“Movie Maniacs” (1936) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Movie Maniacs (1936)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay: Felix Adler

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

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe go to Hollywood thinking that they’ll become movie stars.  Moe believes he knows what makes a great movie.  When they sneak on to a studio lot, they are mistaken for out of town Studio Executives that were due to arrive.  The boys are given carte blanche to make any changes they want… and boy, do they!

The Three Stooges in charge of a movie studio!  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

It’s fun to see “behind the scenes” of the making of a movie and even better when the Stooges are showing actors how to act.

Movie Maniacs earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Crown Vic” (2019) starring Thomas Jane / Z-View

Crown Vic (2019)

Director:  Joel Souza

Screenplay: Joel Souza

Stars: Thomas Jane, Luke Kleintank, Josh Hopkins, Bridget Moynahan andScottie Thompson

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Ray Mandel (Jane) is a veteran LA cop. Mandel’s seen it all.  Nick Holland (Kleintank) is a naive rookie.  Mandel and Holland are partnered for a night shift.  Over the course of their patrol they will deal with domestic abuse, a car fire, an out of control fellow officer, a kidnapped little girl and more.  As the night wears on, the rookie is shocked to learn how things really work for a police officer upholding the law.  Everything come to a head when Mandel and Holland make a traffic stop on two cop killers…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Thomas Jane has never been better!  He disappears into his role as a cynical divorced cop who knows there’s a difference between the law and justice.

Writer/director Joe Souza has created a film that captures the slow passing of a shift broken up by moments of tension and life-threatening terror.  While some films may have focused totally on the cop killers storyline or the kidnapped little girl, Crown Vic has the events play out as part of the shift.  Thomas Jane’s performance and the ending of Crown Vic took everything up a notch.

Crown Vic earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Cookoo Cavaliers” (1940) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay: Ewart Adamson

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are unsuccessful fish salesmen, so they decide to buy a saloon.  The only (well, first) problem is they bought a salon.  A hair salon in Mexico!  The boys decide that they’d make great hairdressers.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The boys get some laughs trying to sell their smelly old fish.  The real chuckles come when they open their hair salon.  Imagine mani/pedis, mud packs, hair creams and more administered by Larry, Curly and Moe!

Cookoo Cavaliers earns 4 of 5 stars.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) / Z-View

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Director:  Edward Berger

Screenplay: Ian Stokell, Lesley Paterson, Edward Berger based on the novel  All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Paul Bäumer (Krammerer) is about to graduate high school when he and his classmates hear a rousing patriotic speech about joining the service.  Paul and his friends enlist thinking that the war will be over soon and they’ll come back heroes.  They will learn how wrong they are… if they survive.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

All Quiet on the Western Front is based on Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel of the same name.  Written in 1929, it was banned when the Nazis took over Germany.  All Quiet on the Western Front has been adapted three times.  Twice for feature films and once for television.  It’s a timeless story about the harsh realities of war.

This 2022 adaptation is excellent.  It won National Review awards as one of the Top Five Foreign Language Films and for Best Adapted Screenplay.  It won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling as well as Best Visual Effects in the European Film Awards.

All Quiet on the Western Front contains powerful, tense scenes of war that are heightened by quiet moments before and after the carnage.  There are scenes that will stay with you.  For me, one of the most telling is when the new recruits are unknowingly given uniforms taken off dead soldiers.  The bullet holes having been sewn together by scores of women at sewing machines.

It’s also a sad comment when young soldiers on both sides are in the elements with little to eat, fighting the weather as well as each other. Meanwhile diplomats and high ranking soldiers are getting the best food and amenities as they argue the terms of surrender.  Then when an agreement to end the war at 11:00 is reached, one power-hungry commander orders his soldiers to make a last minute attack that will cost many, many lives but have no positive outcome to the war.

If I was to nitpick, I might say that All Quiet on the Western Front was a bit long, but not long enough to kill my enjoyment of it.

All Quiet on the Western Front earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Punch Drunks” (1934) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Punch Drunks (1934)

Director:  Lou Breslow

Screenplay: Jack Cluett, story by Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Jerry Howard

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard and Dorothy Granger

Tagline:  A Columbia 2 Reel Broadway Comedy

The Plot…

Moe discovers that any time Curly hears “Pop Goes the Weasel” he gains super strength and becomes violent.  With Larry on the violin and Moe as fight manager, Curly becomes a professional boxer known as K.O. Stradivarius.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Punch Drunks contains several firsts…

  • Punch Drunks is the first and only Three Stooges film selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
  • It contains the first time Curly exclaims his famous “Woo-woo-woo!”
  • Punch Drunks also features the first time Curly used his catch-phrase he’s a “victim of soycumstance!”
  • It is the first time Larry plays the violin (which he would go on to do in 8 other shorts)
  • Punch Drunks contains an obscene gesture – during introductions for the fight, an audience member can be seen “shooting a bird”

Punch Drunks is one of the Three Stooges most beloved shorts.  Punch Drunks contains funny gags, but it doesn’t resonate with me as well as some of their other shorts.  I like Punch Drunks, but feel it lags a bit when Larry has his two “running” scenes. I expected more laughs from Curly’s big fight. I think Punch Drunks is good, but most folks feel it is one of the boys’ best.  Your mileage may vary.

Punch Drunks earns 3 of 5 stars.

“The Price We Pay” starring Emile Hirsh & Stephen Dorff – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

The Price We Pay trailer looked like a typical crime movie until, well, check it out and see for yourself.  I like crime and I like horror.  Deal me in.

From the director of Midnight Meat Train comes this gripping thriller starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Stephen Dorff (Blade). After an intense holdup at a pawnshop, Grace is taken hostage by the thieves. Forced to take refuge at a remote farmhouse late at night, they discover a secret dungeon with evidence of sadistic violence—and when “Grandfather” comes home, all hell breaks loose. Can Grace muster the courage to escape the gut-wrenching fates that befall her criminal companions?

The Price We Pay – in select theaters, on digital and on demand 1/13/23! Starring Stephen Dorff (Cody), Emile Hirsch (Alex), Gigi Zumbado (Grace), Tyler Sanders (Danny), Erika Ervin (Jodi), Jesse Kinser (John), Sabina Mach (Carly), and Vernon Wells (The Doctor).

“Little Dixie” starring Frank Grillo & Eric Dane – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

I’m a Frank Grillo and Eric Dane fan.  The two of them in a gritty crime film has my attention and it’s directed at Little Dixie.  Deal me in.

Frank Grillo (The Purge franchise) and Eric Dane (Euphoria) star in this action-packed revenge thriller. When a deal goes wrong between a corrupt Governor and a ruthless drug lord, ex-Special Forces Operative Doc (Grillo) is caught in the crosshairs. Now, with his family in danger, Doc must take down the Mexican drug cartel and do whatever it takes to protect the one good thing in his life – his young daughter, “Little Dixie”.

Featuring: Frank Grillo, Eric Dane, Beau Knapp, Annabeth Gish, Peter Greene, Thomas Dekker, Mercedes Mason, Maurice Compte

EERIE ARCHIVES VOLUME 2 is Coming!

Eerie Archives Volume 2 is available for pre-order now.  Here’s the lowdown…

A gruesome gold mine of horror, suspense, and the supernatural, Eerie magazine (and its partner in crime, Creepy), set the bar for gripping tales of terror in the comics medium.

Collecting the groundbreaking series, Eerie Archives is now available in a value-priced paperback edition. Under a jaw-dropping cover painting by Frank Frazetta lies a collection of chilling tales written by comics legend Archie Goodwin and illustrated by a murderer’s row of top talents including Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Neal Adams, Gray Morrow, Johnny Craig, Dan Adkins, and more.

Collects Eerie magazine #6–#10.

  Deal me in.  Pre-Orders are available now.

Eerie Archives Volume 2

EERIE ARCHIVES VOLUME 1 is Coming!

Hey!  If you were excited to learn that Dark Horse is republishing Creepy magazine in a trade paperback format, you’re going to love to know that Eerie is also getting the same treatment!

Now available in an affordable paperback format, Eerie Archives Volume 1 features some of the most acclaimed works of horror, murder, and the macabre in the history of graphic fiction.

Eerie, like its killer kin Creepy, features work from many of the grandmasters of comics storytelling, including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Gray Morrow, Alex Toth, Steve Ditko, and others and stories by the legendary Archie Goodwin.

Features the ultra-rare Eerie #1, for which only 200 “ashcan” copies were originally printed!

Collects Eerie magazine #1–#5.

  Deal me in.  Pre-Orders are available now.

Eerie Archives Volume 1

“Half Shot Shooters” (1936) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Half Shot Shooters (1936)

Director:  Jack White

Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Stanley Blystone and Vernon Dent

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

As the last battle of World War I rages, Sgt. MacGillicuddy (Blystone) finds the Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curly) sleeping.  When the war ends, the Sarge gives the boys a beating for being cowards.  After the Stooges are discharged they see Sgt. MacGillicuddy on the street.  They thank him and show the medals they received for being wounded in action!  Moe, Larry and Curly then give the Sarge a taste of his own medicine.

17 years later… The boys are tricked into re-enlisting!  Want to guess who their commanding Sargent will be?  Yep, good ole Sgt. MacGillicuddy.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Half Shot Shooters is one of the most violent of all the Stooges shorts.  Usually we get eye-pokes, punches, slaps and the like, but no real damage is shown.  In this one Moe gets a broken arm, the boys are made deaf by the Sargent and it ends with the Stooges being killed!  Of course, the violence is not graphic but at the time was considered too intense for kids.  Half Shot Shooters was actually banned in Holland!

Half Shot Shooters marks the first appearance of Vernon Dent.  Dent would go one to appear in 60 Stooges’ shorts!

Half Shot Shooters earns 3 of 5 stars.

RIP: Stephen “tWitch” Boss

Stephen “tWitch” Boss died yesterday the result of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.  He was 40.

Stephen Boss was a dancer, choreographer, actor, television producer, and dj.  Mr. Boss got the nickname “tWitch” when he was a child and couldn’t sit still.  After graduating high school, “tWitch” studied Dance Performance at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, Alabama, and Chapman University.

2003 was the year that Stephen Boss began to be noticed.  He was a semifinalist on MTV’s The Wade Robson Project and runner-up on Star Search.  Mr. Boss began to choreograph dance routines for other artists.

“tWitch” was on So You Think You Can Dance in 2007, but was cut before reaching the Top 20.  He returned in 2008 and was the runner up.  A dance choreographed by Mia Michaels that “tWitch” performed with Katee Shean that season was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Choreography.  “tWitch” and Katee Shean were brought back the following season to perform the Emmy nominated dance again.  So You Think You Can Dance invited “tWitch” back in seasons 7 – 9 as an All Star dancer.  In Season 12 he was named as the “Captain” of “Team Street”.  In Season 22, Mr. Boss was named as a permanent judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

Stephen Boss’ dancing ability and charismatic personality brought him to the attention of Hollywood.  His first role was in Blades of Glory.  Mr. Boss would go on to have a career as an actor in both television and feature films.

Some of Mr. Boss’ feature film appearances include: Blades of Glory; Hairspray (2007); Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming; Step Up 3D; Dead in 5 Heartbeats; Step Up All In; Magic Mike XXL and Ghostbusters (2016);

Some of Mr. Boss’ television appearances include: Bones; Touch; Drop Dead Diva (2 episodes); Famous in Love (2 episodes); Modern Family and The Ellen DeGeneres Show (101 episodes; in 2020, Ellen DeGeneres named Twitch a Co-Executive Producer).

I first became aware of Stephen “tWitch” Boss from his appearances on So You Think You Can Dance.  He was the total package: charismatic, talented, humble and always upbeat.  I enjoyed seeing his success as he repeatedly returned to So You Think You Can Dance.  It was even nicer to see “tWitch” getting roles in movies and television.  He was the type of celebrity that I felt would be easy to sit and talk with.  It’s heartbreaking to think that he’s gone.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Stephen “tWitch” Boss’ family, friends and fans.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

“Cash and Carry” (1937) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Cash and Carry (1937)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman, Elwood Ullman from a story by Clyde Bruckman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard and Sonny Bupp

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

The boys (Moe, Larry and Curly) return to their shack in the dump only to find a young boy inside doing his homework.  Moe tells the boy to leave.  The little fellow says he’s sorry and starts to pack his school work.  The Stooges see the boy is wearing a leg brace.  The boy’s older sister says, that they didn’t think anyone lived in the shack.  She’s saving her money to get her brother an operation to fix his leg.  They tell the girl and boy they can stay.

The Stooges then head out to raise $500 for the operation.  They buy a “treasure map” from a couple of shysters. The map leads the boys to a deserted house next to the US Treasury.  Curly finds an “X” marked on a wall… What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Cash and Carry is one of the most sentimental of all the Stooges’ shorts.  If a handicapped, polite little orphan who needs a leg surgery doesn’t tug your heart strings, you may be missing a ticker.  Having a cameo by President Roosevelt is a nice touch.  ; )

Cash and Carry earns 4 of 5 stars.