Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
“24” is back tonight with a two hour premiere! I’m really looking forward to the return of Jack Bauer. “24” is one of the few shows that I have watched from the first episode without missing a single show. I’m ready for the streak to continue.
I’ve got a new hangout on the net. Surprisingly, it’s at DeviantArt.com.
My buddy, John Beatty recently got a spot there and started posting his art. Naturally I swung by. I was surprised to see how many artists [and friends] hang out there. I wanted to leave some comments, and decided to open an account — it’s free. Then John suggested I post up some of my Stallone drawings in a gallery. I did. Next thing I knew I had friends and artists leaving me comments.
So why not drop on by and check it out. I’m slowly getting my collection up, but I can guarantee you’ll find plenty of cool stuff to check out if you look around.
I’m not an artist, but I’ve always loved art. I believe that comic books were the start of it all. Like most kids of my generation, I loved comic books. Unlike most, I never outgrew them.
In junior high I met John Beatty. He was also into comic books and original art. He wanted to be a comic book artist. During our high school and my college years, Beatty and I spent a lot of time at Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum. Jim’s was THE place for comics and original art. We also started attending conventions. I was in college and Beatty had become a comic book artist.
I sold off my art collection when I was ready to graduate college. I kept just one piece, a Paul Gulacy commission of Sylvester Stallone [my favorite actor]. Over the years some of my artist friends gifted me pieces of Stallone art. When my sons were in their mid-teens we started attending comic conventions. I realized that getting sketches of Stallone from my favorite comic artists was a perfect mesh of my hobbies.
So, no, I don’t draw ’em, I just collect ’em.
Mood: Joy
Listening to: 70’s Music
Reading: The Wildwood Boys by James Carlos Blake
Watching: “Serenity”
Playing: Internet Hearts
Eating: Wings
Drinking: Tea
Kliph Nesteroff is going to make many ZONErs happy when they click on this link to see a rare interview from 1971 with Bruce Lee. The videos run about 26 minutes total and are worth every second. Lee talks about:
It was great seeing Bruce Lee in a new interview. He was an amazing talent and died way too young. I think it’s time for another viewing of “Enter the Dragon.” What better way to honor his memory than to enjoy his ultimate performance?
Chris Mills made my day when he posted the cover above to Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s novel The Hunter. If anyone is more excited about Cooke’s plans to adapt Stark’s work than me, it’s probably Chris Mills. He is not only an author himself, but also an expert in the crime genre… and do I have to remind any ZONErs how much I dig Chris’ character Gravedigger?
Variety has reported that Mickey Rourke has signed on to co-star in Sly Stallone’s action flick, “The Expendables.” Rourke will join Sly, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Forrest Whitaker in what many are calling the can’t miss movie of the coming year. The National Post even published an article today with the title: “Early Prediction: Stallone’s The Expendables will be the greatest action movie of all time.”
The Defamer.com also has an interesting [and positive] article on “The Expendables.” Here are a few quotes:
The Second Coming of Mickey Rourke owes itself in part to Stallone’s faith in him a decade ago, when he recommended Rourke for a minor role in the remake of Get Carter. Their brooding, mangle-faced chemistry was about the only thing that clicked while the film imploded around them. We wanted more, and we’ll get it.
…Sir Ben Kingsley rumored to have an eye on the project…
Unless you count Denzel Washington (we don’t) and his Where the Wild Things Are voice work for Spike Jonze, Forest Whitaker hasn’t worked with a real director since Kevin Macdonald shepherded him to an Oscar in 2006.
You gotta love it. Rourke and Stallone together again on the big screen. Yeah, we did want more. And, yeah, we’re getting it. It’s also interesting to note that the author of the piece must consider Sly a “real director.”
Now if we can just get Kurt Russell and Bruce Willis on board and a cameo for Arnold, I say let the filming begin!
Ed Hall recently sent in the piece above that he created for his portfolio. Ed is an award-winning political cartoonist who has decided to branch out into other areas. As he journeys into these new waters, Ed regularly posts his thoughts and art on his blog. Check it out and let him know your thoughts.
I was hoping for a perfect score on this logic test. The one I missed was the “controversial” one. Bah!
I’m a huge Kyle Baker fan. [No wisecracks, Beatty!] Baker is a talented artist and writer. So you probably think I’m going to link to some of his art or a page from one of his comics.
Nope. Instead I’m linking to Kyle Baker’s review of “The Spirit” movie. Don’t you just love how he gets his point across.
If you have any interest at all in “The Watchmen” then you owe it to yourself to check out this featurette of Zack Snyder talking about his movie adaptation. It runs just a bit over 4 minutes and when it’s over you’ll wish it wasn’t. Thanks to the fine folks at CBR.com for the link.
I hadn’t heard of “Give ‘Em Hell, Malone” until I saw this trailer today. Thomas Jane and Ving Rhames directed by Russell Mulcahy. I’m in.
Because I don’t see that many movies in theaters anymore, I’m much more selective about what I choose to see on the big screen. Most of the time I’m confident that the movie I’m seeing deserves the big screen treatment or is something so good that I don’t want to wait for the dvd release. I saw “Seven Pounds” last night at a theater, and left really disappointed. Stop reading now if you’re concerned about spoilers — although I won’t give away specifics, I will give my reasons for not liking the film.
Before we go into why I didn’t like it, let’s talk about why I thought I might. First of all, the cast — Will Smith is good in everything he does, including “Seven Pounds” — Rosario Dawson is one of my favorite actresses and she does a fine job here — Woody Harrelson beautifully plays a small but important role — Barry Pepper also has a small role and although he does what is asked, closer examination would reveal that his character’s actions don’t ring true. The second thing that the movie had going for it was that it was supposed to be a mystery that made the audience think as it slowly revealed why the events were unfolding in the manner shown. This is where the movie fell apart for me.
Will Smith plays a character that we’re supposed to care about. A man tortured by some past event who is now trying to make amends by granting life altering wishes to strangers. It just didn’t work for me. Instead of coming off as a sympathetic, hurting, kind-hearted person, Smith’s character was more of an egotistical, self-centered, short-sighted man who did things for his own benefit [although his actions did help some others] without thought to the feelings of those who knew and loved him most. Every thing that his character did, was done in an effort to make himself feel better. Sure, he helped others, but he did so more for himself than them. And let’s think for a minute about those that he hurt through his efforts. If you do, it would be more than his character did.
The tragic event that sets the stage for everything that is to come happens because of Smith’s character. Then we are led to believe that his character is tortured by the destruction that he caused. Is it because of the loss of his loved one? Not really, he seems to have gotten over her pretty quickly [of course Rosario could have that effect]. Perhaps he is mourning for the others whose lives he destroyed. If so, why doesn’t he do things to help their survivors? No, he instead determines that he will help strangers. He will determine if these strangers are worthy. I guess his character believes that kindness should only be shown to those we believe deserve kindness. The movie’s theme seems to be that stealing, lying, and hurting those closest to you, so you can provide the ultimate sacrifice to strangers is admirable.
I should have waited for the dvd.
If, like me, you’re looking forward to the new mini-series, Incognito by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, then you’ll probably want to check out “7 Things to Know About Incognito” brought to us by the good folks at Newsarama.com.
It just came over the wires that Donald Westlake has died at the age of 75 from an apparent heart attack. Mr. Westlake was one the most successful, popular and prolific authors of our time. Not only did he write over 100 novels under various names [ Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt, Edwin West as well as his own], but he also won three Edgar awards and an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for “The Grifters.”
My favorite Westlake stories were his crime novels written under his pen-name of Richard Stark. I wasn’t alone in their enjoyment. Not only were they fan favorites, but they were also turned into movies several times with the likes of Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall and Mel Gibson playing the lead. If you like crime stories, then you probably love the Parker novels.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Westlake’s family, friends and fans.
Hey, you made it! Thanks for making the switch with me.
