Lone Survivor (2013) / Z-View

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Lone Survivor (2013)

Director:  Peter Berg

Screenplay: Peter Berg based on the book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson

Stars:    Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie based on the best-selling book Lone Survivor.”

Tagline: “Based on True Acts of Courage”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A Navy Seal team sent behind enemy lines on a mission to capture or kill a Taliban leader is accidentally discovered by a goat herder and his teenage son.  The soldiers faced with a dilemma, kill innocent people [and face military prison] or let them go and take their chances on being discovered.

The soldiers let them go and then find themselves outnumbered and under attack by superior numbers.  The movie’s title doesn’t leave much room for a real happy ending, does it?

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13 Fascinating Facts About “The Bridge on the River Kwai”

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Eric D. Snider and Mental_Floss present 13 Fascinating Facts About The Bridge on the River Kwai.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. ITS OSCAR FOR BEST SCREENPLAY WENT TO SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T WRITE IT.
The process of adapting Pierre Boulle’s French-language novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai was difficult (more on that later), but the two writers ultimately responsible for it were Carl Foreman (High Noon) and Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun). Neither of them got credit, though, as The Bridge on the River Kwai was released during the three-year period when people who’d ever been Communists (or who refused to answer questions about it before Congress) were ineligible for Academy Awards. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boulle—which was quite a feat, since he didn’t speak or read English. (He didn’t attend the Oscars, either.) In 1985, the Academy officially recognized Foreman and Wilson as the screenwriters and posthumously awarded the Oscar to them.

4. DAVID LEAN NEEDED THE WORK.
Though he’d already earned five Oscar nominations (three for directing, two for adapting the Dickens novels) and would soon be widely celebrated for Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965), at this stage, Lean was in trouble. He’d just been through a costly divorce from actress Ann Todd. According to one biographer, he was “broke and needed work; he had even pawned his gold cigarette case.” This, plus the fact that he loved to travel, plus the fact that shooting a film in Southeast Asia would be good for him tax-wise, motivated him to accept a project that was bound to be grueling.

10. WILLIAM HOLDEN GOT A BETTER DEAL THAN THE DIRECTOR.
Lean wanted Holden, a big star and recent Oscar winner (for Stalag 17), to play American prisoner Major Shears, over the objections of producer Spiegel, who wanted Cary Grant. Once Spiegel relented, he realized Holden was a box office draw and offered him a great deal: $300,000 salary (about $2.5 million in 2016 dollars), plus 10 percent of the gross. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it.

Submerged (2015) / Z-View

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Submerged (2015)

Director:  Steven C. Miller

Screenplay: Scott Milam

Stars:   Jonathan Bennett, Talulah Riley, Rosa Salazar and Mario Van Peebles.

The Pitch: “What about a movie with a group of 20-somethings stuck in a submerged car with people waiting to kill them above?”

Tagline: “You can’t scream and hold your breath at the same time.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Late one evening after a night of partying, a group of 20-somethings are traveling home in a limo when it is forced off a bridge.  The limo sinks to the bottom of the river and water slowly begins to fill the car.  When one of them tries to escape and get help, he is killed.  The trapped kids realize that there are people topside waiting to kill them.

As the water level rises they try to figure out why they are targets and if there is any way to survive.

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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) / Z-View

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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Director:  George Miller

Screenplay: George Miller and Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris

Stars:  Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Zoë Kravitz.

The Pitch: “George Miller has written and will direct a NEW Road Warrior movie!”

Tagline: “THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE MAD”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Max Rockatansky [Hardy], a loner, surviving in an apocalyptic waste land is captured by a cult who plan to drain his blood for their warriors.  Max finds him teamed with Furiosa [Theron] and five women slaves in their escape across the desert.

Miller creates an amazing action adventure that is insanely mesmerizing to watch — the crazy action, the insane stunts, the beautiful cinematography, and unique world — I love this film!

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Eric Powell Previews “Hillbilly”

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Eric Powell is best known for his creation The Goon.  Recently Powell decided to give The Goon a rest and start up with another of his creations, Hillbilly.  

What?  You’ve never heard of Hillbilly?  Well, of course you haven’t.  He’s a new character.

Hillbilly may be new to us but the character has been “sitting in (Powell’s) sketchbook at least ten years.” Since this is such a personal project it makes great sense (but will it make dollars and sense?) that Powell self-publish the comic through his  Albatross Funnybooks company.

That’s what he did to get The Goon going.  And we all know how that turned out.

If you’d like to learn more about Hillbilly and see some preview art from the first issue you can at CBR.com’s  ERIC POWELL UNLEASHES HIS “HILLBILLY” ON THE COMICS INDUSTRY.

Terminator Genisys (2015) / Z-View

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Terminator Genisys (2015)

Director:  Alan Taylor

Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis & Patrick Lussier

Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney,  J.K. Simmons and Courtney B. Vance.

The Pitch: “Schwarzenegger will come back for another Terminator movie!”

Tagline: “The rules have been reset.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

We all know the story, right?  In the future Kyle Reese is sent back to the present to protect Sarah Connor so that her yet unborn son will one day grow up to save humankind from machines.

Now see the tagline.  The rules have been reset.  Things happen as before only slightly differently… or in some cases very differently.  While this is fun for a while for fans of the series; it creates the same problems that all movies/shows with diverging timelines have.  What’s it matter?

You like Kyle Reese better in the original?  Different timeline.  You don’t like this Sarah Conner?  Different timeline.  Which time line should we care about?  Ultimately, I lose interest because things can be forgotten, changed or wiped out — just move to a new timeline.

Still, Terminator Genysis was fun enough if taken as a standalone story.  As for me, Terminator and Terminator 2 are the “real” Terminator timelines.  End of story… until the next sequel.

 

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15 Not-So-Simple Facts About “Blood Simple”

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Garin Pirnia and Mental_Floss present 15 Not-So-Simple Facts About Blood Simple.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. ITS TITLE WAS INSPIRED BY DASHIELL HAMMETT’S RED HARVEST.
“It’s an expression he used to describe what happens to somebody psychologically once they’ve committed murder,” Joel Coen told Time Out. “They go ‘blood simple’ in the slang sense of ‘simple,’ meaning crazy. But it’s left up to the audience to ponder the implications; they’re never spelled out in the film itself.”

3. THE COENS—AND MANY OF THE CAST AND CREW—HAD NEVER BEEN ON A FILM SET BEFORE.
Joel Coen admitted in My First Movie, “The first day of shooting on Blood Simple was the first time I’d ever been on a feature movie set in any capacity, even as a visitor.” Coen had previously worked as an assistant editor on horror films, including 1981’s The Evil Dead. Coen mentioned how Sonnenfeld would throw up after looking at the dailies, because he was so nervous working on the film. “Everyone was in the same boat,” Joel said. “The gaffer had never gaffered a feature. The sound guy, the mixer on the set, had never mixed a feature.”

4. THE COENS CHOSE TO MAKE A FILM NOIR BECAUSE OF THE GENRE’S PRACTICALITY.
The Coens liked hard-boiled fiction authors James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, and used them to their advantage in writing the script. “It’s certainly a genre that is entertaining, and we also picked it for very practical reasons,” Ethan said. “We knew we weren’t going to have a big budget. The financing would not allow it. We could build something on the genre and the appeal it has.”

“It’s also a genre that allows you to get by rather modestly in some ways,” Joel added. “You can limit the number of characters, put them into a confined set. There’s no need to go for large-scale effects or scatter them through the film, and those cost a lot of money. So it was a pragmatic decision that determined what film we would make.”

High Sierra (1941) / Z-View

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High Sierra (1941)

Director:  Raoul Walsh

Screenplay: John Huston and W.R. Burnett from a novel by W.R. Burnett

Stars: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Henry Hull and Cornell Wilde.

The Pitch: “Raoul Walsh. John Huston. WR Burnett. Ida Lupino. Bogart.”

Tagline: “The Blazing Mountain Manhunt for Killer ‘Mad-Dog’ Earle!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Roy Earl [Bogart] an infamous bank robber [think Dillinger] is sprung from prison by an old crime boss who wants Earl for a big robbery.  Obligated for his freedom, Earl drives west to check out the set up.

Once he meets up with his old boss, Earl discovers the robbery plan is good and the money is right, but his partners are young, inexperienced thugs looking to make a name for themselves… plus they have a woman [Lupino] with them and everyone knows women weaken legs and crime plans don’t work out.

Before it is over there will be a robbery, people killed, double-crosses and a manhunt for the “Mad Dog Killer” Roy Earl.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

11 Complicated Facts About “Shaft”

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Kristin Hunt and Mental_Floss present 11 Complicated Facts About Shaft.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. A WHITE NEWSPAPER REPORTER CREATED SHAFT.
John Shaft made his debut in Shaft, a novel by Ernest Tidyman. Tidyman was a reporter for The Cleveland News, The New York Post, and The New York Times before he began writing the Shaft series, which included seven detective stories. Along with John D.F. Black, he adapted his first Shaft book into the screenplay for the first film. He would later go on to write the screenplays for The French Connection (1971) and High Plains Drifter (1973) as well as Shaft’s Big Score! (1972) and the Shaft TV series (1973-1974). His work earned him an NAACP Image Award.

3. SHAFT’S MUSTACHE WAS NON-NEGOTIABLE.
The Los Angeles fiasco was behind him, but Parks immediately faced another scare when he spied his star, Richard Roundtree, heading to the bathroom with a towel and razor. Producer Joel Freeman had asked him to get rid of his soon-to-be legendary mustache. Parks told Roundtree emphatically, “Shave it off and you’re out of a job.” And with that, the ‘stache stayed in the picture.

11. THERE’S A SHAFT COMIC BOOK SERIES.
There hasn’t been a new Shaft movie since the 2000 reboot starring Samuel L. Jackson, but Dynamite Entertainment began printing a Shaft comic book series in 2014. The comics are penned by David F. Walker, who also published the first Shaft novel in over 40 years this February. The latest comic series finds Shaft as a part-time consultant on a blaxploitation movie; Walker intended this meta subplot to be a commentary on “clueless producers who think they have their finger on the pulse of blackness.” And yes, that was an intended slam on the upcoming remake.

The Car (1977) / Z-View

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The Car (1977)

Director:  Elliot Silverstein

Screenplay: Dennis Shryack & Michael Butler & Lane Slate from a story by Dennis Shryack & Michael Butler.

Stars: James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley RG Armstrong and Kim Richards.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a horror movie about a murderous car that may be possessed!”

Tagline: “There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to stop… The Car.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A mysterious black car is running down town folk in a small western town and it’s up to the sheriff to figure out a way to stop it!

The Car would have been the third or fourth feature at a Drive-In.

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15 Out-of-this-World Facts About “Men in Black”

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Garin Pirnia and Mental_Floss present 15 Out-of-this-World Facts About Men in Black.  Here are three of my favorites…

9. MEN IN BLACK IS THE HIGHEST-GROSSING ACTION BUDDY COMEDY OF ALL TIME.
Rush Hour 2 almost dethroned Men in Black from the top spot in 2001, but with a gross of $250 million, Men in Black held onto its position. 22 Jump Street comes in third, and Men in Black II and Men in Black 3 rank fourth and fifth on the list, respectively. On the sci-fi comedy chart, the Men in Black movies corner the top three positions.

11. WILL SMITH CAME UP WITH THE PLOT FOR MEN IN BLACK 3 WHILE FILMING MEN IN BLACK II.
One night while on the set of Men in Black II, Smith told Sonnenfeld his idea for a third film. “At the beginning, something has happened and Agent Kay is missing and I have to go back to the past to go try to save young Agent Kay,” Sonnenfeld recalled to CNN. “In doing so, myself and the audience find out all sorts of secrets about the world that we didn’t even know were out there.” All Sonnenfeld could muster was, “Can we just finish this one?” Over a decade later, the plot to Men in Black 3 did revolve around time travel and saving a young Agent Kay, played by Josh Brolin.

15. THE RAY-BAN GLASSES WORN IN THE MOVIE ALMOST DIDN’T GET A SHOUT OUT.
The sunglasses Smith and Jones sport in the film are Ray-Ban Predator II glasses. According to a 1997 article in Promo Magazine, a special coating was applied to the glasses to limit reflection, which meant removing the logo. Without the logo, nobody would know what type of glasses they were (Sonnenfeld edited out a previous line in the movie where Jones says “that’s why they call them Ray-Bans”). Ray-Ban tried to convince the studio to reinstate the logo, but they refused. After some coercing, Smith compromised and name dropped the company in the “Men in Black” song: “Black tie with the black attitude / New style, black Ray-Bans, I’m stunnin’, man.” The popularity of the movie and the song’s music video gave the $100 Predators a four- to fivefold increase in sales, and a boost to Ray-Ban’s entire catalog of shades.

Hush (2016) / Z-View

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Hush (2016)

Director:  Mike Flanagan

Screenplay: Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel

Stars: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., and Michael Trucco.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a woman in isolation stalked by a mad killer movie, but with a twist — the woman is deaf!”

Tagline: “Silence can be killer.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Maddie is a deaf writer who decides to head up to her cabin to do some writing.  She believes the isolation will help.  Of course she wasn’t counting on a mad serial killer deciding to make her his next victim.

Clever twist on what could be a played out genre.  Contains some truly creepy scenes.

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10 Huge Facts About “Big Trouble in Little China”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 10 Huge Facts About Big Trouble in Little China.  Here are three of my favorites…

7. THE STUDIO DEMANDED THAT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM  BE CHANGED.
Barry Diller felt that Jack Burton wasn’t heroic enough, so after production wrapped, Carpenter went back and shot an introductory scene where Egg Shen (Victor Wong) says Jack is a courageous man. Had Diller not said anything, the film would have begun with Jack driving. Carpenter didn’t necessarily want Burton to be seen as the hero; he wanted both leads to be considered the film’s heroes.

9. KURT RUSSELL WAS LED TO BELIEVE IT WOULD BE THE BIGGEST MOVIE OF 1986.
Russell had never, before or since, been asked by so many members of the press what it was like to be in the biggest movie of the year than when he was promoting Big Trouble in Little China. After the test screenings went really well, Russell said he “kept waiting to see ads and things that just didn’t happen.”

10. THE ROCK WANTS TO REMAKE IT, WITH CARPENTER.
Carpenter said he’s “ambivalent” about the idea. New movie or not, there’s been a comic book series that picks up from where the movie ended. And if you can find it, there was a Big Trouble in Little China video game released in 1986. A secret screen on the DVD contains images from it.