Crime of Passion (1957) / Z-View
Crime of Passion (1957)
Director: Gerd Oswald
Screenplay: Jo Eisinger (original story and screenplay)
Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr and Faye Wray
The Pitch: “Let’s make a film about a couple where one’s ambitions and lack of morals destroy them, but we’ll flip it so the female lead is the bad ‘guy’!”
Tagline: The stripped-of-shame story of a cop’s wife who committed one sin too many!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Kathy (Stanwyck) is an ambitious newspaper columnist who falls for LA detective, Bill Doyle (Hayden), in a whirlwind romance that leads to marriage. Soon enough Kathy realizes her husband is content with his rank and has no desire to rise to the top. Kathy becomes jealous and envious of others and begins to plot a way to change the status quo. That it involves infidelity and murder matters little to her.
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Hellboy by Frank Miller
Ever wonder what Hellboy by Frank Miller would look like? Well, wonder no more!
Source: Cool Comic Art.
Cabin Fever (2002) / Z-View
Cabin Fever (2002)
Director: Eli Roth
Screenplay: Eli Roth & Randy Pearlstein from a story by Eli Roth
Stars: Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong and James DeBello
The Pitch: “Let’s make a horror movie about college kids and a flesh-eating virus!”
Tagline: Terror… In the flesh.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Five college kids head to a remote cabin where they encounter a strange flesh-eating virus.
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58 Things We Learned from James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 58 Things We Learned from James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
24. Glen Campbell’s “Southern Nights” was one of his favorite songs as a child, and he recalls the joy of attending a 4th of July party a couple years ago “at Jane Seymour’s house of all places” where he got to meet Campbell and listen to some live music from the man.
42. Stan Lee with the Watchers “doesn’t mean Stan Lee is a Watcher,”, but “who knows what Stan Lee is.”
55. Stallone asked how his line at Yondu’s viking funeral should be delivered, and Gunn replied “‘Have you seen the movie Babe?’ and he said ‘Yeah!’ I’m like this is you saying ‘That’ll do pig.’” My favorite part of this anecdote is the image of Stallone watching Babe.
Frailty (2001) / Z-View
Frailty (2001)
Director: Bill Paxton
Screenplay: Brent Hanley
Stars: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe
The Pitch: “Bill Paxton wants to direct ‘Frailty’ – let’s do it!”
Tagline: There are demons among us
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Adam and Fenton are young brothers, being raised by their single parent dad. Dad is a hard-working loving parent and all is well with the family… until one night when their father wakes them up to reveal that he had been visited by an Angel. The Angel told dad that demons live among them and they have been chosen to slay them.
Fenton realizes his father had gone crazy, while Adam is convinced their dad was visited by an Angel. Fenton hopes this will pass, but when dad brings home a normal looking man who dad claims to be a demon and kills him, Fenton knows this is just the start…
Frailty is a classic that gets better with repeated viewings. Paxton’s acting and direction (the only film he directed!) is point on. Powers Boothe is, as always, excellent. This may be Matthew McConaughey’s best performance. Love the twists and turns.
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“Extermination” – Animated “Terminator” Pitch!
Bruce Stirling and John Knox have created an animated (appropriately enough) pitch for a new animated Terminator series. Some of the scenes remind me of Mathew Reynolds art for Mercenary Seas. While I’m not 100% sold on the pitch, it does have potential.
Check it out below and see what you think.
Risso Takes The Punisher to Sin City!
Eduardo Risso, genius that he is, takes the Punisher to Sin City… and yes, that is Nancy Callahan!
Source: In Trash We Trust
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) / Z-View
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Director: Frank Lloyd
Screenplay: Talbot Jennings & Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson based on the book by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
Stars: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone
The Pitch: “Let’s turn Robert C. O’Brien’s novel into a movie!”
Tagline: Clark Gable as the daring mutineer in the screen’s most exciting adventure story!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The classic tale of Fletcher Christian’s mutiny against the sadistic Captain Bligh!
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Trailer for “Brawl in Cell Block 99” is Here!
The trailer for Brawl in Cell Block 99 didn’t knock me out, but I still can’t wait to see S. Craig Zahler’s follow-up to Bone Tomahawk.
The 100 Greatest Comedies of All Time
BBC Culture polled 253 film critics from 52 countries to determine The 100 Greatest Comedies of All Time. While I question Pulp Fiction as one of the all time greatest comedies, I’ll play along. Using just their list, here are my top six…
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Step Brothers (Adam McKay, 2008)
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Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944)
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Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)
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Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
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Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980)\
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Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
Z for Zachariah (2015) / Z-View
Z for Zachariah (2015)
Director: Craig Zobel
Screenplay: Nissar Modi based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine and Margot Robbie
The Pitch: “Let’s turn Robert C. O’Brien’s novel into a movie!”
Tagline: After the end of the world she thought she was alone. She was wrong.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
After an apocalyptic event that has wiped out humans, a woman who thought herself alone, finds a dying man. She nurses him back to health and they begin to make a life together on her family’s farmland. All is well until a young, handsome man shows up looking for refuge.
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Jack Kirby Comic Con Tribute Book
Today is, as most readers here know, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jack Kirby. Mark Evanier (whose blog should be on your daily visit list) directed folks to a special treat…
This year’s Comic-Con International paid special note to Jack’s 100th birthday and its souvenir book included a wonderful 60-page section of articles, artwork and photo. For anyone interested in Jack, it’s a must-get…
And you can get it for free. Click over to Evanier’s post for the link and I’ll bet you enjoy all the other stuff he posts.
23 Things We Learned from Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien Covenant’ Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 23 Things We Learned from Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
9. At 24:26 he acknowledges this is the “same plot as the original Alien, there’s a transmission, they go and find out.”
11. Astronauts and NASA scientists have told him that they sometimes get ideas from science fiction films because filmmakers have thought their way around problems in ways that they themselves don’t.
14. More than once Scott says he’s going to hold back from saying something so as not to spoil it for listeners — as if people are listening to the commentary for their first watch of the film.
Gargoyles (1972) / Z-View
Gargoyles (1972)
Director: Bill Norton (as B.W.L. Norton)
Screenplay: Steven Karpf (as Stephen Karpf) and Elinor Karpf
Stars: Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Grayson Hall, Bernie Casey and Scott Glenn.
The Pitch: “Let’s make a monster movie!”
Tagline: Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When a best-selling anthropologist/paleontologist (Wilde) gets word of a mysterious skeleton found in the desert, he decides to drive out for a look. He takes his photographer daughter with him even though he believes the skeleton will turn out to be a hoax. Shortly after arriving he and the small town find themselves under attack by Gargoyles!
Scott Glenn and Bernie Casey in early roles plus a young Stan Winston provides the Gargoyles!
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