Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Hap & Leonard, the terrific show based on Joe Lansdale’s novel series, was recently cancelled. This was surprising because the show was well-received by critics and fans over the course of three seasons. I am hopeful it will be picked up by a smart network.
Cemetery Beach sounds like something that readers of this site would enjoy. Created by writer Warren Ellis with art by co-creator Jason Howard, Cemetery Beach will be an action fan’s fix.
“Jason wanted to do an action book, so I wrote something that starts with a conversation in an interrogation room, ignites four pages later, and doesn’t stop until the end of the final issue—which he’s drawing right now, so when issue #1 comes out, the whole series will be in the can,” said Ellis. “It might be the most relentless action book I’ve ever written.”
For more information check out the Cemetery Beach press release from Image Comics.
I’ve been singing the praises of Stephan Franck (writer & artist) since I discovered his Silver graphic novels which he describes as…
… an original universe built around Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, and it begins 40 years after the events of the novel, into the noir/pulp era of the 1930s. You meet James Finnigan, who is the most notorious conman/gentleman-thief of his day, as he teams up with Rosalynd “Sledge” Van Helsing (granddaughter of the original Van Helsing, and altogether the last of the Van Helsings), to steal a mystical treasure hidden in Dracula’s castle. Finn, of course, brings his known associates—a fun assortment of conmen and grifters of all kinds—as well as the kind of amoral attitude that puts him immediately at odds with Sledge. Lastly, the team enlists Tao Leu (or more accurately, he enlists himself), who is a 10-year-old boy with the gift of second sight and who might be the biggest scoundrel of them all.
Jake Rossen and Mental Floss present 10 Things You Might Not Know About Beetle Bailey.
1. IT STARTED AS A COLLEGE CAMPUS COMEDY.
Walker’s initial idea for a strip didn’t feature any fatigues or military equipment. While drawing cartoons for The Saturday Evening Post, he decided to try creating a story around a university student named Spider who kept his hat pulled over his eyes and tried to navigate college life by doing as little as possible. Changing his name to Beetle Bailey—the surname was a nod to a supportive editor at the Post—Walker had him wander into an Army recruiting station. Inspired, he retrofitted the strip so that barracks would take the place of a dorm. (Walker himself had been drafted, serving four years during World War II.) Debuting in 1950, Beetle Bailey set a record for the longest continuous work by a comic strip artist: Walker worked on it for 68 years.
2. IT WAS BANNED BY THE U.S. MILITARY.
In the 1950s, Beetle Bailey took its place as a steady but otherwise unremarkable addition to the comics pages. Then Walker got an unexpected promotional boost. The U.S. military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper, which had been running the strip, banned it from its Tokyo editions over fears it might incite disrespect toward commanding officers. (Beetle was lazy and typically disinterested in following orders.) The prohibition lasted for a decade and was subjected to so much ridicule that Beetle became a recurring presence in newspaper headlines. The strip was eventually syndicated to more than 1800 papers.
10. THE STRIP WAS RECOGNIZED BY THE PENTAGON.
After 50 years of “service,” Beetle Bailey finally got a little acknowledgment from his higher-ups. The (real) Pentagon invited Walker and three of his costumed characters to a ceremony in May 2000 that honored the cartoonist for his work in supporting the military. Walker was presented with the Secretary of the Army’s Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service, the Army’s highest civilian honor. “I think finally the brass has learned how to laugh at themselves a little bit,” Walker said. “They’re not kicking me out of Stars and Stripes anymore like they did a couple of times.”
Today we have a rare shot of Boris Karloff on a smoke break in between takes on the original Frankenstein. Karloff needs to be careful not to set his thumb on fire.
Source: Classicman Film.
Recently Christopher McQuarrie sent out the following in a Tweet…
After 25 years of making them, I’ve learned to measure movies not in terms of quality, but of resonance. Some resonate with me. Others don’t. Some resonate with the masses, others don’t. I wasted years of creative energy arguing quality. I was wrong even when I was right.
That quote really, pardon the expression, resonated with me. So many times when I was reviewing a movie (book, tv show, etc.) and tried to grade it, the end result felt wrong. There are movies (books, tv shows, etc.) I absolutely love that fall short of being classics, but I don’t love them any less. At the other end of the spectrum there are movies (books, oh, you get what I mean) that are considered classics that I can’t stand.
Arguing the point with someone who felt differently was, ah, pointless. So I’ve decided to change up my ratings. The grades are gone. Now we have a simple number system that indicates how the movie resonated with me.
Your mileage may be different. And the cool thing is we’d both be right.
If you were going to decide on the perfect place for this bust of George Romero, the man who re-invented and re-invigorated the zombie movie genre, where would it be?
If you asked me (and no one did) I’d say the mall where the original Dawn of the Dead was filmed. Guess what?
The Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylania just got 1000% times more in touch with it’s creepshow roots. A large copper bust of indie horror director (and grandfather of the genre) George A. Romero was finally installed… in the very shopping center that served as the location for much of his ‘birth of the modern zombie’ classic, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead.
Source: SyFy Wire.
Over Batman’s long history there have been hundreds thousands of artists who have drawn the Dark Knight. Marshall Rogers is one of the best. So today we have a vintage sketch by him.
Source: The Bristol Board.
Check out Sly Stallone’s Escape Plan 2 overseas character poster! You can see a larger version of it and other Escape Plan 2 character posters at IMPAwards.
The new Jack Ryan Trailer is Here!
David Houghton and GamesRadar present The 25 Best Horror Movies of All Time. Using just his list here are my top three choices…
4. The Thing (1982)
The movie: A shapeshifting alien stalks the inhabitants of an Antarctic research station, masquerading as one of them until it gets an opportunity to attack. John Carpenter’s remake of the 1950s sci-fi The Thing From Another World ramps up the gore and the paranoia, and ends on a note of resignation, not triumph.
Why it’s scary: That paranoid atmosphere, for one thing. The Thing’s oppressive, one-second-from-doom vibe never lets up for a moment, amplified by brilliant, tightly-wound performances throughout. And it’s impossible to over-value The Thing’s ground-breaking (and award-winning) special effects work, which unleash increasingly bizarre, hybrid nightmare creatures that will stick with you for life.
3. Alien (1979)
The movie: Arguably one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made is also one of the greatest horror movies, as director Ridley Scott sends the crew of the Nostromo off to investigate a distress call from an abandoned alien spaceship as innocently as any gang of hormonal teenagers headed off to a remote cabin in the woods.
Why it’s scary: There’s nowhere more horribly isolated than a spaceship light years away from home. And Giger’s alien is as terrifying a monster as you could wish for. The dread goes much deeper than teeth and claws. The creature represents a multilayered, bottomless pit of psychosexual horror, its very form praying on a raft of primal terrors. And the visual ambiguity of Scott’s direction during the final act – during which the high-tech environments almost merge with the monster’s biomechanical countenance – are a masterclass in ‘What’s that in the shadows?’ tension.
1. The Exorcist (1973)
The movie: After messing with a Ouija board, Regan (Linda Blair) starts acting weirdly. And not just acting weirdly in a normal teenage kind of way: she talks backwards, scuttles around the house like a crab, and does unspeakable things with crucifixes. Her mother calls in a couple of Catholic priests to cast out Regan’s demons, but it won’t be easy.
Why it’s scary: It quite simply has the most evil-soaked atmosphere of any film ever made. The Exorcist is relentless in its determination to creep you out, but ignore the scares for a moment and you’re still left with an exceptionally smart and sophisticated film that demands your unreserved attention and has kept people talking to this day. A bona fide cinematic masterpiece that just so happens to be an edge-of-your-seat scare-fest too.
A few movies that didn’t make Houghton’s list that I’d have included are: 28 days later, Them! and World War Z.
Did you know in 2011, the U.S. Department of Defense prepared and released the Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan, or “CONPLAN 8888-11″ which outlined the steps our military should take in the event of a zombie outbreak? It did.
CONPLANN 8888-11 laid out a 31-page strategy in three parts. First, create and uphold a defensive plan to protect humankind from mind-munching predators. Second, establish procedures to eradicate any threat of zombies. Third, restore law and order to a war-ridden economy.
Want to know more? You can get all the gory details at History.com.
The Second Trailer for Shane Black’s The Predator is Here!
Bill Sienkiewicz is an artist’s artist. Bill just started a YouTube channel and it’s worth a look even if you’re not an artist.
The first trailer to Serenity, the new thriller starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway is here and it looks good!
