with Steve Carell [Maxwell Smart], Anne Hathaway [Agent 99], Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson [Agent 23] and Alan Arkin [The Chief], I’m not convinced that it’s going to be a winner. This teaser trailer didn’t change my mind [although I did chuckle at “You did underestimate me and the element of surpraaaahhh – ”
Trailers From Hell
What do you call a website that features Hollywood directors like Joe Dante, John Landis and others commenting about classic [and not-so-classic] trailers as they play?
How about Trailers From Hell? You can go there is you click HERE.
Gone, Baby, Gone
Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane is a novel on my “to read” list. The only other Lehane novels that I’ve read are Shutter Island and Mystic River and I loved both. Now this trailer starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman comes along and Gone, Baby, Gone is on my “to see” movie list.
Z-View: McClane is Back, Baby!
I’ve enjoyed the entire “Die Hard” series. Don’t get me wrong, the first was a classic and created a whole new sub-genre of action movies. I also enjoyed both of the sequels. “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” wasn’t as good as the original, but it was still a whole lot of fun. “Die Hard with a Vengeance” again wasn’t as good as the original, but still entertained. I figured that “Live Free or Die Hard” would be about as good as the two sequels.Boy, was I wrong. It was better! [Spoilers below]
- The Good: Bruce Willis is John McClane. He’s a little older, but tougher than ever. Maggie Q. as Mai Lihn is pretty lethal. That is, she’s pretty and lethal. She puts a good butt-whooping on Willis. I loved how the movie sets up the characters, the situation and then BAM! it is off and running. The action sequences and stunts were great. Loved the wise-cracks. Really loved how McClane was relentless in telling Thomas Gabriel [Timothy Olyphant] that he was coming for him. I liked how they had a man of color in charge of the agency trying to catch the terrorists and there was never ANY question of his loyalty to our country. Kevin Smith’s scenes didn’t bother me, in fact I enjoyed them. Two scenes [mainly] were a bit over the top, but I accepted them… the jet scene where Willis jumps off the crumbling overpass onto the tail of the hovering fighter plane and then leaps to another section of overpass and slides aways from the explosion and the scene where Willis shoots through his own shoulder to kill the bad guy. Yeah. I know, but I ain’t complaining!
- The Bad: No complaints from me.
- The Ugly: The terrorist who fell into the grinder — but since this was PG-13 [which also didn’t bother me],the death wasn’t too ugly!
“Die Hard” Rating: 5 out of 5
“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” Rating: 4 out of 5
“Die Hard with a Vengeance” Rating: 4 out of 5
“Live Free or Die Hard” Rating: 4 out of 5
"Shoot ‘ Em Up" X 3
The Latino Review scored three new posters for “Shoot ‘Em Up” which premieres September 7th at a theater near year. Click HERE to cop a look.
Join the 300
Longtime ZONErs know how much I loved “300.” It’s hard to believe, but I first started talking it up “300” over 3 years ago. Of course I’ve been a Frank Miller fan for nearly 30 years and jumped on the Zack Snyder bandwagon after seeing his take on “Dawn of the Dead.” I was sure that “300” was going to rock and I continued to talk it up more and more as we got closer to it’s big screen release. Click HERE and you’ll see what I mean.The cool thing is that now you can help promote the dvd release of “300” and maybe win a trip to Comic-con or even a set visit to hang with Zack Snyder on the set of “Watchmen”. How great is that?
AFI Ain’t Got Nothing on CJZ
Last week The American Film Institute updated it’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. I tried to avoid weighing in since everything except my top two choices are subject to change, but the temptation was too great not to at least sort out my top 25. Everything after my first and second choices are in alphabetical order. There are other films that would make my top 25, but I limited myself to the AFI’s Top 100, so here it is…- Rocky, 1976.
- The Wizard of Oz, 1939
- Ben-Hur, 1959
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
- Casablanca, 1942
- Double Indemnity, 1944
- Dr. Strangelove, 1964
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
- Godfather, The 1972
- Godfather Part II, The 1974
- Jaws, 1975
- King Kong, 1933
- Maltese Falcon, The 1941
- North by Northwest, 1959
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975
- Pulp Fiction, 1994
- Raging Bull, 1980
- Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
- Saving Private Ryan, 1998
- Searchers, The 1956
- Sixth Sense, The 1999
- Spartacus, 1960
- To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
- Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The 1948
- Unforgiven, 1992Comments are welcome!
Talkin’ Up "Shoot ‘Em Up"
Two years ago I first mentioned how cool “Shoot ‘Em Up” sounded. Then last November advance word said it was definitely a great ride! These folks confirmed it. Now, thanks to Ain’t It Cool News we get to hear directly from Michael Davis, the writer and director of “Shoot “Em Up”.
Trouble is Their Business
Variety has announced that Frank Miller is set to adapt Raymond Chandler’s “Trouble Is My Business” for the big screen with Clive Owen taking on the starring role of Phillip Marlowe. The hope is that this will kick off a series of films with Owen returning in each as the classic PI.Miller and Owen worked together on “Sin City” and so their re-teaming seems a natural. Owen was quoted as saying: “Frank Miller knows more about noir than anyone I have ever met, and clearly the writing of Raymond Chandler has been an enormous influence on his life and his work. Miller adapting Chandler seemed like a perfect match.” I couldn’t agree more.That Cold Ain’t the Weather
ZONErs are going to love this trailer. Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith’s “30 Days of Night” looks like it’s getting a worthy silver screen adaptation. I can’t wait.
No Sleep for Nicole
I loved the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I enjoyed the 1978 re-make.
From the looks of this trailer the latest take with Nicole Kidman will be a welcome addition.
