Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Expendables opened in the number 1 spot at the box office this weekend easily earning more viewers and box office dollars than Eat Pray Love and Scott Pilgrim. Here’s the breakdown according Hollywood.com…
1. “The Expendables,” $35 million.
2. “Eat Pray Love,” $23.7 million.
3. “The Other Guys,” $18 million.
4. “Inception,” $11.4 million.
5. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” $10.5 million.
Last night UFC 117 was held and for the first time in months, I didn’t get a chance to post my pre-fight predictions. Of course as luck would have it, I went 5-0 on the night but since I didn’t get up my picks pre-fight, you’ll just have to trust me. You do trust me, right?
Roy “Big Country” Nelson Vs. Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos
Prefight Prediction: I thought that Dos Santos would win via TKO in the first or second. Everyone else watching with me picked Big Country.
Result: Junior Dos Santos won by unanimous decision. Big Country pressed the fight and had some great moments, but Dos Santos earned the victory. As far as everyone watching with me was concerned, it was a moral victory for Big Country… and I agree!
Matt Hughes Vs. Ricardo “Cacharrao” Almeida
Prefight Prediction: Hughes via a hard fought and potentially close decision.
Result: Hughes won by chokeout at 3:15 in the 1st round. Hughes landed a solid punch that rocked Almeda then jumped on him and applied the choke. After that it was lights-out.
Clay “The Carpenter” Guida Vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Prefight Prediction: Guida by TKO.
Result: Guida won by tapout at 1:51 in the 3rd round. Post fight reports say that Dos Anjos fought with a broken jaw from round one.
Jon Fitch Vs. Thiago “Pitbull” Alves
Prefight Prediction: Fitch by decision.
Postfight Result: Fitch won by unanimous decision. Alves had trouble making weight which I thought would add to Fitch’s advantage. At the post fight press conference Dana White said he believed Alves should move up a weight class for his future fights. I agree.
Anderson “The Spider” Silva Vs. Chael Sonnen
Prefight Prediction: Had I posted my fights on Friday, I would have went with Sonnen. When we made our picks right before the fights, I went with Silva. I wanted Sonnen to win, but I thought that Silva would find a way to victory. My thought was that Sonnen would press the fight and possibly score a takedown, but that Silva would get back to his feet and his superior stand-up would end an exciting fight fairly early.
Result: Silva won by tapout to an arm bar at 3:10 in the 5th round. Up to that point Sonnen had owned Silva. He took Silva down at will. He pounded him relentlessly for 4 and 3/5 rounds. And while it’s true that Silva landed a few good shots and elbows along the way, it was Sonnen’s fight throughout. Credit has to be given to Silva who never looked frustrated and, like a champion found a way to win.
Final thoughts:
Over at Ryan Cody’s Blog, he talks about a pitch for a comic series that he and writer, Mark Sable made last year. Cody says…
The idea behind Blackmail was that a vigilante and a crime boss face off against each other from behind masks, only to be best friends in real life. It was all about hidden lives, sacrifice and of course, Blackmail.
I wish someone had picked up the series, because I would have enjoyed seeing how the story played out. You can read more about the pitch and see preview pages over at Ryan’s blog.
Something cool and unexpected happened during this interview with Sylvester Stallone. Well played, marketing department!
What could be better than a poster of Frankie and the Goon killing zombies as a movie poster? How about a Goonzilla-sized version?
Are you in the mood for a witty little film noir about a tough guy in love with an English teacher? If so, check out Double Negative.
I love it when artists re-imagine/redesign classic images. If you do too, then you’ll enjoy these nine classic posters (Jackie Brown; Dirty Harry; There Will be Blood; Convoy; The Blues Brothers; Robocop; On the Waterfront; Godfather II and Rocky) created by Oily Moss.
My buddy, Cully Hamner talks about writing and drawing the prequel to Red, the comic that the movie is based on, but not the movie. If that seems confusing it’s really not… especially once you read the interview here.
I wasn’t expecting to see Andrew Charipar at this year’s Heroes Con. In fact, he almost didn’t make it due to car problems. Thankfully, he did and worked up a couple of new Stallone sketches for me. This is, of course, Sly as Barney Ross from The Expendables. I’ll post the other sketch in a few weeks. Until then we have Andrew’s blog and his DA site to hold us over.
My guess is that several regular ZONERS (especially Bill Black and Chris Mills) will end up with the recently announced Art of Hammer book. It’ll feature the poster art from the Hammer horror films. It’s currently on sale for less than twenty buck which is a pretty scary deal.
If you’ve been holding your breath waiting for Frank (Dark Knight Returns; Sin City; 300) Miller to finish up his long awaited 120 page graphic novel where Batman fights Al Qaeda terrorists… well, here’s some good news and bad news. The good news: the novel is almost finished and will be published next some time next year. The bad news: it’s no longer a Batman story.
Instead Miller has decided to make the lead character his own. He’s called The Fixer and he’s an adventurer who just happens to be ex-special ops. So you can imagine what happens when terrorists attack and he’s around! You can find out more about the changes here.
Want to see the trailer to the 30 Days of Night sequel Dark Days? If so, then you’ve come to the right place.
Season 3 of The Sons of Anarchy doesn’t premiere until September 7th, but we can see the new trailer now. Let’s ride!
If you’re a Fringe fan, then you might want to check out i09.com’s preview of what we can expect to see in season three.
When Dave Stevens passed away last year, many thought that we’d never see another new story featuring his creation The Rocketeer. IDW has just announced that they will publish a four issue mini-series featuring Stevens’ Rocketeer with new stories and art by some of the most talented people in the industry. Folks like…
…Mike Allred, Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Michael Golden, Gene Ha, Michael Kaluta, Garry Leach, Bruce Timm, Bill Willingham, and… pin-ups by Geoff Darrow, Art Adams, Jeff Campbell, Mike Mignola and others…
For full details click over to CBR.com’s post on the topic!
