“The Stronghold” (2020) / Z-View

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The Stronghold (2020)

Director: Cédric Jimenez

Writers:  Audrey Diwan, Cédric Jimenez

Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Karim Leklou, François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A three man police strike force is directed by their Captain to clear out the drugs, using whatever means necessary, from one of the most dangerous areas of Marseille.  The gangs there have cordoned off an area so that they control who enters or leaves.  When police attempt to get in, the gangs have notice and the fire power to stand up to them.  Strike Force Team Leader, Greg Cerva (Lellouche) and his team change their methods, sometimes crossing the line of what is legal and get results… until their actions get them arrested.

The Stronghold is almost like two different films in one.  The first 2/3 or so deals with the strike force attempting to clean out the drug stronghold and the last part is them trying to prove they were ordered to bring down the drug dealers by whatever means needed.

The Stronghold gets 4 out of 5 stars.

“Watcher” – The Extended Trailer is Here!

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Last month we got the first trailer for Watcher.  Then I said I thought it looked good.  Today we get the extended trailer and my opinion hasn’t changed.

US Release Date: June 3, 2022
Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman
Directed By: Chloe Okuno
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia – a young actress who just moved to town with her boyfriend – notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street in this terrifying thriller.

“Uncut Gems” (2019) / Z-View

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Uncut Gems  (2019)

Director:  Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

Writers:  Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie

Starring:  Adam Sandler, Julie Fox, Idina Menzel, Keith William Richards, Tommy Kominik, LaKeith Stanfield  and Kevin Garnett.

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Howard Ratner (Sandler) is a big time gems dealer who should be on top of the world.  He has a successful business and a beautiful wife and kids. He brings in enough money to support a lifestyle most can only dream of.  Ratner’s self-destructive behavior has his business on the verge of collapse, his marriage near divorce.  He understands what is happening and yet continues to make the worst possible choices.

Ratner’s a degenerate gambler in debt to bookies and he keeps gambling — hocking items from his store to get enough for the next sure thing.  He’s having an affair, paying for an expensive apartment for a woman he knows loves his lifestyle and not him.  And when Ratner is lucky enough to get a chance to get out from under it all he screws that up… repeatedly.

Adam Sandler is excellent as Howard Ratner, one of the most unlikeable screw-ups in movie history. The problem I had with the film is that Ratner is so despicable, there’s no one to pull for.  He moves from one screw-up that he caused to the next.  That became tiresome as did the screaming and threats.  So for me Uncut Gems gets 2 of 5 stars.

“Rattlesnake”  (2019) / Z-View

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Rattlesnake  (2019)

Director:  Zak Hilditch

Writers:  Zak Hilditch

Starring:  Carmen Ejogo, Theo Rossi  and Appy Pratt.

Tagline:  Time waits for no one.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Katrina Ridgeway (Ejogo) and her little daughter Clara (Pratt) get a flat tire on a deserted desert road.  As Katrina changes the tire, Clara wanders a bit and is bitten by a rattlesnake.  With no cars in sight, and no cell service, Clara is fading fast.  Suddenly Katrina hears music coming from a trailer!

Katrina runs Clara to the trailer where she finds an old woman.  Katrina explains what happened.  The woman says she can help.  She tells Katrina to change the tire. There is a hospital ten minutes away.  As Katrina turns to leave, the woman says, “We can talk about payment later.”  Katrina changes the tire and returns to find the old woman gone.  She rushes Clara to the hospital, but doctors can find no evidence of a snake bite.

The doctor suggests Clara spend the night for observation.  Katrina agrees.  A few minutes later a well dressed man enters the room saying he is there to discuss payment.  Katrina tells him she has insurance. The man cuts her off saying, “What was done for your daughter doesn’t come cheap. Her little soul was spared. And now you owe one in return.”

Katrina Ridgeway, “I’m sorry, I thought you said soul.”

“Ms. Ridgeway, you don’t have long to pay your debt. You only have until sunset, which is now only seven hours away. The soul you take can be any one of your choosing, but it must be human. And it must be paid in full and on time.”

Katrina quickly comes to realize that unless she kills a human within seven hours, her daughter will die!

Carmen Ejogo is the glue that holds Rattlesnake together.  Theo Rossi is so good at being bad.  Rattlesnake is like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone.  My favorite scene is in the hospital where Katrina begins to realize the deal she’s made.  Rattlesnake is one of those films where it’s about the journey and not the destination.

Rattlesnake rates 3 of 5 stars.

DEAD DOGS by Manny Torres / Z-View

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Dead Dogs by Manny Torres

Trade Paperback: ‎ 200 pages
Publisher: Moonshine Cove Publishing, LLC (August 14, 2020)

First sentence…

Phobos sat like a derelict Buddha on top of the broken newspaper machine, dusty, a little greasy, a little crusty around the edges. .

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Phobos and Chuck are buddies living on periphery of civilized society.  They’re the guys we see (or look away from) hanging outside the 7-11 or your local bank if the free coffee is better there.  They’ve chosen this life and move through it partying with friends when times are good and finding a way when times are lean.

Phobos and Chuck are in debt to a local crime boss wannabe.  Boots Tumbler’s empire includes dog fighting, drugs, stolen goods and he’s looking to expand.  Tumbler has Phobos and Chuck cleaning up after dog fights and sometimes the bodies they dispose aren’t canine.  When Tumbler orders Phobos and Chuck to drive a couple of Tumbler’s associates on a cross-country trip, it puts them on a collision course with hired killers looking for their own payback.

Torres takes us into a world few of us would want to live in, yet we know exists not far from where we sit.  Where other writers romanticize life below the poverty line, Torres has us experience it without rose colored glasses.  We see, smell and feel what it means to be Phobos and Chuck.  Neither are heroes in the traditional sense, but we pull for them because they come across as real human beings.  Which, perhaps surprisingly, makes the crazy characters they meet more believable.

I wouldn’t want to live the life of Phobos or Chuck, but I enjoyed riding along with them in the Great White.  Torres has created (or perhaps just expertly described) a world where larger than life personalities look to get ahead no matter the cost to others, while some folks just look to get by.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Phobos and Chuck have future adventures (or we learn about some in their past).  El Alacran is ripe for a tale or two as well!

Dead Dogs rates 4 of 5 stars.

Dead Dogs Trade Paperback

Dead Dogs Kindle

Rating:

“Cryo” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Cryo looks like scary fun.  Don’t ya think?

Sometimes the real nightmare is being awake. Five scientists awake from a cryogenic sleep and find themselves trapped in an underground facility. With no memory of who they are or how long they’ve been asleep, they begin to realize they may have been part of a scientific experiment gone wrong. After a series of strange events, the scientists find themselves being hunted. They do not know who is hunting them or for what reason, but the scientists begin to suspect that one of them may be the killer.

RIP: James Bama

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Last night word began leaking that James Bama had died.  I wanted to wait for a verified source.  Sadly, it is true.  James Bama died yesterday, just 4 days short of his 94th birthday.

James Bama grew up wanting to be a cartoonist.  He had his first professional sale, a drawing of Yankee Stadium, at the age of 15.  After a stint in the service, Mr. Bama began his career as a commercial illustrator.  He created art for paperback covers, movie posters, and magazine illustrations.  James Bama is perhaps most widely known for the 62 paperback covers he did for the Doc Savage series.  Later in his career Mr. Bama became known for his many western paintings.

James Bama was inducted into the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame on June 28, 2000.  He was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall Of Fame at The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards in 2005.

I first became aware of Mr. Bama’s art with his beautiful renditions of the Universal Monsters on the Aurora Monster Model Boxes.  I can remember how much my buddy and I loved the art, often more than the models.  It wasn’t until I was older that I learned Mr. Bama’s name as I saw more and more of his art.  What a wonderful and varied career he had.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to James Bama’s family, friends and fans.

THE BIG BLOWDOWN by George P. Pelecanos / Z-View

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The Big Blowdown by George P. Pelecanos

Trade Paperback: ‎ 314 pages
Publisher: ‎ Minotaur Books; First Edition (first (September 24, 1999)

First sentence…

Pete Karras dreamed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Peter Karras, Joe Recevo, Jimmy Boyle and Perry Angelos are four kids growing up together in Washington, D.C. in the 1930s.  Their lives will separate and then come back together in ways none of them could imagine.  Boyle will become a cop and Angelos an accountant.  Karras and Recevo will become collectors for a loan shark named Burke.

When Burke becomes upset with Karras’ disrespectful attitude and unwillingness to come down hard on some families struggling to repay their high interest loans, Burke orders Recevo to betray Karras.  Recevo sets up his childhood friend and lures him into an alley where another of Burke’s goons is waiting with a baseball bat.  Karras is badly beaten and left to survive or not.

Karras, Recevo and Burke along with Jimmy Boyle and Perry Angelos will cross paths again in bloody confrontation that will leave many of them dead.  Pelecanos creates a story that has layers and substance.  None of his characters are without flaws.  They come across as real people.  The “good” guys don’t always win or survive.  If you’ve read other of Pelecanos’ novels you may recognize some characters which adds to the realism of the universe he’s created.

The Big Blowdown is another winner from George P. Pelecanos.  It rates 4 of 5 stars.

The Big Blowdown Hardcover
The Big Blowdown Trade Paperback

Rating:

“Love and a .45” (1994) / Z-View

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Love and a .45 (1994)

Director:  C.M. Talkington

Writers: C.M. Talkington

Starring:  Gil Bellows, Renée Zellweger, Rory Cochrane, Peter Fonda and Michael Bowen.

Tagline:  In The End There Are Only Two Things That Matter…

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A convenience store thief (he’s got it down to a science) and his fiancé are on the run for Mexico.  Chasing them are cops, two loan sharks and the thief’s crazy ex-crime partner.  Love and a .45 tries hard to be outrageous, hip and cool.  Characters named Watty Watts, Starlene Cheatham, Billy Mack Black, Dinosaur Bob and Creepy Cody give you an idea of what we’re dealing with.  Tarantino Lite.

Renée Zellweger is so young here that she doesn’t look like the movie star she would become.  Rory Cochrane as Billy Mack Black is good.  I saw Love and a .45 years ago and liked it better than my recent viewing, so your mileage may differ.  Love and a .45 gets 2 of 5 stars.

“The Ghoul” (1933) / Z-View

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The Ghoul (1933)

Director:  T. Hayes Hunter

Writers:  Roland Pertwee & John Hastings Turner based on the novel by Frank King and the play by Frank King and Leonard J. HInes / Rupert Downing … adaptation

Starring:  Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson.

Tagline: An Ancient Curse Is About To Be Unleashed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Prof. Henry Morlant (Karloff) is dying.  Morlant believes if he dies holding an ancient sacred jewel stolen from an Egyptian temple, he will be reborn.  Morlant has the jewel wrapped in his hand and warns of harm that will befall any who interfere,  When a thief steals the jewel, Morlant returns from the dead to take his revenge.  Part of the fun for the audience is trying to determine the identity of the thief, but I was just ready for Morlant to kill ’em all.

“The Alligator People” (1959) / Z-View

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The Alligator People (1959)

Director:  Roy Del Ruth

Writers:  Orville H. Hampton (screenplay), Charles O’Neal (story), Robert M. Fresco (uncredited)

Starring:  Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett and Lon Chaney Jr..

Tagline: Her honeymoon turned into a nightmare of horror!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Joyce Webster (Garland) is on her honeymoon with her new husband (Bennett) when he suddenly runs away.  After years of searching the clues lead Joyce to her husband’s family estate on a secluded bayou. (Years of searching?  Wouldn’t her husband’s family be the first place she looked?)

There she meets the one-handed alcoholic Manon (Chaney) and her anti-social mother-in-law.  Manon takes Joyce around the swampy estate which is full of gators.  As Manon shoots gators, he explains years ago one took his hand and he’ll kill any alligator he can.  Joyce also learns that secret experiments are being performed on alligators.  As Joyce pries deeper she learns the horrific reason her husband ran away…

If only The Alligator People was as good as its poster.  As you can tell from the photo below, the special effects are lacking.  Sadly, at this point in his career Lon Chaney, Jr. playing an alcoholic didn’t require much acting.  If you like bad 1950s monster movies, you’ll like this.  Despite the less-than-stellar alligator make-up there are some fun scenes of Garland in peril surrounded by alligators.  There is also a fun fight between Manon with his hook hand and the alligator man.  Unfortunately, the title of the film is misleading, but I guess The Alligator Man doesn’t sound as exciting as The Alligator People.  With that said, The Alligator People earned 2 of 5 stars.

ICE STATION by Matthew J. Reilly / Z-View

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Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Hardcover: ‎ 390 pages
Publisher: St. Martins Press (September 1, 1999)

First sentence…

It had been three hours since they had lost radio contact with the two divers.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a team of American scientists at a remote Antarctic ice station send a radio message that they have discovered a metal ship buried deep in the ice, the race is on.  Military units from several countries are quickly dispatched to claim the discovery.  Lieutenant Shane Schofield and his small team of marines are the US’ closest squad so they are sent to secure the discovery at all costs until reinforcements arrive.

When they arrive at the ice station they discover the three divers who went down to the ship are missing. To make matters worse, a hostile military force is quickly approaching.  Soon Schofield and his team are fighting against military units from two countries, unknown creatures from below and the possibility of a traitor on their team!

If you’re a fan of non-stop action that would tire Indiana Jones, then Ice Station is for you.  Once Reilly gets the ball rolling (and he does quickly), the action never lets up.  Reilly puts in his characters in crazy situations and they survive by skill, wit or luck… that is, if they survive.

I kid you not when I say after reading a Matthew Reilly book, you’ll feel like you’ve been put through the ringer.  But if you’re a fan of non-stop over-the-top action (and from time to time I am), then you cannot go wrong with Ice Station.  It earns 5 of 5 stars.

Ice Station Hardcover

Ice Station Paperback

Ice Station Kindle

Ice Station Mass Market Paperback

Rating:

Reservoir Dogs (1992) / Z-View

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Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Director:  Quentin Tarantino

Writers:  Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

Starring:  Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Kirk Baltz, Edward Bunker and Quentin Tarantino.

Tagline:  Seven Killers, Six Colors and One Perfect Crime.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Six thieves, unknown to each other, are brought together by a crime boss for a jewel heist.  The robbery goes sideways from the start. Both cops, civilians and crooks are killed.  The surviving thieves meet at the rendezvous warehouse and attempt to discover the rat.

Reservoir Dogs is arguably Quentin Tarantino’s finest film.  Well written and directed with a cast up to the task.  Reservoir Dogs earns 5 of 5 stars.