Category: Trivia

Bram “Dracula” Stoker – Facts You May Not Know!

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Almost everyone knows that Bram Stoker wrote one of the pillars of horror fiction, Dracula.  Brigit Katz at Mental Floss dug deeper and came up with 11 Enlightening Facts About Bram Stoker.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites with my thoughts on each…

IT TOOK BRAM STOKER SEVEN YEARS TO WRITE DRACULA. (What’s interesting is he liked to say the story came to him in a dream after “a too-generous helping of dressed crab at supper.”  I’ll admit his version is more fun than the reality of seven years of writing, research and rewriting. – Craig)

DRACULA WAS ALMOST NAMED “COUNT WAMPYR.” (Count Wampyr!  C’mon, man, you know that sounds wimpy compared to Count Dracula.  Plus “DRACULA in Wallachian language means DEVIL.”  Thankfully Stoker changed his mind and went with Dracula! – Craig)

BRAM STOKER SENT FAN MAIL TO WALT WHITMAN. (Whitman responded and the two authors actually did meet three different times.  I love it when I learn trivia like this.  It makes both men seem more down to earth. – Craig)

Vin Diesel’s Best Films (That’s Aren’t Fast & Furious) – Matthew Monagle Picks ‘Em and Craig Reacts

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Matthew Monagle at /Film picked out what he considered  The 14 Best Vin Diesel Movies (That Aren’t The Fast And The Furious).  I decided to play along.  Here are my top 5 selected from Monagle’s list plus reasons I didn’t pick a couple of “obvious” choices…

Pitch Black: Diesel’s signature character in his first outing.  I love this film and character.

The Chronicles of Riddick: While I’m not a fan of the movie’s title, the film has improved with every viewing.  It went from a cool low-budget monster movie to a world (universe) expanding epic.  Kudos for the effort and as I said, it gets better with every viewing.

Knockaround Guys:  This underrated film should be required viewing for an Vin Diesel fan… and he’ll throw a beatin’ on anyone who disagrees.

The Iron Giant:  An animated film with something for kids and adults (or the kid in every adult).

A Man Apart:  Diesel as a DEA agent seeking revenge against the drug cartel that killed his wife.

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A couple of films that I didn’t pick but seem like obvious choices…

Guardians of the Galaxy:  is a great film and Diesel provides the voice for Groot.  I didn’t pick this because Vin doesn’t do more than say variations of the word “Groot” and is that really the best representation of a Vin Diesel movie?

Saving Private Ryan:  is another great film and the argument could be made to include it in the top five.  I didn’t because I don’t really consider it a Vin Diesel film.  It was a Steven Spielberg film.  Diesel wasn’t the star.  In fact his name was nowhere on the poster and came in around 7th on the credits.  That’s not to say Diesel was great in his role, but I didn’t (for this list) consider Saving Private Ryan a Vin Diesel film.

Finally, I would have found a spot for Riddick the second sequel to Pitch Black,

The All-Time Best Western Movies

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Liam Gaughan at /Film created his list of The 20 Best Westerns of All-Time and it is a good one.  Using just his list here are my top five (in alpha order):

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:  The right mix of humor and action paired with Newman & Redford = a near perfect film experience.

Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The:  The movie that made Sergio Leone a household name in the US and Clint Eastwood a superstar.

Searchers, The: Some parts of the movie don’t play as well with today’s sensibilities, but The Searchers remains a classic.

Stagecoach: I love this film more and more with each viewing.

Unforgiven: Eastwood waited until he felt he was the right age to make this film.  A great capper to his western movies!

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I’m surprised that The Outlaw Josey Wales didn’t make Gaughan’s list.  It sure would have made mine.

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!

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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.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Greatest Films

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Fiona Underhill at /Film came up with her list of Alfred Hitchcock’s 15 Best Films Ranked.  Using just the films in Underhill’s list, here is how our top 5 compared….

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1. Rebecca (1940)

1. North by Northwest (1959)

2. The Birds (1963)

2. The Birds (1963)

3. North by Northwest (1959)

3. Psycho (1960)

4. Notorious (1946)

4. Rear Window (1954)

5. The Lady Vanishes (1938)

5. Rope (1948)

I would have included Lifeboat in my list at #6 and it didn’t make Underhill’s top 15.

Jack Nicholson – His Most Iconic Roles!

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Layla Halfhill at /Film posted Jack Nicholson’s 15 Most Iconic Roles Ranked.  Her list is a good one.  Truth be told, I think when you’re talking about Jack Nicholson’s most iconic roles, they can be boiled down to three. Before you click over to Halfhill’s article, here are my picks and rationale for my choices…

3.  Randal McMurphy, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – This is the movie that made people sit up and take notice of Nicholson’s acting.  For the longest time it was his most iconic role.

2.  Colonel Nathan Jessup, A Few Good Men – I chose this as Nicholson’s second most iconic role and it all boils down to the “You can’t handle the truth” scene.  While the role is not as iconic as my choice for #1, I’ll bet that the A Few Good Men line is quoted more often than “Here’s Johnny!”

1.  Jack Torrance, The Shining – Most people think of this role whenever Nicholson’s name is mentioned. Although Stephen King would argue, he was great in the role for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

Sly Stallone’s Prison Movies Ranked!

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Yesterday we ranked every Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, today we’ll rank Sly Stallone’s prison movies.  The idea came from Ryan Simon’s Every Sylvester Stallone Prison Movie Ranked From Worst To Best at ScreenRant.  I imagine there are a couple of surprises in my rankings…

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8. Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)

8. Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018): I agree with Sly’s assessment.

7. Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

7. Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019): Sly & Bautista had chemistry and don’t that Stallone fight scene.

6. Lock Up (1989)

6. Demolition Man (1993): I like Demolition Man, but wish it had the same tone throughout as the opening helicopter scene.

5. Judge Dredd (1995)

5. Escape Plan (2013): I almost put this in the 4th spot. Sly & Arnold!

4. Escape Plan (2013)

4. Judge Dredd (1995): I wish they’d left out Rob Schnieder and played it straight. Armand Assante from Paradise Alley!

3. Victory (1981)

3. Tango & Cash (1989): Sly & Kurt Rusell in a fun action film!

2. Tango & Cash (1989)

2. Victory (1981): Not flashy, but directed by John Huston and co-starring Michael Caine! Also under-rated.

1. Demolition Man (1993)

1. Lock Up (1989): is under-rated in my book!

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Ranking His Action Movies!

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Kyle Wilson at ScreenRant posted Every Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Movie Ranked From Worst To Best.  I love lists and decided to play along.  Here’s how things shook out:

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28. Batman And Robin (1997)

28. Conan The Destroyer (1984): I couldn’t believe the drop in quality from Conan to Conan the Destroyer.

27. Red Sonja (1985)

27. Red Sonja (1985): Sometimes it is better to say nothing.

26. The Expendables 3 (2014)

26. End Of Days (1999): I don’t remember much about End of Days other than not liking it.

25. The Expendables (2010)

25. The 6th Day (2000): See above.

24. The Expendables 2 (2012)

24. Batman And Robin (1997) was an all around over-the-top mess.

23. Collateral Damage (2002)

23. Collateral Damage (2002): I don’t remember much about this at all and that’s never good.

22. The 6th Day (2000)

22. The Running Man (1987): This just didn’t work for me on any level – it wasn’t funny and it wasn’t scary.

21. Terminator Genisys (2015)

21. Kindergarten Cop (1990): I thought it was just okay.

20. Raw Deal (1986)

20. Raw Deal (1986): I want to revisit Raw Deal. I thought it was okay with the potential to be better. I want to see how it has aged.

19. Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)

19. Terminator Genisys (2015): Another okay film.

18. Conan The Destroyer (1984)

18. Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003): See above.

17. Eraser (1996)

17. Red Heat (1987): Like Raw Deal, this had potential. I need to revisit it.

16. End Of Days (1999)

16. The Last Stand (2013): was better than I thought it would be.

15. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

15. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019): While not on the level of the first two Terminator movies, it is better than those that followed.

14. Escape Plan (2013)

14. Last Action Hero (1993): I liked this film!

13. Red Heat (1987)

13. Total Recall (1990): Another Arnold classic!

12. Sabotage (2014)

12. Escape Plan (2013): I liked it and was surprised at how well received it was by fans and critics.

11. Last Action Hero (1993)

11. The Expendables 3 (2014): Sly and Arnold IV (see above for III).

10. The Last Stand (2013)

10. The Expendables 2 (2012): Sly & Arnold II.

9. Kindergarten Cop (1990)

9. The Expendables (2010): Finally Sly and Arnold together in a movie!

8. Conan The Barbarian (1982)

8. Conan The Barbarian (1982): I am a big fan of this movie. I would love to see King Conan with the right script and director.

7. True Lies (1994)

7. Eraser (1996): I liked this better than most folks. I need to revisit it.

6. Commando (1985)

6. Sabotage (2014): Nice change of pace for Arnold. I’m a huge fan.

5. The Running Man (1987)

5. True Lies (1994): I wish we had sequels to this one.

4. Predator (1987)

4. Commando (1985): A great mix of action and humor!

3. The Terminator (1984)

3. The Terminator (1984): A classic!

2. Total Recall (1990)

2. Predator (1987): A classic. Too bad we never got a sequel with Dutch!

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): IMHO, Arnold’s greatest film!

“Goldfinger” – Behind the Scenes Trivia!

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Matthew Jackson, at Mental Floss, came up with some really great trivia items in his 18 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Goldfinger.  Before you click over here are three of my favorites and my thoughts on each…

THERE ARE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK VERSION OF GOLDFINGER AND THE MOVIE.  (In the novel Goldfinger plans to steal all the gold from Fort Knox.  In the movie he plans to set off a dirty bomb in Fort Knox making the gold there unusable.  The movie version is a cleverer idea and aligns more with what a Bond villain would do. – Craig)

GOLDFINGER ESTABLISHED MANY JAMES BOND FIRSTS.  (There are things we expect to see in every Bond film and Goldfinger established many of them: a cold open with Bond on an unrelated mission; an opening theme performed by a popular recording artist; and established the relationship between Bond and Q. – Craig)

GOLDFINGER’S FAMOUS LASER BEAM SCENE CAUSED A HEADACHE FOR THE VISUAL EFFECTS TEAM. (This is perhaps the most iconic scene between Bond and a villain and it is interesting to read how the scene was created and why the sweat we see on Connery’s face is real as the laser beam inches towards his crotch. – Craig)

Sly Stallone Recognized for Having a #1 Box Office Movie for Six Decades Straight!

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I love that Deadline recognized Sly Stallone for having a number #1 film at the box office for six decades straight!  Mindboggling, isn’t.  And there is more to come.  Click on the photo above to see a bigger scan.

Here’s Sly’s response posted on his official instagram:

Thank you for making me feel like I’m on top of the world. It’s been a great career thanks to all of you! Keep punching, sly. Thank you @jamesgunn

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.

The 12 Best Movies from the Last 12 Decades!

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Jonathan H. Kantor, at Listverse, took on the Herculean task of coming up with the Top 10 Best Movies Of The Last 10 Decades.  I decided I would compare my list to Kantor’s but I also included two decades that he didn’t.  I also decided I would choose the film that best resonated with me for each decade rather than the “best”.  The films picked are the ones I return to watch most often (in most cases… more on that later) Here is how our lists compared and then my thoughts after…

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1900s The Great Train Robbery (1903)
1910s Shoulder Arms (1918) Charlie Chaplin
1920s Metropolis The Unknown (1928) Lon Chaney
1930s The Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz (1939)
1940s Citizen Kane Casablanca (1942)
1950s Sunset Blvd. North by Northwest (1959)
1960s Psycho Night of the Living Dead (1968)
1970s The Godfather Rocky (1976)
1980s Raiders of the Lost Ark Die Hard (1988)
1990s The Shawshank Redemption The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
2000s Spirited Away Pitch Black (2000)
2010s Boyhood John Wick (2014)

Choosing one film to represent the best of each decade was nearly impossible.  I was forced to leave out many of my favorite movies since I could only select one per decade.  Hats off to Kantor for coming up with such a list and for making me think about the films I love.  I’m sure if I did this again I would in some cases select different films.  I’ve been thinking for a while now I would like to post a list of my top three favorite films for each year, taking them one year at a time.  Perhaps I will get to that one day.  For now I need to give my brain a rest.

“Way of the Gun” Trivia from Director Christopher McQuarrie!

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I recently posted about my love for Way of the Gun.  It’s got a great cast and was written/directed by Christopher McQuarrie.  If you haven’t seen it you might want to give it a try.

Rob Hunter, at Film School Rejects, posted 28 Things We Learned from Christopher McQuarrie’s ‘The Way of the Gun’ Commentary.  As usual, before you click over, here are three of my favorites and thoughts to go with each…

McQuarrie was “very resistant” to casting Phillippe, but the actor wouldn’t take no without the opportunity for a meeting. (When McQuarrie asked Phillippe why he wanted to be in his small film instead of a higher profile project, Phillippe’s response that he wanted to be an actor, not a movie star was classic!  I love Phillippe’s persistence and attitude towards his craft. – Craig)

The kidnapping scene sees lots of collateral in the form of dead or wounded people in both the foreground and background. McQuarrie points out the couple in the car at 17:43 — “a guy crying over his dead wife with three bullets in the windshield” — and says it’s all meant to leave viewers questioning who their loyalty is aimed towards. (One of the things I really like about Way of the Gun is that the two leads aren’t movie star bad guys.  You know, bad guys that are really good at heart or misunderstood.  These guys aren’t heroes. – Craig)

“The character is a survivor,” said James Caan about his character Joe Sarno, “I want to show what he survived.” The result was a highlighting of the scars on his face and neck. (There are a lot of great lines in Way of the Gun and James Caan’s character gets his fair share.  One of my favorites: “The only thing you can guess about a broken down old man is that he is a survivor.” – Craig)

Val Kilmer – Little Known & Surprising Trivia!

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Jake Rossen, at Mental Floss, has come up with 10 Surprising Facts About Val Kilmer.  Rossen’s list is a good one, with some truly surprising trivia.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites with my thoughts…

VAL KILMER WAS THE YOUNGEST PERSON TO EVER BE ACCEPTED INTO THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL’S DRAMA DIVISION.  (That is a testament to Kilmer’s talent that isn’t subjective. – Craig)

VAL KILMER TURNED DOWN THE OUTSIDERS TO DO BROADWAY. (I’m sure that was a tough decision — work with a group of up and coming young stars directed by Francis Ford Coppola or appear on Broadway with Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.  I’m a bit surprised that he didn’t go with Coppola and the movie. – Craig)

VAL KILMER DIDN’T WANT TO MAKE TOP GUN. (Kilmer felt Top Gun had a pro-war message and almost didn’t accept the role that is arguably his second most famous! – Craig)

I still believe that Val Kilmer not getting nominated, let alone win an Oscar for his role as Doc Holiday in Tombstone is one of the biggest oversights in Academy Award history.

Top 10 Hitmen from Movies, Novels & Comics!

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I was reading a discussion between Andy Rausch and Michael Gonzales titled HOW TO WRITE A MEMORABLE HIT MAN: A CONVERSATION AMONG CONNOISSEURS.  If you’re a crime fiction fan, especially the sub genre of hitmen, then you’d enjoy the post by Michael Gonzales.

At the end of the article Gonzales listed his Top Ten Hitman List from popular culture.  It’s a good list, so I decided to come up with one of my own (listed in alphabetical order):

  1. Arthur Bishop played by Charles Bronson in The Mechanic
  2. Jackie Coogan played by Brad Pitt in Killing Them Softly
  3. John Rain written by Barry Eisler from his Hitman Series
  4. John Wick played by Keanu Reeves in the John Wick movies
  5. Keller written by Lawrence Block from his Hitman Series
  6. Leon played by Jean Reno in Leon aka The Professional
  7. Luca Torelli from the Torpedo Graphic Novels written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí and drawn by Jordi Bernet
  8. Michael Sullivan played by Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition based on the graphic novel written by Max Allan Collins and drawn by Richard Piers Rayner
  9. Robert Rath played by Sly Stallone in Assassins
  10. Vincent played by Tom Cruise in Collateral