Category: Trivia

Craig’s “The Best of 2022”

Posted on by

As we start 2023, let’s pause for a look at the BEST OF 2022. I hope you see something that you enjoyed or gets you interested to check out. Here we go…

Movies and Limited Series

In 2022, I watched 409 movies and limited series. That number is up 37 from last year. None were seen in a theater! My favorite films and limited series released in 2022 included (in alpha order):

  • The Batman
  • Better Call Saul: Final Season
  • The English
  • God Forbid
  • Interceptor
  • Interview with a Vampire: Season 1
  • Ozark: Final Season
  • The Patient
  • Primal: Season 2
  • Reacher: Season 1
  • RRR
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
  • Top Gun: Maverick
  • Werewolf By Night

Tulsa King would have made the list, but since the season hasn’t finished yet, I haven’t added it. It will definitely make next year’s Best Of list.

Books

In 2022, I read 37 books (2 less than last year). My favorites from this year included (in the order I read them):

  • Love & Bullets Megabomb Edition by Nick Kolakowski

  • Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolakowski

  • The Devil’s Own Piss… by Whiskey Leavins

  • 61 Hours by Lee Child

  • Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

  • At Their Own Game by Frank Zafiro

  • IQ by Joe Ide

  • Murder in Grease Paint by Whiskey Leavins

  • And Sometimes I Wonder About You by Walter Mosley

  • Righteous by Joe Ide

  • Trouble is What I Do by Walter Mosley

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino

  • Later by Stephen King

  • Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley

I’m surprised I didn’t read anything by Joe Lansdale this year. How did that even happen??

My Most Popular Posts of the Year

I continue to find some surprises in what became my most popular posts each year. Here are the top ten for 2022 and some thoughts for each…

10. Top 10 Most Iconic Horror Movie Villains – Dropped from #7 last year. Second year in a row to drop.

09. Batman & Manbat by Marshall Rogers & John Beatty! New to the list!

08. The Different Covers for David Morrell’s First Blood. New to the list!

07. “Clean” starring Adrian Brody – The Poster and Trailer are Here! New to the list!

06. Gadot & The Rock Strike a Pose – was in the 8th spot last year.

05. Evidence Points to NEW Suspect as the Zodiac Killer. New to the list!

04. Louis Meyers: Evidence He was the Zodiac Killer – came in the #3 spot last year and #2 the year before.

03. Dracula Through the Ages – was in our 4th spot last year. Flipped places with Louis Meyers.

02. The TWILIGHT ZONE New Year’s Eve Marathon is Coming and the Full Schedule is Out! – was the most popular post last year but was beat out this year by Schwarzenegger and Williams.

01. Schwarzenegger in “King Lear” & Robin Williams in “Jack and the Beanstalk” – regains the #1 spot for the year.

My All-Time Most Popular Posts

The top 4 didn’t change and only one new post broke in to the All-Time most popular posts. Let’s see how things shook out…

10. Joel Osteen in Jacksonville – dropped from 7th to 10th. Two years in a row of drops. May not make the list next year.

09. Gadot & The Rock Strike a Pose – was in the 9th spot for the last two years.

08. The TWILIGHT ZONE New Year’s Eve Marathon is Coming and the Full Schedule is Out! – New to the list!  I love the love that the TZ is getting!

07. Steve Reeves as Superman – was the #5 all-time most popular post last year.

06. Dracula Through the Ages – up from the 10th spot. Vampires are in.

05. TOP 10 MOST ICONIC HORROR MOVIE VILLAINS! – from 6th to 5th. Two years in a row of moving up!

04. New Billy the Kid Photo Discovered – No change!

03. Zodiac Killer Code Cracked? – No change!

02. Louis Meyers: Evidence He Was the Zodiac Killer – No change!

01. Schwarzenegger in “King Lear” & Robin Williams in “Jack and the Beanstalk” – was #1 last year and continues to be our most popular post of all-time.

It’s always interesting to see which topics resonate with fans and continue to be popular long after their initial post.

Variety: The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time!

Posted on by

Variety recently sought input from over 30 of their critics, writers and editors to come up with a list of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time. The list isn’t thought to be definitive, but more to stir up discussion. So in that spirit, here are my thoughts on the list…

I’ve seen 59 of the 100 movies listed. Here’s the breakdown:

01 – 10: 10

11 – 20: 05

21 – 30: 08

31 – 40: 09

41 – 50: 06

51 – 60: 05

61 – 70: 03

71 – 80: 02

81 – 90: 06

91 – 100: 05

Using just Variety’s Top Ten, here’s a comparison to how I’d rank them.

Variety

Zablo
10. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
09. All About Eve (1950) 09. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
08. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 08. All About Eve (1950)
07. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 07. Seven Samurai (1954)
06. Seven Samurai (1954) 06. Citizen Kane (1941)
05. Pulp Fiction (1994) 05. Psycho (1960)
04. Citizen Kane (1941) 04. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
03. The Godfather (1972) 03. Pulp Fiction (1994)
02. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 02. The Godfather (1972)
01. Psycho (1960) 01. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

“The 13th Warrior” (1999) directed by John McTiernan & Michael Crichton, starring Antonio Banderas / Z-View

Posted on by

The 13th Warrior (1999)

Director:  John McTiernan, Michael Crichton (reshoots)

Screenplay:  William Wisher, Jr., Warren Lewis based on Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Stars: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Dennis Storhøi, Vladimir Kulich, Omar Sharif, Tony Curran, Clive Russell and Erick Avari

Tagline: Fear reigns.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan is a poet accustomed to a luxurious lifestyle until his affair with a rich man’s wife brings him unfavorable attention from the sultan.  Sent as ambassador to the Northland, Fahdlan encounters a band of Vikings.  During the evening celebration, a message arrives requesting the Vikings’ aide at a Northern Kingdom.  Inhuman beings are attacking and killing even their best warriors.  The things come at night with the mist and appear to be bear-men.

The Vikings ask their shawman to read the bones.  She says the Vikings will be successful if they send 13 warriors… but one must not be a Norseman!  Fahdlan is reluctantly recruited.

When the 13 warriors arrive, they discover that there are truly bear-men creatures coming with the mist. They kill and eat the men and women of the Kingdom.  As the village prepares for an attack, Fahdlan says to one of the Vikings, “But I am not a warrior.”  The Viking’s response: “Very soon you will be.”

Thoughts…

Michael Crichton, the author of the source novel, was the uncredited director of film reshoots.

John McTiernan was the director when the movie was originally titled Eaters of the Dead. Graeme Revell composed a complete original score for the film. Test screenings reviews were terrible.  Michael Crichton was brought in to reshape and shoot additional scenes. Revell’s  score was discarded. Jerry Goldsmith was brought in to create a new score for the film now titled The 13th Warrior.

I absolutely love The 13th Warrior.  It has a great blend of action/horror with just the right amount of comedic moments.

Banderas is perfect as the lover/poet who finds himself among Viking barbarians.  His disgust for them matches their disdain for him.  Yet, as they get to know each other a mutual respect forms.

The bear-men are terrifying.  There are so many great scenes in this film.  The tension mounts as Vikings die and the bear-men seem unbeatable.  And don’t get me started on how creepy their Queen is.

I’ve watched The 13th Warrior many times and look forward to more viewings.

One of the Viking ships used in The 13th Warrior is now part of a playground in the Norwegian pavilion at the  EPCOT in Orlando, Florida.,

The 13th Warrior earns 5 of 5 stars.

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie (2022) / Z-View

Posted on by

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie (2022)

Director: Mark Moormann

Starring: Don McLean, Peter Gallagher, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Jiles Perry “J.P.” Richardson Jr. aka The Big Bopper, Garth Brooks, Brian Wilson  and Tyson Fury

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

In December 1971, Don McLean’s American Pie single was released.  It went to #1 and held that position for four weeks.  At the time it was the longest song (8 minutes and 42 seconds) to enter the Billboard charts.  At the time a single of that length was unheard of.  American Pie was a worldwide hit topping the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.  Fifty years later and people of all ages know the words to the song, but speculation runs rampant about their meaning.

Don McLean wrote the song as a musical poem open to interpretation.  While McLean admitted that “the day the music died” referred to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, speculation was that the song also referenced the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, political protests and more.  McLean would never confirm or deny the meaning of his lyrics.  He was quoted as saying, “You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me … Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on.”

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie looks at the genesis of the song, it’s impact on the world and Don McLean shares the meaning of the lyrics.  I was in 7th grade when American Pie was released.  Everyone, including adults, were talking about the song and it’s meaning.

I enjoyed this documentary.  It was cool to see the struggle McLean had in getting the lyrics just right.  Then to learn (and see) that the producer and musicians knew that they had something special, but the recording session wasn’t working until.. (I won’t give it away),  While I’m glad that Don McLean has confirmed the things that inspired his lyrics, I’m taking the perspective that like all poetry, once it’s released, it is up to each individual to determine what the poem means to him/her.

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie earns 4 of 5 stars.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) / Z-View

Posted on by

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

Director:   Alan Rafkin

Screenplay by:  James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum and Andy Griffith (uncredited)

Starring:  Don Knotts, Joan Staley, Liam Redmond, Dick Sargent,  Skip Homeier, Reta Shaw and Charles Lane

Tagline: G-G-GUARANTEED! YOU’LL BE SCARED UNTIL YOU LAUGH YOURSELF SILLY!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Luther Heggs (Knotts) is a typesetter for the local newspaper.  He dreams of being a reporter.  Luther also dreams of having Alma Parker (Staley) as his girl.  Unfortunately Luther becomes an easy target for jokes when his reports of a murder turn out to be just a drunk knocked unconscious by his wife.  Ollie Weaver (Homeier) a reporter for the newspaper is especially cruel to Luther and to make matters worse, Ollie is dating Alma!

Luther gets a chance at redemption when his boss assigns him a story — Luther will spend the night in a haunted house where a brutal murder occurred years ago.  Despite his fears, Luther spends the night.  Strange things happen that could lead to solving the murder mystery… if anyone will believe Luther!

Don Knotts starring in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a natural.  Knotts was built to play Luther.  Luther’s dream girl, Alma was played by Joan Staley and she was also built — she was a Playboy playmate of the month!  Fans of The Andy Griffith Show will recognize the similarities between The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and an episode of the tv show.  It was Andy Griffith who suggested that the episode would make a great feature film starring Knotts if the idea was expanded for a new character.  Knotts recruited James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, writers on The Andy Griffith Show to come up with a screenplay.  Knotts also suggested Alan Rafkin (who directed several episodes of the tv show) to helm the feature.  There are also cast members in the movie who appeared on the tv series.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken rates 4 of 5 stars (and higher if you’re a kid).

“The Munsters” TV Show Trivia!

Posted on by

Sara Snow at CBR.com posted 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Munsters.  Before you click over, here are my top three and comments on each…

The Addams Family Coincidence:  …As a coincidence, The Munsters and The Addams Family premiered on their respective networks on the same day.  While this does appear as if CBS was completing ABC, the networks were unaware they were both producing spooky-themed family sitcoms. (I find it hard to buy that either network wasn’t aware of what the other was producing. – Craig)

Mel Blanc Was The Voice Of The Raven: The man behind the raven was famed voice actor and radio personality Mel Blanc, “The Man of 1,000 Voices.” (Who doesn’t love Mel Blanc? – Craig)

Why The Munsters Was Shot In Black & White:  the main one was cost; it was cheaper to film a show in black and white than in color… execs were concerned kids would find the show too scary if the spooky characters were in color… <Black and White> worked in the show’s favor since it felt like the classic black and white Universal monster movies… (I liked it for exactly the last reason.  It reminded me of the classic horror movies. – Craig)

FAN2FAN Podcast: Craig Zablo Talking Stallone Interview Part 1

Posted on by

The Fan To Fan (F2F) podcast with hosts Bernie Gonzalez, Peter Charbonneau and Doug Ziegler takes a simple idea and does it well.  Each episode of F2F features a conversation between fans.  The subject could be movies, comics, TV, video games, toys, cartoons, or anything pop culture! Bernie, Peter and Doug pick a fan with a love and/or knowledge of the episode’s topic and then do a deep dive.

Recently, the F2F team spoke with me about Sly Stallone.  When I was approached to be a guest, I explained that there are Stallone fans with greater knowledge and bigger collections than mine.  Still, they were interested in how I became a Stallone fan, the creation of StalloneZone and more.  I was already a fan of  Bernie’s Midnight Mystery, so I checked out F2F and became a fan of it as well.

Talking to Bernie, Pete and Doug was a blast.  It was truly fans hanging out.  Here’s part one of the conversation.  I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Movie Snacks – National Survey Results!

Posted on by

Fandango, the nation’s largest ticketing service surveyed 2,500 film goers across the U.S. about movie concession snacks.  Above we see a summary of the results.

  • 83% said that movie theater popcorn tastes better than popcorn made at home.  (100% agree.)
  • 53% says nachos are the best hot snack, but 77% avoid messy snacks when on a date.  (I agree with the 53% and pity the 77%  – of course I’m married, so she expects me to be messy).
  • 47% buy concessions even if they are late to a movie.  (If I’m late, I don’t go.  There will be other showings.  And to that 47% – shame on you for disrupting the movie for others!)
  • 48% like to mix candy in their popcorn.  (Genius! I’ve eaten popcorn and candy at the same time, but never mixed the candy into the popcorn!  Genius, I say again!)

Survey: Top Five Candies Mixed into Popcorn

Zablo’s Choices

1. M&Ms / Peanut M&Ms

1. M&Ms / Peanut M&Ms

2. Reese’s Pieces

2. Reese’s Pieces

3. Rasinets

 3. Goobers

4. Goobers

 4. Rasinets

5. Milk Duds

 5. I do not want Milk Duds in my popcorn!

Source:  /Film.

“A Fistful of Dollars” Trivia!

Posted on by

Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects came up with 21 Things We Learned from the Fistful of Dollars Commentary.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites and my thoughts on each…

Eastwood was paid $15,000 for the film with a six-week Spanish “holiday” included. Other actors originally considered for the role, including Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Henry Fonda, and others, all asked for too much money. (I always find it interesting to see who was offered a role compared to who ended up playing it.  Of the three listed, Charles Bronson is my hands-down favorite.  Eastwood is iconic as the Man with No Name, but it would have been interesting to see what Charles Bronson could have done with that role. – Craig)

The opening title credits were designed by Luigi Lardani and based in part on the popular James Bond title credits of the time. (If you watch the opening credits, the 007 title credits influence is clear.  It was a smart idea to use modern title credits for a movie set in the old west.  – Craig)

You know this already, but the film is very directly based on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961). Kurosawa had already acknowledged that his samurai films were in some ways a reworking of traditional Hollywood westerns, but A Fistful of Dollars is a very, very clear remake of Yojimbo — “the trouble was that nobody had cleared the rights.” Kurosawa eventually wrote to Leone after seeing the western and said “I like your film very much, it’s a very interesting film, unfortunately it’s my film not your film.” They settled out of court with the Japanese director going on to earn more from this film than from any of his own releases. (Wow!  I knew that A Fistful of Dollars was a reworking of Yojimbo, but had no idea that Kurosawa’s settlement made him more money than any of his own films!  I also love his quote: “I like your film very much… unfortunately it’s my film not your film.” – Craig)

The Ten Best “Twilight Zone” Episodes!

Posted on by

Howard Waldstein, at CBR.com, posted his choices for the Ten Best Twilight Zone episodes.  I decided to compare my Twilight Zone top ten to his.   We ended up choosing five of the same episodes.  Below are how our choices shook out.

Waldstein

Zablo
10. “I Shot An Arrow Into The Air” 10. The Eye of the Beholder
09. “The Rip Van Winkle Caper” 09.The Howling Man
08. “The Howling Man” 08. Time Enough at Last
07. “Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?” 07. The Invaders
06. “Mirror Image” 06. The Midnight Sun
05. “To Serve Man” 05. The Shelter
04. “Nick Of Time” 04. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
03. “Third From The Sun” 03. To Serve Man
02. “Time Enough At Last” 02. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
01. “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” 01. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Time! Fascinating Facts That You May Not Know!

Posted on by

Kerry Wolfe at Mental Floss posted an interesting article titled 28 Fascinating Facts About Time.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites…

We can thank the railroad industry for standardizing our time zones.  Until the 19th century, towns and villages synchronized their clocks to the local solar noon. This created thousands of local times that all varied and made scheduling transportation a major headache. Train schedules in different cities had to list dozens of arrival and departure times for each train to account for all the mini time zones. On November 18, 1883, railroad companies in the United States and Canada began using a system very similar to the standardized time zones we still use today. In the UK, the railroad companies began using a standard London-based time in 1840. (I didn’t know this.  It’s crazy that it was the railroad industry that brought standard times zones about! – Craig)

Though a lot of people believe daylight saving time was adopted to keep farmers happy, that’s a myth.  The first person to seriously advocate for daylight saving time was an entomologist who wanted more sunlit hours to look for insects after work in the summer. He proposed his idea to a scientific society in New Zealand in 1895. (Wow!  I had always been taught daylight saving time was brought about to give farmer’s more daylight!  Another myth busted. – Craig)

Even with the advent of standardized time, people still struggled to keep their clocks in sync.  One London family used this to their advantage, and made a living by selling people the time. An astronomer named John Belville would set his pocket watch to the time at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. He would then travel around the city and visit his network of subscribers, who paid to set their own clocks by Belville’s pocket watch. After Belville died in 1856, his wife, and then later their daughter Ruth, carried on the tradition. Ruth continued to sell the time until World War II. By then she was in her eighties, and a couple of factors led to her timely retirement: Improved technology had made her role less important, and the war was making treks around London too dangerous.  (Hats off to John Belville for figuring out how to use his pocket watch to provide for his family.  Crazy that his wife was still able to do this as late as the start of World War II — that’s less than 100 years ago.  If there is money to be made, someone will figure out a way. – Craig)

Rarely Told Behind-the-Scenes Facts of the Assassination of President Kennedy!

Posted on by

If you have any interest at all in the Assassination of President Kennedy, you will want to check out Ten Tales from Dallas’s Parkland Hospital, Where JFK Died by Christopher Dale at Listverse. 

Normally I would pick out my three favorite items from the list.  I won’t this time because each fact/tale of the ten is rare and interesting.  Without giving too much away, Dale’s behind-the-scenes of the Kennedy Assassination tells…

  • Why Jackie Kennedy wouldn’t immediately let the Secret Service take President Kennedy into the emergency room.
  • Why doctors performed procedures that they knew were useless and what Jackie had for them.
  • What a doctor said and immediately regretted.
  • How one of the procedures the doctors performed destroyed potential evidence.
  • Prank calls received at the hospital once it was announced that President Kennedy had died.
  • Why the Last Rites were performed even though the President had died, and how the Priest disobeyed warnings from the Secret Service
  • Why Vice President Johnson delayed an official announcement that President Kennedy had died.
  • Why local authorities struggled with Secret Service agents in an effort to take control of President Kennedy’s body.
  • What happened when President Kennedy’s suspected assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was taken to the same hospital as President Kennedy after being shot.
  • The contents of the self-serving memo released by Parkland Hospital Administrator Charles Jack “CJ” Price less than a week after the murder of President Kennedy.

Hats of to Christopher Dale!