“The Ruins” (2008) / Z-View

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“The Ruins” (2008)
Director: Carter Smith
Screenplay: Scott B. Smith
Stars: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson and Sergio Calderón.
The Pitch: I was all set to go with “Hostel” meets “Little Shoppe of Horrors” without the comedy. Then I read Jeremy Butler’s pitch [at Chud.com] of “It’s ‘Hostel’ meets ‘Day of the Triffids’” and liked his better.
The Overview: Two young American on vacation meet a stranger who tells them about a little-known Mayan temple. The five of them decide to go out and take a look. Once there, bad things begin to happen. Very bad things.The Good:

  • The acting.
  • The cast was made up of relative unkowns so it was possible that any of them could be killed at any point.
  • The screenplay by Scott B. Smith based upon his novel of the same name [and which he changed up for the big screen].
  • The fact that you believed what was happening.
  • That each of the bad things that happens to the characters basically stems from them trying to do a good thing or at least the right thing.
  • That the movie takes you in one direction and suddenly you’re going in another and it works.
  • You care about the characters.

The Bad: What happens when you’re trapped on the top of an ancient ruin by unfriendly locals and something much, much worse.

The Ugly:

“He won’t last much longer like this. We’re gonna have to cut them off.”

“Cut what off?”

“His legs.”

The Summary: I love a good scary movie. I’m not much for gore. “The Ruins” is scary and contains gore. Some very gory scenes in fact. Despite the gore, I loved “The Ruins.”  I’d recommend it to anyone who likes horror movies and doesn’t mind being a bit grossed out.

Baker Shut Out

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Quick, name a person famous for doing special effects make-up. I’ll bet your answer [if you had one] was Rick Baker. That’s because Rick Baker is a genius… a legend.

Look at his list of credits and you can see that Rick Baker is the go-to guy for special effects make-up. He’s won 6 Academy Awards for his work in this area. But that’s just the tip of the ice berg. Baker has earned so many honors for his work that the list is, as they say, longer than your arm… unless of course you’re Lurch and then it’s just as long.

So… can you imagine that Rick Baker would be hired on to do the effects for a movie and then not only be shut out of the process, but treated with disrespect? In an interview with Capone at Ain’t It Cool News, Baker said, “They would shoot scenes using my work when I wasn’t even there… Other times when I was there if I try to look at the monitor, someone would literally stand in my way and block it.” Baker also spoke to MTV about his displeasure.

I had high hopes for “The Wolf Man.” Perhaps the movie will still be good, but I don’t see how I’ll be able to watch it without wondering how much better it could have been had they allowed Rick Baker to completely work his magic.

Robert B. Parker’s Resolution

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The Pitch: Themes from Robert B. Parker’s Spenser written as a western.

The Good: Robert B. Parker‘s writing. It‘s sparse and conversational, but I really like it. The verbal interplay between Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole. How Hitch becomes the town “protector.” What happens when the person you sided with turns out to be the “bad guy.” Cole‘s reputation as a gunfighter. “Sometimes you got to kill one person early, to save killing four or five later.” When Cato and Rose ride in. Major Lujack and his twenty versus Everett, Virgil, Cato and Rose.

The Bad: Virgil Cole‘s love for Allie.

The Ugly: What happens to someone blasted with an eight-gauge shotgun.

The Summary: Resolution is a direct sequel to Appaloosa. It’s Parker’s third western. His first was Gunman’s Rhapsody which took a look at the events involving Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clantons and an incident at the OK Corral. You may have heard something of it. At any rate, all three books get my recommendation. [And you really should read Appaloosa before Resolution!]

Isolated Incidents

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My buddy, Raf, is constantly busy. If he’s not training a group of soldiers martial arts, choreographing knife fights for movies, doing conceptual drawings for films or Broadway, working on comic book pages for publication, then he’s probably drawing something for his own entertainment.

Quite often Raf will sketch while listening to music, watching tv or whatever. As the mood strikes him, he will file away a piece and begin working on another — only to return to the first piece later. Working this way has led to some pieces that are truly amazing in their detail. Just as wonderful are some of Raf’s quick sketches — you can see in just a few lines that everything is there. I’ve been fortunate over the years to watch Raf creating and the number of drawings that he’s completed is astounding.

Thankfully, Raf has decided to start publishing the best of these drawings in “Isolated Incidents: The Art of Rafael Kayanan” books. “Volume I” is available now and you can read more about it here. I ordered mine the day I saw it was available. You should too.

The Kingdom Worth a Visit

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The Pitch: An American FBI unit is begrudgingly sent to Saudi Arabia with limited time and resources to find out who was behind a devastating bombing attack on American civilians.

The Good: The opening credits which through voice-over and animated timeline give us a brief, but entertaining history of Saudi Arabia. Peter Berg’s direction. Jason Bateman is surprisingly good — I didn’t realize he could be a tough guy. The kidnapping / shootout / rescue scenes will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Bad: What happens if you’re even suspected of a crime in the Saudi military.

The Ugly: What eventually happens to most bomb makers.

The Summary: “The Kingdom” doesn’t, pardon the expression, blast out of the shoot. It takes it’s time to tell the story, but once the kidnapping takes place things really move. I enjoyed it.

London After Midnight Found?

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Harry, over at AICN has posted that a print of “London After Midnight” has been found. Long thought to be a lost film, “London After Midnight” starred Lon Chaney and was directed by Todd “Freaks” Browning.

To horror fans and film buffs finding a copy of this film would be like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail. This isn’t the first time it’s been reported that a copy has been found, but according to Harry’s sources, this could be the real deal.

I hope that this pans out and that the film is restored and given a theatrical revival before hitting dvd. You can bet that I’ll follow the story and report any news here.

If You Love Crime Fiction

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Darwyn Cooke has just announced that he’ll be adapting Richard Stark’s “Parker” crime series into graphic novels.

Man-oh-man-oh-man! Talk about great news! How can it get any better than the combination of one of my favorite artists [with a love for the crime genre] adapting one of the most iconic characters in crime fiction?

You can read more about the pairing of Cooke and Parker here and here.

Brubaker’s Angel of Death [2008]

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I’m a fan of Ed Brubaker’s crime fiction so I was glad to hear that he has a new live-action crime series called “Angel of Death” set to premiere in 2009. Zoe Bell, best known for her work in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof” will star as an assassin who, after suffering a severe head wound, becomes so haunted by her victims that she decides to go after the crime family that ordered the hits. What makes this weekly series unique is that each episode will be eight to ten minutes in length and air on-line!You can read the full story here.

By the way, Sean Phillips, who teamed with Brubaker for Sleeper and Criminal did the promo art above.

American Flagg Returns

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Howard Chaykin says he’ll believe it when he sees it. The “it” is the release of the first hardcover collection of Chaykin’s critically acclaimed “American Flagg” series. Initially announced over four years ago [I was talking it up back in January of ’04], the series was delayed in order to make the hardcovers the best that they could possibly be.

If you’re a comics fan and you’ve never read Chaykin’s “American Flagg” here’s your chance to jump on board. If you’re already a fan, then head down to your local comic shop or click here. And if you’re still not convinced that “American Flagg” is for you, then check out this interview with Howard Chaykin and see what you think.

You Just Might Get It!

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Today we have a short clip that you have to see to believe. It’s from an old wrestling match that paired Terry Funk with Cactus Jack aka Mick Foley against some mugs that they’d beaten. Funk and Jack decide that their opponents need a little more hurt and so they ask for some chairs from the crowd. Big Mistake!

You can see that Funk and Foley, er, Cactus Jack are shocked at the number of chairs being hurtled into the ring. They move to opposite corners and begin to yell/signal for fans to stop. At just before the 1:30 mark a chair grazes Funk and he stays in character. Too funny!

Watch it here and remember, be careful what you ask for…

Remembering Estelle Getty

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Estelle Getty, best known as the wise-cracking mother on “The Golden Girls” died today , just two days short of her 85th birthday. Getty’s story is an interesting one. She was born in 1923, and wanted to make it as an actress. Getty struggled trying to get roles and working office jobs to make ends meet.In 1985 she auditioned for the role of Bea Arthur’s mother in the just-being-cast tv series “The Golden Girls.” Everyone knew that if Estelle got the role, it would sorely test her acting skills since Bea Arthur was actually a year older than her. Estelle was brought back to audtion three different times since the producers weren’t sure that Estelle was convincing enough as an 80 year old. Eventually, she was awarded the role, and the rest is, as they say, history. “The Golden Girls” ran for seven years and Estelle was perfect as the fiesty oldest of the quartet.Her popularity in “The Golden Girls,” led to other roles, most notably as mothers to Sylvester Stallone [“Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!”], Cher [“Mask”] and even Barry Manilow in the tv movie “Copacabana.” Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and fans.


Craig’s "Dark Knight" Review

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The Pitch: Batman done right.

The Overview: Batman has been fighting crime for a year. He’s formed an uneasy alliance with police Lieutenant James Gordon and together they have made the streets of Gotham a bit safer. Harvey Dent, the charismatic and popular district attorney, with the aide of attorney Rachael Dawes [Bruce Wayne’s ex] are putting away criminals through the courts. Together the four [Batman, Gordon, Dent and Dawes] have created a one-two punch taking on organized crime in Gotham.

Without warning and with no explanation, a criminal psychopath who calls himself the Joker appears on the scene and begins to terrorize the city. Batman, Gordon and Dent will have to pay a terrible toll if they are to have even a chance at stopping the Joker.

The Good:

  • Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is amazing from every little tic and nod to the perfect inflection with his dialogue. Ledger understood that the Joker isn’t a clown, but instead a psycho with face paint.
  • The screenplay by Jonathon and Christopher Nolan provides great action sequences, spot on characterization and grounds everything in reality.
  • Christopher Nolan’s direction.
  • The city of Gotham. This is the first time in any Batman movie that the city seemed real.
  • The dinner scene with Bruce, his date, Rachael and Harvey. Bruce went in not wanting to like Harvey, but comes to realize he is a decent man and leaves respecting him.
  • The use of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
  • Every scene with Heath Ledger as the Joker.
  • Bringing back Cillian Murphy for one scene as the Scarecrow.
  • The use of the right actors for small but important roles: Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni, William Fichtner as the bank manager, “Tiny” Tim Lester as a convict. Anthony Michael Hall, Jai White and Nestor Carbonell also appear.
  • Gary Oldman is perfect in his role as Gordon.
  • The effects for Harvey Dent as Two-Face. The way the coin toss; Two-Face name, and new look of his outfit is all worked out for the movie.
  • The Joker telling Batman the opposite locations for the rescure of Rachael and Harvey. The Joker’s scene with the criminal bosses, the Joker being “questioned” by the Batman, the Joker visiting Harvey in the hospital and then the scene right after when he walks out of the hospital. So much of the movie is just plain good. Oh, and did I mention that Heath Ledger ruled in his role as the Joker?


The Bad: I’m not sure Maggie Gyllenhaal was the best person to play Rachael and I still don’t like the look of Batman’s cowl, but with so much to like about the movie, let’s just move on, ok?

The Ugly: What happens to Harvey Dent.

The Summary: I’m a Batman fan. No prior Batman movie had given me a Batman that totally worked… not even Nolan and Bale’s “Batman Begins.” “The Dark Knight” works. It works because the movie is grounded and the characters are treated with respect. Excellent choices were made all the way around. Heath Ledger’s performance is amazing and gives the movie an additional boost. I look forward to having “The Dark Knight” in my dvd collection.