Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
2005 has NOT been the greatest year for movies.
A History of Violence could be THAT movie.
Maybe 2005 just got a little better.
Without a doubt,this fall Kong will be King
Pretty much every movie fan in the world knows that Peter Jackson’s King Kong will be released on December 14th. What many of us didn’t know until just recently was that Warner Brothers had finally decided to release the orginal King Kong to dvd on November 22nd.
What makes this release even cooler is that Peter Jackson is also contributing to the dvd release. Jackson has created a two hour, seven part documentary titled: “RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.” What will really get Kong fans going is that “part of the documentary focuses on the mysterious ‘spider pit’ sequence deleted from the film before its theatrical premiere.” The dvd will also contain a recreation of it as well as features on director Merian C. Cooper, and commentary tracks by legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen and others.
Of course to maximize their profits, Warners is releasing Kong in not one, not two, but THREE, that’s right – THREE editions.
I don’t know which version, I’m going to get, but you can be sure that one will find it’s way into my collection!
Now comes along one of my favorite movies of the year and my all-time favorite comic book movie and I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to by the initial release.
Sin City [aka The Barebones Edition] hits the street on August 16th. It’s already been announced that next year a deluxe edition [with tons of extras] will be available. So, I’m thinking that I ought to just wait for it. It’ll only be a few more months — and it’ll have everything that the August 16th release has and more.
Studios release various editions of dvds to maximize their profits and I can understand that. They’re in business to make money. What irks me is when they do gimmicks like 5 different covers for the same edition. I guess some people will buy all five.
Me, I’m still trying to decide if I should buy just one.
It was a running joke in Escape from New
York that almost everyone Snake Plissken ran into thought he was dead. Escape from New York was released in 1981 and although it was a fan favorite, it wasn’t a block buster.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
Then 15 years later, Escape from LA was released. It also developed a cult following, but wasn’t a block buster.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
In 2002 CrossGen published the first two issues of John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles. CrossGen then folded… but Snake wasn’t dead. Hurricane Entertainment published the last two issues.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
Alias Comics and Hurricane Entertainment are teaming to bring back John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles this November when a collection of the original four-issue miniseries
will be published.
Movie and comic fans will love this news since the original mini-series sold “strong from start to finish.” For most comic art fans, the cover alone will be worth the price of admission since
it’ll be by Drew Struzan [and as an added treat don’t forget that Tone Rodriguez provided the pencils for the series].
Snake Plissken is my favorite John Carpenter character and translates easily to comics. Who knows, maybe if this collection sells well, we’ll see more of Snake’s adventures.
Anyone here think that Snake Plissken is dead?
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Most of you probably remember that I was pretty stoked when it was reported that Zack [Dawn of the Dead] Snyder looked to be taking the director’s spot for the movie adaptaion of Frank Miller’s epic 300. Harry at Ain’t It Cool News reported today that Snyder plans to film it like Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City – a near shot for shot panel recreation of the comic. The film has been budgeted at $60 million with shooting to begin this fall. And I, for one, am still stoked! |
On November 27th of this year, Bruce Lee would have been 65 years old. Amazing isn’t it?
It’s hard to imagine Bruce as ever being older than 32, since that’s how old he was when he died on July 20, 1973. Think about that for a second. Bruce Lee died 32 years ago. Bruce has been dead now for a longer period of time than he lived. And yet, you can say his name to almost anyone of any age and they know who Bruce Lee was.
My guess is that he’s more popular now than he was while alive. I say that because each year a new generation discovers Bruce Lee and his movies [and he only made a handful of kung fu movies before he died].
I’m old enough that my first memory of Bruce was as Kato on The Green Hornet. Man, Kato was cool! Of course, that was because of Bruce‘s charisma.
After The Green Hornet, Bruce‘s next onscreen performance was with James Garner in Marlowe. Bruce had a small role as a martial artist thug.
I also fondly remember my anticipation to see Bruce in the tv movie “Longstreet.” Lee played the part of a martial artist who trains a blind insurance investigator the art of self defense. When the movie spun off into a short lived tv series, Lee was brought back for four of the 23 episodes.
It wasn’t long after that Bruce Lee‘s Fist of Fury aka The Big Boss hit the US. It was quickly followed by The Chinese Connection and Return of the Dragon [with Chuck Norris fighting Bruce to the death]. Bruce Lee fever was growing, but it wasn’t until the release of Enter the Dragon that Bruce Lee mania really soared. Sadly, Bruce Lee died three weeks prior to it’s premiere in the USA.
As you probably know, Enter the Dragon is the classic Bruce Lee movie… it’s still the best kung fu movie ever made… and arguments can be made the best action movie as well.
After Bruce‘s death, producers sought every way possible to continue to make money from Bruce Lee. Green Hornet episodes were combined and released as features with Kato getting top billing! The Game of Death, the movie that Bruce was working on when he died was completed with a look-alike and bad effects and it was released. Several movies were released “based” on the life of Bruce Lee [but made to look like new Bruce Lee movies], equally as bad were the movies starring guys like Bruce Li or Bruce Le trying to pass as the original. The one excellent documentary that should be in every Bruce Lee fan’s collection is
Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey.
Earlier this year Bruce Lee was named “Chinese Film’s Bright Star of the Century.” This November, in honor of Bruce‘s 65th birthday and bigger than life bronze statue of Bruce will be errected in Hong Kong’s Avenue of Stars. You can read the details HERE.
Yeah it’s true that Bruce Lee died 32 years ago… but it’s equally true that Bruce Lee will live forever!
“Marlowe” rates a C+
“Fists of Fury” rates a C
“Chinese Connection” rates a C
“Return of the Dragon” rates a B
“Enter the Dragon” rates an A+
“Game of Death” rates a C
“Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey” rates an A+
Last night I watched “Hide and Seek,” a psychological thriller starring Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fannning. The movie was pretty good, but that’s not the point of this post…
In the movie DeNiro keeps waking up at 2:06 AM. The first time that this happens, he discovers his wife has committed suicide. As the movie progresses 2:06 AM becomes a significant plot point and the audience is left wondering [until the resolution] why DeNiro wakes up at 2:06 AM.
It was pretty creepy. Especially late in the movie, as Deniro searches for a killer in the house and suddenly Dakota holds up a child’s clock set to 2:06 AM. Now THAT was very creepy, but it’s still not the creepy moment I’m leading up to.
Overall the movie was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and I really enjoyed how the dvd set up the alternate endings [there were several]. Ah, but I digresss… so on to the REAL creepy moment…
Later that night I woke up feeling the need to go to the restroom. Now most nights, I sleep through until the morning. Occasionally I’m compelled to get up in the middle of the night for a trip to the john, so it’s not totally unusual that this would happen. Last night when I woke to go, I looked to see what time it was… and you guessed it… the digital clock read 2:06 AM.
Now THAT was creepy!
“Hide and Seek” rates a B
A few days ago I made the statement, “Sequels are rarely as good as the original.” And yet I, like many of you, love to see sequels.
On the weekend of September 2, I’ll probably be in a theater watching Transporter 2. The original was an unexpected toddy. The Transporter not only did better at theaters than was expected; it also was a hit with the dvd crowd. So much so, that a Transporter Special Edition dvd is in the works.
I thought The Transporter would be an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half, but was surprised at just how much fun it turned out to be.
Much of that enjoyment was the result of Jason Statham in the lead role and the over the top action. Well, I’m happy to say that both will be back in full force.
Frank Miller had an interview up at Newsarama.com.
Frank Miller is THE MAN.
He can write [comics, and screenplays — I’d love to see
him take on a novel], draw, and direct. In this interview he talks a bit about efforts involving all three of this talents.
His latest project is Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder.
When I was real young, I liked the idea of Robin. He was cool… and not much older than me. When I got older, I saw the problems inherent with having a youngster fighting crime. Sure, it works if Robin is in his late-teens, or if you’re doing “Adam West”-type Batman stories, other than that you just have to suspend a little more disbelief.
So it’ll be interesting to see Miller‘s take on it. Another plus is that Jim Lee will be doing the art. Lee‘s work is sweet. Much of the interview is about Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, but Miller also talks about:
1] A Batman terrorist story that he’s writing, penciling and inking… and
2] He’s gearing up for Sin City 2… and
3] He’s going to write, pencil and ink another Sin City mini-series.
Yeah, the last two have left me smiling from ear to ear!
Sequels are rarely as good as the original. There are far more Jaws 2‘s than there are Godfather 2‘s. And the farther you go down the sequel path, the more likely you are to see a mess.
That’s why I’m happy to say that George A. Romero‘s Land of the Dead is a welcome addition to his zombie series.
My favorite is still “Night of the Living Dead.” I doubt that any zombie movie will ever top NOTLD, not only because everything came together on it [the low budget, shooting in black and white, a cast of unknowns, etc.], but also because it was the first zombie movie to really get to me. These weren’t island zombies or some mummy come back to life. These were our neighbors, our friends and even our family members who were crawling out of the grave to eat us!
Land of the Dead is my second favorite of Romero‘s quartet [followed by Dawn of the Dead and then Day of the Dead]. While I generally don’t like the idea of “smart” zombies, I was intrigued by the idea that these zombies were starting to learn. I thought all of of the actors were well cast. The use of fireworks as a plot device was a cool idea. Heck, I can even go with the idea that money still has value [although that plot element to me was the weakest].
Land of the Dead is supposed to be Romero’s final zombie movie, but I wouldn’t mind see him come back for another.
“Night of the Living Dead” rates an A+
“Dawn of the Dead” [original] rates a C+
“Dawn of the Dead” [remake] rates an A
“Day of the Dead” rates a C
“Land of the Dead” rates a B
Tom Cruise has been in two battles lately. One, The War of the Worlds with Steven Spielberg; the other, The War of the Words with Brooke Shields.
Let’s start with the one that most people can get behind, The War of the Worlds. This update is a worthy successor to the classic 1953 film. And although I’ve never read the book by HG Wells, what I have read indicates that the film doesn’t veer too far from Wells‘ basic ideas.
War of the Worlds is a movie that should be seen in a crowded theater. It’s a big, explosive, exciting summer picture worthy of the Independance Day Weekend slot. Cruise does a fine job of being a jerk of a father who finds himself forced to be responsible for the lives of not only himself but also his two children.
Dakota Fanning is, as always, excellent. She is one of the finest actors working today. Tim Robbins shows up in a supporting role and pulls it off better than I would have expected since he’s playing against the type of role we usually see him play. And of course, Stephen Spielberg rules. Any quibbles I would have with this film would truly be nitpiks and War of the Worlds was too much scary fun to do that. If you haven’t seen War of the Worlds, you should. And before it comes out on dvd.
Now for Cruise’s recent War of the Words with Brooke Shields and Matt Lauer. Tom‘s been acting strange lately. In fact, it’s been the talk all over the internet and entertainment news shows. I’ve avoided discussing it here, since I figured that Tom was just in love and attributed his jumping on couches and screaming, to his infatuation to Katie Holmes and her apparent conversion to Scientology.
Yet, Tom‘s recent behavior has gone beyond what can be excused by the excitement of a new romance. When Cruise spoke out against psychiatry and the use of medicine, well, that’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it [as wrong as he may be].
But when he personally criticized Brooke Shields for her use of medication while dealing with depression and then argued with Matt Lauer while claiming that he [Cruise] knew the “history of psychiatry” when he so clearly doesn’t have a clue… to me crosses the line.
I wonder what’s up with Mr. Cruise. He used to be such a respectful, polite guy. Something has gotten a burr under his sadle.. .
Or maybe he just needs to take a “chill pill.”
“War” of the Worlds rates a B+
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“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” – Apocalypse Now |
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“There can be only one!” – Highlander |
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“Send a maniac to catch a maniac.” – Demolition Man |
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“Game over, man! Game over!” – Aliens |
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“Boards don’t hit back.” – Enter the Dragon |
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“Have I not entertained you?” – Gladiator |
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“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” – Night of the Living Dead |
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“You’re a big man, but you’re out of shape. With me it’s a full time job, so please sit down.” – Get Carter |
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“Somebody chasin’ you, Sheriff?” – Smokey and the Bandit |
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“What’s your mother doin’ flappin’ around in a cage?” – Paradise Alley |
Let me start by saying that EVERYONE that I know that’s seen Batman Begins really, really likes it. Most everyone has even gone on to say that it’s the best Batman movie yet. They usually conclude by saying how much I’m going to love it.
Well, now that I’ve seen Batman Begins, I can say that they were partly right.
I’d agree that Batman Begins is the best Batman movie yet. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I loved it. Yeah, I liked parts of it a lot, but that still leaves some parts that I didn’t. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to check the rest of this post later because it will contain some SPOILERS…
Still with me? OK… let’s start of with what worked for me.
The casting was great. Christian Bale makes a very good Batman / Bruce Wayne. Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, and Morgan Freeman were also just right for their roles. [And I had had some doubts about Caine as Alfred.]
The soundtrack was fine. The sets were more realistic and worked well for the “new” direction. And speaking of direction, Christopher Nolan did a fine job, although I would have preferred a little more clarity during the fight scenes. Yeah, I know that he was trying to show how scary it was when you didn’t know where Batman was going to be next, and man, can he move fast… still, a little of that went a long way.
Now the things that bugged me…
Bruce Wayne as a kid is such a ‘fraidy cat. It’s because little Bruce‘s afraid that they leave the opera and his parents end up killed, and wow, won’t that be something to overcome. I did like how they handled Bruce’s dad though. He was caring and adventurous and understanding. [Heck, maybe HE should have been Batman.]
So Bruce decides to travel the world and hang with low-life criminals so that he can come to understand their minds. Huh?
The Ras Al Ghul League of Shadows was a cool idea. I liked the line where he talks about destroying Rome, London, and other cities when their decadance became too great. Ok, so now this sinister secret organization is going to take down Gotham. And they’re going to do it by releasing a poison in the water supply that has to be activated by a device that they have to steal from Wayne industries?!? That’s the best plan that this group could come up with?
And to make matters worse, they have to depend on a mentally ill doctor to hire henchmen to put the stuff in the water pipes? Why not send in a group of his ninja assassins and get the job done right?
And to make matters worse, as soon as Ras throws the switch on the Microwave weapon, the water for blocks on end IMMEDIATELY evaporates? I thought that this was going to be the more REALISTIC Batman?
And before we get to Batman’s actions… I didn’t like how Bruce Wayne was played as an idiot. Yeah, I understand that Batman is playing him that way so people won’t suspect that he’s really Batman. It just doesn’t work for me. Why not give Bruce some dignity. People aren’t going to think that the billionaire playboy is Batman. You don’t have to make him come off as a drunken jerk who burns down his own house.
Now for Batman’s actions… first of all, Batman shouldn’t be flying around Gotham. Swinging on his line I can live with. And don’t give me some guff and say, “Oh, but he was gliding.” I saw the movie. He was flying. LOL!
Batman is supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to be saving lives. There he was driving that “Batmobile” around destroying overpasses, riding across roof tops, knocking debris off buildings, causing car crashes, flipping police cars. He must have caused the deaths and injuries of dozens of innocent people.
And when Batman said, “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.” Uh, Batman, you’re a hero… you’re business IS to save people… even the bad guys.
Batman is supposed to be smart. He’s the greatest detective alive. His brilliant plan to stop the train from getting to “the critical spot” where it would blow up everything was to give Gordon the keys to the Batmobile so he could get ahead of the train and blow up the tracks. That’s the PLAN?!? Meanwhile Batman “flies” up and on to the same train!?!
Huh? Did he somehow forget that Gordon is going to blow up the bridge? Hey Batman, why not just drive the Batmobile yourself and blow up the bridge? You have more experience at these things than Gordon… plus it’ll keep you OUT OF THE TRAIN!
A lot of people have been complaining about Katie Holmes‘ role. The only thing that bothered me is that she’s known Bruce since they were kids, and she had no clue he was Batman. She knew him longer than I’ve known most of my friends and I’d venture a guess that I’d recognize ANY of them in a Batman suit. Especially if they were two feet away from me and talking.
I did like the ending. Things have been set up sweetly for the sequel.
Overall, I know this review sounds really negative. You’d probably think that I hated the movie. I didn’t. I liked it. Didn’t love it, but liked it.
And my guess is that I’ll like the sequel even better.
“Batman Begins” rates a C
I first heard about about “Shoot ‘Em Up” a few months ago. Advance word was that it was an awesome action script filled with incredible gunplay. Not only was the script supposed to be the real deal, but there was even a stick figure animation that the writer/director created to show potential backers that he knew what he was doing.
It was recently announced that Clive Owen would be the star of “Shoot ‘Em Up.” Pretty cool choice, if you ask me. How could that get any better?
Well, Latinoreview has posted their review of the script as well as the stick figure animations that helped sell the script. Man, it does look like a wild ride!
It’d probably take an alien invasion to stop Steven Spielberg‘s “War of the Worlds” from being a blockbuster hit.
Not even all of the negative publicity that Tom Cruise has been getting in regard to his “enthusiasm” for Katie Holmes could derail this summer crowd-pleaser. “War of the Worlds” is going to score big from opening day and who knows how long the movie will rule at the box office? I doubt that the Fantastic Four will make much of a dent, and truly, what else is coming out this summer to challenge it?
And speaking of Tom Cruise, did you happen to see or hear about the “idiot” that threw water on Cruise? At the London premiere for the “War of the Worlds” a man squirted Cruise with a water pistol disguised as a microphone. Police arrested the prankster as well as three other men who filmed the incident. The four were working on a new comedy show for British TV which targets celebrities for practical jokes. I guess the joke was on them.
