The Longmire Season 5 Trailer is Here!
The Longmire Season 5 Trailer is Here!
The Jungle Captive (1945) / Z-View
The Jungle Captive (1945)
Director: Harold Young
Screenplay: Dwight V. Babcock and M. Coates Webster
Stars: Otto Kruger, Vicky Lane, Amelita Ward and Rondo Hatton
The Pitch: “Isn’t it time to make another Ape Woman movie?”
No Tagline:
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The third in the Paula DuPree, Ape Woman trilogy. Seems there were a lot of mad scientist doctors back in the 40’s and their life goal was to turn a gorilla into a woman. Pretty sick, huh?
In this outing Dr. Stendahl (Kruger) has his minion, Molach the Brute (Hatton) steal the Ape Woman’s body from the morgue. Of course Molach isn’t called the Brute because of his brainpower and he kills the morgue attendant in the process. This puts the cops on the trail of the murderer.
Once Stendahl has the body, he’s ready to perform his experiment to bring her back to life. Of course he needs the blood of a woman. Naturally he decides to kidnap and use the blood of his female lab assistant (Ward) rather than a woman with no connections to him.
As the cops close in on him, Stendahl must face off against Molach (who has fallen in love with the lab assistant), the lab assistant’s fiance, the cops and the Ape Woman. It’s like the Mexican standoff at the end of Reservoir Dogs if the Reservoir Dogs standoff wasn’t suspenseful.
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New Monkees Interview!
We have a pretty high ratio of Monkees fans here, so I’m hoping that that same group gets a kick out of this interview about their new album on their 50th (50th!) anniversary.
Source: AARP magazine.
“The Bandit” (2016) / Z-View
The Bandit (2016)
Director: Jesse Moss
Screenplay: N/A
Stars: Mike Henry, Robert L. Levy Robert L. Levy, David Needham, Hal Needham, Burt Reynolds and Paul Williams.
The Pitch: “We could make a documentary about the making of ‘Smokey & the Bandit’… or a documentary about Hal Needham… or we could do both!”
Tagline: “Old Legends Never Die”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bandit is a well done documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes on the making of Smokey and the Bandit with a focus on Hal Needham the stuntman turned director who came up with the idea and got his best buddy, Burt Reynolds to star in the film.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Mash-up of Fast & Furious 7 with Star Wars
How about the…
VFX Mash-up of Fast & Furious 7 with Star Wars. In this scene Dom faces off against Shaw in an epic street level duel. And the weapons of choice are Lightsabers.
King of the Underworld (1939) / Z-View
King of the Underworld (1939)
Director: Lewis Seiler
Screenplay: George Bricker and Vincent Sherman from a story by W.R. Burnett
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Kay Francis and James Stephenson.
The Pitch: “We could put Bogart in that crime story by WR Burnett…”
Tagline: “Ruthless Killer vs. Lady Doctor ! It’s red-blooded action all the way!”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Carol Nelson (Francis) is a doctor as is her husband. Things are going well until her husband accidentally gets involved with gangsters led by the notorious Joe Gurney (Bogart). When her husband is killed in a police shootout, they believe that Carol is also involved with the gangsters.
In order to clear her name Carol comes up with a dangerous plan to take down the entire gang.
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10 Cool Things About “Body Heat”
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 10 Cool Things About Body Heat. Here are three of my favorites…
2. CHRISTOPHER REEVE TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF NED.
“I put myself down too much,” Reeve told The Washington Post of the missed opportunity. “I didn’t think I’d be convincing as a seedy lawyer.” Reeve later regretted the decision, but was happy that his friend, William Hurt, was cast in the role instead.
5. IT WAS SHOT IN FLORIDA—AND IT WAS VERY, VERY COLD.
The film was shot during a cold Florida winter. Turner and Hurt had to put ice cubes in their mouths before each take so their breath wouldn’t show. Their sweat was sprayed on. When the two shot their sex scene, the crew was dressed in duffel coats and scarves.
8. IT WAS MICKEY ROURKE’S BIG BREAK.
Mickey Rourke had already appeared in 1941 (1979) and Heaven’s Gate (1980), but told Larry King that his breakthrough came from playing Teddy Lewis in Body Heat. When Rourke got the one-day gig, he was able to quit his job as a bouncer at a transvestite nightclub.
Mean Business on North Ganson Street by S. Craig Zahler / Z-View
Mean Business on North Ganson Street by S. Craig Zahler (2014)
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
First sentence…
The dead pigeon flew through the night, slapped Doggie in the face, and bounced to the ground, where its cold talons clicked across the pavement as it rolled east.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Detective Jules Bettinger, after mishandling a case is given the choice: resign, be fired or accept a transfer to one of the most understaffed and highest crime ridden cities in the country. Reluctantly Bettinger accepts that transfer and moves his wife and child to his new job.
Once there Bettinger finds things worse than he could imagine. There’s no trust between Bettinger and his new partner who may be involved in illegal activities with other cops. When Bettinger uncovers a conspiracy to kill police officers, he and his family become targets leading to a bloody ending.
Mean Business on North Ganson Street isn’t for the faint hearted. The violence is brutal, and often hard to stomach. Sometimes Zahler seemed to be showing how smart he was with his word choices, but getting into the book I began to think that instead it was to highlight what a fish out of water Bettinger was. Mean Business on North Ganson Street wont’ be everyone’s cup o’ joe, but I liked it a lot.
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The Art of Being Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell makes every movie he’s in a little bit better. Fans love the guy and Russell’s played in so many cult classics that it’s no wonder he recently had an art show dedicated to him.
The Thing piece above was created by Marko Manev. You can see more at XombieDierge and io9.
Omerta: A Novel (The Godfather Book 3) by Mario Puzo / Z-View
Omerta: A Novel (The Godfather Book 3) by Mario Puzo (2000)
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Random House
First sentence…
In the stone-filled village of Castellammare del Golfo, facing the dark Sicilian Mediterranean, a great Mafia Don lay dying.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Don Raymonde Aprile is the last of the mafia Dons. A widower with three successful children and an adopted nephew, all in legitimate businesses and doing well, Aprile is ready to retire to a simpler life. Yet he knows that once he steps down as Don, he puts his life and his children’s in danger.
Retiring will be seen as a sign of weakness and opportunity for those wishing to assume his position. Aprile’s impending retirement is also forcing an FBI agent who has worked for years to bring down April to cut some corners.
An unexpected murder will set in motion the Aprile family, forces of the mafia and the FBI into one last battle.
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48 Things We Learned from David Fincher’s Zodiac Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 48 Things We Learned from David Fincher’s Zodiac Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
13. Fincher thinks the reason why the Zodiac still haunts people is due as much to his letters as to anything else. The idea of an ongoing correspondence with someone who was in the process of killing fascinates him.
15. All of the blood in the film is digital because it saved the production enormous amounts of time by not having to wait for wardrobe changes and cleaning.
18. Dermot Mulroney is in great shape, but Fincher was having none of it. “I wanted him to have a waistline like mine so we made up a little fat suit for him.”
Angel in Black: A Nathan Heller Novel by Max Allan Collins / Z-View
Angel in Black: A Nathan Heller Novel by Max Allan Collins (2001)
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL
First sentence…
The two pieces of her lay porcelain-white in the ankle-high grass and weeds of a vacant lot on South Norton Avenue, like the upper and lower sections of a discarded marionette.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
I’m a sucker for the Nate Heller series by Max Allan Collins. Heller is a detective who finds himself involved in famous murder cases. Collins is a stickler for historical accuracy and has created a timeline and plausible setting that allows Heller to find himself (over the course of the series) mixed up in everything from the Lindbergh baby murder to the assassination of JFK!
This time out Heller ends up at the scene of the Black Dahlia murder and discovers that he had dated her in Chicago just months before her murder. She had told him she was pregnant and he was the father… then disappeared. Since Heller had since married her murder could ruin his marriage, his career and makes him the number one suspect in her death. Heller must stay a step ahead of the reporters and the law and find out who killed the Black Dahlia before he ends up taking the fall.
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How Houdini Stayed in an Underwater Coffin for 90 Minutes
Did you ever wonder How Houdini Stayed in an Underwater Coffin for 90 Minutes? if so, check out Nick Keppler’s article at Mental_Floss.
Bad Boy Brawly Brown: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley / Z-View
Bad Boy Brawly Brown: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (2002)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Little Brown
First sentence…
Mouse is dead.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Easy Rawlins used to be the man that could fix problems. Now it is 1964 and those days are behind him. Easy is raising a family and trying to stay clear of anything that would bring danger to his home. When an old friend asks Easy to just check on young Brawly Brown the job seems easy enough. Brawly is running with a Black militant group and his mother just needs to know he’s okay.
Soon enough Easy finds himself a suspect in a murder case that has the militants on one side and the cops on the other.
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Ranked: George A. Romero’s Dead Films
Chris Alexander and ComingSoon.net posted Ranked: George A. Romero’s Dead Films.
I would move Night of the Living Dead into the number one spot but other than that I wouldn’t argue much with the list.
