Category: Humor

James Gunn Shares “Suicide Squad” Trivia That May Surprise You!

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Rob Hunter, at Film School Rejects, posted a fun piece called 43 Things We Learned from ‘The Suicide Squad’ Commentary with James Gunn.

9. (Joel) Kinnaman was challenged as he’s not typically associated with comedies, but he quickly showed a talent and an affinity for earning laughs. (For All Mankind is where I first really noticed what a fine actor Kinnaman is.  I highly recommend the series as well. – Craig)

14. Gunn says John Cena is “probably the most gifted improvisational actor I’ve ever worked with in my life.” (I found this a bit surprising, but was happy to hear it. Cena seems like a nice guy off screen. – Craig)

26. Elba doesn’t actually smoke, and he has asthma, so the scene where Bloodsport smokes in the back of the van left his eyes watering. “I had to take a tear out of his eye with visual effects because I liked the shot.” (Elba doing what it takes for his art!  – Craig)

“Cowboy Bebop” – The Trailer is Here!

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I’m surprised at how much I am looking forward to Cowboy Bebop.  This is going to be a fun ride.

COWBOY BEBOP is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.

Based on the beloved anime series, COWBOY BEBOP is executive produced by André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Makoto Asanuma, Shin Sasaki and Masayuki Ozaki of Sunrise Inc., Tim Coddington, Tetsu Fujimura, Michael Katleman, Matthew Weinberg, and Christopher Yost. Nemec serves as showrunner. Original anime series director Shinichirō Watanabe is a consultant on the series, and original composer Yoko Kanno returns for the live-action adaptation. The series also stars Alex Hassell and Elena Satine.

Watch Cowboy Bebop, a live-action series, only on Netflix Nov. 19.

Steve Niles’ The Complete Cal McDonald Stories (with Two New Tales) is Coming! John Carpenter Intro!

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Yesterday Steve Niles sent a Tweet with the image above and…

The complete collection of Criminal Macabre prose stories by Steve Niles featuring two brand new tales and an introduction by horror legend John Carpenter! Now available for pre-order! In stores March 2, 2022. Cover by E.M. Gist.  @DarkHorseComics  @TheHorrorMaster

Here’s the synopsis…

The complete collection of Criminal Macabre prose stories by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) featuring two brand new tales and an introduction by horror legend John Carpenter!

The world has two faces. The natural and the supernatural. The face we see every day, people filing past us in an almost zombie-like stupor, numb to the horrors of everyday life or driven to madness by the pain and agony of modern-day existence. And those are the people who aren’t zombies or monsters!

Cal McDonald is a detective with one foot in the real world, and one in the world of magic. For Cal, the horrors we all dream about in the fevered darkness of the night are all-too real, kept at bay through an almost constant influx of drugs to numb the pain, but never erase it. Cut from the same mold as Sam Spade, Jake Gittes, and the famous detectives of Chandler, Hammett and Spillane, Cal McDonald, whether he likes it or not, is all that stands between us and the nightmare world just outside our vision.

Collects the complete Criminal Macabre prose stories Savage Membrane; Guns, Drugs, and Monsters; Dial M for Monster, All My Bloody Things, and two new prose stories: The Dead Son and Out of Water.

Criminal Macabre: The Complete Cal McDonald Prose Stories by Steve Niles is available for pre-order now. Deal me in!

The 2nd Trailer for “Red Notice” is Here (and I like it)! 

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The second trailer for Red Notice is here and I like it!  I didn’t care for the first trailer.  Now I want to see the movie.  I’m going to have to re-watch the first again to see what’s changed.  Maybe it was just me.

An Interpol-issued Red Notice is a global alert to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted. But when a daring heist brings together the FBI’s top profiler (Johnson) and two rival criminals (Gadot, Reynolds), there’s no telling what will happen.

Watch Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot in RED NOTICE, on Netflix November 12:

The Addams Family by Eduardo Francisco!

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Once a week Joblo.com has a feature called Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net.  As you can imagine, they post awesome art that they, well, you get the idea.

I always enjoy seeing what JoBlo has found because with each post they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art.  If you check it out you’ll discover amazing artists like Eduardo Francisco who did the very cool Addams Family piece above.

“Army of Thieves” – The Trailer is Here!

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The Army of Thieves trailer is here and it looks like fun.  I will admit I wouldn’t be so excited for Army of Thieves if it wasn’t in the Army of the Dead universe.

In this prequel to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, small-town bank teller Dieter gets drawn into the adventure of a lifetime when a mysterious woman recruits him to join a crew of Interpol’s most wanted criminals, attempting to heist a sequence of legendary, impossible-to-crack safes across Europe.

Watch Army of Thieves on Netflix globally October 29

RIP: Jay Sandrich

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Jay Sandrich has died at the age of 89.  Mr. Sandrich was an award-winning director (5 Emmy Awards, 3 Director’s Guild Awards) best known for his work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Cosby Show.

Jay Sandrich began his career as an Assistant Director working on I Love Lucy, The Red Skelton Show, The Untouchables, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Dick Van Dyke Show and many others.  Once Mr. Sandrich moved into the director’s chair he stayed busy working on The Danny Thomas Show, That Girl, Get Smart, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Here’s Lucy, The Odd Couple, and The Bob Newhart Show just to name a few.   Often Mr. Sandrich would be hired to direct multiple episodes.

In 1970, Mr. Sandrich directed the pilot of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  He would go on to direct 119 of the show’s 168 episodes!  Jay Sandrich also directed episodes of the MTMS spin-offs: Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant. After the MTMS ended Mr. Sandrich continued to direct some of the most popular shows on television including: Welcome Back Kotter, WKRP in Cincinnati, Benson and Soap.

In 1980, Jay Sandrich directed the feature film Seems Like Old Times starring Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Charles Grodin.  Mr. Sandrich then returned to directing television shows including Night Court and The Golden Girls. Mr. Sandrich was then chosen as director for The Cosby Show.  He not only directed the pilot but went on to direct 100 of the 197 episodes made! 

Jay Sandrich continued to direct television projects that interested him, even adding episodes of The Office and Two and a Half Men to his resume.  Jay Sandrich was named to the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2020.

It’s hard to imagine just how many hours I’ve enjoyed of programs directed by Jay Sandrich.  He directed some of the funniest episodes of several classic series.  That doesn’t happen by accident.  If you haven’t seen his lone feature film: Seems Like Old Times.  You should consider giving it a go.  I remember seeing Seems Like Old Times when it was first released and really enjoying it.  Jay Sandrich knew how to bring out the best in the performers he worked with.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jay Sandrich’s family, friends and fans.

  

“Night Teeth” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I can usually tell pretty quickly watching a trailer if it is going to be my kind of film.  Not so with Night Teeth.  I started out thinking it wasn’t going to be for me, but the more I watched the more I liked what I was seeing.  Night Teeth looks like Collateral with vampires.  I plan to go along for the ride.

Benny’s entire world is turned upside down after picking up two mysterious girls who expose him to a secret world he never knew existed. He is suddenly hurled into their cryptic underworld on a mission to save his city from dripping in blood.

“Red Notice” – Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot & Ryan Reynolds – The Trailer is Here!

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Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds headline Red Notice and we’ve got the trailer.  This looks like it will be fun but nothing great.  Since it’s on Netflix, I’ll tune in.

An Interpol-issued Red Notice is a global alert to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted. But when a daring heist brings together the FBI’s top profiler (Johnson) and two rival criminals (Gadot, Reynolds), there’s no telling what will happen.

RIP: Ed Asner

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Ed Asner, the actor best known for playing Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970 – 1977) and Lou Grant (1977 – 1982), died today at the age of 91.  Mr. Asner is one of the few actors to play the same character in a comedy and a drama.  He also is the male actor to have won the most Primetime Emmy Awards with seven.

Mr. Asner began his career with uncredited roles on the series Studio One in 1957.  His IMDb resume now contains over 400 acting credits with several that were lined up for the future.  That shows amazing popularity in a career lasting over 60 years. The demand for Mr. Asner’s talents had not diminished despite him being over 90!

Before his career defining role as Lou Grant, Ed Asner regularly guest starred on popular tv series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Route 66; The Untouchables; The Outer Limits; Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; The Rat Patrol; Gunsmoke; The Fugitive; The Wild Wild West; The Invaders; Mission Impossible; and many, many others.

In 1970, Ed Asner shot to fame for his role as the gruff but loveable, Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Mr. Asner and his character were popular to earn a spin off series moving from a half hour comedy to a full hour drama titled Lou Grant. His portrayal of Lou Grant earned Ed Asner five of his seven Emmy Awards.  Mr. Asner also played Lou Grant on two other series (Rhoda and Roseanne).  Mr. Asner’s other two Emmy Awards were for his work on Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man.

Ed Asner also appeared in feature films with his best known probably being the lead voice actor on Up or the bad guy in El Dorado starring John Wayne.  Mr. Asner was in high demand for voice work and he did quite a bit of it as well.  

When not acting, Mr. Asner was involved in activities that he felt strongly about.  He twice served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and was involved with many non-profit organizations and charities.

Watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a weekly family event and a large (no pun intended) part of that was Ed Asner as Lou Grant.  Everyone was able to play off of him and his reactions were classic.  I was impressed at how easy it was for his character to move from an award-winning 30 minute comedy to an award-winning 60 minute drama.  That couldn’t happen without an excellent actor. 

I think what I loved most about Ed Asner was his attitude toward life.  He spoke up for his beliefs, was positive in his posts (yes, at 91 he was active on Twitter!) and was able to stay popular and relevant in an ever-changing world!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans. 

 

The All-Time Best Zombie Movies!

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Audrey Fox at /Film created her list of The 20 Best Zombie Movies Of All Time.  Using just her list here are my top five (in alpha order):

28 days later: Purists will argue that this isn’t a true zombie movie.  Instead of arguing, I’d just watch it again!

Dawn of the Dead (2004): Has one of the best opening scenes of any zombie movie (except for World War Z) and I love that Fox acknowledges that in her article!

Night of the Living Dead: The original by George Romero that kickstarted the zombie renaissance.

Overlord: Zombies and WW2 mash-up.  Another that some will argue isn’t a true zombie movie.  Again, I say, “Rewatch  instead of arguing.”

Train to Busan:  A modern classic.  More people should see this film!

+++

Some films on her list that didn’t make mine but are good: Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland and The Dead Don’t Die.  They’re funny and worth a view, but when the dead start to rise, I prefer scary to funny. (I still want to see Little Monsters!)

I haven’t seen Blood Quantum but want to.

Want to Know the Best Cities in 2021 to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse?

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Lawn Love (of all places!) dug through a boatload of data to come up with 2021’s Best Cities for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse.  As you can see from the infographic above they have listed the 10 best as well as the 10 worst cities for living through a zombie end-of-the-world scenario.

In order to get their rankings they looked at:

  • highest/lowest share of the population in good health
  • highest/lowest share of homes with basements
  • most/fewest stores with hunting gear
  • best/worst trail access
  • most/fewest military bases

Since Florida soil isn’t conducive to basements, I’m surprised that we had two cities that placed in the top 10 for safest.  I was also surprised to see that my current city (Daytona Beach, Fl.) and my birth city (Terre Haute, In.) didn’t even make the top 200 of safest cities.

If there was a zombie apocalypse I would want to be in an area that wasn’t over-populated and had a nice year round climate.  The Florida coast would probably be a good choice since you could fish year round making food one less worry.

If you click over to Lawn Love’s site you’ll see the full zombie apocalypse infographic and how cities rated in each area.  You can even look up your hometown to see how it ranked.  Then you’ll know if you’re likely to survive or become one of the walking dead.

“Copshop” starring Gerard Butler & Frank Grillo – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Normally I like crime movies to be serious, but every once in a while it is fun to watch one that leans deeply into comedy.  Copshop looks to be one that fits in that category.  With a cast that includes Frank Grillo and Gerard Butler, how can I resist?  Deal me in.

Screaming through the Nevada desert in a bullet-ridden Crown Vic, wily con artist Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) hatches a desperate plan to hide out from lethal hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler): He sucker-punches rookie officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) to get himself arrested and locked up in a small-town police station. But jail can’t protect Murretto for long. Viddick schemes his own way into detention, biding his time in a nearby cell until he can complete his mission. When the arrival of a competing assassin (Toby Huss) ignites all-out mayhem, mounting threats force Viddick to get creative if he wants to finish the job and escape the explosive situation.

RIP: Ron Popeil

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Ron Popeil an American inventor, business man and marketing genius.  He died yesterday at the age of 86.  No cause of death was given.

Popeil became famous not only for his inventions but more so in the way he marketed them.  He began with television ads promoting his Chop-O-Matic vegetable slicer calling it “the greatest kitchen appliance ever made.”  Popeil’s claims were over the top but he made them with enthusiasm and likability.  He followed the Chop-O-Matic with the Veg-A-Matic which could “slice a tomato so thin it only has one side.”

His company Ronco continued to put out ads marketing their products: The Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone, The Bedazzler, Hair in a Can Spray, The Kitchen Magician, Mr. Dentist, and The Smokeless Ashtray were just some of the products you could find Mr. Popeil hawking in television ads.  Ronco also branched out to Ronco Records to release compilation albums featuring popular songs from a few years ago now at popular prices.

In addition to his grandiose  product claims, Ron Popeil was the first to use the catch phrase used in most late night television commercials hawking products, “Wait… There’s more!”   Ron Popeil’s enthusiasm for his products and his unabashed hucksterism made him a popular culture celebrity.  He was parodied on everything from Saturday Night Live to the Simpsons.  Even Gallagher’s most popular bit, The Sledge-O-Matic could be traced back to Ron Popeil.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ron Popeil’s family, friends and fans.