Tom Whalen & the World of Alternate Movie Posters!
Today artist Tom Whalen takes us inside the world of creating and collecting alternative movie posters.
House on Haunted Hill (1959) / Z-View
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Director: William Castle
Screenplay: Robb White
Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long and Elisha Cook, Jr.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”
Tagline: First Film With the Amazing New Wonder EMERGO: The Thrills Fly Right Into The Audience!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Fredrick Loren [Price] offers five people $10,000 to stay the night in a mansion that legend has is haunted. Despite their fears and needing the money, they group is locked in with no way out except death…
Rating:
Michael Golden Dr. Strange Commissions!
Michael Golden has four Dr. Strange pieces of art showcased at The Bristol Board… and there’s not a good one in the bunch… they’re all great!
The Haunting (1963) / Z-View
The Haunting (1963)
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Nelson Gidding based on Shirley Jackson‘s novel The Haunting of Hill House
Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s The Haunting of Hill House!”
Tagline: You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Dr. Markway [Johnson] and three companions in an effort to prove the existence of ghosts go to Hill House – a remote mansion with a long history of violent deaths.
The Haunting has beautiful cinematography and director Robert Wise builds the tension and terror. While there are a couple of great scares the movie relies on pace and an increasing sense of doom to ramp up the fear factor. They don’t make them like this any more.
Rating:
Vintage John Byrne Conan!
John Byrne probably isn’t one of the first names that comes to mind when you hear the words: Conan artist. But John Byrne created the piece above which appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #9.
I’d have never seen it had it not been for the fine folks at Diversions of the Groovy Kind and their post of three John Byrne drawings from Savage Sword of Conan.
He Ran All the Way (1951) / Z-View
He Ran All the Way (1951)
Director: John Berry
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler based on the novel by Sam Ross
Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a crime romance movie!”
Tagline: DYNAMITE hits the screen with their kind of love!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Nick Robey [Garfield] is a dumb, weak-willed middle-aged man living with his abusive, alcoholic mother. Nick reluctantly joins in on a payroll heist that goes bad. Nick’s partner and a cop are killed but Nick gets away with the cash.
Nick hides out at a swimming pool and meets Peg Dobbs [Winters]. She’s as stupid as Nick so you know she’s going to fall for him. Nick walks her home and before long he’s hiding out in the family apartment. The police are closing in and Nick’s not sure Peg really loves him. What’s a fella to do?
Rating:
A Tony DeZuniga Conan Portfolio!
Diversions of the Groovy Kind is a regular stop on my daily website visits. This time out they’re featuring a Tony DeZuniga Conan portfolio that originally appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #56 from July, 1980!
Spy Chasers (1955) / Z-View
Spy Chasers (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Jerome S. Gottler and Bert Lawrence
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey and Leon Askin.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: They’re in the Underground with a Beautiful Spy!… in a laffdaffy riot of cloak-and-dagger adventure!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys are recruited to help an European King regain his throne.
Rating:
The 15 Most Groundbreaking Covers of All Time
Michael Edward Taylor and ScreenRant present The 15 Most Groundbreaking Covers of All Time.
There are some excellent choices in there — Steranko’s Nick Fury [of course], the Iron Man alcohol cover, Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow drug abuse cover, even Shatter Special #1 with the first comic cover entirely created digitally. Limiting the choices to just 15 makes it tough… otherwise we might have seen…
- At least one cover from the Byrne/Austin X-Men run
- some love for a Marshall Rogers’ Batman cover
- a Chaykin American Flag cover
- a Master of Kung Fu cover by Paul Gulacy
- a Zeck cover for The Punisher
- one of the Dark Knight Returns covers by Miller
- a Sin City cover by Miller
- any cover by Darwyn Cooke
- any cover by Michael Golden
- and so many more…
“Sicario” (2015) written by Taylor Sheridan, directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin / Z-View
Sicario (2015)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Max Trujillo, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Kevin Wiggins, Edgar Arreola, Dylan Kenin, John Trejo and Daniel Kaluuya
Tagline: The border is just another line to cross.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Kate Macer is an FBI agent recruited to join a US task force fighting the war on drugs along the Mexican border. After joining Kate learns things aren’t as they seem and lines are being crossed that bring into question her ethics and place her life in danger.
Thoughts…
Sicario was nominated for three 2016 Academy Awards…
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Sound Editing – Alan Robert Murray
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score – Jóhann Jóhannsson
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Cinematography – Roger Deakins
Sicario is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. Taylor Sheridan creates a smart screenplay with action, drama and a story that sticks with you.
Denis Villeneuve’s direction makes every scene interesting. Everything in this movie works – the cinematography, the sound, and the actors are all perfectly cast.
Benicio Del Toro felt that in the original screenplay, his character spoke too much. He approached director, Denis Villeneuve, with his concerns. Villeneuve agreed and estimated that 90% of his dialogue was cut which made his character much more mysterious and interesting.
Villeneuve told the movie’s composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, that he wanted the score to contain the sound of a “threat” like that found in Jaws. Jóhannsson came through like gangbusters.
Sicario gets my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Dave Wachter and Barney Ross
Dave Wachter is back and he brought his take on Sly from The Expendables with him. I met Dave several years ago and became an instant fan. I wasn’t the only one to discover Dave’s fantastic sketches! How can you not like a great guy who is a terrific artist?
It has become a HeroesCon tradition that I get Dave to draw his take on Sly. Somehow this one was never posted until now.
You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig
The Most Impressive Thing About All 50 States
Kathy Benjamin and Mental_Floss present The Most Impressive Thing About All 50 States. Here are three of my favorites…
14. INDIANA
The home of the Indy 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the biggest sporting venue in the world by a good margin. It has permanent seating for 257,000 people, and temporary on-field seating brings that up to 400,000.
15. IOWA
Burlington is home to Snake Alley, what Ripley’s Believe It or Not called the “Crookedest Street in the World” (something the more famous Lombard Street in San Francisco also lays claim to). It was built in the 1800s to help horses get up a hill that was too steep for them to climb in a straight line.
16. KANSAS
Garden City, Kansas is home to a swimming pool so big it’s possible to waterski in it (which has happened a few times as a promotional stunt). Opened in 1922, The Big Pool was renovated in the early aughts and is now the world’s largest outdoor concrete municipal swimming pool. Bigger than a football field, it takes a full day to fill it to its 2.5-million-gallon capacity.
Bowery to Bagdad (1955) / Z-View
Bowery to Bagdad (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Bernard Gorcey.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: YOU’LL LOVE THEM IN BAGDAD!…As those Ding-Dong Daddies Go Haren-Scarem via The Magic Carpet!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys find a magic lamp but before they can decide on their wishes, a group of mobsters discovers the genie and the battle for the lamp is on!
Rating:
Elliot Fernandez Interview!
Here’s a nice little interview with Elliot Fernandez conducted by Rich Johnston for Bleeding Cool.
