Category: Humor

“Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…” (2024) / Z-View

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Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… (2024)

Director:  Hamish Hamilton

Screenplay:  Jamie Foxx

Stars: Jamie Foxx.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

About a year ago Jamie Foxx was hospitalized.  His family clamped down on news about the cause of Foxx’s illness.  No photos.  No interviews.  So… of course speculation and rumors ran rampant.  Jamie Foxx had died.  Jamie Foxx was replaced by a clone.  Jamie Foxx had been poisoned.  Etc. Etc. Etc.

Thankfully Jamie Foxx fully recovered.  It took a lot of time and intensive rehab, but he did it.  And now Jamie Foxx wants to set the record straight.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Jamie Foxx: What Happened Was is billed as a comedy special.  Which is unfortunate.  If you tune in to see Foxx’s comedy, you’ll get glimpses.  The laughs are mixed with a lot of Foxx talking about getting sick and his recovery.  Much of that is NOT funny.  And that’s fine… if you’re not expecting an all-out comedy special.

Jamie Foxx is talented.  He’s a comedian.  An actor.  A singer.  His impressions rock.  This special gives us glimpses of those talents and reminders of Foxx’s past success.  They’re found as Foxx talks about his stroke and recovery.  If you tune in thinking you’ll get a brief summary of what happened to Jamie followed by a comedy special, you’ll be disappointed.  I blame that on how the special was advertised.

Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… (2024) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989) / Z-View

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National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Director:  Jeremiah S. Chechik

Screenplay:  John Hughes based on characters created by John Hughes

Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, Randy Quaid, Miriam Flynn, Cody Burger, Ellen Latzen, William Hickey, Mae Questel, Nicholas Guest, Nicolette Scorsese, Brian Doyle-Murray and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Tagline: There’s No Place Like Home For A Holiday!

The Plot…

Clark (Chase) and Ellen (D’Angelo) Griswald have invited their parents to spend Christmas (and the 10 days leading up to it) and their house.  Preparing for the holidays (when you’re hosting) can be stressful. Having both sets of in-laws at the same time even more so.  Add to that Clark has over-extended to surprise his family with a new swimming pool.  The check will bounce if his Christmas bonus doesn’t arrive soon.

Plus his yuppie neighbors are always creating issues.  The Christmas lights aren’t working, the tree is too big…  Oh, and don’t forget that Uncle Lewis (Hickey) and his senile wife Aunt Bethany (Questel) are coming Christmas Day.  With his kids complaining, the in-laws making comments, finishing up at work for the Christmas (still no bonus check?)… how could things get any worse.

That’s when Ellen’s cousin’s family – Catherine (Flynn), her dumb as bricks husband (Quaid), their two kids Rocky (Burger) and Ruby Sue (Latzen), and their aptly named Rottweiler, Snots, show up unannounced.

Let the good times roll!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Mae Questel was the voice of Betty Boop in the 1930s.  Christmas Vacation was her last film appearance.

Brian Doyle-Murray, who plays Clark’s boss in this film, appeared in National Lampoon’s Vacation as another character (the clerk at Kamp Komfort).

Snots was Beverly D’Angelo’s real life dog.  Aunt Bethany’s cat was Beverly D’Angelo’s real life cat.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a stone cold classic.  Every scene is a winner.  It’s well written, well cast and well directed.  This film is required viewing each year at Christmas time.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024) directed by Tim Burton, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe & Monica Bellucci / Z-View

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Director:  Tim Burton

Screenplay: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar; story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Seth Grahame-Smith based on characters by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson

Stars: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Santiago Cabrera, Burn Gorman  and Danny DeVito.

Tagline: The ghost with the most is back.

The Plot…

Thirtysix years ago Betelgeuse, a vulgar, prankster ghost attempted to marry a teenager named Lydia Deetz.  Although unsuccessful, Betelgeuse hasn’t given up.  Confined to the underworld, he still has hopes to escape.

Lydia and her mother struggle to have a healthy relationship.  Lydia and her daughter, Astrid, don’t get along much better.  Astrid doesn’t believe her mom can see ghosts.

When Lydia, her mother and Astrid return to Winter River for a funeral things take a turn.  Astrid accidentally frees Betelgeuse.  Now he can finally force marriage to Lydia.  Meanwhile Betelgeuse’s first wife has “pulled herself together” and has plans for Betelgeuse (and anyone who gets in her way).  And don’t get me started on Astrid’s problems.

The juice is loose indeed.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

While not as fun as the original, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still a fun ride.  The film is best when Keaton is on screen cutting up.  Jenna Ortega is an excellent choice to play Winona Ryder’s daughter.

My favorite scene was the MacArthur Park wedding scene.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) rates 3 of 5 stars.

HATCHET GIRLS by Joe R. Lansdale

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Joe R. Lansdale has a new Hap & Lenard tale set to premiere on August 19, 2025.  It’s titled HATCHET GIRLS.  Here’s the lowdown…

Hap and Leonard never go looking for trouble, and yet trouble, in the more vicious and ridiculous of forms always seems to find them. Your next dose of pitch-black comedy, mystery, and mayhem has arrived, just as the best friends may finally be calling it quits.

When Hap and Leonard are called in on a strange request (subduing a meth-hopped hog) by a desperate young lady, they quickly learn this woman is part of a fringe group: The Hatchet Girls, who have pledged their allegiance to a crazed and grudge-bearing leader bent on bloody societal revenge. The timing couldn’t be worse to be caught in such a vile, sticky wicket of a case: both boys are wrapped up in their domestic lives: Leonard is in the midst of wedding planning with fiancee, Pookie. And meanwhile, Hap and Brett are hard at work on their new home. Homemaking bliss will have to wait as Hap and Leonard are driven to stop the danger in its tracks and better understand the group’s mission and the plans they have already set in place for helter-skelter esque mayhem.

Life changes, midnight sneaks, and dark encounters with misguided dames who yell “Chop, Chop,” lead Hap and Leonard into one of their darkest adventures yet.

Pre-orders are available now.

SKULL FULL by Anthony Neil Smith

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SKULL FULL by Anthony Neil Smith drops tomorrow.  Here’s the lowdown…

A collection of stories by 2024 Horror Showdown Finalist Anthony Neil Smith about f****d-up families, f****d-up relationships, f****d-up crimes, and f****d-up f**kedness, and are adorably twisted around a darkly humorous core.

Anthony Neil Smith is a novelist whose short fiction has appeared in HAD, Bull, Cowboy Jamboree, Maudlin House, Reckon Review, and many more. He’s a professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and current editor of online lit mag Revolution John. One of his stories appeared in Best American Mystery & Suspense 2023. He’s been nominated for a Pushcart twice, and for Best of the Net twice. Another story collection, THE TICKS WILL EAT YOU WHOLE, is forthcoming in March of 2025.

“Brothers” (2024) starring Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei & Brendan Fraser / Z-View

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Brothers (2024)

Director:  Max Barbakow

Screenplay: Macon Blair; story by Etan Cohen

Stars: Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Taylour Paige, Jen Landon, Brendan Fraser, Glenn Close, M. Emmet Walsh, Margo Moorer, Joshua Mikel, Nathan Hesse, Taylor St. Clair and Marisa Tomei.

Tagline:  Family is a life sentence.

The Plot…

Thirty years ago, Mike and Jady’s mother took off with the cops in hot pursuit.  Mom and her boyfriend had stolen emeralds worth millions.  Mom was not caught or heard from again.  After mom split, Mike and Jady began a life of small time crime.    Jady was eventually caught and sent to prison.  Mike married and hoped to turn his life around.

When Jady is released from prison, he visits Mike.  Jady has a plan for a road trip and one last score.  Desperate since he just lost his job, Mike agrees.  Had Mike known that it would involve an overly-friendly orangutan, a cop with a vendetta and their long lost mother, he might have reconsidered.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Brothers has a great cast with a story that has potential.  Sadly the film falls short.  I didn’t care for any of the characters.  The go-to for laughs was seeing people fall off roofs, get punched, run over or knocked down.  I made it to the end.  Barely.

Brothers is M. Emmet Walsh’s last feature film appearance.  He deserved better.  So did the other talents in this movie.  Brendan Fraser and Marisa Tomei are Academy Award winners.  Josh Brolin and Glenn Close are Academy Award nominees.  Peter Dinklage is a 4 time Emmy Award winner.

Although Marisa Tomei is listed on the movie poster, her name doesn’t appear in the film credits.

Brothers (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Black Dynamite” (2009) starring Michael Jai White / Z-View

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Black Dynamite (2009)

Director:  Scott Sanders

Screenplay: Michael Jai White, Scott Sanders, Byron Minns, story by Michael Jai White, Byron Minns

Stars: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Phyllis Applegate, Obba Babatundé, William Bassett and Mykelti Williamson.

Tagline:  He’s super bad, he’s outta sight. He’s Black Dynamite.

The Plot…

Black Dynamite (White) is a Viet Nam vet, fung fu expert, ex-CIA, love machine.  He’s a mean muther —  I’m just talking about Black Dynamite.  When Black Dynamite’s brother is killed, evidence leads to an organization that is providing heroin to black orphanages, and poisoning malt liquor headed for the ghetto.  The CIA reinstate Black Dynamite so he can make those muthers pay.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Black Dynamite is a love letter to the low-budget blaxploitation movies of the early 1970s.  It definitely captured the look, sound and feel of those films.  We get split screen, slow-motion, boom mic errors, jump cuts, bad dialogue and music that take us back to those wonderful days of one cool cat willing and able to take down the man in between loving the ladies.

Kudos to Michael Jai White for not only playing the lead, but coming up with the idea and hitting the right mix of homage and parody.

Black Dynamite (2009) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Jungle Gents” (1954) starring Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the Bowery Boys with Woody Stode & Clint Walker! / Z-View

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Jungle Gents (1954)

Director:  Edward Bernds

Screenplay: Edward Bernds, Elwood Ullman

Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey, Laurette Luez, Harry Cording, David Gorcey, Benny Bartlett, Murray Alper, Pat Flaherty, Joel Fluellen, Roy Glenn, Emory Parnell, Emil Sitka, Woody Strode and Clint Walker.

Tagline:  You’ll Go WILD with LAFFS!

The Plot…

Sach’s new medicine gives him the power to smell diamonds. Slip (L. Gorcey), Satch (Hall), Louie (B. Gorcey), and others are headed to the jungles of Africa to find a diamond mine.  Little do the boys know that a group of crooks are following.  Soon the guys are fighting the gangsters and natives.

Where is Anatta (Luez), the Jungle Girl when you need her?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Clint “Cheyenne” Walker makes his film debut.

Woody Stode appears uncredited as a native.

Jungle Gents (1954) rates 3 of 5 stars.

The Collected Will Eisner’s John Law by Will Eisner and Gary Chaloner is coming! 

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The Collected Will Eisner’s John Law by Will Eisner and Gary Chaloner is coming!  It will drop on March 4, 2025. Preorders are available now. Here is the lowdown…

Wherever men live, be they nomads or city dwellers, there they must have law and a man to enforce it.

Meet Detective John Law of Crossroads City. Strong, decent, hardworking and hard-nosed. He’s a man who believes in the law and order. He’s the last of a dying breed.

In 1948, Will Eisner produced the first issue of “John Law Detective”, which he intended to add to a line of self-published comics. However, after Eisner’s “Baseball Comics”, “Kewpies”, and “Pirate Comics” failed to find an audience, John Law never made it to the newsstand and was quietly dropped, with much of the original artwork reworked in 1950 for his most famous creation, The Spirit.

Featuring original stories by Will Eisner, Gary Chaloner’s award-winning reboot from 2004, including a previously unpublished John Law Story, and a foreword by long-time Eisner publisher Denis Kitchen, this is a must-have for not just Eisner fans but comic collectors of all ages.

“Tulsa King”: Season 2 (2024) starring Sylvester Stallone / Z-View

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Tulsa King: Season 2 (2024)

Created by: Taylor Sheridan

Director: Craig Zisk (Eps. 1-2; 9-10); Joshua Marston (Eps. 3-4); David Semel  (Eps. 5-6); Kevin Dowling (Eps. 7-8)

Teleplay: Taylor Elmore and Terence Winter & Sylvester Stallone (Ep. 1); Stephen Scaia and Terence Winter (Ep. 2); Terence Winter & Joseph Riccobene (Ep. 3); Terence Winter & Dave Flebotte (Ep. 4); William Schmidt (Ep. 5); Terence Winter (Ep. 6); Dave Flebotte (Ep. 7); William Schmidt & Terence Winter (Ep. 8); Joseph Riccobene (Ep. 9); Terence Winter & Sylvester Stallone (Ep. 10)

Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Vincent Piazza, Tatiana Zappardino, Annabella Sciorra, Neal McDonough, Frank Grillo, Domenick Lombardozzi, Andrea Savage, Garrett Hedlund, Dana Delany, Chris Caldovino, Dashiell Connery, McKenna Quigley Harrington, Justin Garcia-Pruneda, Michael Beach, Scarlet Rose Stallone, Steve Witting, Rich Ting, Glen Gould, J.D. Walsh, Jelly Roll, Graham Greene and Cash Flo.

Tagline: The Boss Is Back.

The Plot…

Dwight’s see an opportunity to get a wind farm on the cheap.  He’ll use it to power a marijuana farm.  This puts him at odds with Cal Thresher, the biggest medical marijuana supplier in Tulsa (and business partner of Bill Bevilaqua, the organized crime don of the territory).

Dwight learns that a Chinese triad is also involved with marijuana farming in the area and could be a problem.  Chickie reaches out to one of Dwight’s team to set up a doublecross.  Meanwhile Thresher has gets the hook in another on Dwight’s team.  An attempt is made on Dwight’s life.

Tensions mount as Dwight refuses to give Bevilaqua the percentage he wants and offers nothing to Chickie.  People will die and there will be collateral damage.

The season ends with a cliffhanger.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Tulsa King was nominated for one 2023 PrimeTime Emmy Award – Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or a Variety Program: Freddie Poole

As you might have guessed, Tulsa King continues to be my current favorite television show.  Bring on season three!

Tulsa King: Season 2 (2024) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“Dick Dynamite: 1944” – Two Posters and a Trailer!

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The two posters and the trailer for Dick Dynamite: 1944 are so over-the-top low-budget fun-looking, I have got to check out the movie.

Deal me in.

In the dying days of World War II, Dick Dynamite and his ragtag team of Nazi-killing commandos must stop a group of depraved German scientists from turning the population of New York into flesh-eating zombies.

“Back in Action” starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Back in Action starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz is here.  This looks like fun.

Deal me in.

Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.

“Black Cat” (1941) starring Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford & Bela Lugosi / Z-View

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Black Cat (1941)

Director: Albert S. Rogell

Screenplay: Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, Eric Taylor, Robert Neville based on The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

Stars: Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, Bela Lugosi, Anne Gwynne, Gladys Cooper, Cecilia Loftus, John Eldredge and Alan Ladd.

Tagline:  Even Ladd Is Scared!

The Plot…

Rich, old, Henrietta Winslow (Loftus) is dying.  She called her family to her big, creepy remote house. While still alive, Henrietta wants everyone to know what they’re getting once she’s dead.

The family members arrive along with realtor Gil Smith and antiques dealer Mr. Penny.  Smith and Penny were invited by a family member anticipating the sale of Henrietta’s home and valuables.

The family members learns what each will get. There is one surprise. No one will get anything until Henrietta’s housekeeper dies!  Surprise turns to shock when Henrietta is found murdered!

Who is the killer?  Who will be next to die?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Another in the “old, dark house” genre with a group of people trapped with an unknown murderer in a creepy old isolated house full of secret passageways.

This one had potential to be much better.  For some reason it just didn’t resonate with me.

Black Cat (1941) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Lake George” starring Shea Whigham & Carrie Coon – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I like the poster and trailer for Lake George.  Shea Whigham always picks interesting roles and always delivers.

Deal me in.

When ex-con Don (Shea Whigham), fresh out of prison, visits mobster Armen (Glenn Fleshler) to collect some money he’s owed, he’s instead assigned a final task: to take care of Phyllis (Carrie Coon). Don tries to carry out the job, but he finds he can’t pull the trigger.

Instead, the pair of misfit oddballs set off on a road trip together, as their lives and standing with Armen become entangled. Phyllis soon reveals that she has designs of her own and proposes a little tag team action to Don: combine forces with the aim to steal money – a lot of money – from the people who want her dead. Don must decide whether his allegiance lies with Armen, or with the wily, charismatic woman he was supposed to kill.

Starring Shea Whigham, Carrie Coon, Glenn Fleshler and Max Casella

Directed by Jeffrey Reiner

In theaters and on digital December 6