Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Death Valley would probably be the second feature at a drive-in, but I have a feeling I would enjoy it. Unfortunately I don’t get Shudder otherwise I’d check it out.
Two hired guns, commissioned to rescue an imprisoned scientist from a secret facility, are hunted down by a terrifying creature of unknown origin.
Premieres December 9 on Shudder
I like the look of Encounter and since it is on Prime, I’ll be sure to check it out.
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Directed by: Michael Pearce
Written by: Joe Barton, Michael Pearce
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya GeddadaIn theaters December 3rd, 2021 and on Prime Video December 10th, 2021
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Ritu Arya.
Tagline: Pros and Cons. The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…FBI agent, John Hartley (Johnson) is on the trail of Nolan Booth (Reynolds), one of the world’s top art thieves. What looks like a slam dunk arrest of Booth goes sideways and Hartley is left holding the bag. In this case the bag is one of three priceless eggs created for Cleopatra. In order to clear his name, Hartley becomes an reluctant partner to Booth. They will have to steal back the original egg as well as the other two that are in different exotic locations around the world. Complicating matters is The Bishop (Gadot), an art thief, also after the priceless relics.
Red Notice is a fast, fun action/caper that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is filled with tons of stunts and funny (well, mostly funny) repartee performed by likeable stars. There are homages to James Bond, the Bourne films, Raiders of the Lost Ark, True Lies and more. Our heroes fight with each other, Russian prisoners, each other, Interpol agents, each other, a crime lord’s guards, each other and a bull. They fall off a building, escape from a Russian gulag, are knocked unconscious, have a bridge blown out from under them, suffer electric shock to the groin, survive multiple car crashes, fall off a gigantic waterfall, are shot at with pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers and are never even winged. In fact thousands of rounds of ammo are spent and NOBODY gets hit. Even our heroes are terrible shots.
And that is my biggest problem with the film. Our heroes are put in dangerous situations, but very quickly we get the sense that nothing bad is going to happen to them. The stakes don’t seem real.
If that doesn’t bother you, then you’ll probably enjoy Red Notice even more than I did and I liked it. There are some scenes/lines that made me laugh and even more that made me smile (far outnumbering the few that fell flat). I appreciated the fast pace, action and stars. There’s a fun plot twist that I didn’t see coming. Red Notice has the potential for a sequel and I’d be up for that.
Ethan Pro is a young artist based in LA. He is also created the very cool Rocky painting above. You can check out more of Pro’s art on his Twitter or his Instagram pages.
Life has put out a Rocky tribute magazine that is not to be missed! I just got mine and can’t wait to dig in.
Rocky Balboa, the underdog palooka who boxed his way to box office super-success, burst into popular culture in 1976. Now 45 years later, “Yo, Adrian” has joined the very short list of very short quotes that are instantly identifiable with a classic character from a classic film. Tourists still run the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Marching bands play “Gonna Fly Now” as halftime entertainment. High school football teams get crazy-eyed to “Eye of the Tiger.” LIFE: Rocky looks back the story conceived by actor and writer Sylvester Stallone – and the iconic 8-film franchise it has become – and celebrates Rocky’s friends, his foes, his fights and the songs and scenes that endure today. Please note that this product is an authorized edition published by the Meredith Corporation and sold by Amazon. This edition is printed using a high quality matte interior paper and printed on demand for immediate fulfillment.
LIFE Rocky: Underdog. Fighter. Champion. is available for order now.
One-Hit Wonder by writer Fabrice Sapolsky and artists Ariel Olivetti, Stephen Thompson, Ivan Fiorelli, Dennis Calero and Joe Suitor looks interesting.
Richie Reese was a (terrible) child actor. He was the worst. Seriously, he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. His heart filled with anger, he found solace in violence and everything Mafia related. Until he joins the mob for real.
That’s where we meet Richie. He’s at the top of his game. He’s internalized every bit of crazy that Hollywood has thrown at him over his decades living in Tinseltown, but he’s become very efficient hitman in the process.
When, one of the only people tethering him to the last shreds of his humanity is murdered, Richie starts looking for answers. But what he finds is more terrifying than he could ever have imagined…
If One-Hit Wonder sounds like something you’d like, you can pre-order it here or ask your local comic shop to reserve you a copy!
Brian Stelfreeze created this amazing painting of Sly Stallone as Rocky. I was hoping to make it on Brian’s commission list at the Heroes Giant-Size MiniCon. Not only was I lucky enough to make the list, but Brian was into the idea of creating some Rocky art. He surpassed all of my expectations (which were high since it was Brian Stelfreeze doing the art).
For those just learning about Brian Stelfreeze, he is one of the most amazing artists working today. He can do it all… pencil, ink, color, design. I have never seen a bad piece by Brian. Yet, he is one of the most humble, approachable and appreciative artists you’ll ever meet. This is my third piece by Mr. Stelfreeze. [You can see my first here and my second here.]
Once a week Joblo.com posts Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net. As you can imagine, they post awesome art that they, well, you get the idea.
I enjoy seeing what JoBlo finds because they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art. Click the links and you’ll discover amazing artists like Mathieu Noiseux, aka Noise, who did the Rocky piece above.
Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago – The Ultimate Director’s Cut (1985/2021)
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Burton, Michael Pataki, Brigitte Nielsen, and James Brown.
Tagline: Get ready for the next world war.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Rocky feels guilt for the death of his friend, Apollo Creed, who was killed in a boxing match with Russian Champion Ivan Drago. When Rocky is unable to get a fight with Drago sanctioned in the US, he agrees to go to Russia to fight the giant Russian.
Sly Stallone’s new cut doesn’t change the story, but does adjust the pace, increase the drama/humanity of characters and removes elements of the film that made it such a product of the MTV era. This was a bold move on Stallone’s part since Rocky IV was the highest grossing of all the Rocky films, was one of the top movies of 1985 and is beloved by generations of Rocky fans. Still, Sly felt that there was a better movie to be had.
The new cut starts with a deeper dive into Rocky III. We see Rocky lose the title to Clubber. At that point he has also lost Mickey who was like a father to Rocky. Apollo shows up and offers to help Rocky win back the title. Rocky, with Apollo training him, regains the title. I like this new extended beginning. It adds (pardon the pun) credence to why Rocky feels an obligation above friendship to train Apollo for his fight against Drago.
We lose the scene of Rocky coming home from his private “rematch” with Apollo. I always enjoyed that scene but like that we instead cut to Apollo in the pool getting the idea to fight Drago.
When Apollo goes to Rocky to ask for his help in preparing for a fight with Drago we get at least 3 scenes with Rocky talking negatively about the idea. I love how these scenes show that Rocky is against Apollo fighting Drago. In the original version they had one conversation at the table and while Rocky had some hesitation, he pretty quickly got on board. By having multiple discussions against the idea (with Rocky slowly coming around) we understand: 1, How dangerous Drago is and 2. When Rocky is talking about Apollo not fighting anymore he is also thinking that maybe his time to retire has arrived or will soon. These conversations also add to Rocky’s guilt since he was unable to convince Apollo not to fight.
We lose the robot and I am fine with that.
Adrian gets more screen time. She is against the Apollo / Drago fight and is more adamant. I love the scene where Rocky excuses himself to check on Adrian in the kitchen.
The fight between Apollo and Drago is an improvement. Apollo has more moments to shine. He isn’t just given a beat down and killed. I like that despite Apollo telling Rocky to not stop the fight, Rocky does attempt to throw in the towel, but is less than a second too late.
Duke (Tony Burton) gives a nice eulogy at Apollo’s funeral and Rocky has more to say as well.
One of my favorite additional scenes is between Rocky and Adrian when she asks him not to go to Russia. In the original the focus was on Rocky getting revenge for Apollo’s death with little thought for the ramifications the fight would have on Adrian.
I loved the new cut of Rocky’s fight against Drago. I was shocked (and happily surprised) when Rocky scored early. It made the fight seem more believable that as Rocky continued to fight against overwhelming odds he was able win the crowd over.
Drago was made less robot and more human. There are looks and body language that he displays that show surprise, awe, respect and anger. We better see that he is a pawn being used by his government to show the superiority of their way of life.
Rocky’s “we can all change” speech isn’t as long and better for it.
I love the scene of Rocky, Adrian and Paulie leaving the ring after the fight and the quick display of mutual respect between Rocky and Drago.
Overall I felt this Director’s cut was a major improvement over the original version. It feels more in line with Rocky and Rocky Balboa.
If you loved the original version then you’ll probably have some problems with the Director’s cut. This is especially true if Rocky IV was the movie that made you fall in love with the franchise. If you’re more a fan of the original (and its bookend, Rocky Balboa) then you’ll probably love Rocky vs Drago. I did.
Hats of to Sly Stallone for his excellent Rocky IV Director’s Cut and to Chris Bumbray for the wonderful interview!
JoBlo.com sits down with Sylvester Stallone to discuss the ROCKY IV DIRECTORS CUT (2021), how the approach with Apollo differs from the original cut of the film, how Drago was a more complex character than fans originally thought, and much, much more!!
PLOT: After reclaiming the boxing championship title, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) plans to retire and live with his wife, Adrian (Talia Shire). However, during an exhibition match, Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is mercilessly beaten to death by hulking Russian newcomer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Rocky vows payback against Drago and flies to Russia to train for a Christmas Day fight. Despite their different training methods, Rocky and Drago both wage a long and intense match.
CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Carl Weathers
Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects shared 31 Things We Learned from Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ Commentary. Before you click over, here are three of my favorites and thoughts on each…
Sidney types her distress call out to the online 911 system, and she enters 34 Elm Street as her address — but it was cut for time. (That’s too bad it was cut. Fans would have loved it! – Craig)
Joseph Whipp plays the sheriff here, and he plays a cop in A Nightmare on Elm Street too. “So the backstory there that I put in is that he was so upset by the events in Nightmare on Elm Street that he moved to a small town in Northern California.” (That’s funny and probably goes unnoticed by 99% of the viewers. – Craig)
Craven is pleased by his addition to the end credits acknowledgements ending a list of thanks with “No thanks whatsoever to The Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board.” (Read Hunter’s item #10 and you’ll know why! – Craig)
Voir – love the poster and trailer. I’ll be watching once it premieres on December 6th!
From executive producers David Fincher and David Prior, VOIR is a series of visual essays celebrating Cinema and the personal connection we each have to the stories we see on the big screen. From intimate personal histories to insights on character and craft, each episode reminds us why Cinema holds a special place in our lives.
Love It Was Not is proof that real life is stranger than fiction. I look forward to see this one.
Starring: Helena Citron, Roza Citron, Franz Wunsch
Directed By: Maya Sarfaty
Synopsis: A young Jewish woman named Helena Citron is taken to Auschwitz, where she develops an unlikely romantic relationship with Franz Wunsch, a high-ranking SS officer. Thirty years later, a letter arrives from Wunsch’s wife asking Helena to testify on Wunsch’s behalf. Faced with an impossible decision, Helena must choose. Will she help the man who brutalized so many lives, but saved hers?
The Last Son looks interesting. I want to see more.
Isaac LeMay (Sam Worthington) is a murderous outlaw cursed by a terrible prophecy, hunting down his offspring to prevent his own murder before targeting his son Cal (Colson Baker). With bounty hunters and the enigmatic U.S. officer Solomon (Jane) on their tail, all are set on a collision course.
Director: Tim Sutton
Writer: Greg Johnson
Actors: Sam Worthington, Colson Baker, Thomas Jane, Heather Graham
