Frank Miller Interview!
Frank Miller fans will enjoy Mike Fleming Jr.’s Deadline interview. Miller discusses Comic Con, the early days of comics, the Comics Code, his early days at Marvel, Sin City and more.
“Death Wish” Remake Poster, Trailer and a Few Thoughts
By now you’ve probably seen the poster and trailer for the new Death Wish movie coming out on November 22nd. I’ll post my thoughts after the trailer.
Let’s talk the remake now. First of all, why? The original Death Wish with Charles Bronson is a classic. Perhaps the only (or best) reason is that if successful the remake could be a hit and spawn sequels.
In the original Bronson was an architect. Making Willis a doctor does provide more conflict for the character. After all, he did take an oath to save lives not end them. Other than that it seems we have the same peaceful man turned into a killing machine. In one earlier version of the script the idea was that the Bronson/Willis character would be a peaceful man but after his family’s murder we learn that he was once a violent gang member. THAT could have been an interesting back story.
In the original film, Bronson’s wife and daughter get raped, his wife murdered and his daughter left in a coma with little hope of recovery. Bronson has lost everything and gained a death wish. In the remake Willis’ daughter appears well on the road to recovery. Willis has something to live for. For him to just go out to kill muggers treads the line of wanting to be a hero. That gives the film a different vibe which still can work if done correctly.
The poster is not bad. Not great and definitely has an 80’s feel with the tagline…
“They came for his family. Now he is coming for them.”
(“Murdock, I’m coming for you!” Rambo, anyone?)
The jury is still out on this remake.
10 Major Plot Holes that Classic TV Writers Didn’t Bother to Fix
Me-TV posts 10 Major Plot Holes that Classic TV Writers Didn’t Bother to Fix. Here are three of my favorites…
‘MAMA’ ACTUALLY DIES BEFORE SHE GETS HER OWN SHOW
In a recent interview with Las Vegas Magazine, actress Vicki Lawrence had a little laugh recalling that her famous 1983 spin-off Mama’s Family started after Mama’s funeral already happened on TV in 1982. In the made-for-TV movie Eunice, Thelma Harper is said to have died in 1978, but TV audiences didn’t seem to notice or care when she came back to life on NBC in the early 1980s. They likely took a page from Mama’s book and sighed, “Oh, I’d rather not talk about it.”CAN’T ANYONE REMEMBER BARNEY FIFE’S MIDDLE NAME?
For the majority of The Andy Griffith Show’s run, Don Knotts’ character introduces himself as “Barney P. Fife.” However, this changes at least twice. In “A Plaque for Mayberry,” his middle name is Oliver, and in “Class Reunion,” it changes to Milton. That explains why Wikipedia makes his name look like such a mouthful: Bernard “Barney” P. Milton Oliver Fife.THEY ALSO COULDN’T DECIDE HOW LONG BARNEY’S BEEN DEPUTY SHERIFF.
Between seasons 4 and 5 of The Andy Griffith Show, writers seemed to get hazy on how long Barney Fife had been Deputy Sheriff. In the episode “Citizen’s Arrest,” Andy recalls welcoming Barney to the force 10 years ago, but by season 5’s “Barney’s Physical,” writers must have assumed Barney had been Deputy Sheriff as long as the show had been on air. In that episode, Barney celebrates his 5-year anniversary as Deputy Sheriff, getting a commemorative watch with the sketchy number of years etched inside.
Marshall Rogers’ Strange Portfolio
The Bristol Board posted all of the plates from the Marshall Rogers’ Strange portfolio and man, did it bring back great memories. I have Rogers’ Strange portfolio in my collection. I bought it when the Strange portfolio was originally released way back in 1979. Plate 4 above (click on the art to see a bigger version) and plate 3 were my favorites.
In the mid to late 70’s through the early 80’s portfolios were a sign of status for artists and collector’s loved them. Just off the top of my head I can think of the following portfolios that I still have in the vault…
- Marshall Rogers’ Batman
- Howard Chaykin’s Robin Hood
- Howard Chaykin’s Cody Starbuck
- Mike Zeck’s Punisher
- Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar
- Bill Sienkiewicz’s Moonknight
- Terry Austin – Can’t remember the name of it, but Terry pencilled and had friends in his art
I’m going to have to dig in the vault and see what others that I’m not thinking of. Those were the days, my friends.
3 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’!
Me-TV had a post titled 14 TOP SECRET THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT ‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’! Sadly the article is no longer available. Below are three of my favorites that it listed.
THE FAKE FOREIGN LANGUAGE SEEN ON THE SHOW WAS REFERRED TO AS “GELLERESE.”
Vaguely German, vaguely Romanian, a phony foreign language can be seen on signs in the show. The letters are peppered with accents, S’s are liberally replaced Z’s. So as not to offend any actual nationalities, the language was entirely made up, and the crew referred to the fictional tongue as “Gellerese” in tribute to the show’s creator.IN EARLY EPISODES, THE TAPE WOULD LITERALLY SELF-DESTRUCT.
Initially, the special effects crew applied a chemical to the tape to make it smoke and decompose. This was not only costly and tricky, it wasn’t quite as dramatic as they had hoped. Eventually, the crew resorted to piping smoke through the reel-to-reel player through a hidden hose. Yes, they were just blowing smoke, so to speak.THE SHOW SHARED A STUDIO AND SEVERAL ACTORS WITH ‘STAR TREK.’
Both Mission: Impossible and Star Trek were the work of Desilu Productions, the production house run by Lucille Ball. As both shows were of the same family, cast members could be seen in both productions. After Landau left the series following the third season, Leonard Nimoy filled his shoes (well, masks and wigs) as “Paris.” It was ironic, as Landau had previously turned down the role of Spock! William Shatner and George Takei can also be seen on M:I, as well as dozens of Star Trek guest stars like Ricardo Montalban, Joan Collins, Michael Ansara, Willian Schallert, Gary Lockwood, Lee Meriwether and more.
I used to watch this show with my grandfather and I had forgotten that Peter Graves didn’t star in the first season.
Dan Panosian Interview about Slots, “Logan” and More!
Brandon Bloxdorf over at Comicsverse interviewed Dan Panosian about Dan’s new mini-series Slots, as well as Dan’s influences, work on the movie Logan and more.
Forty Essential Film Noir Classics
JEC at Classic Movie Reviews posted his choices for Forty Essential Film Noir Classics. His list is a good one. I’ve seen all but about 10. Using just JEC’s list, here are three of my favorites…
4 Double Indemnity 1944 Foolish insurance man meets one of the best femme fatale in this must see drama. JEC
9 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946 Infidelity and murder. JEC
23 The Big Heat 1953 A tough cop, played by Glenn Ford takes on a well-connected mob. Gloria Grahame is great in this film. JEC
“Mindhunter” Poster & Trailer with Direction by David Fincher!
The Mindhunters poster and trailer are here. David Fincher directed the first two episodes of the series. I’ll be watching.
Jason LaTour and Burt Reynolds?
I love Jason LaTour’s cover for Southern Bastards #17. Is THAT Burt Reynolds or just a guy who looks like him? Either way, I’m in. Southern Bastards is one of the best comics being published these days.
Source: Jason Aaron.
15 Great TV Shows Netflix Needs To Add To Their Library
Zak Wojnar and ScreenRant present 15 Great TV Shows Netflix Needs To Add To Their Library. using just their list, here are the three I’d request…
15. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
Who is the best Batman? Some people say Christian Bale, others say Michael Keaton. There’s probably one misguided fool out there who says George Clooney. But a big percentage of fans out there agree, the powerful timbre of the inimitable Kevin Conroy is the greatest take on the Caped Crusader.Batman: The Animated Series is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated programs of all time, and the definitive version of Gotham’s Dark Knight. The influence of the series cannot be overstated. When shows like Arrow and Gotham are at their best, they’re essentially live-action versions of the animated world created by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and co. all the way back in 1992.
It’s shocking, then, that this seminal superhero saga is currently unavailable on any subscription-based streaming service. Sure, episodes can be purchased for two bucks a pop on Amazon Video, but Warner Brothers is keeping way too tight of a leash on its most famous cartoon. For that matter, what about Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond? DC is in the midst of preparing a new digital streaming service (which will air original programming, including the eagerly-anticipated third season of Young Justice), but there’s no word yet as to whether any of these legendary shows might be added to the platform when it launches. Hint: they really should!
12. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN
Before Batman: The Animated Series in the ’90s, before The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman in the ’70s, and even before Adam West‘s Batman in the ’60s, there was The Adventures of Superman.This half-hour 1950s series starred George Reeves as the Man of Steel, and it remains a favorite among old-school comics fans for its admirable fidelity to the printed stories of the era. In the first season, written during the Golden Age of Comics, Superman went up against pinstriped-suited mobsters and their film noir molls. George Reeves shined as Clark Kent, hard-edged intrepid reporter, and when he eventually suited up as Superman, he brought an admirable physicality to the low-budget production, filling out his costume with barrel-chested gravitas and leaping out of windows with whimsical bravado.
The Adventures of Superman is required viewing for any fan of superhero media, but it’s currently unavailable on any streaming service. This is a situation which needs to be remedied – immediately.
1. MIAMI VICE
Before Miami Vice, every television show looked like Dragnet. Flat camera angles, sparse sets, old men in brown suits, and little personality. Michael Mann saw the dry state of television drama and decided to do something about it. He created Miami Vice, a cop show like no other, with film-style production values, unprecedented use of licensed music, and sexy, chic, charismatic leads in the form of Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas.Miami Vice changed the rules of television, featuring long stretches with little dialogue, letting licensed music, grand imagery, and emotional context to push the story forward. These days, pretty much every show relies on dramatic “music video sequences” to convey their stories, but Miami Vice did it first, and did it best.
The series was on Netflix for a time, but is no longer available there. The first four seasons are still on Hulu, though the fantastic fifth and final season is curiously missing from the service. Recently, the series was released on Blu ray disc, remastered in High Definition, but with the original 4:3 aspect ration intact (no needless cropping here!). This HD version of the so-called “MTV Cops” series needs to be brought over to Netflix, so the whole world can enjoy the entire Miami Vice story with the best visuals possible.
Shows that didn’t make their list that I’d add:
- The Wild, Wild West
- Cheyenne
- The Shield
- Deadwood
- The Wire
‘Atomic Blonde’: How They Turned One Amazing Action Scene Into a Seven-Minute Long Take
Atomic Blonde has some of the best action sequences in movies. The long fight scene on the stairway appears to be done in one continuous take.
It wasn’t.
Chris O’Falt at IndieWire talked with Sam Hargrave (Atomic Blonde second-unit director and stunt coordinator) who choreographed and filmed the fight scene. ‘Atomic Blonde’: How They Turned One Amazing Action Scene Into a Seven-Minute Long Take is well worth a read.
Clint Eastwood on Clint Eastwood
Ian Nathan & Kim Newman and EmpireOnline present Clint Eastwood on Clint Eastwood. The interview is well worth a look as Eastwood discusses the making of all of his major hits and few of his minor ones as well.
The “Suburbicon” Poster and Trailer
Suburbicon written by the Cohen Brothers, directed by George Clooney and starring Matt Damon.
Jarrod Alberich Creates Jack Carter for the Win!
Jarrod Alberich aka The Yard Sale Artist created the Jack Carter piece above for me after I won a contest he was running (something he regularly does for his fans).
Jarrod calls himself The Yard Sale Artist because he uses only materials that he finds at yard sales, thrift stores, dumpsters and so on. This is my second piece by Jarrod and my guess is that there will be more to come!
21 Things We Learned from “The Fate of the Furious” Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 21 Things We Learned from The Fate of the Furious Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
11. He has tons of footage that didn’t make the film simply of Johnson and Statham trying to one-up each other with insults. “I think something’s gonna come out of it,” he says, “we’ll see, but I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing a two-hander between Shaw and Hobbs.”
18. Letty’s (Michelle Rodriguez) fight scene at the Russian shipyard reminds Gray of the Patricia Arquette / James Gandolfini brawl in True Romance.
5. The script originally had Dom giving Raldo’s (Celestino Cornielle) keys to his cousin as the race dictated, but Gray suggested otherwise on the day of filming. “That’s what the old Dom would have done,” he says, “but I wanted to give the audience a more evolved Dom.”
