15 Fun Facts About “Crocodile Dundee”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 15 Fun Facts About Crocodile Dundee.  Here are three of my favorites…

4. ONE OF THE WRITERS DIDN’T THINK THE “KNIFE” LINE WAS VERY FUNNY.
“It wasn’t funny on paper,” Shadie admitted about the line “That’s not a knife.” The quote was a collaboration between the three writers, and it became one of the movie’s most memorable scenes.

11. 20TH CENTURY FOX (RUDELY) SAID “NO” TO ACQUIRING THE AMERICAN RIGHTS.
John Cornell showed the movie to a 20th Century Fox executive while he was in Hollywood trying to sell it. ”There was some idiot who sat with his feet on the desk and watched it for about 20 minutes, looked at this watch about eight times and told me that it wouldn’t work,” Cornell remembered. ”He was extremely rude. I sometimes get pleasure from thinking about what the look is like on his face at a time like this.” Paramount ended up acquiring the rights.

15. HOGAN AND KOZLOWSKI GOT MARRIED IN REAL LIFE.
They wed in 1990 and had a son, Chance. Kozlowski filed for divorce in 2013.

39 Things We Learned from Bill Paxton’s “Frailty” Commentary

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Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 39 Things We Learned from Bill Paxton’s Frailty Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

8. He made the film for multiple viewings. “The first time you sit through Frailty you get pulled into the story kind of subjectively, and there’s this whole kind of creep factor. But on your second viewing there’s a lot of satisfaction as there are a lot of clues laid out in front of the viewer.”

35. The script originally showed the visions — each demons sins — at the time of their abduction/murder, but James Cameron watched an early cut and suggested they shift them all to the end. “He said ‘You gotta remember film is so literal that you’re going to split the audience, and a lot of them are gonna believe that dad really is seeing all this stuff, and you don’t want that to happen because you want them to go with Fenton.’”

36. Why is the ax called Otis? One, he wanted audiences to know that the ax adult Adam uses in the end is the same one his dad used, “so I wanted to mark it some way.” And two, giving it a name anthropomorphizes it and makes it a character of sorts.

11 Nifty Little Visual Details You Never Notices in “Star Trek”

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Me-TV presents 11 Nifty Little Visual Details You Never Notices in Star Trek.  Here are three of my favorites…

THE KLINGON’S BELT BUCKLES ARE BUBBLE WRAP.
Yep, that’s just gold-painted bubble wrap. That’s not so strange. Batman’s utility belt was once made out of sponges.

D-DAY HERO JAMES DOOHAN WAS MISSING HIS RIGHT MIDDLE FINGER.

Doohan served in the Canadian Infantry in World War II, landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. After taking down two snipers and holding position on higher ground for the evening, he was hit by six rounds of friendly fire, including one in his right hand. His finger was amputated. As an actor, he tried to conceal this, but you can spot his war wound here and there, like when Scotty carries a platter of Tribbles.

KIRK AND SPOCK VISITED MAYBERRY A COUPLE TIMES.

As it was a Desilu production, Star Trek often shot outdoors on the studio’s Forty Acres backlot, also home of The Andy Griffith Show. Thus, you can spot the familiar landmarks of Mayberry in “Miri,” “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Return of the Archons” and “A Piece of the Action” — but Mayberry can best be seen in the first two.

 

11 Still-Great Mel Gibson Films That Never Fail to Entertain

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Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects posted 11 Still-Great Mel Gibson Films That Never Fail to Entertain.  Hunter focused on Gibson in starring roles eliminating movies like Expendables 3 which, as you probably guessed, I thoroughly enjoyed.  Surprisingly, Braveheart didn’t make Hunter’s list.

So, using just the films selected by Hunter, here are my top three Mel Gibson films…

  • Lethal Weapon 
  • The Road Warrior
  • The Patriot

Man, it was tough not including Payback.  And I’ve yet to see Blood Father (and have a strong suspicion that it will be right up there once I do.  What’s really crazy is I’ve owned the blu-ray since last October!)

RIP – Bill Paxton

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Bill Paxton died today from complications from surgery.  Mr. Paxton was just 61.

I first took notice of Bill Paxton in his role as Chet in Weird Science.  Not long after that I realized that I’d seen Paxton in small but memorable roles in Streets of Fire and The Terminator.  Paxton followed Weird Science with a small role in Commando.  He then landed his breakout role as Private Hudson in Aliens.

Paxton went on to a have a career that spanned over 40 years appearing tv shows and movies.  A few of my favorite Bill Paxton performances include:

  • Weird Science – Chet
  • Aliens – Private Hudson
  • Near Dark – Severen
  • Tombstone – Morgan Earp
  • True Lies – Simon
  • Twister – Bill
  • A Simple Plan – Hank
  • Frailty – Dad Meiks

Paxton also appeared in Miami Vice, Next of Kin, Navy Seals, Predator 2, One False Move, Trespass, Apollo 13, Titanic, Mighty Joe Young, U-571, Spy Kids 2 & 3, Frasier and so many other shows and movies.  He was currently starring in the tv series Training Day.  Anything Mr. Paxton appeared in, he made better.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bill Paxton’s family, friends and fans.

Child 44 (The Child 44 Trilogy) by Tom Rob Smith

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Child 44 (The Child 44 Trilogy) by Tom Rob Smith

First sentence…

Since Maria had decided to die her cat would have to fend for itself.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

1953.  Soviet Russia. Leo Demidov, a young decorated war hero, now an idealistic security officer, is beginning to see the hypocrisy of the Soviet government.  Because all are equal there will be no crime.  Murder, especially is a symptom of Western corruption.  Soviet murderers like all criminals must be mentally ill.

When Leo looks into the case of a boy supposedly killed when struck by a train, he discovers the boy may have been murdered by a serial killer of children.  Told to back off, Leo refuses and finds himself at odds with not only his fellow officers but higher ranking Soviet officials.  Soon enough Leo and his wife are under investigation and from there the book really takes off.

To say more would deprive the reader of a great ride.  Child 44 has more twists and turns than any book in recent memory.  Tom Rob Smith has created a page turner that shocks, surprises and thrills.  I loved every page of it and look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

 

Rating:

Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 42: Steranko, Adams, Black and More!

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If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

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!

For Ink Stains 42, Ken took a look at Collector issues 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 from 1969-1971.   Edited and published by Bill G. Wilson.

I’d never seen issues of Collector before reading Ken’s columsn.  The issues are full of the stuff that fanzines were known.  These issues feature:

Collector 16 features –

  • a Don Newton Batman cover
  • Sketches by Steranko, Giordano, Buckler, Adams
  • Photos of comic legends [Adams, Kane, Frazetta, and more]  at an early convention.
  • Tons of fan art

Collector 17 features –

  • Don Newton interview, art and photos of Don and his studio
  • Tons of fan art and articles

Collector 18 features –

  • Shazam cover by Bill Black (earliest art I’ve seen from my buddy)
  • Bill Black pin-up of Green Lantern
  • Ad for Bill Black’s Paragon fanzine!
  • Fan art and articles

Collector 19 features –

  • Joe Sinnott Thing sketch
  • Sketches from Steranko/Sinnott, Gene Colon, Bill Black and Steve Ditko
  • Fan art and articles

Collector 21 features –

  • Art from Dan Adkins, Don Rosa and Tom Sutton
  • Fan art and articles

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!