“All Quiet on the Western Front” – The Second Trailer is Here!

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Here’s a second trailer for All Quiet on the Western Front.  Deal me in.

All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.

“The Ghost Talks” (1949) Starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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The Ghost Talks (1937)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay:  Felix Adler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard and Nancy Saunders

Tagline:  It’s Historical!  It’s Hysterical!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Shemp and Moe are movers hired to empty out a spooky old castle.  A suit of armor contains the ghost of Peeping Tom.  Tom tells the boys that 1,000 years ago he heard a commotion outside.  When he looked out the window he saw Lady Godiva making her famous ride.  Tom was hit in the face with a pie and his ghost trapped in the suit of armor.  Tom warns the Stooges that if they try to move the armor, bad luck with follow.  You guessed it, they try to move the armor and bad follows… they even are visited by Red Skeleton!

The Ghost Talks earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Today we have the poster and trailer for Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power.  The trailer drew me in and I’m interested in seeing the film.  The line, ““If the camera is predatory, then the culture is predatory,” is a powerful one.  Definitely deal me in.

“If the camera is predatory, then the culture is predatory.” In this eye-opening documentary, celebrated independent filmmaker Nina Menkes explores the sexual politics of cinematic shot design. Using clips from hundreds of movies we all know and love – from Metropolis to Vertigo to Phantom Thread – Menkes convincingly makes the argument that shot design is gendered. Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power illuminates the patriarchal narrative codes that hide within supposedly “classic” set-ups and camera angles, and demonstrates how women are frequently displayed as objects for the use, support, and pleasure of male subjects. Building on the essential work of Laura Mulvey and other feminist writers, Menkes shows how these not-so-subtle embedded messages affect and intersect with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse and assault, as well as employment discrimination against women, especially in the film industry. The film features interviews with an all-star cast of women and non-binary industry professionals including Julie Dash, Penelope Spheeris, Charlyne Yi, Joey Soloway, Catherine Hardwicke, Eliza Hittman, and Rosanna Arquette. The result is an electrifying call-to-action that will fundamentally change the way you see, and watch, movies.

“Dizzy Doctors” (1937) Starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Dizzy Doctors (1937)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Al Ray from a story by Charlie Melson

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard and Bud Jamison

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Curly and Moe are told by their wives if they don’t get jobs, they will be getting divorces.  The boys find work as salesmen of a new potion called Brighto,  They mistakenly believe that Brighto is a polish.  In attempts to make sales they ruin customers, shoes, jackets and cars. When they learn that Brighto is actually a health aide, the Stooges go to a hospital.  Who needs a health aide more than folks in a hospital?  What could go wrong… other than Brighto is as good a health aide as it is a polish.  Wait, there’s more — the hospital Superintendent is one of the customers who had his car ruined by Brighto!

Dizzy Doctors earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Echo 3” Starring Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I don’t care for the poster but the trailer for Echo 3 has me on board.

Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman star in Echo 3, a new series about a brilliant scientist kidnapped in Colombia, and her brother and husband who will stop at nothing to bring her home. Stream Echo 3 on November 23 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_ECHO3

Echo 3 is an action-packed thriller set in South America that follows Amber Chesborough (Collins), a brilliant young scientist who is the emotional heart of a small American family. When Amber goes missing along the Colombia-Venezuela border, her brother, Bambi (Evans), and her husband, Prince (Huisman) – two men with deep military experience and complicated pasts – struggle to find her in a layered personal drama, set against the explosive backdrop of a secret war. Echo 3 also stars Martina Gusman as Violetta, a prominent political columnist. The series features James Udom, Maria Del Rosario, Alejandro Furth, Juan Pablo Raba and special guest star, Bradley Whitford. Echo 3 is also based on the award-winning series “When Heroes Fly,” created by Omri Givon, and inspired by the eponymous novel by Amir Gutfreund.

“Creed III” – Two Poster and the First Trailer are Here!

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Above are the two posters and below the first trailer for Creed III.  I’d be more excited if Sly Stallone was involved, even if not appearing in the film.  Creed III doesn’t look bad, but for a diehard Stallone fan like me, it’s missing the magic.

There’s no enemy like the past. From director Michael B. Jordan, watch the official #Creed3 trailer now and see the movie in theaters and IMAX 3/3/23.

CREED III

Directed By: Michael B. Jordan
Screenplay By: Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin
Story By: Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler, and Zach Baylin
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Florian Munteanu

“Firestarter” (2022) / Z-View

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Firestarter (2022)

Director:  Keith Thomas

Screenplay:  Scott Teems based on Firestarter by Stephen King

Stars: Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Michael Greyeyes, Gloria Reuben, Kurtwood Smith and John Beasley

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Andy McGee (Efron), his wife Vicky (Lemmon) and their daughter Charlie (Armstrong) are living off the grid.  Andy and Vicky were part of an experimental drug test conducted by a secret government organization.  Andy gained telepathic powers, and Vicky developed telekinesis. Charlie was born with the ability to cause objects to burst into flame. Her ability is becoming more powerful and Charlie hasn’t yet learned to control it.  The organization is looking for them to take advantage of their powers.

When Charlie is bullied at school, she runs to the bathroom in an attempt to control the fire she feels coming.  Her rage at being picked on causes a flame burst that school officials think was a small explosion set off by Charlie.  This incident brings Charlie and her family to the attention of the secret government agency.  They send Rainbird (Greyeyes), to bring back the girl even if it means killing her parents.  Things are about to heat up…

Firestarter (2022) doesn’t hold a candle to the 1984 version.  Before Andy uses his telepathic powers he does an exaggerated neck crack which just comes off as silly.  Charlie is made less sympathetic when she accidentally unleashes her fire burst and roasts a cat.  We see the cat badly burned and then Charlie is told to put it out of it’s misery, so she lights the cat up again.  We hear a final cry from the cat.  Charlie accidentally sets her mom on fire and then later tells her dad, “I meant it to be you.”  The movie ends — big spoiler alert — with Charlie willingly going off with Rainbird, the man who brutally killed her mother, captured her father which lead to his death, and forced Charlie to kill many folks who worked for the organization.

Usually movies I watch all the way through earn at least a two star rating.  Sadly, Firestarter (2022) doesn’t.

Firestarter earns 1 of 5 stars.

“The Outfit” (2022) Starring Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien & Johnny Flynn / Z-View

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The Outfit (2022)

Director:  Graham Moore

Screenplay:  Graham Moore, Johnathan McClain

Stars:  Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Johnny Flynn, Simon Russell Beale, Alan Mehdizadeh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Chiedu Agborh and Michael Addo. 

Tagline: Every Suspect Fits a Pattern

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

1956.  Chicago.  Leonard Burling (Rylance) is a gentleman cutter.  Some might call Burling a tailor, but they wouldn’t understand his craftmanship or the pride he takes in his work.  Burling’s shop is frequented by men who want tailored suits so they look their best.  What those customers don’t know is that in the back room is a drop box used by the Roy Boyle (Beale) gang to pass along dirty money and messages.

Burling keeps his nose out of who uses the drop box and what may go into it.  He just wants to make the finest suits possible.  All of that changes when Richie (O’Brien), Roy Boyle’s son and Francis (Flynn), Richie’s bodyguard, show up unexpectedly at the shop one evening.  Richie has a brief case and a bullet wound.  He was shot in a confrontation with members of the LaFontaine family. The brief case contains a tape recording that could bring down the Doyle family.

Richie is bleeding out.  Cops are everywhere.  The LaFontaines are still looking for them.  Richie will die unless something is done… and that tape needs to be hidden.  Burling is put in a position where helping or not helping could get him killed.  Richie’s dad and backup is on the way… but so are the cops and the LaFontaine gang.

The Outfit is easily one of the best films of the year.  Screenwriters Graham Moore and Johnathan McClain have crafted a story where every scene intensifies the action and takes the characters in a different direction with the same destination — people are going to die.   First time director (and co-screenwriter) Graham Moore has faith in the story and actors to let scenes go on without quick cuts.  Every actor does an outstanding job and rises to the level of the material given.

I cannot give The Outfit or the folks behind it enough praise.  I was surprised at the revelations that just kept coming and the twists that kept ratcheting up the stakes.  The Outfit is a movie I look forward to sharing and watching again.

The Outfit earns 5 of 5 stars.

“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I’m diggin’ that poster and the trailer has me looking forward to checking out Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues.

You’ve heard his influential music, now hear his incredible story. Get to know Louis Armstrong through never-before-heard home recordings, archival footage, and personal conversations when Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues premieres October 28 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_BlackAndBlues_

This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. The film shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era. With the full support of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, the filmmakers have access to a treasure trove of rare archival materials, including hundreds of hours of audio recordings, film footage, photographs, personal diaries, and a life’s worth of ephemera for exclusive use in the first significant documentary dedicated entirely to his life.

Song: “Black and Blue” by The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars, Nicholas Payton, Common https://apple.co/_BlackandBlue

Song: “(What Did I Do To Be So) Black & Blue” by Louis Armstrong https://apple.co/WhatDidIDo_Armstrong

“Scotched in Scotland” (1954) Starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Scotched in Scotland (1954)

Director:  Jules White, Edward Bernds (stock footage)

Screenplay:  Jack White, Elwood Ullman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, Philip Van Zandt, Christine McIntyre and Theodore Lorch

Tagline:  A MAN CAN GET KILT DOING THIS!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Shemp and Moe are in Scotland where they are hired by a rich man to guard his valuables while he is away from his spooky castle.  Little does the man know, but it is his hired staff who plan to rip him off!  The would-be thieves decide to scare the Stooges into leaving and hilarity follows.

Scotched in Scotland is a remake of The Three Stooges’ earlier short, The Hot Scots and uses quite a bit of footage from the earlier film.

Scotched in Scotland earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Tulsa King” Starring Sylvester Stallone – Two New Posters and a New Trailer are Here!

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Here are two new posters and a new trailer for Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone.  Deal me in!

TULSA KING follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a “crew” from a group of unlikely characters, to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet. The series also stars Andrea Savage (“I’m Sorry”), Martin Starr (“Silicon Valley”), Max Casella (“The Tender Bar”), Domenick Lombardozzi (“The Irishman”), Vincent Piazza (“Boardwalk Empire”), Jay Will (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), A.C. Peterson (“Superman & Lois”) with Garrett Hedlund (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”).

The series will be executive-produced by Sheridan, Winter, Stallone, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin and Allen Coulter. Braden Aftergood is also set to executive-produce.

Stream the new series on November 13, exclusively on Paramount+.

How to Survive Being Buried Alive!

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Although our focus is usually on entertainment, from time to time I like to include something that might be more useful than the latest preview or review.  So, for the roughnecks among us who run with tough crowds, I give you…

Source:  Eric Beetner. (If you enjoy great crime fiction, then you probably already know Eric Beetner… but if you don’t know, well, now you know.)