Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Fans are going to be excited to see and maybe even get their mitts on the new prints Steranko created for conventions he’ll attend this year. The Batman art above is one of those. I love Steranko’s graphic design.
If you get a chance to meet Steranko, don’t sleep on it. The man is a natural storyteller. Plus, how often do you get to meet a legit legend?
The trailer looks cool. Add in Kurt and Wyatt Russell and I’m sold. Deal me in!
When monsters emerge, secrets follow. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres November 17 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_Monarch
Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco, and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army Officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. The dramatic saga — spanning three generations — reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.
Fences (2016)
Director: Denzel Washington
Screenplay: August Wilson based on his play Fences
Stars: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby,
Mykelti Williamson, Saniyya Sidney, Christopher Mele, Lesley Boone and Rachelle Beinart.
Tagline: Some people build fences to keep people out – and other people build fences to keep people in.
The Plot…
Troy Maxson (Washington) is a bitter, angry, 56 year old black man. Once a talented baseball player, Troy was never given a chance to play in the big leagues due to his race. Then World War II came. Now that Troy is older, the color-barrier in baseball has broken. But Troy is too old to play. So he makes his living as a garbage collector. Even there Troy see discrimination. All the drivers are white. All the workers doing the heavy lifting are black.
Troy’s wife, Rose (Davis) sees times are starting to change. Cory (Adepo), Troy and Rose’s son, is a bright student and talented football player. A college is interested in giving Cory a scholarship, but Troy won’t sign the paperwork. He wants Cory to get educated in a job that will always provide an income.
Troy sees barriers everywhere and is bitter about how life has treated him, never realizing that he is building barriers for himself and his family as well. Despite Troy’s flaws, Rose loves him. Sadly Troy’s choices are going to have terrible consequences for his family and friends.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)
Fences (2016) was honored at the Academy Awards:
Academy Award Wins:
Academy Award Nominations:
“Fences” was first a Broadway play. It opened in 1987 and went on to win Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actor (James Earl Jones), and Best Featured Actress (Mary Alice). “Fences” was revived in 2010. It won Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play, Best Actor (Denzel Washington), and Best Actress (Viola Davis). All five adult actors from the revival reprise their roles in the film.
Although August Wilson is the only credited screenwriter for the film, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee and Tony Kushner did uncredited work. They didn’t want their names on the credits to insure that Wilson alone received any writing honors or awards.
Denzel Washing and Viola Davis were rightfully nominated for Academy Awards. Their roles in Fences may be their best performances ever. Everyone in the supporting cast is wonderful.
It was fun to see Saniyya Sidney as a very young girl. Sidney would go on to co-star in The Passage a few years later.
Fences (2016) rates 5 of 5 stars.
The Forest Wind by Goran Parlov. I want more of this, please.
The poster doesn’t do much for me, but the trailer has my attention!
DIRECTED BY: Sean McNamara
STORY BY: Steven Paul
SCREENPLAY BY: Ian Neligh
STARRING: Elena Kampouris, Sean Astin and Jeremy Piven
EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY: Scott Karol and Charles Cooper
PRODUCED BY: Steven PaulAbout Vindicta: When a city is terrorized by a sadistic serial killer, a seasoned detective and a newly recruited paramedic are forced into a deadly game of vengeance, only to discover the key to stopping the bloodshed lies in unlocking the truth of their own haunted pasts. Elena Kampouris (Children of the Corn), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings franchise), and Jeremy Piven (Entourage) star in this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the director of On a Wing and a Prayer.
Deal me in.
Check out the official trailer for The Burial, in theaters October 6 and coming to Prime Video on October 13.
Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.
Song: GOLDEN by Aloe Blacc & Tim Myers
Blood & Gold (2023)
Director: Peter Thorwarth
Screenplay: Stefan Barth, Peter Thorwarth
Stars: Robert Maaser, Jördis Triebel, Alexander Scheer, Marie Hacke, Connor Long and Roy McCrerey.
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
The end of the war is close at hand. Von Starnfeld, a disfigured SS Commandant, leads his unit into a small German village. Von Starnfeld knows there’s gold hidden somewhere in the town. He just doesn’t know where. Von Starnfeld is willing to torture or kill anyone and everyone if it will get him the gold. Only a German deserter and young woman are willing to take a stand against Von Starnfeld and his Nazis. Let the fun begin.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)
Blood & Gold contains all of the things you’d want in a World War II movie:
Blood & Gold isn’t a great movie, but it is a good one. If it sounds like something you’d like, give it a shot.
Blood & Gold (1972) rates 3 of 5 stars.
From writer-director Jeff Nichols (“Loving,” “Midnight Special,” “Mud”), 20th Century Studios and New Regency, “The Bikeriders” is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members, starring Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve,” “The Last Duel”), Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Tom Hardy (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Revenant”). “The Bikeriders” opens in U.S. theaters on December 1.
This poster for Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher series was just released. Yeah, baby. Deal me in.
Love the poster and the trailer looks good. Deal me in.
First movie trailer for In the Land of Saints and Sinners starring Liam Neeson.
I like the looks of No One Will Save You. Deal me in.
From 20th Century Studios, “No One Will Save You” is an action-packed face-off between Brynn and a host of extraterrestrial beings who threaten her future while forcing her to deal with her past.
CAST: Kaitlyn Dever
DIRECTOR: Brian Duffield
Things have been coming up Kolchak around here lately. I recently saw the above Kolchak art on Facebook. It brought back memories of the two Kolchak tv movies, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler from when I was a kid in junior high. Great memories.
I decided to find out more about the art. Turns out it was the cover for KOLCHAK: The Night Strangler Files. The tv movie was written by Richard Matheson. Chris Mills (writer) and Amin Amat (artist) adapted it into the graphic novel. I’m not sure who the cover artist is, but I sure do like that art.
Then Svengoolie announced that he would be getting the two Kolchak movies in the near future. THAT is awesome news.
And that’s your Kolchak update for the day.
I usually like my crime fiction to be hardboiled and realistic. Well, as realistic as hardboiled fiction usually is. Still, sometimes it’s fun to venture off into some crazier territory. A TROLL WALKS INTO A BAR: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novel (Alexander Southerland, P.I.) by Douglas Lumsden looks to fit the bill.
When a troll speaks–listen up! Hardboiled P.I. Alexander Southerland just wants to enjoy a quiet drink when a 500-pound troll walks into the bar. Next thing he knows, Southerland is navigating his way through rogue cops, a gang war, beautiful nymphs from the ocean depths, a were-rat, the mayor’s corrupt fixer, the sleaziest (and cleverest) gnome in Yerba City, and creatures right out of legend. At the center of it all is a mysterious locked box. Can Southerland discover its explosive secret–and survive long enough to pay his rent on time?
I read the Amazon sample and liked what I saw. Check it out. You may as well.
Next month we’re getting a new Jack Reacher novel! As you can see, it’s THE SECRET written by the father and son team of Lee and Andrew Child. Here’s the lowdown…
1992. All across the United States respectable, upstanding citizens are showing up dead. These deaths could be accidents, and they don’t appear to be connected—until a fatal fall from a high-floor window attracts some unexpected attention.
That attention comes from the secretary of defense. All of a sudden he wants an interagency task force to investigate. And he wants Jack Reacher as the army’s representative. If Reacher gets a result, great. If not, he’s a convenient fall guy.
But office politics isn’t Reacher’s thing. Three questions quickly emerge: Who’s with him, who’s against him, and will the justice he dispenses be the official kind . . . or his own kind?
