Category: Z-View

“The Return of Dr. X” (1939) – Humphrey Bogart’s Only Horror Film / Z-View

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The Return of Dr. X (1939)

Directors:  Vincent Sherman

Screenplay:  Lee Katz based on The Doctor’s Secret (1938) story in Detective Fiction Weekly by William J. Makin

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane, Dennis Morgan, John Litel and Huntz Hall

Tagline:  Back from the Grave He Came!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Walter Garrett is a newspaper reporter following leads on a story involving murders where bodies are drained of their blood.  Garrett consults with his friend, Dr. Michael Rhodes (Morgan) who then joins the investigation.  Garrett and Rhodes discover that Dr. Marshall Quesne (Bogart) bears a strong resemblance to Dr. Maurice Xavier.  Xavier was executed in the electric chair for horrible experiments that killed a child.  As Garrett and Rhodes get closer to the truth, they may be getting closer to their deaths…

When The Return of Dr. X was released, Humphrey Bogart wasn’t yet Bogart the star.  He ended up with third billing, reportedly hated the film and never again worked on a horror movie again.  The Return of Dr. X is a fun Warner Brothers B picture.  Getting Bogart is a bonus!

The Return of Dr. X earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Chato’s Land” (1972) Starring Charles Bronson / Z-View

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Chato’s Land (1972)

Directors:  Michael Winner

Screenplay:  Gerald Wilson

Starring: Charles Bronson, Jack Palance, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Richard Jordan and Victor French

Tagline:  What Chato’s land doesn’t kill, Chato will.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Chato (Bronson) is forced into a gunfight and kills a man in self-defense.  He then rides out of town.  Quincey Whitmore (Palance), a former Confederate Captain, pulls together a blood-thirsty posse to track and kill Chato.  Realizing that Chato can hide and survive off the land longer than they can, the posse goes to Chato’s home.  They rape his wife and stake her out as bait.  Chato stops running and goes to war.

Chato’s Land has many of the same beats as First Blood.  Bronson, like Rambo, says little and let’s his actions do the talking.  This was the first teaming of director, Michael Winner and Charles Bronson.  The would go on to work on five other movies together.

Chato’s Land earns 3 of 5 stars.

“White Buffalo” (1977) Starring Charles Bronson and Will Sampson / Z-View

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White Buffalo (1977)

Directors:  J. Lee Thompson

Screenplay:  Richard Sale based on his novel The White Buffalo

Starring: Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson, Kim Novak, Clint Walker, Stuart Whitman, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Ed Lauter and Martin Kove

Tagline: Two legendary enemies unite to fight the charging white beast!!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Wild Bill Hickcock (Bronson) tormented by dreams of being killed by a giant white buffalo, heads west to face his fears.  While on the hunt for the beast, Hickcock meets Chief Crazy Horse (Sampson) who also wants to kill the creature.  Although natural enemies, Hickcock and Crazy Horse slowly develop a mutual respect as they attempt to track and kill the monster.

While Hickcock did wear his guns in a sash, sunglasses weren’t invented until decades later and look so out of place in Bronson’s characterization.  The White Buffalo is a giant creature that works best, and is almost hypnotizing in dream sequences.  In the final scenes (where Sampson has jumped on it’s back), the buffalo looks silly.  The most fun in the film is seeing star cameos by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, Stuart Whitman, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Ed Lauter and Martin Kove.

White White Buffalo earns 3 of 5 stars.

“You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man” (1939) Starring W.C. Fields / Z-View

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You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man (1939)

Directors:  George Marshall, Edward F. Cline (uncredited)

Screenplay:  Everett Freeman, Richard Mack, George Marion, Jr.  from a story by Charles Bogle (W.C. Fields)

Starring: W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd, Constance Moore and Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson

Tagline: AT LAST YOU CAN SEE THESE FAMOUS FEUDSTERS CLASH ON THE SCREEN!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larson E. Whipsnade (Fields) owns a struggling circus.  They’re just one step ahead of the law and nearly broke.  Despite being in love with The Great Edgar (Bergin), the ventriloquist in her father’s circus, Vickey (Moore) decides to marry a rich suitor thinking that the money will fix things for her dad.  Will love win out?

W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen had popular radio shows and a “running feud”.  It was a natural to get them on film.  The great thing about You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man is the jokes/gags keep coming.  Eddie “Rochester” Anderson doesn’t get a lot to do, but it’s always a joy to see him on film.

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man earns 4 of 5 stars.

“An Honest Liar” (2014) / Z-View

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An Honest Liar (2014)

Directors:  Justin Weinstein, Tyler Measom

Written by:  Justin Weinstein, Tyler Measom, Greg O’Toole

Starring: James Randi, José Alvarez, Penn Jillette, Teller, Adam Savage, Alice Cooper, Bill Nye, Uri Geller  and Peter Popoff

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

James Randi began his career as a carnival magician and escape artist.  His goal was to learn every trick performed by Harry Houdini and improve on them where he could.  In the early 1970s, as “The Amazing Randi” was winding down his escape artist act, his career took an interesting path that led to even greater fame.  Randi turned his sights on con artists such as faith healers, psychics, and folks claiming supernatural powers.  Randi would recreate their “miracles” and then explain how he did them!

Two of his most famous run-ons occurred with Uri Geller and Peter Popoff.  Geller was making the rounds on tv shows, moving objects and bending spoons with just his mind.  Geller was scheduled be a guest on The Johnny Carson Show.  Carson’s staff reached out to Randi who gave specific instructions on how to insure that Geller couldn’t cheat.  When Geller appeared on the Carson show he was unable to perform any of his “supernatural” tricks.  This developed into a long-running feud between Randi and Geller.

Peter Popoff was a faith healer who claimed God spoke to him and used Popoff as a conductor of miracles.  Randi had video tape of Popoff performing his miracles.  It turned out Popoff was wearing an earpiece and his wife was reading information collected from prayer cards of those in attendance. Randi had the audio to prove it! Does it get any lower?

James Randi led an amazing life and these are just two highlights from his long career.  An Honest Liar takes us from his early to his last days.  Along the way Randi met the love of his life and there’s even a twist to that.

I was a fan of The Amazing Randi since I first learned of him in the 1970s.  I loved seeing his appearances and his outlook on life.  Randi wouldn’t rule anything out, but remained skeptical.  That seems like a pretty good way to approach things.

An Honest Liar earns 5 of 5 stars.

“The Poison Rose” (2019) Starring John Travolta, Morgan Freeman and Brendan Fraser / Z-View

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The Poison Rose (2019)

Directors:  Francesco Cinquemani, George Gallo

Screenplay by:  Richard Salvatore, Francesco Cinquemani, Luca Giliberto

Starring: John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser, Famke Janssen, Ella Bleu Travolta and Robert Patrick

Tagline:  A Private Eye. A Public Murder. A Perfect Crime.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Carson Phillips (Travolta) is a Private Eye who drinks and gambles too much.  Both vices have always caused him problems.  Carson used to be a hotshot college quarterback until he was caught shaving points.  Carson left town in disgrace and never went back.  Now he’s been hired to return on a missing person’s case.

All Carson has to do is go to a sanitorium to verify that Ms. Poole is alive and well.  Carson is given the run around by Dr. Miles Mitchell (Fraser), the sanitorium’s director.  As Carson digs deeper he begins to suspect Ms. Poole is dead and evidence points to a conspiracy involving an influential rich behind-the-scenes player named Doc (Freeman).  The same man behind Carson’s fall from grace.

Travolta is good as Carson Phillips.  Brendan Fraser steals every scene he’s in and I wish he was in more.  It’s good to see Robert Patrick, even if his role is a small one.

There’s one scene that should have never made the final cut – Carson is being shot at by a man with a rifle from the top of a stadium.  The sniper keeps missing Carson despite having a rifle with a scope.  Carson’s handgun runs out of bullets so he picks up a football and throws a perfect spiral hitting the would be assassin in the face.  In a later scene the assassin returns with a broken nose.  C’mon, man.

The Poison Rose earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Moonfall (2022)” Starring Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson and John Bradley / Z-View

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Moonfall (2022)

Director:  Roland Emmerich

Screenplay by:  Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Spenser Cohen

Starring: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer, Michael Peña, Carolina Bartczak and Donald Sutherland

Tagline: Earth… We have a problem.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

When the moon mysteriously goes out of orbit and takes a path to destroy Earth, it is up to Jocinda Fowler (Berry), Acting NASA director, Brian Harper (Wilson), a disgraced former astronaut, and KC Houseman (Bradley) a nerd-genius who was first to discover the problem, to save the day.

Moonfall is a throwback to disaster movies of the 70s.  Movies like The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake, but with a Roland Emmerich sensibility.  So instead of a building full of people or the population of a large city, Emmerich puts the entire planet at risk.  Moonfall gets a lot of mileage from the likeability of Bradley’s character and the special effects.

The movie begins with characters that are hard to like (except for KC Houseman).  Jocinda Fowler doesn’t provide strong support for Harper in a NASA investigation.  Harper comes off as a uninvolved parent who creates more problems for his troubled son.  Michael Peña plays Harper’s son’s stepdad and even he comes off in a bad light.  Of course everyone will have a character arc that shows their growth and that they really are good people.

For me, Moonfall‘s biggest problem is the backstory on why the moon went out of orbit.  It’s like someone said we need a reason to get these three unlikely heroes into space and someone yelled, “I’ve got it.  Moonfall will be Armageddon meets Terminator meets The Matrix Reloaded.”  If you’re a fan of disaster movies, special effects and aren’t overly concerned about logic or real life physics, then Moonfall might be what you’re looking for.

Moonfall earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Cold in July” (2014) Starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard & Don Johnson / Z-View

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Cold in July (2014)

Director:  Jim Mickle

Screenplay by:  Nick Damici, Jim Mickle based on the novel, Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

Starring: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson, Vinessa Shaw, Lanny Flaherty  and Wyatt Russell

Tagline: How many men can one bullet kill?

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

When Richard Dane (Hall) accidentally shoots and kills Freddy Russell, an intruder in his home, the Chief of Police assures Dane that he did nothing wrong.  The intruder is a known thief who comes from a family of criminals.  In fact, the intruder’s father, Ben Russell (Shepard) will be released from prison later in the week.

Ben Russell ins a real hard case.  He confronts Richard about killing his son and makes a veiled threat to get retribution.  When Richard goes to the police, the Chief says that until Ben does something to break the law, nothing can be done.  Richard starts to storm out of the police station when he sees a wanted poster for Freddy Russell… and the photo on it is NOT the man that Richard killed!

Richard discovers that the Police Chief is lying to him and Ben Russell… but why?  If he can convince Ben that they’re both being played, perhaps they can solve the mystery… if they’re not killed first.

A Cold Day in July is a great adaptation of Joe Lansdale’s novel.  Hall and Shepard are excellent.  Wyatt Russell has a small, but important role and nails it.  Don Johnson was born to play Jim Bob Luke.  I could see a movie or series based on his character.  A Cold Day in July starts as one thing, morphs into a mystery of why the cops are lying and ends as a rescue mission by three men who would have never been friends.

Cold in July earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Frogs” (1972) Starring Ray Milland, Sam Elliott and Joan Van Ark / Z-View

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Frogs (1972)

Director:  George McCowan

Screenplay by:  Robert Hutchison, Robert Blees from a story by Robert Hutchison

Starring: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke, Judy Pace  and Mae Mercer

Tagline:   It’s the day that NATURE strikes back!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Pickett Smith, a wildlife photographer, ends up on the Crockett estate where, grumpy, old Jason Crockett (Milland) has invited family to celebrate his birthday.  Unfortunately that same weekend all of the animals – frogs, lizards, birds, snakes have decided to start killing humans.  Yep.  Killer frogs and other animals with no means of hurting a human are killing them.  Yeesh.

Frogs earns 1 of 5 stars.

“Zone of the Dead” aka  “Apocalypse of the Dead” (2009) Starring Ken Foree / Z-View

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Zone of the Dead aka  Apocalypse of the Dead (2009)

Director:  Milan Konjevic, Milan Todorovic

Screenplay by:  Milan Konjevic from a story by Vukota Brajovic, Milan Todorovic

Starring: Ken Foree and Kristina Klebe

Tagline:  This City Is a Living Hell

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Agents Mortimer Reyes (Foree) and Mina Milius (Klebe) are transporting a dangerous criminal when a zombie apocalypse breaks out.  The agents and criminal join forces in an effort to fight their way to safety.  Think Assault on Precinct 13 meets Night of the Living Dead (but not nearly as good as either).

Zone of the Dead isn’t good by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re in the right frame of mind and enjoy zombie films, you could do worse.

Zone of the Dead aka  Apocalypse of the Dead earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Last Son” (2021) Starring Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane & Heather Graham / Z-View

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The Last Son (2021)

Director:  Tim Sutton

Screenplay by:  Greg Johnson

Starring: Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane and Heather Graham

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Isaac LeMay (Worthington) is a heartless, wicked outlaw.  When a curse is placed on him, that he will be killed by one of his off-spring, LeMay decides to track down and kill the many children he left behind.  So he travels from town to town, locating and killing each of his off spring.  Until…

I thought The Last Son had an interesting premise.  I’m also a Thomas Jane fan.  Neither could keep me watching.  The Last Son moved at a snail’s pace.  Worthington played LeMay as a man of few words and when he did speak the words were hard to understand and gruff.  Think of the, “I’m Batman” voice by Christian Bale but as if Bale had chain smoked for 50 years.  There’s a scene where LeMay finds one of his off spring (he’d already killed a few).  It’s a daughter.  He decides not to kill her and instead puts his gun in her hand.  I was thinking, “Pull the trigger and end this mess.”  She doesn’t.  I didn’t last much longer.

The Last Son earns 1 of 5 stars.

“Hunter Hunter” (2020) / Z-View

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Hunter Hunter (2020)

Director: Shawn Linden

Screenplay by: Shawn Linden

Starring: Camille Sullivan, Summer H. Howell, Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl

Tagline:

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Joseph Mersault (Sawa) lives in a remote wilderness log cabin with his wife Anne (Sullivan) and daughter Renée (Howell).  Joseph is a modern day mountain man, living off the land, hunting and trading animal skins for goods.  They’re just barely getting by.  Anne doesn’t enjoy the life, but tolerates it.  Renée loves hunting with her dad and living in the wilderness.

When a huge, rogue wolf returns to the area, Joseph decides he will hunt and kill it.  When Joseph doesn’t return after a couple of days, Anne fears the worst.  But the worst is yet to come…

I liked a lot of Hunter Hunter.  For me it went off the rails when characters started doing really dumb things.  I could accept Joseph going to hunt the wolf.  But when he finds something totally unexpected and doesn’t go back to get his family away to safety and he doesn’t go to the police… well, that’s just dumb.  When Joseph doesn’t return after a couple of days, and Anne and her daughter have had a run-in with a wolf and Anne still decides to wait it out in the cabin… that just dumb.  When… well, you get the idea.

I had the feeling at the start of the film that we may be dealing with a werewolf.  The lingering shots of the full moon also added to that feeling.  Was the director just setting us up?  The thing that really brought down my rating of this film was the final act.  It seemed out of character for Anne, and the gore was over-the-top.  Then for the police to allow her to simply walk away?  C’mon, man.

Hunter Hunter earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Day” (2011) / Z-View

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The Day (2011)

Director: Douglas Aarniokoski

Screenplay by: Luke Passmore

Starring: Shawn Ashmore, Brianna Barnes and Dominic Monaghan

Tagline:  Fight. Or die.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

The Day has an interesting premise that is perfect for a low-budget film.  A group of five weary survivors living in a post-apocalypse, come upon a remote farm house.  In addition to shelter they find a basement stocked with canned goods.  Or so they think.  What they’ve really stumbled into is a trap set by a cannibalistic tribe!

I wish that The Day lived up to its premise.  I like the idea of cannibals, but once the fighting starts it’s just kill after kill. There was no real suspense and truthfully, I didn’t care one way or the other about which characters lived or died.

The Day earns 2 of 5 stars.

“A League of Their Own” Season 1 (2022) / Z-View

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A League of Their Own, Season 1 (2022)

Directors:  Jamie Babbit (Eps. 1-3); Ayoka Chenzira (Ep. 4); Katrelle Kindred (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Silas Howard (Ep. 7); Anya Adams (Ep. 8)

Teleplay by: Will Graham & Abbi Jacobson (Eps. 1 & 8); Abbi Jacobson (Ep.2); Desta Tedros Reff (Ep. 3); Michelle Badillo (Ep. 4); Mfoniso Udofia (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Sanaz Toossi (Ep.7)

Starring:  Abbi Jacobson, Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Roberta Colindrez, Kelly McCormack, Priscilla Delgado, Molly Ephraim, Melanie Field, Kate Berlant, Dale Dickey, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Lea Robinson and Rosie O’Donnell

Tagline: None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

A League of Their Own is an loose adaptation of the 1992, A League of Their Own hit movie.  The update introduces new characters and storylines.

The year is 1943.  World War II is raging.  In an effort to increase morale at home the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is formed.  A League of Their Own follows a group of women from try-outs through the first season on the Rockford Peaches.  The focus is on…

  • Carson Shaw (Jacobson), a married woman from the midwest who’s life has been somewhat sheltered.  Her husband is in the service.  Carson develops feelings for Greta.
  • Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) is an African-American woman with a fastball that rivals those thrown by most men.  Maxine won’t even get a chance to tryout for the team because she’s black, but when one door closes…
  • Greta Gill (Carden) is a wild woman, who lives life and encourages Carson in more ways than one.
  • Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) is Maxine’s best friend, a newlywed who wants to be a comic book artist (and not a baseball player)
  • Jo DeLuca (Field) is Greta’s best friend and a power hitter
  • Toni Chapman (Ekulona) is Maxine’s mother who doesn’t support her baseball ambitions

While the above characters get most of the screen time, A League of Their Own does an excellent job of showcasing each of the players on the Rockford Peaches.  It’s interesting that women’s baseball is used as the backdrop for a time in America when women couldn’t open a checking account without their husband’s permission, African-Americans were still segregated from whites and being gay was thought of as a disease or even contagious.

The writing on A League of Their Own is really sharp and it doesn’t hurt that the series is well cast.  All of the actresses that play major characters are excellent.  Kudos also to Lea Robinson as Uncle Bertie,  Nick Offerman who plays the former pro who is brought in to coach the Peaches and Rosie O’Donnell who plays the owner of an underground gay bar.  Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) and her best friend Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) have a chemistry as best friends that could sustain a half hour comedy on their own.

A League of Their Own surprised me in how good it was.  I hope we get a second season.

A League of Their Own, Season 1 earns 4 of 5 stars.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino / Z-View

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper

First sentence…

The buzzer on Marvin Schwarz’s desk makes a noise.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the fictionalized account of Hollywood actor and tv star, Rick Dalton, his stuntman and best friend, Cliff Booth and the famous/infamous folks they run into in Hollywood in the late 60s.  If you’ve seen Tarantino’s movie of the same name, then you know the story… or at least most of it.  The novel goes into greater detail especially in regard to Cliff Booth.  If you liked the movie, you should enjoy the book.  If you think, I’ve seen the movie, I don’t need a rehash in a novelization, you might be surprised.  There’s a different story structure in the novel than the film and time to dig a deeper into the characters.

If you haven’t seen the movie, let me get you up to speed.  Rick Dalton was a rising movie star.  He had a western tv series called Bounty Law.  It was popular and ran for a few years.  Dalton then went into feature films, but that was then.  Now Dalton appears to be on his way down.  He’s been regulated to guest starring in television shows and usually ends up beaten and beaten up by the star of the show.  Dalton hopes he’ll get another run at feature films.  Cliff Booth is a World War II decorated vet, a stuntman and Rick’s best friend.  Booth may or may not have killed his wife (we find out for sure in the novel).  He also went toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee in a challenge that pretty much ended Booth getting stunt work.  Rick and Cliff will also have run-ins with the Charlie Manson family, Sharon Tate and others.  To say more would be to say too much,

Tarantino is more of a story-teller than a writer.  Someone said if the novel was better written, it wouldn’t be as good.  That may sound strange, but I get the sentiment.  As you read Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there’s the feeling that we’re hearing the tale from an insider and not a writer somewhere trying to polish his prose.  I loved the inside stories/legends of real life actors/actresses in Hollywood.

The Deluxe Edition also features a Rick Dalton Bounty Law episode script; Photos of lobby cards from two of Rick Dalton’s feature films, two Bounty Law stills, two Bounty Law TV Guide covers, two Bounty Law comic book covers, a Bounty Law lunchbox, Bounty Law production art, a Bounty Law board game, 8 movie posters featuring Rick Dalton and other real-life stars, and a MAD magazine Bounty Law parody featuring the cover and story by Andrew Secunda and Tom Richmond.

I enjoyed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and hope that Tarantino writes more novels.  I’m a sucker for a good story.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood rates 4 of 5 stars.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Paperback
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Kindle