Forbidden Planet (1956)

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Forbidden Planet (1956)

Director: Fred McLeod Wilcox

Screenplay: Cyril Hume based on a story by Irving Block and Allen Adler

Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman, James Drury, Gavin Macleod and Robby the Robot.


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a big budget sci-fi film!”

Tagline: IT’S OUT OF THIS WORLD!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

An interplanetary crew sent to a distant planet to discover what happened to the colony set up there years ago, are contacted as they enter the planet’s atmosphere and told to stay away.  Upon landing they meet the two remaining colony survivors, a doctor and his daughter — the rest were killed by a giant monster.

As the ship’s commander digs deeper he becomes aware that all is not as it seems.  He doubts the doctor’s story until the monster kills some of his crew.  Then he learns that the doctor is hiding even more information and things go really bad.

Forbidden Planet is a lot of fun.  I absolutely loved it as a kid and it still holds up pretty well.

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“Reservoir Dogs” Trivia from Quentin Tarantino

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Matt Hoffman and Film School Rejects present What We Learned While Revisiting Reservoir Dogs with Quentin Tarantino.  Here are two of my favorite things…

Tarantino learned a lot about his characters when a producer gave him the advice to search for the subtext.
“Just writing down the obvious opened up different avenues, different thoughts, and so you think you’re writing one line and you write three, or four, and all of a sudden I started realizing, ‘Oh wow, this is kind of a father-son story.’ “Isn’t it interesting that throughout the whole piece Mr. White keeps telling Mr. Orange ‘Wait for Joe, wait for Joe and when Joe gets here he’s going to take care of everything.” Well when Joe gets there he’s come to kill Mr. Orange. And the whole interesting thing at the end, which I hadn’t thought about frankly, which is that Mr. White is kind of almost a de facto son character for Joe, and Mr. Orange has become a de facto son character for Mr. White. At the end, Mr. White has to choose between his father and his son and he chooses his son but he’s wrong, but he’s wrong for all the right reasons. All that kind of started coming to me. So I finished it and I go, ‘Oh wow, that was a really interesting exercise…I never want to do this ever again.’

Working with Lawrence Tierney (Joe) was a nightmare.
“The worst moment on set was the last ten minutes of the last day of the first week we were shooting. Me and Larry got into a fist fight. It was more of a shoving match frankly. Harvey Keitel and Lawrence [Bender] broke it up. I fired Larry in front of everybody, the crew applauded because they’d hated him. Harvey told us to settle down and then he ran out and then Larry ran out. I took a walk around the trucks. I’d done nothing but shoot Lawrence Tierney all week long, so if I wanted to get fired, I’m going to get fired because they’re going to keep Larry. We have a week’s worth of footage. But I wasn’t going to put up with his ****. So I’m literally walking around the trailers thinking, “Well okay, you wanted to know how it’s going to end well it’s going to end this way. I guess it was nice while it lasted but I guess you’re not going to put up with ****, you’re going to go back to the video store but you’re not going to put up with ****. Aren’t you the smart guy?”

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) / Z-View

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John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

Director: Chad Stahelski

Screenplay: Derek Kolstad

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan and David Patrick Kelly.


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a sequel!”

Tagline: None

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

John Wick [Reeves] is still grieving the death of his wife when Santino D’Antonio shows up. D’Antonio expects Wick to fulfill a blood oath made when Wick was still in the business.  Wick plans to complete the hit and once again leave the life.  Instead Wick learns that D’Antonio has placed an open contract on him!

If you liked John Wick, you’ll dig Chapter 2.  Bring on Chapter 3!

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34 Things We Learned from the John Sturges’ “Bad Day at Black Rock” Commentary

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Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 34 Things We Learned from the John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

6. He says Spencer Tracy was such a fantastic actor and engrossed viewers so well in a scene that he himself would “get so caught up I’d forget to say ‘cut!’” Other actors would approach Sturges surprised at the impact Tracy’s presence and performance had on their own.

10. He says a strange thing happened on the film in regard to their lack of extras. “A town is supposed to have wanderers,” he says, and they had a group of ten or so available for just such a purpose. And yet the film has none. “Every time the assistant director would put someone in, I didn’t like it.” He didn’t like it when they were up close, and he liked it less when they were just dots in the distant background. “That’s worse. Are those the rescuers coming?!” They distracted him, “and I’m a movie maker, not a documentary maker.”

25. He says the production was free of conflict between talent with one exception “that amused me and absolutely scorched Spence.” Tracy had won three Academy Awards by this time, but Walter Brennan had won four, and before each shared scene Brennan would look at Tracy and hold up four fingers.

John Wick (2014)

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John Wick (2014)

Director: Chad Stahelski, David Leitch (uncredited)

Screenplay: Derek Kolstad

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Keith Jardine and Kevin Nash.


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make an action movie that takes it to the next level!”

Tagline: Don’t Set Him Off!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

John Wick [Reeves] is grieving the death of his wife.  A chance meeting with Iosef Tarasov, the privileged son of a Russian mobster, leads to  Tarasov and some of his thugs breaking into Wick’s house, beating him badly, killing his dog and stealing his prized vintage Mustang.

Tarasov learns way to late that Wick is a legendary retired hit man.  And now Wick is coming for revenge.

Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, Derek Kolstad and Keanu Reeves have created a unique world that is just slightly different from the one we live in.  It feels real.  Each character has a backstory that is told without it feeling like backstory.  The action is amazing.  I loved this movie and want more!!

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“The Big Sleep” Character Connections Score Card

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The Big Sleep is a classic adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel of the same name.  There’s so much going on on-screen and off with so many twists and character interactions you can enjoy the ride without getting all of the details.  And don’t feel bad if you don’t.  Even the actors and film makers weren’t sure who committed one of the murders!

TATJANA SL has provided us a score card to keep track of all the characters and their relationships.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)

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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Screenplay: Robert Ardrey and John Gay based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

Stars: Glenn Ford, Ingrid Thulin, Charles Boyer, Lee J. Cobb,  Yvette Mimieux and Paul Henreid.


The Pitch: “Hey, adapt the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez!”

Tagline: From Ibanez’ immortal classic, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents an unforgettable motion picture

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

As World War II rages, Julio [Ford] a playboy from Argentina is living in Paris.  Although not a fan of the Nazis, like his country, Julio is neutral… until he falls in love with a married woman [Thulin] whose French freedom-fighting husband is a prisoner of war.  Julio begs Marguerite to leave Paris before it is overrun by Germans, but she refuses.

The German take over Paris and Julio is not to surprised to learn that his cousin and uncle are high ranking Nazis.  When Julio discovers that Marguerite is a member of the French underground he knows that he will have to chose sides.

Vincent Minnelli has created a unique film.  I really enjoyed it but bet it won’t be for everyone.

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The First Hellboy Sketches Ever by Mike Mignola!

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Most Hellboy fans are familiar with the drawing above.  It’s the first pass Mike Mignola made at what became Hellboy, one of comic’s most iconic characters.  Much rarer is another early riff on Hellboy by Mignola.

You can see larger versions of both sketches, get the story behind them and how a random sketch stuck with Mike Mignola and ultimately morphed into the Hellboy character we all know and love at CBR.com.

Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

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Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

Director: Lloyd Bacon and Byron Haskin … (uncredited) and Raoul Walsh (uncredited)

Screenplay: John Howard Lawson

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale and Ruth Gordon.


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put Bogie in a war picture to support the troops!”

Tagline: Warner Bros. thunderous story of the men of the merchant marine!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Survivors of an American transport ship sunk by a German sub and left lost at sea for nearly two weeks, decide to re-up on another ship joining an international convoy to take supplies to troops through waters patrolled by German sub wolf packs.  As luck would have it…

The opening scenes of the men dealing with their sinking ship is impressive!

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Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 38: Toth, Byrne, Newton 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 38, Ken took a look at Charlton Bullseye 4 and 5 from 1976.   Edited and published by Robert Layton.

Once fanzines started to gain notice, the comics companies decided to put out their own fan mags.  Marvel had FOOM.  DC had the Amazing World of DC Comics.  And Charlton had the Charlton Bullseye.

These two issues have an amazing talent line-up…

4: Cover by Joe Staton, Peacemaker pinup by Walt Simonson, an E-Man story by Nicola Cuti & Joe Staton, a Frank Thorne E-Man pinup, a John Byrne comic story and more.

5: The Question cover and a story written and drawn by Alex Toth, a pinup by Mike Nasser, an interview and art by Don Newton, a comic story written and drawn by John Byrne, a pinup by Neal Adams and more.

Whew!  More than worth the price of admission.

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

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

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The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Director: John Huston

Screenplay: Ben Maddow and John Huston from a novel by W.R. Burnett 

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso and Marilyn Monroe.

The Pitch: “Hey, John Huston wants to make The Asphalt Jungle!”

Tagline: The City Under the City

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Ex-con,  “Doc” Riedenschneider (Jaffe) brings together a team for a $750,000 heist.  Even though the job goes sideways, they get away with the money.  Then the double-crosses start.

Marilyn Monroe has a bit part — she wasn’t even listed in movie poster credits on the film’s initial release — but she made such an impact future posters featured her prominently.  The Asphalt Jungle made Marilyn a star!

John Huston with another classic!

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Neil deGrasse Tyson: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me

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Tess Kornfeld and US Magazine.com present Neil deGrasse Tyson: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. I have an asteroid named after me called 13123 Tyson. It orbits between Mars and Jupiter.

6. I was captain of my high school wrestling team, and undefeated.

23. When I tweet my observations on science in films, my goal is to enhance enjoyment. Given how many people react negatively, I’m clearly failing in this goal.

Thinner (1996)

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Thinner (1996)

Director: Tom Holland

Screenplay: Michael McDowell  and Tom Holland

Stars: Robert John Burke, Lucinda Jenney, Bethany Joy Lenz, Howard Erskine, Joe Mantegna and Stephen King.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Thinner.”

Tagline: Let The Curse Fit The Crime.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When an obsese small town attorney accidentally runs over a gypsy woman, his friends (a judge and town cop) set things up to get him off without a charge.  The gypsy leader then places a curse on the three men that will leave them dead after suffering horribly.

My problem with Thinner is that there is no one to root for.  All of the leads are bad people. The lawyer, his wife, his friends — even the gypsies.   Also about three quarters in the film changes into an action/revenge movie with lots of shooting and blowing up things… but since you don’t know or care about the characters…

An somewhat interesting misfire…

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13 Things You Didn’t Know About “The Dick Van Dyke Show”

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Eddie Deezen and Neatorama present 13 Things You Didn’t Know About The Dick Van Dyke Show.  Here are three of my favorites…

4. The show was not successful in its first season and was actually cancelled by CBS. Producer Danny Thomas had to personally go to the network execs and convince (beg) them to leave the show on the air. The show picked up steam during summer reruns that year, remained on the air and became the “classic” series we all know. Ironically, after star Van Dyke decided to end the series after it’s five-year run in 1966, it was the CBS executives who begged him to stay on.

7. Buddy Sorrel, the wise-cracking joke writer played by Morey Amsterdam, was actually based on Mel Brooks, who was originally a comedy writer and worked with the show’s producer Carl Reiner on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in the 1950s.

9. The show was usually filmed before a studio audience, but was not on at least three occasions. One was on the day of JFK’s assassination- November 22, 1963. On that day, in the middle of rehearsals, the cast heard about the president’s assassination and decided to go ahead and film the episode “Happy Birthday and Too Many More” anyway. However, it was decided that they would do the episode with no studio audience, figuring no one would be in the mood to laugh at such a time.