“Ambulance” (2022) Starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Directed by Michael Bay / Z-View

Posted on by

Ambulance (2022)

Director:  Michael Bay

Screenplay:  Chris Fedak based on Ambulancen by Laurits Munch-Petersen, Lars Andreas Pedersen

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González, Garret Dillahunt, Keir O’Donnell, Jackson White, Cedric Sanders, A. Martinez and Devan Chandler Long

Tagline: It was supposed to be a simple heist.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Will Sharpe (Abdul-Mateen II), a former marine, is at his wit’s end.  Bills are piling up, his wife needs expensive surgery, they have a new baby and he cannot find a job.  The VA is no help.  With nowhere else to turn, Will meets with his adoptive brother, Danny (Gyllenhaal).  Danny is a smooth-talking criminal that Will distanced himself from when he got married.

Hoping that Danny can provide a loan, Will is instead offered a spot on a huge bank heist Danny has planned for that very day.  Although Will repeatedly resists, Danny talks him into the heist saying that no one is going to get hurt and his cut will more than pay for his wife’s surgery — they’ll be set for life.  Of course the robbery goes sideways and a massive shootout occurs between Danny’s crew and a Special Unit of the LAPD.  Danny and Will make their getaway in a stolen ambulance with a paramedic named Cam (González) and a wounded cop.  With every cop in the city after them and helicopters in the air, Danny and Will want to escape to freedom… but what about the cop and the paramedic that can identify them?

Ambulance starts out well enough.  Jake Gyllenhaal is great as the fast-talking, arrogant criminal.  Yahya Abdul-Mateen II evokes the right amount of sympathy (at least at first) as the former vet struggling to make it. Garret Dillahunt, who is always good, doesn’t have a lot to do, but makes each scene better.  I also enjoyed A. Martinez popping up! Michael Bay is back with his trademark quick cuts and over-the-top action.  And it works… for a while.

Where it goes off the rails for me is that we’re supposed to sympathize with Will’s situation… and we do… at first.  He reluctantly goes along with the bank robbery for his wife and baby.  But when  he takes an active role as the driver of the ambulance and his reckless attempts to get away cause crash after crash, he becomes responsible for the many injuries and deaths he’s causing.  Also, the film runs over 2 hours and 15 minutes.  How many times do we see the ambulance boxed in, surrounded by police with police and television cameras following along… and they get away?  Too many for my taste.  I also thought the ending was a little too pat for my taste.

Ambulance earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Peripheral” Starring Chloë Grace Moretz – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

Posted on by

We have the poster and trailer for The Peripheral starring Chloë Grace Moretz.  I like her and since it is on Prime, checking it out will be a no-brainer.

In a future when technology has subtly altered society, a woman discovers a secret connection to an alternate reality — as well as a dark future of her own. Based on the story by William Gibson.

RELEASE DATE: October 21 on Prime Video

CAST: Chloë Grace Moretz, Gary Carr, Jack Reynor, Adelind Horan, Alexandra Billings, Eli Goree

SERIES CREATORS: Jonathan Nolan, Scott Smith

RIP: Austin Stoker

Posted on by

Austin Stoker died on October 7, 2022 from renal failure.  It was his 92nd birthday.

Austin Stoker was an actor who appeared on stage, television and in feature films.  He began his career in the 1954 Broadway production of Truman Capote’s House of Flowers.  Mr. Stoker’s first television role came in 1969 on Mod Squad.  In 1973, Austin Stoker appeared in Battle for the Planet of the Apes.  For the remainder of his career, Mr. Stoker alternated between television and feature film roles.

Some of his television appearances include: Mod Squad; Love American Style; McCloud; Kojak; The Rookies; Police Story; S.W.A.T; Return to the Planet of the Apes (13 episodes); The Six Million Dollar Man; Roots; The Incredible Hulk; Lou Grant; Airwolf; Trapper John; Falcon Crest and The Bold and the Beautiful (8 episodes).

Feature film appearances include: Battle for the Planet of the Apes; Airport ’75; Sheba, Baby; Assault on Precinct 13 and 3 from Hell.

My favorite Austin Stoker appearance was in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13.  He was perfect as Ethan Bishop, the officer assigned to oversee a deserted police station that comes under an attack by a street gang.  Mr. Stoker had a career that spanned over 50 years with nearly 60 credits on his resume.  I always enjoyed his performances.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Austin Stoker’s family, friends and fans.

THE BURGLAR WHO MET FREDRIC BROWN by Lawrence Block is Coming!

Posted on by

Lawrence Block’s new novel, The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown is a Bernie Rhodenbarr tale.  Bernie is a burglar and his adventures are humorous (for the reader, not as funny for Bernie) and a nice change of pace if, like me, you lean into more hardboiled yarns.  Here’s the lowdown on The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown…

Suppose you’re Bernie Rhodenbarr.

You’ve got a dream job, running your own cozy secondhand bookstore, complete with Raffles, your caudally challenged cat. It’s in Greenwich Village, and your best friend’s dog grooming salon is two doors away, and the two of you lunch together and meet for drinks after work.

And you’ve got another way to make a buck. Every once in a while you put your conscience on the shelf and let yourself into someone else’s residence, and you leave with more than you came with. You’re a burglar, and you know it’s wrong, but you love it.

And you’re good at it. You’ve got two ways to make a living, one larcenous, the other literary and legitimate, and you’re good at both of them.

Nice, huh?

Until the 21st Century pulls the rug out from under you. All of a sudden the streets of your city are so overpopulated with security cameras and closed-circuit TV that you have to lock yourself in the bathroom to have an undocumented moment. And locks, which used to provide the recreational pleasure of a moderately challenging crossword puzzle, have become genuinely pickproof.

Meanwhile, internet booksellers have muscled your legit enterprise into obsolescence. The new breed of customers browse your bookshop, find what they’re looking for, then whip out their phones and order their books online.

Wonderful. You had two ways to make a living, and neither of them works anymore.

But suppose you keep on supposing, okay?

Suppose you wake up one morning in a world just like the one in which you fell asleep-but with a couple of differences.

The first one you notice doesn’t amount to much. The Metrocard in your wallet has somehow changed color and morphed into what seems to be called a SubwayCard. That’s puzzling, but you swipe it at the turnstile same as always, and it gets you on the subway, so what difference does it make?

But that’s not the only thing that’s changed. The Internet’s up and running, as robust as ever, but nobody seems to be using it to sell books. Doors are secured not with pickproof electronic gizmos but with good old reliable Rabson locks, the kind you can open with your eyes closed. And what happened to all those security cameras? Where’d they go?

All of a sudden you’ve got your life back, and your bookshop’s packed with eager customers, and how are you gonna find time to steal something?

Well, just suppose one of the world’s worst human beings has recently acquired one of the world’s most glamorous gems. When the legendary Kloppmann Diamond is up for grabs, what can you possibly do but grab it?

And what could possibly go wrong?

THAT is one strange set-up.  I trust Lawrence Block to make it work.  Pre-orders for the October 18th release are available now.

The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown Paperback

The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown Kindle

“The Last Victim” (2021) Starring Ali Larter, Ron Perlman & Ralph Ineson / Z-View

Posted on by

The Last Victim (2021)

Director:  Naveen A. Chathapuram

Screenplay:  Ashley James Louis from a story by Doc Justin, Naveen A Chathapuram

Stars: Ron Perlman, Ali Larter, Tahmoh Penikett, Ralph Ineson, Kyle Schmid, Dakota Daulby and Camille Legg

Tagline: None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Jake (Ineson) taunts then kills a former member of his crew and a woman witness.  He loads the bodies in his truck.  Jake then hooks up with his two other crime partners to transport the bodies to a remote wilderness area.

Susan (Larter) and her husband are driving across country when they run into a closed road.  Rather than double back, they press on.  The pair decide to take a break in a beautiful area well off the beaten path.  Unfortunately they come across Jake and his crew burying bodies.  When Susan and her husband realize they’ve been seen, they take off running with the criminals in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile Sheriff Hickey (Perlman) is investigating the murder scene.  He’s puzzled by the lack of bodies, but does have a clue which was accidentally left behind.  As Jake and his crew continue their hunt, Sheriff Hickey continues his…

The Last Victim has one of the best opening scenes in recent memory.  It’s well written, well cast and well shot.  If the entire movie was made at that level The Last Victim would have rated an “A”.  The Last Victim’s opening scene sets the bar high and sadly the rest of the film doesn’t maintain that level.  Still, if you like crime films, then you should enjoy The Last Victim.  Ali Larter is believable as the woman who refuses to be a victim.  Ralph Ineson steals every scene he’s in.  He’s creepy, cocky and a great villain.  Ron Perlman is always good, even when he doesn’t get a lot to do.

The Last Victim earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Werewolf by Night” (2022) Directed by  Michael Giacchino / Z-View

Posted on by

Werewolf by Night (2022)

Directors:  Michael Giacchino

Screenplay:  Heather Quinn, Peter Cameron

Stars:  Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris, Kirk R. Thatcher, Eugenie Bondurant, Leonardo Nam, Daniel J. Watts, Carey Jones and David Silverman

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Five of the best monster hunters alive will participate in a contest to determine the leader of all monster hunters now that Ulysses Bloodstone has died.  The winner will gain the “leader” title, and also the power of the Bloodstone gem.  Surprisingly,  Elsa Bloodstone (Donnelly), Ulysses estranged daughter,  shows up to take part in the contest.  Elsa’s stepmother, Verussa (Harris) warns Elsa against participating, but Elsa refuses to stand down.  It is obvious that there is bad blood between them.

The hunters will all enter a maze to fight each other and a monster that has been set loose in the labyrinth. The hunter that kills the creature wins the contest.  Only Verussa knows the kind of monster that lurks in the maze, but not even she knows which of the hunters is hiding a secret!

Werewolf by Night is a love letter to the classic Universal monsters.  Hats off to director, Michael Giacchino who is best known as a music composer for television and feature films (with over 150 credits on his resume).  After his efforts on Werewolf by Night music may go to the back burner.  Giacchino has great instincts and knows how to create a film that hits, pardon the expression, all the right notes.  Werewolf by Night is moody, full of atmosphere, interesting characters and tension relieved with just the right amount of comedy.

Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron, the screenwriters, were smart to write a modern film with an old school feel.  The film is in black and white which adds to the experience that we’re watching a classic horror film.  The werewolf looks, moves and acts like a man-beast and not a man in a werewolf costume.  I loved Werewolf by Night.  It seems like everyone does.  Werewolf by Night currently has a 7.6/10 rating on IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes shows a rating of 92% with reviewers and 94% with audiences.  As for me…

Werewolf by Night earns 5 of 5 stars.

“Things to Come” (1936) / Z-View

Posted on by

Things to Come (1936)

Directors:  William Cameron Menzies

Screenplay:  H. G. Wells based on The Shape of Things to Come by H. G. Wells

Stars:  Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke 

Tagline:  A hundred years ahead of its time.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Things to Come is based on H.G. Wells’ novel The Shape of Things to Come.  Wells reportedly considered the book less a novel than his thoughts on what the next 100 years could hold for mankind.  That’s a big story for any movie, and maybe it’s too big.

The film starts in 1940.  We’re on the brink of another World War.  There are mixed opinions on if the war will happen, but of course it does and rages for over 20 years. Most cities around the world are destroyed.  Technology ceases to advance.  In the 1970s, a city known as Everytown is governed by “the Boss”.  His people live in bombed out buildings and wear tatters for clothes.  One day a modern airplane lands.  John Cabal (Massey), the pilot emerges.  He wears futuristic garb and says that he’s from a community known as Wings Over the World.  He offers “the Boss” a chance to join this community.

Instead “the Boss” takes Cabel prisoner.  When Wings Over the World realizes this, they send an air armada for rescue.  The advanced airplanes drop sleeping bombs.  Once the population is unconscious Paratroopers drop for the rescue.  “The Boss” dies from a reaction to the sleeping gas.  John Cabal announces that “The Boss” and the old world ways are dead.

The movie then has a montage showing the advancements made by the new world order.  Technology makes life better for all.  As plans are made to go to the moon and later the stars, there is a group who see more advancement as bad.  As the astronauts prepare for liftoff, rioters charge to destroy the rocket.  They’re too late to stop the launch.  The movie ends with two characters discussing mankind and progress…

Things to Come bites off perhaps more than it can chew.  Having a story that spans over 100 years with the focus on all of mankind is a tall order.  If this story were to be done today, it would be best served as a tv series. It was interesting to see how H.G. Wells and the filmmakers perceived the future.  The one thing that they got right, was that even when things are going well, there is always a group that finds fault.

Things to Come earns 3 of 5 stars.

THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART by Peter Swanson / Z-View

Posted on by


The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson

First sentence…

It was dusk, but as he turned onto the rutted driveway he could make out the perimeter of yellow tape that still circled the property.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

George Foss is having a drink in his favorite tavern with his on-again off-again girlfriend when he sees a beautiful woman seated at the bar.  The woman looks like an older version of George’s first love from his freshman year in college twenty years ago. The first love who suddenly disappeared without a trace.  The first love who may have been a murderer.

It turns out that the woman is truly George’s first love, Liana Dector.  Liana says she’s back because she needs a favor. Liana stole money, a lot of money, from a rich man. The man hired some terrible people to get it back and to teach her a lesson.  Liana wants George to return the cash she has left and ask the man to call off the dogs.  Despite everything, including that Liana could be a cold blooded murderer, George feels compelled to help her.  Maybe he’ll learn why she left all those years ago, if she truly loved him… and if she still does.

George’s decision to help Liana, puts him in way over his head.  Some very bad people now have their sights on George and the police want him for questioning in a murder.  Did Liana set him up or are they both victims?

Peter Swanson has created a roller-coaster ride in the tradition of Double Indemnity or Body Heat.  Swanson has created a page-turner that should satisfy both the mystery lover and noir fan.  The Girl with a Clock for a Heart easily earns 4 of 5 stars.

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart Hardcover
The Girl with a Clock for a Heart Paperback
The Girl with a Clock for a Heart Kindle

“Last Seen Alive” (2022) Starring Gerard Butler / Z-View

Posted on by

Last Seen Alive (2022)

Directors:  Brian Goodman

Screenplay:  Marc Frydman

Stars:  Gerard Butler, Jaimie Alexander, Russell Hornsby, Ethan Embry, Michael Irby, Bruce Altman, Dani Deetté, Brian Scannell, David Kallaway, Alphonso A’Qen-Aten Jackson, Brice Anthony Heller and Robert Walker Branchaud 

Tagline:  He’ll stop at nothing to get her back.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Will Spann (Butler) is driving his wife, Lisa (Alexander) to her parents’ house.  Will and Lisa are going through a rough patch.  Although Lisa cheated on Will, he still wants the marriage to work. She wants time to think things through.  When Will stops for gas, Lisa goes in to get some water.

When Lisa doesn’t return, Will looks in and around the gas station, but Lisa is no where to be found.  The man at the register doesn’t remember seeing her.  Will phones the police, but a woman missing for less than an hour isn’t a priority.  When Will discovers that the man at the register lied about security cameras not working, he discovers that Lisa was kidnapped!  But by who?  And why?  What’s worse is that she was last seen alive with Will!

Last Seen Alive has a few things going for it.  Gerald Butler can carry a film and is believable as a desperate husband willing to do whatever it takes to get his wife back.  Russell Hornsby is a welcome addition, as a cop who may not have Will’s best interests at heart. Jaimie Alexander doesn’t have much to do, but she’s good in her role.  The problem is her character’s not real likable.  It’s hard to see why Will is working so hard to keep the marriage together.

Last Seen Alive runs just 96 minutes, but seems longer.  Part 0f that comes from the scenes with Will driving to/from and at Lisa’s parents’ house.  Then there’s a repeat of a scene with Hornsby that plays at the start of the film and again near the end.  Plus the reason Lisa was kidnapped, and set up to be killed gets intermingled with knuckleheads running a meth lab out in the woods and seems overly complicated.

Last Seen Alive isn’t a bad film.  I liked it, but was expecting better.

Last Seen Alive earns 3 of 5 stars.

“The Lodger” (1927) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock / Z-View

Posted on by

The Lodger (1927)

Directors:  Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay:  Eliot Stannard based on The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Stars:  Ivor Novello and Alfred Hitchcock

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

A serial killer who calls himself The Avenger has killed seven blonde haired women.  He strikes late at night and police have few clues.

When a tall handsome stranger rents a room from Mr. and Mrs. Bunting, they think nothing of it… until he begins to display some strange habits.  He asks that the pictures of blonde women in his room be removed.  He quietly leaves his room at night and returns before morning.  And what is in the satchel that he keeps locked in a cabinet?  Could their lodger be The Avenger?

Alfred Hitchcock wanted The Lodger to be his first full sound film, but it ended up being his last silent feature.  The Lodger is also the first film to contain one of Hitchcock’s famous cameos!  The Lodger features some animated title cards and inventive shots (the Lodger pacing the floor seen from below as if the floor became invisible; the Lodger descending a spiral staircase and the only thing we see of him is his hand on the banister as he goes down, etc.).  Hitchcock considers The Lodger his first suspense film.

The Lodger earns 4 of 5 stars.

“The Bunker” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

Posted on by

The Bunker looks like it could be a winner.

Trapped in a bunker during World War I, a group of soldiers are faced with an ungodly presence that slowly turns them against each other. As paranoia and fear grow between them, the men experience the true hell of war.

Directed by: Adrian Langley
Written by: Michael Huntsman
Produced by: James Huntsman, Patrick Rizotti
Cast: Luke Baines (UNDER THE SILVER LAKE), Sean Cullen (Netfilx’s Mindhunter), Roger Clark (Red Dead Redemption II), Julian Feder (A BOY CALLED PO), Kayla Radomski (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD), and Eddie Ramos (TNT’s Animal Kingdom), with theater veteran Patrick Moltane as the volatile “Lieutenant Turner.”