“A League of Their Own” Season 1 (2022) / Z-View

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A League of Their Own, Season 1 (2022)

Directors:  Jamie Babbit (Eps. 1-3); Ayoka Chenzira (Ep. 4); Katrelle Kindred (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Silas Howard (Ep. 7); Anya Adams (Ep. 8)

Teleplay by: Will Graham & Abbi Jacobson (Eps. 1 & 8); Abbi Jacobson (Ep.2); Desta Tedros Reff (Ep. 3); Michelle Badillo (Ep. 4); Mfoniso Udofia (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Sanaz Toossi (Ep.7)

Starring:  Abbi Jacobson, Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Roberta Colindrez, Kelly McCormack, Priscilla Delgado, Molly Ephraim, Melanie Field, Kate Berlant, Dale Dickey, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Lea Robinson and Rosie O’Donnell

Tagline: None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

A League of Their Own is an loose adaptation of the 1992, A League of Their Own hit movie.  The update introduces new characters and storylines.

The year is 1943.  World War II is raging.  In an effort to increase morale at home the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is formed.  A League of Their Own follows a group of women from try-outs through the first season on the Rockford Peaches.  The focus is on…

  • Carson Shaw (Jacobson), a married woman from the midwest who’s life has been somewhat sheltered.  Her husband is in the service.  Carson develops feelings for Greta.
  • Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) is an African-American woman with a fastball that rivals those thrown by most men.  Maxine won’t even get a chance to tryout for the team because she’s black, but when one door closes…
  • Greta Gill (Carden) is a wild woman, who lives life and encourages Carson in more ways than one.
  • Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) is Maxine’s best friend, a newlywed who wants to be a comic book artist (and not a baseball player)
  • Jo DeLuca (Field) is Greta’s best friend and a power hitter
  • Toni Chapman (Ekulona) is Maxine’s mother who doesn’t support her baseball ambitions

While the above characters get most of the screen time, A League of Their Own does an excellent job of showcasing each of the players on the Rockford Peaches.  It’s interesting that women’s baseball is used as the backdrop for a time in America when women couldn’t open a checking account without their husband’s permission, African-Americans were still segregated from whites and being gay was thought of as a disease or even contagious.

The writing on A League of Their Own is really sharp and it doesn’t hurt that the series is well cast.  All of the actresses that play major characters are excellent.  Kudos also to Lea Robinson as Uncle Bertie,  Nick Offerman who plays the former pro who is brought in to coach the Peaches and Rosie O’Donnell who plays the owner of an underground gay bar.  Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) and her best friend Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) have a chemistry as best friends that could sustain a half hour comedy on their own.

A League of Their Own surprised me in how good it was.  I hope we get a second season.

A League of Their Own, Season 1 earns 4 of 5 stars.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino / Z-View

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover by Quentin Tarantino

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper

First sentence…

The buzzer on Marvin Schwarz’s desk makes a noise.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the fictionalized account of Hollywood actor and tv star, Rick Dalton, his stuntman and best friend, Cliff Booth and the famous/infamous folks they run into in Hollywood in the late 60s.  If you’ve seen Tarantino’s movie of the same name, then you know the story… or at least most of it.  The novel goes into greater detail especially in regard to Cliff Booth.  If you liked the movie, you should enjoy the book.  If you think, I’ve seen the movie, I don’t need a rehash in a novelization, you might be surprised.  There’s a different story structure in the novel than the film and time to dig a deeper into the characters.

If you haven’t seen the movie, let me get you up to speed.  Rick Dalton was a rising movie star.  He had a western tv series called Bounty Law.  It was popular and ran for a few years.  Dalton then went into feature films, but that was then.  Now Dalton appears to be on his way down.  He’s been regulated to guest starring in television shows and usually ends up beaten and beaten up by the star of the show.  Dalton hopes he’ll get another run at feature films.  Cliff Booth is a World War II decorated vet, a stuntman and Rick’s best friend.  Booth may or may not have killed his wife (we find out for sure in the novel).  He also went toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee in a challenge that pretty much ended Booth getting stunt work.  Rick and Cliff will also have run-ins with the Charlie Manson family, Sharon Tate and others.  To say more would be to say too much,

Tarantino is more of a story-teller than a writer.  Someone said if the novel was better written, it wouldn’t be as good.  That may sound strange, but I get the sentiment.  As you read Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there’s the feeling that we’re hearing the tale from an insider and not a writer somewhere trying to polish his prose.  I loved the inside stories/legends of real life actors/actresses in Hollywood.

The Deluxe Edition also features a Rick Dalton Bounty Law episode script; Photos of lobby cards from two of Rick Dalton’s feature films, two Bounty Law stills, two Bounty Law TV Guide covers, two Bounty Law comic book covers, a Bounty Law lunchbox, Bounty Law production art, a Bounty Law board game, 8 movie posters featuring Rick Dalton and other real-life stars, and a MAD magazine Bounty Law parody featuring the cover and story by Andrew Secunda and Tom Richmond.

I enjoyed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and hope that Tarantino writes more novels.  I’m a sucker for a good story.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood rates 4 of 5 stars.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Deluxe Hardcover
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Paperback
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Kindle

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Starring Daniel Craig, Ed Norton, Janelle Monáe and Dave Bautista – The Trailer is Here!

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I liked the first Knives Out mystery and Glass Onion looks to be at least as good.  Oh, and how about that cast!

You’re invited to put the pieces together. In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.

Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.

Disturbing the Peace (2020) Starring Guy Pearce / Z-View

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Disturbing the Peace (2020)

Director: Chuck Hustmyre

Screenplay by:  Jay Simms

Starring: Guy Pearce, Devon Sawa and Branscombe Richmond

Tagline: What Would You Give Up to Save Everything?

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Jim Dillion (Pearce) was a Texas Ranger.  He stopped carrying a gun after accidentally shooting and paralyzing his partner in a hostage situation.  Now he’s Marshall Dillion. (I kid you not. If you’re old enough, you’ll recognize the name.) Like Andy Griffith, Dillion has one Deputy to assist him.  They are the law in a little Texas town.

A small motorcycle gang, barely large enough to be called a crowd, plans to rob an armored truck carrying 15 million dollars to be deposited in the town’s bank.  It will be up to Marshall Dillion and his deputy to stop them.

I wanted to like Disturbing the Peace.  Guy Pearce is a good actor.  The plot was perfect for a low budget film.  I was hoping for something along the lines of Tom Laughlin in The Born Losers.  What I got was a real mess.

The story goes off the rails.  For a lot of the film, Marshall Dillion and his deputy are running from place to place watching the bad guys take hostages or worse.  When Dillion finally decides to get a gun, he has to run home. He then stares at his pistol for an eternity before finally picking it up. Dillion captures one of the gang members and puts him in jail.  Dillion learns that the gangbanger was a former marine and tells him, “So was I.”  Dillion then opens the cell, hands him a rifle and turns his back on him!  Just like that the former gang member is now ready to go against his motorcycle brothers.

Then when Dillion and the gang member, both armed with rifles, come up against a guy with a handgun, they retreat!  It gets even worse.  The gang leader, Diablo (Sawa) fires a machine gun at Dillion as he walks down the center of an empty street.  Dillion isn’t even wounded.  We also get the classic: Dillon on a horse exchanging gunfire with Diablo on a motorcycle and then the horse catching the motorcycle!

With all that said, you’d probably think that Disturbing the Peace would earn one star.  It nearly did,  Still, I made it through the film so I’m barely rating it a two.

Disturbing the Peace earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Tulsa King” Starring Sylvester Stallone – The Trailer is Here!

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The trailer for Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone hits all the right notes.  I cannot wait to see this series!

TULSA KING follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a “crew” from a group of unlikely characters, to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet. The series also stars Andrea Savage (“I’m Sorry”), Martin Starr (“Silicon Valley”), Max Casella (“The Tender Bar”), Domenick Lombardozzi (“The Irishman”), Vincent Piazza (“Boardwalk Empire”), Jay Will (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), A.C. Peterson (“Superman & Lois”) with Garrett Hedlund (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”).

The series will be executive-produced by Sheridan, Winter, Stallone, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin and Allen Coulter. Braden Aftergood is also set to executive-produce.

Stream the new series on November 13, exclusively on Paramount+.

“The Killer Shrews” (1959) / Z-View

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The Killer Shrews (1959)

Director: Ray Kellogg

Screenplay by:  Jay Simms

Starring: James Best, Ingrid Goude and Ken Curtis

Tagline: Ravaging beasts feed on human flesh!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Thorne Sherman (Best) and his partner dock their boat loaded with supplies at a remote island research base.  Despite an approaching hurricane, Dr. Marlowe Craigis wants Sherman to leave the island immediately and to take his grown daughter, Ann (Goude) as well.  Sherman  says that they need to hunker down and he’ll take her after the storm passes.

Sherman soon learns that Dr. Marlowe’s experiments have created a breed of killer shrews that must eat twice their body weight daily in order to survive.  The shrews’ food supply has dwindled and now the shrews have their eyes on the humans!  With teeth strong enough to eat through walls it is just a question of time until they get into the house… and then…

The Killer Shrews is a low-budget horror film that makes the most of the small cast.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the special effects.  It’s very obvious that the shrews are sometimes puppets and other times dogs wearing wigs.  There is a romance subplot that is low budget as well.  A pre-Gunsmoke, Festus (Curtis)  co-stars and produced.

The Killer Shrews is watchable in the Saturday night movie presented by a Horror Host kind of way.  In fact I remember first seeing The Killer Shrews on an episode of Sammy Terry’s Nightmare Theater back in the 60s.  I was in third or fourth grade. I loved the movie and couldn’t wait to tell the old lady crossing guard all about it on Monday.  I recently re-watched The Killer Shrews (this time hosted by Svengoolie).  It brought back great memories and I’m sure I’d have liked it better if I was still in elementary school.

The Killer Shrews earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Enforcer” Starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth – The Trailer is Here!

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I’m diggin’ the trailer for The Enforcer starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth.  Definitely deal me in!

Miami’s top mob enforcer Cuda (Antonio Banderas) sacrifices it all to tear down the criminal organization he’s spent his whole life building up when he discovers his boss Estelle (Kate Bosworth) is putting a young runaway’s life in grave danger. Now he has one last chance to make up for his past and find redemption – both for himself and his family – before the mob hunts him down for his betrayal.

“Project Legion” Starring Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Project Legion check all the boxes that get me to want to watch.  I even like that the star is Donald Cowboy Cerrone, one of the toughest UFC fighters in the world!  Fingers crossed for a great “drive-in” movie!

Against all odds, a former marine tries to escape his apartment after waking up to a city in chaos surrounded by creatures who prey on humans in the action/thriller PROJECT LEGION starring UFC superstar Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” – A Netflix Film – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I love the poster and trailer for All Quiet on the Western Front.  Deal me in.

All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.

“Red Stone” (2021) Starring Neal McDonough, Dash Melrose & Michael Cudlitz / Z-View

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Red Stone (2021)

Director: Derek Presley

Screenplay by:  Derek Presley

Starring: Neal McDonough, Dash Melrose, Michael Cudlitz and Billy Blair

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Motley Adams (Melrose) witnessed his older brother killed by order of Jed Haywood (Cudlitz), a local crime boss.  Now Motley is on the run from Haywood’s thugs led by a hitman named Boon (McDonough).  The local sheriff and the F.B.I. are looking for Motley too.  It’s just a question of time… and time is about to run out.

With McDonough and Cudlitz in the credits, I was expecting more.  Although Red Stone clocks in at just 97 minutes, it felt longer.  That’s never good.  There’s lip service paid to a subplot about Boon’s mom that could have been totally cut for all the impact it had.  Red Stone has some interesting ideas, but unfortunately the execution isn’t up to the same level.

Red Stone earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Blood Vessel” (2019) / Z-View

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Blood Vessel (2019)

Director: Justin Dix

Screenplay by: Justin Dix, Jordan Prosser

Starring: Nathan Phillips, Alyssa Sutherland, Robert Taylor, Christopher Kirby, Alex Cooke, Mark Diaco, John Lloyd Fillingham, Troy Larkin and Vivienne Perry

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

1945.  World War II.  A life raft with five survivors of a hospital ship torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat has been adrift in the ocean for days.  With supplies and hope for rescue running low, the survivors spot a ship.  Although it is a German vessel, with nothing to lose, they board it.  The German sailors are all dead, their bodies horribly mutilated.  They find a young girl and two chained boxes…

I love the Blood Vessel poster (above) and the film exceeded my expectations.  I’m a fan of movies where a diverse group of people are thrown together and forced into life or death situations.  Blood Vessel checks all the boxes.  Early in the movie we’re shown that you cannot be sure who will live or die.  I loved that the vampire didn’t look human.  It was also a cool idea to use the time period when Germany was sure to lose the war and were Nazi officials were exploring occult options as a last resort.  Blood Vessel is a movie that I’m going to enjoy re-watching and would make a great double feature with Overlord!

Blood Vessel earns 4 of 5 stars.

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie (2022) / Z-View

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The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie (2022)

Director: Mark Moormann

Starring: Don McLean, Peter Gallagher, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Jiles Perry “J.P.” Richardson Jr. aka The Big Bopper, Garth Brooks, Brian Wilson  and Tyson Fury

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

In December 1971, Don McLean’s American Pie single was released.  It went to #1 and held that position for four weeks.  At the time it was the longest song (8 minutes and 42 seconds) to enter the Billboard charts.  At the time a single of that length was unheard of.  American Pie was a worldwide hit topping the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.  Fifty years later and people of all ages know the words to the song, but speculation runs rampant about their meaning.

Don McLean wrote the song as a musical poem open to interpretation.  While McLean admitted that “the day the music died” referred to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, speculation was that the song also referenced the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, political protests and more.  McLean would never confirm or deny the meaning of his lyrics.  He was quoted as saying, “You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me … Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on.”

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie looks at the genesis of the song, it’s impact on the world and Don McLean shares the meaning of the lyrics.  I was in 7th grade when American Pie was released.  Everyone, including adults, were talking about the song and it’s meaning.

I enjoyed this documentary.  It was cool to see the struggle McLean had in getting the lyrics just right.  Then to learn (and see) that the producer and musicians knew that they had something special, but the recording session wasn’t working until.. (I won’t give it away),  While I’m glad that Don McLean has confirmed the things that inspired his lyrics, I’m taking the perspective that like all poetry, once it’s released, it is up to each individual to determine what the poem means to him/her.

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie earns 4 of 5 stars.

Sputnik (2020): “The Only Survivor Did Not Come Back Alone” / Z-View

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Sputnik (2020)

Director: Egor Abramenko

Screenplay by:  Oleg Malovichko, Andrey Zolotarev

Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk and Pyotr Fyodorov

Tagline:  The only survivor did not come back alone.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Tatyana Klimova (Akinshina), a  psychiatrist with a high success rate and unusual methods, is brought to a remote military facility.  Colonel Semiradov (Bondarchuk) has recruited Tatyana to work with Konstantin (Fyodorov),  the lone surviving cosmonaut of a recent space mission.

Initially Tatyana is told that Konstantin is in isolation and under military guard due to quarantine protocols.  She soon learns the real reason.  An alien life form is alive in Konstantin.  The creature feeds off nutrients in Konstantin’s food and in turn keeps him alive.  Colonel Semiradov is looking for a way to weaponize or kill the creature – no matter if the process kills Konstantin.  Tatyana wants to save Konstantin, even if it kills the creature.

Sputnik is a Russian film helmed by first time director, Egor Abramenko.  It could have easily turned into an Alien rip-off, but instead we’re given a film that is more psychological in nature.  The creature is unlike most outer-space monsters and is as creepy as it is scary.  There’s a nice twist at the end (but again, not like you’d expect in most horror films).  I enjoyed Sputnik.  It was different than I thought it’d be, but in a good way.

Sputnik earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Dead for a Dollar” Directed by Walter Hill, Starring Christoph Waltz & Willem Dafoe – The Trailer is Here!

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Walter Hill as the director gets me on board… Christoph Waltz and Willem Defoe are icing on the cake.  Dead for a Dollar?  Yep, deal me in.

Veteran bounty hunter Max Borlund is deep into Mexico where he encounters professional gambler and outlaw Joe Cribbens – a sworn enemy he sent to prison years before. Max is on a mission to find and return Rachel.

Cast: Christoph Waltz, Willem Defoe, Rachel Brosnahan, Benjamin Bratt

Available in THEATERS, on DIGITAL and ON DEMAND, September 30th, 2022

Magnum Force (1973) Starring Clint Eastwood / Z-View

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Magnum Force (1973)

Director: Ted Post

Screenplay by:  John Milius, Michael Cimino from a story by John Milius based on characters created by Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitchell Ryan, David Soul, Tim Matheson, Kip Niven, Robert Urich, Felton Perry, Maurice Argent, Richard Devon, Tony Giorgio, Jack Kosslyn and John Mitchum

Tagline:  Clint Eastwood is Dirty Harry in Magnum Force

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Someone is killing criminals who have escaped justice in court.  As the dead bodies pile up, Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood) begins to suspect that the killer is a cop.  As Harry continues his investigation, he discovers that he is now on the killer’s hit list!

Clint Eastwood returns in the second outing as his most popular character, Dirty Harry Callahan.  Magnum Force is Eastwood’s favorite Dirty Harry film.  It’s easy to see why.  The screenplay by John Milius and Michael Cimino provides a great response to critics who said Dirty Harry is a fascist vigilante.  Plus Eastwood’s supporting cast includes several stars on the verge of their breakout roles (David Soul in Starsky & Hutch, Tim Matheson in The Quest and Robert Urich in S.W.A.T.).  Hal Holbrook is perfect as Lt. Briggs, Calahan’s supervising officer.

Magnum Force provides a great showcase for Eastwood doing what he does best; playing the loner who despite “the system” gets the job done. Eastwood starts and ends Magnum Force with memorable dialogue.  The film opens with a repeat of the “Do you feel lucky, punk?” speech and ends with “A man’s got to know his limitations.”  In between we see Harry react to situations (Eastwood has facial expressions that rival Vince McMahon’s), stop a hijacking, being hit on (in different ways) by women and bad guys and overcoming the odds win the day.

Magnum Force earns 4 of 5 stars.