Netflix comes up with interesting documentaries and Blood Brothers looks to be another good one. Deal me in.
Blood Brothers tells the extraordinary and ultimately tragic story of the friendship between two of the most iconic figures of the 20th century: Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer of all time, and Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam’s – and black America’s – most incendiary and charismatic leader.
This was the unlikeliest of friendships – the brash Olympic Champion who spoke in verse to the amusement of the white press and the ex-con intellectual-turned-revolutionary who railed against the evils of white oppression and dismissed sports as a triviality. But their bond was deep, their friendship real.
Here are another pair that I like – the poster and trailer for The Voyeurs. Deal me in.
Keep an eye out for your new obsession. The Voyeurs—starring Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo—comes to Amazon Prime Video September 10th.
I like the poster (dig that shadow) and trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster. Deal me in!
Beginning just before his debut as Frankenstein’s creation, BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER compellingly explores the life and legacy of a cinema legend, presenting a perceptive history of the genre he personified. His films were long derided as hokum and attacked by censors. But his phenomenal popularity and pervasive influence endures, inspiring some of our greatest actors and directors into the 21st Century – among them Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman, Roger Corman & John Landis all of whom and many more contribute their personal insights and anecdotes.
Yesterday we ranked every Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, today we’ll rank Sly Stallone’s prison movies. The idea came from Ryan Simon’s Every Sylvester Stallone Prison Movie Ranked From Worst To Best at ScreenRant. I imagine there are a couple of surprises in my rankings…
Simon
Zablo
8. Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)
8. Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018): I agree with Sly’s assessment.
7. Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)
7. Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019): Sly & Bautista had chemistry and don’t that Stallone fight scene.
6. Lock Up (1989)
6. Demolition Man (1993): I like Demolition Man, but wish it had the same tone throughout as the opening helicopter scene.
5. Judge Dredd (1995)
5. Escape Plan (2013): I almost put this in the 4th spot. Sly & Arnold!
4. Escape Plan (2013)
4. Judge Dredd (1995): I wish they’d left out Rob Schnieder and played it straight. Armand Assante from Paradise Alley!
3. Victory (1981)
3. Tango & Cash (1989): Sly & Kurt Rusell in a fun action film!
2. Tango & Cash (1989)
2. Victory (1981): Not flashy, but directed by John Huston and co-starring Michael Caine! Also under-rated.
A year and a half after the fall of civilization due to a viral outbreak, a former FBI agent is forced to protect a young woman immune to the disease from a dangerous gang leader hunting her.
Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Malkovich, Jenna Leigh Green
Available in THEATERS, on DIGITAL and ON DEMAND, October 1st
Marv, created by Frank Miller for his Sin City yarns, is one of my all-time favorite comic characters. If you follow Alex Maleev on Twitter or Instagram, you may have already seen his riff on ole Marv. Even so, the art is so good it is worth another look.
Frank Miller is the writer, artist and letterer on all of his Sin City tales. I get it. Sin City is his baby. When I see cool art like Maleev’s Marv, I wish that Miller would oversee a new Sin City series with guest artists/writers. If not something like that, then how about a pinup book with Sin City art by other talented artists. C’mon, Mr. Miller. We need more Sin City.
What we have today is an excerpt from the unsold and unaired pilot for The Orson Welles Show. The show was planned for a 90 minute time slot and would feature Orson Welles interviewing/interacting with guest celebrities. While Mr. Welles was a fantastic director and actor, I’m not sure his strong suit would also include interviewing others. I also find it somewhat funny that both Burt Reynold and Orson Welles appear to be wearing the same outfit.
Matthew Jackson, at Mental Floss, came up with some really great trivia items in his 18 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Goldfinger. Before you click over here are three of my favorites and my thoughts on each…
THERE ARE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK VERSION OF GOLDFINGER AND THE MOVIE. (In the novel Goldfinger plans to steal all the gold from Fort Knox. In the movie he plans to set off a dirty bomb in Fort Knox making the gold there unusable. The movie version is a cleverer idea and aligns more with what a Bond villain would do. – Craig)
GOLDFINGER ESTABLISHED MANY JAMES BOND FIRSTS. (There are things we expect to see in every Bond film and Goldfinger established many of them: a cold open with Bond on an unrelated mission; an opening theme performed by a popular recording artist; and established the relationship between Bond and Q. – Craig)
GOLDFINGER’S FAMOUS LASER BEAM SCENE CAUSED A HEADACHE FOR THE VISUAL EFFECTS TEAM. (This is perhaps the most iconic scene between Bond and a villain and it is interesting to read how the scene was created and why the sweat we see on Connery’s face is real as the laser beam inches towards his crotch. – Craig)
I love that Deadline recognized Sly Stallone for having a number #1 film at the box office for six decades straight! Mindboggling, isn’t. And there is more to come. Click on the photo above to see a bigger scan.
It wasn’t until I watched about half of the first trailer below that I thought, “Yeah, this is going to be one for me.” I like both the trailers and the poster for Small Engine Repair. Deal me in.
Frank (John Pollono), Swaino (Jon Bernthal) and Packie (Shea Whigham) are lifelong friends who share a love of the Red Sox, rowdy bars and Frank’s teenaged daughter Crystal (Ciara Bravo). But when Frank invites his pals to a whiskey-fueled evening and asks them to do a favor on behalf of the brash young woman they all adore, events spin wildly out of control. Based on Pollono’s award-winning play, Small Engine Repair is a pitch-black comedic drama with a wicked twist, and a powerful exploration of brotherhood, class struggle and toxic masculinity.
Directed by John Pollono
Starring: Jon Bernthal, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, John Pollono
I know Selma Blair from the Fog and Hellboy movies. I know she has been in many other films, but I didn’t see them. Until I saw the trailer for Introducing, Selma Blair, I had no idea she was dealing with Multiple Sclerosis. Ms. Blair appears to be a tenacious fighter with a sense of humor. I have a feeling I’ll be adding another movie to the list of Selma Blair films I’ve seen.
Director Rachel Fleit’s deeply intimate and powerful feature of one woman’s journey of personal acceptance and resilience, Introducing, Selma Blair, follows the singular actress as she reckons with the next chapter of her life after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The film explores complex issues ranging from dissecting deep-rooted myths about beauty, and the collective fear around disability and mortality. Complete with her trademark wit and humor, the film follows Blair as she reconciles a journey of monumental transition.
In theaters October 15 and streaming October 21 on discovery+.
The trailer for Wild Indian is a good one. I look forward to seeing this when it comes to one of my streaming services.
Decades after covering up his classmate’s murder, Michael (Michael Greyeyes) has moved on from his reservation and fractured past. When a man who shares his violent secret seeks vengeance, Michael goes to great lengths to protect his new life with his wife (Kate Bosworth) and boss (Jesse Eisenberg) from the demons of his past.
Directed by: Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.
Starring Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth
Lawn Love (of all places!) dug through a boatload of data to come up with 2021’s Best Cities for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. As you can see from the infographic above they have listed the 10 best as well as the 10 worst cities for living through a zombie end-of-the-world scenario.
In order to get their rankings they looked at:
highest/lowest share of the population in good health
highest/lowest share of homes with basements
most/fewest stores with hunting gear
best/worst trail access
most/fewest military bases
Since Florida soil isn’t conducive to basements, I’m surprised that we had two cities that placed in the top 10 for safest. I was also surprised to see that my current city (Daytona Beach, Fl.) and my birth city (Terre Haute, In.) didn’t even make the top 200 of safest cities.
If there was a zombie apocalypse I would want to be in an area that wasn’t over-populated and had a nice year round climate. The Florida coast would probably be a good choice since you could fish year round making food one less worry.
If you click over to Lawn Love’s site you’ll see the full zombie apocalypse infographic and how cities rated in each area. You can even look up your hometown to see how it ranked. Then you’ll know if you’re likely to survive or become one of the walking dead.
George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead is one of my all-time favorite horror movies. It spawned several Romero directed sequels as well as reboots and remakes with some being very good and some not. I’ll leave it to you to decide where Night of the Animated Dead will fall. I do wish the animation was more realistic.
Revisit George A. Romero’s 1968 horror classic in an altogether unprecedented presentation as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Night of the Animated Dead, a new, star-studded animated recreation of the thriller coming September 21, 2021 to Digital and October 5, 2021 to Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD.
In Night of the Animated Dead, siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their father’s grave in a remote cemetery in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly set upon by zombies. Barbara flees and takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse along with stranded motorist Ben and four local survivors found hiding in the cellar. Together, the group must fight to stay alive against the oncoming horde of zombies while also confronting their own fears and prejudices.
Night of the Animated Dead features the voice talents of Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy, Transformers) as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych) as Ben, Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez (A Million Little Things, Psych) as Tom, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica) as Judy, Will Sasso (MadTV) as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Johnny and Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing) as Helen Cooper.
Executive Producers are Richard Potter (Diciembres), Thomas DeFeo (The Seventh Day) and Jamie Elliott (Fighting with My Family). Producers are Ralph E. Portillo, p.g.a. (Buddy Games), Robert Feldman, p.g.a. (Dr. Shroud) and Kevin Kasha (I Spit on Your Grave). Animation services were provided by Demente Animation Studio. The original Night of the Living Dead was written by George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead) and John Russo (The Majorettes, Santa Claws). Night of the Animated Dead was produced by Michael J. Luisi, p.g.a. (The Call, Oculus) and directed by Jason Axinn (To Your Last Death).
