Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Samantha Olthof at Film School Rejects takes us through Shot by Shot with the Rambo: Last Blood Trailer. I did catch something I missed in the trailer – Rambo coming up out of the ground during the attack on his property. Check and out and see if there’s anything you missed.
Jack Giroux at /Film has an interesting interview with John Wick 3 director, Chad Stahelski. It’s worth a read and here are a couple of tidbits to whet your appetite before you click over…
They call it the curse of the sequel. They love the first movie because it’s original, but by its very nature, the sequel can’t be original in the same way as the first one is because it’s a sequel [Laughs]. So how do you become original, how do you keep the audience invested in what they love and at the same time, show them something new? They want to see it again, but they don’t want you to repeat exactly.
Same with backstory. Halle [Berry] can look at John with the anger, the love, and the look and stoicism and still agree to help, and that should tell you there’s something there. I don’t need her to say, “I love you. We were together for five years.” If you’ve gotta say that, you got the wrong cast or you’ve gotta drop the writers.
Click over and get your John Wick 3 fix!
John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019)
Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad and Shay Hatten and Chris Collins & Marc Abrams from a story by Derek Kolstad
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston.
The Pitch: “It’s time for the sequel”
Tagline: “Tick Tock, Mr. Wick”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
John Wick [Reeves] is on the run after killing a member of the High Table on neutral ground. With a $14 million bounty on his head, there’s danger at every turn. Wick has a plan, but for it to work, he’ll have to fight his way out of the city and to the one person who can provide a possible option for his life. The odds are against any of it working, but then again, this is John Wick we’re talking about.
The John Wick series is the best movie franchise in years. Each new chapter (film) really feels like an extension of the previous films. In other franchises each film often feels like a step up or slightly different world. John Wick 3 raises the bar for action and provides a broader view of Wick’s world. The new cast members (Berry, Dacascos and Dillon) are perfectly cast.
If you liked John Wick 1 and 2, you’ll dig Chapter 3. They’ve already set a release date for John Wick 4 and that’s May 21, 2021.
Rating:
It’s no secret that Marshall Rogers was (and remains) one of the best Batman artists ever. What may be a secret is that Black, White and Bronze recently posted a Marshall Rogers Batman Gallery that is worth a look.
My buddy, Andy Smith has been a working professional artist for over 25 years. He’s worked for all the major companies and equally impressive; Andy has been the author and artist on several “how-to” books on drawing super-heroes and comics.
Andy’s latest book is on Kickstarter and is titled, Dynamic Hero Templates. The 48 page book is 11″ x 8.5″ in a landscape format. It features 8 varying male physiques so there’s a variety of body shapes to use to design your characters.
Andy created Dynamic Hero Templates for all ages and skill levels. He also priced the book at $10 which is not only affordable but less than the $12.95 price point after his Kickstarter ends. If you missed out on Andy’s earlier books or are a fan of his art, there are addition levels of support that will get you exactly what you crave. Dynamic Hero Templates also would make an excellent gift!
Tim Grierson & Will Leitch and Vulture.com present The 50 Best Sports Movies of All Time. I’m happy to report that Creed came in at #28 and Rocky at #3.
The list is a good one, but I’d have included The Set-up, Requiem for a Heavyweight and a couple more from the Rocky series and Paradise Alley. (Would you expect any less?)
Here’s what Grierson and Leitch said about Rocky and Creed:
28. Creed (2015)
The Rocky series had run out of gas several times by the time Ryan Coogler got together with his Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan to inject the whole franchise with adrenaline and soul … and even liven up old Rock himself in the process. The best scenes of Creed aren’t even about boxing at all, as we see young Adonis Creed struggle with his identity, his purpose in life, and the power of his feelings for a young, hearing-impaired musician (played wonderfully by Tessa Thompson). Putting Rocky Balboa in the Paulie role is a brilliant idea, and the relationship between the young boxer and his trainer works … and even manages to transcend the whole 40-year-old enterprise.
3. Rocky (1976)
Roger Ebert famously wrote, in his initial review of Rocky, that Sylvester Stallone reminded him of a young Brando, and while that classification hasn’t, uh, aged so well, you can understand what he was thinking. Before all the sequels, before the montage sequences, before Stallone became a muscled, chiseled ode to misguided masculinity, he was just a guy who wanted to tell a story about a past-his-prime palooka who met a girl and then suddenly finally got his chance at the big time. This is a big hokey underdog story, but it’s told with a grit and realism that matches the era; Rocky’s just a good-hearted schmo from the neighborhood who doesn’t have the stomach to break thumbs for the mob but isn’t sure what else the world has for him either. But he’s got heart, kid. This series is more than 40 years old now, but, as Creed showed, this story remains eternal. It’s probably going to outlive us all. Even Stallone.
Leon Redbone, the singer-songwriter known for his sense of humor and songs performed in the musical styles of the 1920’s has died at the age of 69.
Redbone’s website announced his passing with the following…
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th, 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127. He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat. He’s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence, and has plans for a rousing sing along number with Sári Barabás. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, ‘Oh behave yourselves. Thank you…. and good evening everybody.’”
I first became aware of Leon Redbone from his performance on Saturday Night Live. I loved that he was so willing to do his own thing in a style no one else (at least to my knowledge) was doing. Redbone went on to create albums, provide songs for movies and do voice work for movies and television.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.
The poster and trailer for Rambo: Last Blood are here.
Check ’em out and let me know what you think. As for me, I like what we’re seeing today and have been seeing on Sly’s Instagram. Rambo: Last Blood seems like a natural progression from the previous Rambo movies. I can’t wait for September 20th.
The page above comes from Empire created by Samuel Delaney and Howard Chaykin in 1978. Empire was a nearly 100 page graphic novel. I bought my copy at Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum and can remember my excitement reading it. I haven’t read Empire in years and wonder how it would hold up.
The 47 Meters Down: Uncaged poster and trailer are here. Stallone fans should note that Sistine Stallone is one of the stars of the movie.
I really like Liam Sharp’s The Lycan shown above. You can see much larger versions (pen & ink plus the color) at Comics (Most of the Time).
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 27 Things We Learned from Brian Helgeland’s ‘Payback’ Commentary. But first some background…
Payback is one of the very rare films that has more than one version available. Brian Helgeland was fired from the film when he refused to make changes ordered by the studio. The studio then ordered additional scenes changing the tone and ending of the film. That version was released to great success both theatrically and on video/dvd. And thanks to the video/dvd market, Helgeland was able to have his version released and it was also successful. I have both versions in my collection and like both.
With all that said, here are my three favorites from Helgeland’s commentary:
12. He was in post-production on this film the night of the Academy Awards, and having been nominated for his L.A. Confidential (1997) script he really hoped he would be named the winner. “I knew that they were getting close to finally removing me off this movie,” and he thought winning the Oscar would mean they couldn’t fire him. He won, Sean Connery tussled his hair backstage while congratulating him, and that was his Sunday night. “And on Tuesday I got fired. So much for the magic of an Academy Award.”
13. Walter Matthau handed him his Oscar. Matthau starred in Charley Varrick (1973). The restaurant scene at 32:53 was filmed in a place called Varricks.
17. An early teaser strung together the film’s funnier scenes, and both audiences and the studio responded favorably. He protested and was told by the marketing department that “what it is is one thing, and selling it is another thing.” The studio clearly wished the movie “was more like our trailer, and I didn’t know it at first but it became this struggle for what the heart of the movie was about.” Re-shoots began leaning heavily toward the teaser’s tone, and the writing was on the wall.
Ken Meyer, Jr. presents a monthly column called Ink Stains. In the column Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts a fanzine from his collection. Here’s Ken…
I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!
In Ink Stains 114, Ken shares with us Gaslite #10 which is a fantastic fanzine. Gaslite #10 is filled to the rim with talent and features a cover by R. Crumb, Jack Kirby art and interview, a Dick Giordano interview, Frank Frazetta sketch, Klaus Janson spot illo, Neal Adams art and interview, Kirby and Dan Adkins full-pager, Bill Gaines interview, Vaughn Bode art and interview, Isaac Asimov interview, Gil Kane backpiece and more.
As always, thanks to Ken for bringing back great memories of fandom!
