Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) / Z-View

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Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)

Director:  Kent Jones

Screenplay: Kent Jones

Stars: Martin Scorsese (narrator), Orson Welles, Val E. Lewton, Roger Corman, Jacques Tourneur, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Robert Wise.

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Val Lewton began his career as a writer of pulp fiction.  He had two published novels before he took a job at MGM.  There Lewton wrote promotional copy and film novelizations.  Lewton later became publicist and assistant to David Selznick.  Under Selznick, Lewton worked as a story editor and uncredited writer on Gone with the Wind.

In 1942, Val Lewton left MGM to become head of the horror division at RKO studios. He was given carte blanche if he followed three rules: 1) Each film had to be made for $150,000 or less.  2) Each film had to run 75 minutes or less.  3) Lewton’s supervisors at RKO would provide the film titles.  Surprisingly, given these parameters, Lewton made a name for himself by taking control of all other aspects of the films he produced.

Lewton’s first RKO film, Cat People became RKO’s biggest hit of the year.  Lewton developed a friendship with it’s director,  Jacques Tourneur.  They reteamed on two other films (I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man).  Lewton gave Robert Wise (The Curse of the Cat People) and Mark Robson (The Seventh Victim) their first opportunities to direct.  Boris Karloff also appeared in three of Lewton’s films (Isle of the Dead; The body Snatcher and Bedlam). Karloff credited Lewton for helping rejuvenate his career.  Val Lewton always wrote the final draft of the films he produced, but seldom took a writing credit.  In the two cases where he did accept a credit, Lewton used the  pseudonym Carlos Keith (which he also used for some novels).

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows focuses on Lewton’s career at RKO and the (mostly horror) films he produced there.  The films were:  Cat People (1942); I Walked with a Zombie (1943); The Leopard Man (1943); The Seventh Victim (1943); The Ghost Ship (1943); The Curse of the Cat People (1944); Mademoiselle Fifi (1944); Youth Runs Wild (1944); The Body Snatcher (1945); Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946).

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Hold That Line” (1952) starring The Bowery Boys / Z-View

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Hold That Line (1952)

Director:  William Beaudine

Screenplay:  Tim Ryan, Charles R. Marion, Bert Lawrence (additional dialogue)

Stars:  Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, John Bromfield, Veda Ann Borg, Taylor Holmes, Bernard Gorcey, Gil Stratton, David Gorcey, Benny Bartlett, Pierre Watkin, Robert Nichols and Paul Bryar.

Tagline:  They’ve Gone COLLEGE CRAZY! It’s their dizziest laff hit!

The Plot…

Hold That Line starts off as a take on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.  Two college alumni are discussing Ivy College.  One believes that anyone can succeed in college if given the chance.  The gentlemen make a bet and the Bowery Boys are chosen to test the theory.

What’s interesting about Hold the Line is that partway through the film, the “Pygmalion” aspect takes a backseat to football rivalry.  State always beats Ivy in the football championship.  While in chemistry class, Sach (Hall) invents a concoction that gives him super strength.  Sach becomes the star of the football team and big man on campus.  On the day of the championship game against State, gangsters kidnap Sach in order to win bets.  Will Sach get away from the gangsters?  If he doesn’t can Slip (Gorcey) and the gang pull off an upset?  And what about the original “Pygmalion” bet?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Hold the Line is a fun outing.  If you think it’s odd to see 35 year old Slip and 32 year old Satch as college freshmen, just wait until 64 year old Louie (Bernard Gorcey) joins them.

Angels in Disguise earns 3 of 5 stars.

HELL OF A MESS by Nick Kolakowski / Z-View

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Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

Trade Paperback: ‎ 234 pages
Publisher: ‎ Shotgun Honey Books (August 25, 2022)

First sentence…

It was the worst possible timing – or maybe the best.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Fiona and Bill are back.

As a major hurricane bears down on New York, Fiona is on a mission to pull off a heist from a bad guy’s luxury penthouse.  She has a plan to get past the security team, grab the item and be gone before they know it’s missing.  What Fiona didn’t count on was what she found in the master bedroom.  Now she’s on the run with redacted due to spoiler.

Bill is riding out the storm in a “borrowed” penthouse.  The place is well-stocked and the owner left for safer regions well before the hurricane was scheduled to hit.  Bill plans to eat and drink, as he waits for Fiona to return.  Suddenly a group of dirty cops bust into the penthouse. They’re looking for redacted due to spoiler  but find Bill instead!  The cops are desperate.  Bill realizes they’ll kill him unless he can convince them he knows of money ripe for the taking.  Bill’s a good con man, but how long can he con these hardcore cops?

Fiona is on the run, slowed down by redacted due to spoiler.  Bill’s a prisoner of rouge cops driving to the promised “treasure”.  The weather’s getting worse.  What else could go wrong?  How about a hitman that Bill and Fiona had left for dead, ain’t.  And he’s back.  Yeah, it’s a hell of a mess and things are about to get worse.

Hell of a Mess rates 4 of 5 stars.  It’s a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.  I hope we’ll see a Love & Bullets Hookup Book 5.

Hell of a Mess Trade Paperback
Hell of a Mess Kindle

Rating:

“John Wick: Chapter 4” – The Trailer is Here!

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Wow!  We’ve seen the poster before, but the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4 is fire and worth the wait.  I love it! (And yes, it will get me back in a theater.)

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uncovers a path to defeating the High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

Only in theaters & IMAX March 24. Starring Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Ian McShane.

“The Tetris Murders” – The Trailer is Here!

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The Tetris Murders looks good.  I may have to check this one out.

The Tetris Murders, is a three-part documentary series, premiering on Monday, December 5 at 9/8c on ID and also available to stream the same day on discovery+.

In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, the puzzle-based video game TETRIS exploded across America and eventually took the rest of the world by storm. To this day, the iconic game’s popularity endures, with people of all ages and backgrounds playing it on their phones or devices. However, unknown to many, one of the minds behind the widely popular global sensation met a very tragic, complex, and deadly end. On September 22, 1998, Vladimir Pokhilko, who was involved with the development of TETRIS, was found dead alongside his wife and their young son in their Palo Alto, California, home. Now, more than two decades later, the Palo Alto Police Department homicide investigators who were first on the scene revisit the haunting crime. Over the course of this gripping three-part docuseries, the investigators unearth new theories and evidence, further unraveling the mystery of this crime. What was once thought to be a murder-suicide in 1998 is now revealed to be something much more sinister. As the investigators revisit the evidence, dark connections to Russia surface.

Gents Without Cents (1944) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Gents Without Cents (1944)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay:  Felix Adler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Lindsay Bourquin, Laverne Thompson and Betty Phares.

Tagline:  Step by step, inch by inch and wow, what comedy follows!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Curly and Moe are out of work vaudeville performers working on their act.  After several interruptions due to banging on the floor upstairs, they decide to give the noise-makers the what for.  The boys are surprised to find three young women dancers who are practicing their routine.  Surprisingly the Stooges and the ladies hit it off.  The next day they all go to a job interview and get hired!  The girls will dance and the Stooges will do comedy.  When the main act (Caster & Earl – caster oil) don’t show up, the Stooges get raised into the main act.  This could be their big break…

Gents Without Cents is one of my favorite Stooges shorts.  It breaks the tradition of them not getting the girls.  There is less of them beating each other up and more working together despite being on the wrong end of the smarts spectrum.  Plus we get to see them perform, not only the famous Vaudeville act, “Niagara Falls” but also “Rat-tat-toodle-oodle-day-ay”.  The women’s performances are fun as well.

The kicker is the final scene… as the Stooges head to their honeymoon at, you guessed it, Niagara Falls!

Gents Without Cents earns 5 of 5 stars.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Season 1 / Z-View

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Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)

Episode 1: “Lot 36”
Director:  Guillermo Navarr
Teleplay:  Regina Corrado and Guillermo del Toro based on the short story by  Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roché, Elpidia Carrillo and Lize Johnston

Episode 2: “Graveyard Rats”
Director:  Vincenzo Natali
Teleplay:  Vincenzo Natali based on the short story by  Henry Kuttner
Stars: David Hewlett and Nabeel El Khafif

Episode 3: “The Autopsy”
Director:  David Prior
Teleplay: David S. Goyer based on the short story by  Michael Shea
Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman and Luke Roberts

Episode 4: “The Outside”
Director:  Ana Lily Amirpour
Teleplay:  Haley Z. Boston based on a webcomic by Emily Carroll
Stars: Kate Micucci and Martin Starr

Episode 5: “Pickman’s Model”
Director:  Keith Thomas
Teleplay: Lee Patterson based on the short story by  H. P. Lovecraft
Stars: Ben Barnes and Crispin Glover 

Episode 6: “Dreams in the Witch House”
Director:  Catherine Hardwick
Teleplay:  Mika Watkins based on the short story by H. P. Lovecraft
Stars: Rupert Grint 

Episode 7: “The Vewing”
Director:  Panos Cosmatos
Teleplay: Panos Cosmatos & Aaron Stewart-Ahn
Stars: Peter Weller, Steve Agee, Eric André and Sofia Boutella  

Episode 8: “The Murmuring”
Director:  Jennifer Kent
Teleplay:  Jennifer Ken based on the short story by Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Essie Davis and Andrew Lincoln 

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a horror anthology series.  Each episode is a self-contained story introduced by Guillermo del Toro.  I enjoyed all the episodes and each earned 4 of 5 stars.

My favorites were:

1. “The Autopsy”

4 “Lot 36”

5 “The Vewing”

I hope we get a season 2.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Season 1 earns 4 of 5 stars.

In Conversation… Sylvester Stallone on CBS Sunday Morning! (Full Video)

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This past Sunday, Sly was interviewed on the set of Tulsa King.  Bravo to all involved.

In the new Paramount+ series “Tulsa King,” Sylvester Stallone stars as an aging New York mafioso fresh out of prison who finds himself setting up a new criminal organization on the plains of Oklahoma. Stallone talked with correspondent Lee Cowan about his first foray into television; the enduring power of “Rocky”; and how he’s matured into a new style of acting.

“Hoi Polloi” (1935) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Hoi Polloi (1935)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Felix Adler, Helen Howard (uncredited)

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Harry Holman and Bud Jamison.

Tagline:  Meet the new darlings of society.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Hoi Polloi is George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play, Pygmalion, but with a Three Stooges’ twist.  Professor Richmond believes that a even a person from low standings without education can be turned into a gentleman with the proper training.  Professor Nichols disagrees and wagers $10,000 that Richmond can not train three commoners into becoming gentlemen.  Nichols gets to pick the three and he chooses Larry, Curly and Moe.  Let the hijinks begin!

Moe’s wife, Helen came up with the idea to adapt Shaw’s play.  The idea was so good, they reused it in Half-Wits Holiday (1947) which was Curly’s last starring appearance (1947) and Pies and Guys (1958).

One of the funniest scenes involves a dance instructor who tells the boys to just “do what I do”.  A bee goes down the back of her dress as she frantically moves around to dislodge it, Larry, Curly and Moe attempt to follow her moves.

Hoi Polloi earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection is here.  I cannot wait to see this!

Dave Stevens was a once-in-a-lifetime artist who created the hit comic book series The Rocketeer that reintroduced the world to ’50s pin-up queen Bettie Page and was adapted into a beloved feature film. Dave carried with him a style born of 1930s American Pop Culture, an era he never experienced firsthand, but lived on in his heart and through his illustrations. His award-winning, 35-year career spanned advertising, comics, animation, movies, and TV working with luminaries like Jack Kirby, Doug Wildey, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Landis, and Joe Johnston. Widely considered one of the best illustrators of his generation, Dave Stevens lived life the way he drew, meticulously pursuing a perfection he saw in his mind. His elegant brush work and iconic imagery continue to attract fans and inspire new generations of artists.

“Mindcage” starring Martin Lawrence, John Malkovich & Melissa Roxburgh – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I like the poster and dig the trailer for Mindcage starring Martin Lawrence, John Malkovich and Melissa Roxburgh.  It took me a second to accept Lawrence in a serious role, but this could work.  What do you think?

In this spellbinding thriller, detectives Jake Doyle (Martin Lawrence) and Mary Kelly (Melissa Roxburgh) seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist (John Malkovich) when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist’s brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.

Starring Martin Lawrence, Melissa Roxburgh, John Malkovich, Robert Knepper, Jacob Grodnik, and Aiden Turner.