Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Cursed has a cool poster and trailer. Deal me in.
US Release Date: February 18, 2022
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie
Directed By: Sean Ellis
Synopsis: In rural 19th-century France, a mysterious, possibly supernatural menace threatens a small village. John McBride, a pathologist, comes to town to investigate the danger — and exorcise some of his own demons in the process.
Flu (2013)
Director: Sung-su Kim
Screenplay: Young-jong Lee, Sung-soo Kim (from a story by Jae-ho Jung)
Starring: Jang Hyuk, Soo Ae, Min-ah Park, Hae-Jin Yoo and Ma Dong-seok.
Tagline: Death goes viral.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When a fatal airborne virus runs rampant in a suburb of Seoul, a cure must be found before the government resorts to the ultimate solution to end the outbreak. With the clock ticking, a female doctor working on the cure has a personal reason to find it — her daughter is infected.
Ma Dong-seok from Train to Busan fame shows up as a bad guy!
Flu takes time to set everything up, but once the virus begins to spread unrestrained, the stakes are raised. The internment disposal area is mind-blowing. Min-ah Park is an excellent little actress. Although Flu was released in 2013, the subject has never been more relevant. Flu rates 3 of 5 stars.
Vince Guerrieri at Mental Floss came up with a list of 10 People Suspected of Being Jack the Ripper. It ranges from the highly unlikely (Lewis Carroll) to the probable (Aaron Kosminski).
Patricia Cornwell has DNA evidence that Jack the Ripper was Walter Sickert.
My guess is that the Ripper was Kosminski or Sickert. I’d be interested in hearing who others think Jack the Ripper may have been.
Nobody (2021)
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside and RZA.
Tagline: Never underestimate a nobody.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Hutch Mansell lives a mundane life. He has a wife (they are drifting apart), a son and daughter. His job is routine and he’s in a rut. Things get worse when burglars break into his house to rob it and Mansell does nothing to stop them. His son sees him as a coward, and the rest of the family looks at him with pity. What they don’t know is that Mansell used to worked as a CIA “auditor” who was sent in as a last resort to “clear the books”.
As Mansell’s anger builds he goes looking for the two thieves. When five thugs on a bus begin to terrorize a young lady, Mansell takes out his rage on the would-be tough guys, hospitalizing all of them. Unfortunately one of the mooks is the brother of a crazy Russian crime boss who will bring the full weight of his organization down on Mansell and his family.
Let the good times roll!
Nobody can be described as John Wick light. Bob Odenkirk is surprisingly effective as the former CIA auditor and Nobody shows how talented he is. To go from Sal Goodman to Hutch Mansell is more than a stretch. The scene on the bus is fun and surprisingly violent. I referred to Nobody as John Wick light and the humor is what takes it down a notch. Plus when Mansell’s dad (Lloyd) starts blowing away a Russian hit squad you know we’re in a different universe.
I really enjoyed Nobody. It was a fun ride with plenty of action and humor. It rates 4 of 5 stars.
Marten Go started out wanting to draw the main characters from Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon and ended up drawing the entire cast! Click on the photo to see it dragon-sized!
I like the looks of Alter Ego, but I think the poster might give away a bit too much.
Detective DiBiasse (Eric Roberts) goes to his last crime scene at the Mansion of a wealthy, paranoid recluse named Alan Schaeffer (Dylan Walsh). He brings with him a new detective and starts explaining the strange story of Alan Schaeffer. A man who recently insisted that one of his creations was coming to kill him, but had no evidence to back up his claim. Surrounded by security that reportedly sees nothing, nobody can help Alan Schaeffer and so the police moved on. Now the Detective is back at this mansion with a horrible, brutal crime scene and no suspect in sight.
Hellblazers (2022)
Director: Justin Lee
Screenplay: Justin Lee
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Greg Beaton, Crash Buist, Bruce Dern, Meg Foster and Billy Zane.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When a satanic cult summons a demon the residents of a very small southwestern town must band together to survive.
Hellblazers is a low, low budget film set in the 1980s. It would have fit right in on a drive-in triple feature from the same time period. If you go in knowing you’re going to get a chance to see older stars in a film that requires you to put your brain on hold to enjoy the ride, you just might (enjoy the ride). Hellblazers makes attempts at humor but never totally commits to comedy. There are a couple of jump scares but isn’t really scary despite being about a satanic cult and a demon from hell killing off the population of a small town.
With that said, I watched with my wife and we found it an okay way to pass the time. Therefore Hellblazers rates 2 of 5 stars.
Fronteras (2018)
Director: Andrew Dean
Screenplay: Andrew Dean
Starring: Cortez Chappell, Steven Sean Garland and Wade Everett
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Shane Estes, a Hispanic Border Patrol Agent, is recruited to join an effective Strike Force team brought in to wipe out the local drug trade. If the team is successful, Estes will get a promotion, but he finds the Strike Force’s methods immoral and illegal. Estes’ boss wants Estes to finish the assignment. As the pressure mounts Estes finds himself at the point of no return.
Fronteras has the set-up for an excellent movie. Sadly the execution falls short. Fronteras rates 2 of 5 stars.
The Endgame trailer looks like it was made for a feature film. Maybe it is because Justin (Star Trek Beyond; F9: The Fast Saga) Lin is directing. Morena Baccarin and Ryan Michelle Bathé star. The Endgame premieres February 21st. Deal me in.
Morena Baccarin and Ryan Michelle Bathé star in the ultimate high-stakes showdown between criminal mastermind Elena Federova and FBI Agent Val Turner. When they play Elena’s game, deadly truths are revealed… and everyone bows to the queen.
Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolakowski
Trade Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Down & Out Books
First sentence…
We came home from the movies to find our front door kicked open, both floors ransacked, half the food in our fridge missing.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Jake Halligan comes home to find his house ransacked and a naked, dead woman in his gun safe. Jake’s never seen the woman before, and has no idea who killed her. The list of thugs, gangbangers, and assorted criminals Jake has tracked down (he’s a bounty hunter) is just too large. Then Jake learns that the woman wasn’t the only murder victim. As he gets closer to the killer(s), Jake, his ex-wife and sister are kidnapped. Soon they find themselves involved in what can only be called The Most Dangerous Game.
Nick Kolakowski has taken a classic tale and modernized it. The Boise Longpig Hunting Club is full of memorable characters, action and humor. Kolakowski provides situations that we’ve seen before, but he puts an unexpected twist on them that leaves us shocked and/or smiling. I like Jake Halligan, his supporting characters and look forward to the follow-up, Rattlesnake Rodeo (which is already sitting in my to be read pile). As for the Boise Longpig Hunting Club, it rates 5 of 5 stars.
Rating:
Seung Eun Kim created the cool piece above. Click on the photo to see it biggie-sized. You can see more of Seung Eun Kim’s art at his Instagram page and his Youtube Channel.
From time to time you hear read me talking about drive-in movies. They feature c-level celebrities or stars from the past in low budget films usually in the horror genre. Even when they’re not great (which is often) they can be fun. Hellblazers looks like it qualifies as a drive-in movie.
Stars from the past? Tony Todd, Adrienne Barbeau, Bruce Dern, Meg Foster, Billy Zane. Check.
Low budget? Check.
Horror genre? Check.
Fun? I’ll get back to you after I watch it. So deal me in.
Focused on unleashing hell on earth, a satanic cult conjures up a demon and sets to the task of feeding it the populace of a nearby southwestern town.
CAST: Tony Todd, Adrienne Barbeau, Bruce Dern, John Kassir, Meg Foster, Edward Finlay, Ed Morrone, Billy Zane
DIRECTOR: Justin Lee
I love the idea behind Murderville the Netflix limited series that premieres on February 3rd. Will Arnett plays a detective who is joined by celebrity guest stars each week to solve a crime. The catch is the guest stars aren’t given a script and have to adlib their way through the episode!. Murderville sounds like fun! Deal me in.
Solving crimes is hard. Improv comedy is harder. All 6 episodes of Murderville starring Will Arnett stream February 3rd, only on Netflix.
The French Connection (1971)
Director: William Friedkin
Screenplay: Ernest Tidyman (based on the book by Robin Moore)
Starring: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Ray and Tony Lo Bianco.
Tagline: The time is just right for an out and out thriller like this.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Let me say from the start most folks like The French Connection much more than me. The French Connection was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won five (Best Picture, Best Actor – Hackman; Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Film Editing – Gerald B. Greenberg). When a movie gets that many awards, is the number three box office champ for the year and a reviewer only gives it 3 of 5 stars, your mileage will probably differ.
My biggest problem with The French Connection is the lead characters. Detective Buddy Russo (Scheider) isn’t given much to do other than be Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle’s reluctant sidekick. ‘Popeye’ Doyle (Hackman) is a loud, unlikeable screw-up.
Let me count some of the ways Doyle irritates me. When following the drug importing mastermind, Popeye gets made and played on the subway. Doyle “commandeers” a citizen’s car to chase a sniper making a getaway on an El-train. During the chase he causes multiple wrecks, nearly runs over a lady pushing a baby carriage, and destroys the car he “borrowed”. When Doyle gets into a footrace with the sniper he ends up shooting the guy in the back. The movie culminates with Doyle accidentally shooting an FBI agent and the drug importing mastermind getting away.
Despite the nits I picked, The French Connection has its moments. It features one of the most popular car chases in movie history. Friedkin’s documentary feel influenced filmmakers and it is an excellent example of 70s films (anti-heroes, gritty city settings, good guys don’t always win).
The French Connection rates 3 of 5 stars (but again I stress, your mileage may vary!).
Matt Wagner is best known for his creations Mage and Grendel. Wagner has worked for Comico, Dark Horse, DC, Dynamite, Image and Marvel. Wagner is a talented artist and writer and I’ve followed him on most everything he’s drawn. I’ve always had a special love for Wagner’s riff on Batman. Here are two reasons why.
