Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
John Rambo by Rich Pellegrino is just one of the pieces in his “Yearbook Photos: Heroes & Villains Round 1” at Gallery 1988. Other pieces include The Terminator, Neo from The Matrix, Prince, Snake Plissken and many others. All of the pieces shown are for sale (if they haven’t already sold). You can see more of Rich Pellegrino’s art at his site.
Johnny Crawford, best known as one of the original Mouseketeers and for his role on The Rifleman, died yesterday at the age of 75. Mr. Crawford had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, COVID-19 and pneumonia, but his cause of death was not specified.
Crawford first rose to fame as one of Walt Disney’s original Mouseketeers. He would then go on to play roles on The Lone Ranger, The Frank Sinatra Show, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Danny Thomas Show, Wagon Train and many other popular television shows before getting his co-starring role on The Rifleman with Chuck Connors. At the age of 13, Johnny Crawford was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for his portrayal of Mark McCain, on The Rifleman. Crawford and Connors developed a friendship that would continue throughout their lives. When The Rifleman ended, Crawford appeared on an episode of Connor’s follow-up series, Branded. Johnny Crawford even spoke at Chuck Connors’ funeral decades later.
Johnny Crawford had a brief career as a singing star. He had four top forty Billboard hits on Del-FI records. Throughout his life Crawford acted in television and feature film roles, and in 1992, he formed the JCO (Johnny Crawford Orchestra) which performed at festivals and special events. Johnny Crawford was an extremely talented individual with a career that spanned over 60 years of performances on stage, television and silver screen.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Johnny Crawford’s family, fans and friends.
Stowaway (2021)
Director: Joe Penna
Screenplay: Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson.
The Pitch: “Let’s update Lifeboat, but do it in space!”
Tagline: Millions of miles from home, survival comes with sacrifice.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
About 12 hours into (and past the point of no return of) a two year mission to Mars, the three person astronaut team discovers a man unconscious and badly bleeding. The accidental stowaway is a launch support engineer who was making last minute preflight checks before liftoff when he was injured. In order to make the journey to Mars, the ship was equipped with just the essentials to ensure the safety of the three astronauts. Now with four on board, the question of survival of all comes into play.
Shamier Anderson is excellent as Michael Anderson, the accidental stowaway. His realization that he is the odd man out on a journey he hasn’t been trained for, nor wanted plays out beautifully though his facial expressions and body language. Toni Collette plays Marina Barnett, the ship’s Captain who will have to make the ultimate decisions about who lives or dies. Daniel Dae Kim is the team’s biologist, David Kim and most pragmatic/logical of the team. Anna Kendrick plays Zoe Levenson, the ship’s doctor and medical researcher.
Initially, they believe that by rationing and conservation of supplies, the trip can be made by four instead of three. Then they discover that their carbon dioxide scrubber isn’t working. They will be pushing it to have enough oxygen for three. Now, faced with decisions that will effect not only the mission, but the lives of every person on board, the four must come to grips with the reality of the situation. Not everyone will survive the journey and as things worsen, the question becomes not of who will survive, but will any of them survive.
Stowaway is well acted and contains excellent special effects. The tension mounts as the movie progresses and presents itself as more of a morality drama then action/adventure. As for me, I liked it and rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
A cool dozen new Army of the Dead character posters just dropped. Yep, that’s one of ’em up above. You can see the rest in all their glory at IMPAwards.com.
If you like creepy, scary movies, then The Night House may be what you’re looking for. I like the poster, trailer and plan to check out The Night House at some point.
THE NIGHT HOUSE follows a widow (Rebecca Hall of THE TOWN) who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.
Richard Cox created the very cool art for The Thing that we see above. Richard’s piece was also featured in JoBlo’s Awesome Art We Found Around the Net. You can also find Richard’s art here and if you ever attend HeroesCon, Richard is a regular. Oh, and he is one of the good guys!
Pierce Brosnan is back and The Misfits have him. They’ve got Tim Roth, too. After seeing the trailer below, they’ll have me at some point as well.
A band of modern-day Robin Hoods known as “The Misfits”, recruit renowned thief Richard Pace (Pierce Brosnan) to help them pull off the heist of the century. The prize: millions in gold bars stashed underneath one of the world’s most secure prisons. Hold on tight for a globe-trotting, action-packed thriller from the Director of Die Hard 2.
Featuring: Pierce Brosnan, Rami Jaber, Hermione Corfield, Jamie Chung, Mike Angelo with Tim Roth and Nick Cannon
The teaser for The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt is here. Sign me up, deal me in.
THE TOMORROW WAR premieres July 2, 2021 globally on Prime Video
In The TOMORROW WAR, the world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.
Directed by Chris McKay
Written by Zach Dean
Produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Jules Daly, David Goyer, Adam Kolbrenner
Executive Produced by Rob Cowan, Chris Pratt, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. FischerStarring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Keith Powers
The poster for American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally is bland, but the trailer presents an interesting story. Al Pacino is a plus. I’ll check it out at some point.
Based on the true story, AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY follows the life of American woman Mildred Gillars (Meadow Williams) and her lawyer (Al Pacino), who struggles to redeem her reputation. Dubbed “Axis Sally” for broadcasting Nazi propaganda to American troops during World War II, Mildred’s story exposes the dark underbelly of the Third Reich’s hate-filled propaganda machine, her eventual capture in Berlin, and subsequent trial for treason against the United States after the war.
Starring: Meadow Williams, Thomas Kretschmann, Al Pacino
Directed by: Michael Polish
Leonardo Paciarotti is a talented illustrator / comic book artist from Valencia, Spain. Paciarotti created the Rocky poster above and the character pics below. Paciarotti must be a true fan of the Rocky universe because these aren’t the only Rocky related pieces he created. You can click on the images below to see them biggie-size and then click over to Leonardo Paciarotti’s Instagram or ArtStation pages to see more of his wonderful art!
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Thanks to Brian Stross for the heads-up.
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These are just two of the original paintings by Hans Woody that are currently on display at Gallery 1988. Other pieces include Nosferatu, Indiana Jones, Matilda from Leon, Captain Hook and Shelly Duvall from The Shining. You can see more of Hans Woody’s art at his Instagram.
“Don’t Let Her In” looks like fun. Check out the trailer below.
When an attractive young couple rent out a room in their spacious loft to an eccentric, beautiful female artist, they soon live to regret it. Slowly but surely, their seductive new tenant invades their minds, their beds, the very fabric of their lives. A sensual supernatural nightmare from writer/director Ted Nicolaou (TERRORVISION, SUBSPECIES, THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS).
Film School Rejects took a look at The 100 Best Movies That Were Not Nominated for Best Picture. They came up with a good list of films that they feel should have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Using their list, I came up with my top nine and one that I added that didn’t make their list, but would have made mine.
I really like Nicolas Gremaud’s riff on First Blood. Everything about this works from the expression on Rambo’s face to the colors to the small motorcycle / police car chase in the lower left. You can see a slightly bigger version here and more of Gremaud’s art at his personal site or his Instagram.
Thanks to Regan Greenard for the heads-up.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story teaser looks wonderful. I think the time is right for a film like this – one that will take us to another time and place filled with great music, dancing and a story of forbidden love. I look forward to seeing Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
Directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner Tony Kushner, “West Side Story” tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City. This reimagining of the beloved musical stars Ansel Elgort (Tony); Rachel Zegler (María); Ariana DeBose (Anita); David Alvarez (Bernardo); Mike Faist (Riff); Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino); Ana Isabelle (Rosalía); Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank); Brian d’Arcy James (Officer Krupke); and Rita Moreno (as Valentina, who owns the corner store in which Tony works). Moreno – one of only three artists to be honored with Academy®, Emmy®, GRAMMY®, Tony® and Peabody Awards – also serves as one of the film’s executive producers.
Bringing together the best of both Broadway and Hollywood, the film’s creative team includes Kushner, who also serves as an executive producer; Tony Award® winner Justin Peck, who choreographed the musical numbers in the film; renowned Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor and GRAMMY Award® winner Gustavo Dudamel, who helmed the recording of the iconic score; Academy Award®-nominated composer and conductor David Newman (“Anastasia”), who arranged the score; Tony Award®-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie”), who supervised the cast on vocals; and Grammy®-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Chicago”), who served as executive music producer for the film. The film is produced by Spielberg, Academy Award®-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and Tony Award®-winning producer Kevin McCollum. “West Side Story” has been adapted for the screen from the original 1957 Broadway show, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and concept, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins.
From 20th Century Studios, The Walt Disney Company will release “West Side Story” in U.S. theaters on December 10, 2021.
