Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Hellboy II movie website has been plugging along and adding concept art, video updates, first looks at the major characters and more. So why haven’t I been talking it up? I don’t know I guess I just forgot.
Going in, “The Mist” had almost all indications that it was going to be awesome. Frank Darabont [“The Shawshank Redemption“ “The Green Mile“] had written the screenplay and directed Stephen King’s novella of the same name. It was Darabont’s dream project and one of King’s most popular stories. The movie was well cast and early word was positive.
The Good: the story – a mysterious mist containing creatures rolls in to a small town forcing a variety of characters to take refuge in a supermarket; the interplay of the people as they slowly learn what is going on; the ending [which is different than King’s novella — and no, I’m not giving away either]; the meek store clerk, Marcia Gay Harden in her role as Mrs. Carmody.
The Bad: some of the CGI creatures; what happens to some of the characters; the ending [yeah, I know, I listed it under the good as well… more on that in a second]; Ms. Carmody.
The Ugly: what happens to some of the characters and the ending [more in a sec].
As you probably guessed the ending really has an impact. Although different than the novella’s [and praised by Stephen King], it just wasn’t the ending that I wanted. There’s no doubt that it works on one level, and could be justified as logical — but, and here’s the big but, it could just as easily be argued that it wasn’t logical and it doesn’t work. I give credit to Darabont for having the courage to go with his vision and perhaps it will grow on me as time passes.
ComingSoon.net scored a first look at the Soloman Kane poster above. Kane was created by Robert E. Howard [the pulp writer best known for Conan].Raf and Chris Mills are our experts on Soloman Kane. My experience with Soloman Kane is from a couple of Marvel comics [written and drawn by the great Howard Chaykin] from the 70’s… and maybe a story or two from one of the Marvel Conan or Savage Sword black and white mags. I enjoyed the character enough to read those stories when I came across them, but never felt compelled to seek out more. Maybe this movie will change that.
I’d wanted to see “Children of Men” for sometime now. Last night I got the chance. Wow! What an amazing movie. Set twenty years in the future at a time when there have been no babies born into the world for 18 years. It’s a bleak, repressive, dreary and totally believable future.
Clive Owen plays Theo a normal man suddenly thrust into a role that possibly entrusts him with the future of humankind. Although Owen gets top billing [along with co-stars Julianne Moore and Michael Caine], it truly is director [and co-screenwriter] Alfonso Cuaron who is the star of this movie. His vision is so truly realized that we feel as if we are in the center of this nightmare world. His use of handheld cameras, long continuous shots, and harrowing set-ups leaves viewers on the edge of their seats and breathless.
The Good: Cuaron’s direction; sudden twists; Michael Caine’s character; Owen’s first escape with the woman; how/why Owen avoids execution in the city; Owen’s resolve to get to the woman despite the war raging around him; the Gypsy woman; the refugees’ and soldiers’ reaction to Owen leading the woman out of the building; ALL of the background details [kept in the background] that make the future despair seem so real; the fact that Owen isn’t a super hero and never picks up a gun — he’s a normal man who rises to the occasion.
The Bad: a world without children… the scene with the empty elementary schools and playground… that such a world of despair could be so believable
The Ugly: People wounded/dying from the battles.
Children of Men is an amazing film.
There’s a new high definition trailer available HERE for JJ Abram’s top secret monster movie, “Cloverfield.” Now that we can see the trailer in high def [with the ability to go frame-by-frame] more questions than answers come to mind.
My two big questions are:
1] Why is the actor’s face pixelated out? I’ve posted a screen shot above. We hear his voice, but are not allowed to see his face. Is he a surprise star? I have no clue.
2] Did you notice that one of the women in quarantine seems to blow up? I’ve posted a screen shot below. She is being moved by men in HAZMAT gear and appears to be a normal woman, but suddenly her body starts to expand. Perhaps the monster is able to infect humans and create others like it? PURE speculation on my part… but she does appear to be blowing up.
So watch the trailer and let me know your thoughts.
One of my favorite movies is “Pitch Black.” I loved how it came out of nowhere, without a big name writer, director or stars and nailed it. Everything about the movie worked for me. Especially Vin Diesel as Riddick. I also thought it was cool that writer/director, David Twohy and Vin Diesel were in sync with the character of Riddick; so much so that they planned to bring him back in a trilogy.I have to admit that “The Riddick Chronicles” was a bit of a let down. Suddenly we learn that Riddick isn’t human and will play a role in saving the universe. Argh. I liked Riddick as a tougher than nails, human ex-con on the run who cares for no one except himself and his own survival… and yet risks his life to save a child. Still, “The Chronicles of Riddick” had it’s moments [and enough of them to earn the movie a place in my dvd library]. And yeah, I’d still like to see more of Twohy and Diesel teaming to bring us further adventures of Riddick. Two movies and an animated adventure just weren’t enough. There was so much untapped potential with Riddick that there had to be another movie. That seemed unlikely since “The Riddick Chronicles” didn’t do as well at the box office as hoped.
Maybe things have changed. David Twohy recently announced on his website: “All I can say now is ‘We’re talking about it.’ The DVD numbers were really good – we know that, and some potential financiers know that. But if another movie surfaces, it probably won’t be a Universal movie and probably will be an independent movie. Which means we’ll have to make it for substantially less than the last installment. That’s okay. ‘Pitch Black’ was $22 million all in. Maybe it’s time to go back to our roots – as we go on to The UnderVerse. “
Now THAT’S what I’m talking about.
I was surfing the net and came across this really cool Terminator artwork. For a wallpaper size look, click HERE.
Cinemablend has posted up 7 clips to No Country for Old Men. You can see them by clicking 
Have you seen THIS TRAILER for Revolver? I hadn’t until just a few minutes ago.
It looks like it could be really good. With a screenplay by Guy Ritchie and Luc Besson and a cast that includes Jason Statham, Ray Liotta and Vincent Pastore, you’d have to believe it’s going to be good, right? Then when you read THIS PLOT SUMMARY you have to ask, how can this not be a winner?
So why do I still have some doubts?
I was in the mood for a list today and decided that the American Film Institutes’s Top 100 Movie Quotes might be interesting to play with. So I looked at the list and decided to see if I could narrow it down to 25 quotes that contained the essence of their movie.This list may not have the most famous [“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” – Gone with the Wind], the funniest [“I’ll have what she’s having.” – When Harry Met Sally] or the dumbest [“Nobody puts baby in a corner.” – Dirty Dancing], but it does have 25 quotes which get to the heart of their movies. So here there are in no particular order…
Frank Miller has The Spirit. Yeah, man!
If The Mist is as good as the Stephen King story, it’ll be really good. If it’s as good as writer/director Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption it’ll be really, really good. After watching this latest trailer, I’m still not convinced of either.
The more I see of the Iron Man movie the more I think I’m really gonna dig it. The international trailer is short but, oh so sweet.
If the movie American Gangster captures half the flavor of this interview with the Frank Lucas, the real-life OG, then it’s sure to be a winner.
Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought that I’d find a list of the Top Horror Movies and see how I’d rate ’em. So I went to the Internet Movie Data Base and checked out their list of the Top 50 Horror Movies of All Time [as voted on by users of IMDB].
I have to say that I was surprised by some of the movies that made the grade. I was expecting more classic horror films to appear on the list [Dracula, Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon] as well as some lesser known, but still very good horror movies like Them! or Frailty.
Ok… we have what we have. Taking their list of the top 50, I whittled it down to my top 20 and here they are in alphabetical order with some comments:
Alien (1979): Saw it on its original theatrical run and enjoyed it. A haunted house in outer space!
Aliens (1986): Even better than Alien… as much a war movie as a horror movie. Love it!
Birds, The (1963): One of the scariest movies I ever saw as a kid. Still a favorite.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Even better than Frankenstein. A true classic.
Dawn of the Dead (1978): Saw it in a theater the 2nd time [my date couldn’t take it the 1st time]
Exorcist, The (1973): the scariest movie I ever saw as an adult.
Frankenstein (1931): A classic!
Freaks (1932): It makes the list, but wouldn’t be near the top.
Halloween (1978): Saw it in a drive-in and it was scary without sound! LOL!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Another classic from [before] my childhood.
Invisible Man, The (1933): I didn’t appreciate it until I was an adult!
Jaws (1975): Horror? Okay… it is a fun and scary movie.
King Kong (1933): Another classic.
Night of the Hunter, The (1955): A great film… maybe Mitchum’s best performance ever.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): One of my favorites!
Psycho (1960): Some pretty scary scenes the first time around.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968): I saw it in a drive-in as a kid…. creepy stuff.
Shining, The (1980): redrum…redrum… redrum…
Thing, The (1982): Not as good as the original, but still good. LOL!
Unknown, The (1927): Never cut off your arms for a lover.
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