“Invasion” – The 2nd Trailer is Here!

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Invasion looks like it could be a fun ride.

We are not alone. Extraterrestrial beings have made their way to Earth from across the universe. Civilization could collapse. And survival is up to you. Feel what it’s like to live through an alien invasion starting October 22 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_Invasion

Invasion follows a global cast – including Sam Neil, Golshifteh Farahani, Shamier Anderson, Billy Barrett, and Shioli Kutsuna – as they try to navigate a terrifying new reality infested by lethal aliens.

Song: “This Bitter Earth (Heavy Duty Remix)” by The Seshen

Clint Eastwood’s Greatest Performances

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Yesterday we took a look at Clint Eastwood’s best roles.  Today, thanks to Brent Lang at Variety, we’ll take a shot at listing Clint Eastwood greatest performances.  Using just Lang’s list, here are my top five…

Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry.  Eastwood was perfect in the role that had us cheering for a cop in a movie that would probably make Harry the villain in today’s world.

Blondie aka The Man with No Name in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  Eastwood’s most iconic role in which he perfected the man of few words but quick guns.

Will Munny in Unforgiven.  Eastwood’s performance anchored an Oscar-worthy (9 nominations) and Oscar-winning (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing) film.

Dave in Play Misty for Me.  It was a first time for me.  Seeing a big, tough guy terrorized by a woman.  And who wouldn’t be?

Frankie Dunn in Million Dollar Baby:  For me this was the first time Eastwood was playing an old man.  The other roles came off as a guy getting older… on the brink of old age.  I loved that being old didn’t mean life was over.

“Vengeance is Mine” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I like the poster for Vengeance is Mine.  It’s also interesting that Harry’s wife and child were accidentally killed by murdering thieves making a getaway.  Deal me in.

Harry is a broken man, struggling to come to terms with the murder of his wife and daughter 5 years previously. When he discovers the whereabouts of the killers he awakens from his grief and, filled with vengeance, seeks to destroy those who destroyed his life.

Directed by Hadi Hajaig
Starring Con O’Neill, Sarah Jane Potts, Anton Saunders

“Ida Red” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Look at the cast for Ida Red: Josh Hartnett, William Forsythe, Mark Boone Junior, Frank Grillo and Melissa Leo.  Read the synopsis, view the trailer and if you’re a crime movie fan, get in line for a ticket (right behind me).

Crime boss Ida “Red” Walker (Oscar® winner Melissa Leo*) turns to her son, Wyatt (Josh Hartnett), to pull off one last heist to get out of prison. But with the FBI closing in, Wyatt must choose between family and freedom in this high-octane thriller.

Featuring: Josh Hartnett, Sofia Hublitz, William Forsythe, Deborah Ann Woll, George Carroll, Mark Boone Junior, Beau Knapp, with Frank Grillo, Melissa Leo

“Passing” Starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Passing, starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga looks like a winner.  I won’t let it pass me by!

A cornerstone work of Harlem Renaissance literature, Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing is adapted to the screen with exquisite craft and skill by writer-director Rebecca Hall, who envelops the viewer in a bygone period that remains tragically present. The film’s extraordinary anchors are Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, meticulous as middle-class Irene and Clare, reacquainted childhood friends whose lives have taken divergent paths. Clare has decided to “pass” as white to maintain her social standing, even hiding her identity from her racist white husband, John (Alexander Skarsgård); Irene, on the other hand, is married to a prominent Black doctor, Brian (André Holland), who is initially horrified at Clare’s choices. As the film progresses, and resentments and latent attractions bristle, Hall creates an increasingly claustrophobic world both constructed and destabilized by racism, identity performance, and sexual frustration, leading to a shocking conclusion. A Netflix release.

“The Beta Test” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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There are several different posters for The Beta Test available, but I liked the one above best.

“But Craig, it doesn’t look like a movie poster.  It looks like a fancy invitation.  It doesn’t list who stars in the movie, who directed it or the studio that made it.  How can this be the best poster?”

Watch the trailer below and then, like me, plan to check out the movie.  Oh, and then you’ll know why I picked the poster above as the best.  ; )

Shortly before his wedding, ruthless talent agent Jordan (Jim Cummings) receives a mysterious envelope offering no-strings-attached sex with a stranger in a hotel room. Initially amused, then intrigued, he becomes obsessed by the idea of a secret erotic adventure and impulsively accepts. But will he regret his choices when his meticulous, superficial world threatens to collapse under the weight of his burgeoning lies?

Clint Eastwood’s Best Roles!

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Jeremy Herbert at /Film decided to come up with his list of Clint Eastwood’s 14 Best Roles Ranked.  Narrowing down Eastwood’s best roles to just 14 is tough. Before you click over to check out Herbert’s list, here are my top five (using just Herbert’s picks) and a few more that didn’t make his list, but would have made mine.

Harry Callahan from Dirty Harry:  This is a pretty easy choice for me.  I think Harry is Eastwood’s most iconic and best role.  After that the choices become tougher, but for me Dirty Harry is #1.

Josey Wales from The Outlaw Josey Wales:  I placed Josey in the second spot, but to be honest I almost placed Blondie aka The Man with No Name at #2.  Today Josey gets the edge, but that could change.  Wales loses everything but his humanity.  And Herbert is right to mention the classic line: “Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy.”

Blondie from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:  The movie that made Eastwood an international superstar.  

Will Munny from Unforgiven:  I applaud Eastwood for having the patience to wait until he was old enough to play the character.  Unforgiven doesn’t give us the typical good guy – bad guy movie.  Our good guy is a bad guy.  There’s no shooting guns out of the bad guy’s hands.  Gut shots are slow, painful deaths.  There’s no riding off into the sunset with the girl. John Wayne would have hated this film.  I wouldn’t want all my westerns to be like this, but I do love me some Unforgiven.  

Other Eastwood characters that would have made my list but didn’t make Herbert’s…

  • Hogan from Two Mules for Sister Sarah
  • Dave from Play Misty for Me
  • Ben Shockley from The Gauntlet
  • Gunnery Sargent Thomas Highway from Heartbreak Ridge
  • Chief Red Garnett from A Perfect World

Black & White Classic Monsters in Color!

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I know that there are many purists who think that colorizing ANY movie (especially classics) is terrible.  I’m of the mindset that as long as the originals are still available, why not colorize?  It may encourage younger viewers to watch and turn them on to the originals.  I know I’d be interested in seeing the black and white classic monsters in color… but I wouldn’t give up my dvd originals.

A collection of scenes from black and white horror classics, mostly Universal Monsters, colourized using the programs EbSynth, DeOldify and Photoshop.

Featuring
Nosferatu, Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Werewolf of London, Mad Love, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Creature From the Black Lagoon.

Music by Bernhard Herrmann from Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo.

Source: Patrick Zircher

Bruce Lee’s Best Non-Kato TV Roles!

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The fine folks at Me-TV decided to turn the spotlight on 5 Forgotten Television Appearances by the Legendary Bruce Lee.  After playing Kato on The Green Hornet, Bruce Lee made appearances on four other US television shows: Ironside, Blondie, Here Come the Brides and Longstreet.  Me-TV also snuck in Lee’s appearance in the feature film Marlowe since it played on television in 1972 (released to theaters in 1969).  Before you click over, here are my thoughts on each…

Ironside:  I used to watch this series with my grandparents.  Lee plays a karate instructor who teaches Ironside’s female associate a few tricks.  I’d like to see the episode now to see if it holds up.  I had just turned 9 when I saw the show originally.  I remember it being just okay (it needed more Bruce Lee).

Blondie:  This is one Bruce Lee appearance I’ve never seen.  I didn’t watch Blondie and didn’t even remember the show (which looks pretty bad).

Here Come the Brides:  I used to watch HCtB regularly, but barely remember the Bruce Lee episode or much of the series.  This is another show I’d like to check out to see how it holds up.

Longstreet:  I loved the idea of Bruce Lee training a blind investigator self-defense.  Lee appeared in four of the 24 episodes.  I liked this show (with Lee in it) quite a lot.

Marlowe:  Lee only has two scenes but they are the ones you will remember!  In the first he threatens Marlowe (James Garner) and in the second they fight to the death (although the way Lee dies is pretty lame).

Quentin Tarantino Talks “True Romance”

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True Romance doesn’t get enough love.  Tarantino’s script.  Directed by Tony Scott.  And look at that cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, Saul Rubinek, Conchata Ferrell, James Gandolfini, Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore!!!

Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects posted 30 Things We Learned from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘True Romance’ Commentary.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites and some thoughts on each…

It wasn’t specified in the script that Elvis (Val Kilmer) would never really be seen all that clearly, and he was worried that the actor would be upset by Scott’s choice. He heard later that Kilmer loved it. (This was an interesting choice that many actor’s wouldn’t have liked. Credit to Val Kilmer for seeing the merit in playing it that way. – Craig)

He (Tarantino) is a huge fan of Scott’s Revenge (1990) which is the correct response to that film.  (I am a huge fan of Revenge.  It is probably Tony Scott and Kevin Costner’s most underrated film. – Craig)

He credits Scott with doing what a director should with the adaptation and make it their own. Clarence dying in the script makes sense to Tarantino, but Scott’s film is far more successful as a fairy tale of sorts meaning Clarence needed to live. “If I had made the movie he would have died. It would have been the same script but it would have been different. And in mine I think it would have worked. But in his, no, in his I think he was right.”  (In Scott’s film Clarence lives, in Tarantino’s script Clarence dies.  Both endings could work, but I’m glad Tony Scott stuck to his guns.  Like him, I wanted to see them get away. – Craig)

Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I’m looking forward to Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley.  He’s assembled a great cast and has a feel for this type of film.  Don’t take my word for it.  Check out the poster above and the trailer below.  As for me, I’m heading for Nightmare Alley come December.

In NIGHTMARE ALLEY, an ambitious carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is.

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn

“The Cleaner” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Here we have the poster and trailer for The Cleaner.  The poster is okay, but the trailer works.  I also like the casting for The Trailer.  I don’t really know the star, King Orba, but look at his list of co-stars: Luke Wilson, Linda Carter, Shelley Long, Eden Brolin, M.C. Gainey, Punky Brewster herself, Soleil Moon Frye.

I’m in.

When a middle-aged house cleaner Buck Enderly takes on an eccentric new client, he gets roped into locating her estranged son. Buck tracks down the disturbed young man but in another twist of fate becomes an accomplice to a violent crime. Available October 12.

Directed By Erin Elders
STARRING: King Orba, Luke Wilson, Lynda Carter, Shelley Long, Eden Brolin, Shiloh Fernandez