Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan is another documentary coming to Netflix. It is also another documentary that I plan to watch.
As a brutal civil war rages across 16th century Japan, powerful samurai warriors rise up to crush their rivals and become the first leader in almost a century to reunite the nation and rule all of Japan. Many will rise, most will fall, and one will build a dynasty that will stand for over two centuries.
Peter S. Davis, best known as the producer of the Highlander movie, television and video game franchise died on February 21st. Mr. Davis was 79.
Peter S. Davis was CEO and President of Davis-Panzer Productions (DPP) and Davis Merchandising. He was a former lawyer on Wall Street as well as an entrepreneur who owned several business’ outside of movie-making. Davis began his Hollywood career in 1976 as an Executive Producer of The Death Collector which featured Joe Pesci in a co-starring role. Davis followed that up as Executive Producer of the movie Stunts starring Robert Forester and Ray Sharkey. Peter Davis was producer of Sam Peckinpah’s last film (The Osterman Weekend) as well as one of Brad Pitt’s first films (Cutting Class), but it is the Highlander series where Davis made his biggest and best contribution.
Davis pushed to get Highlander to the big screen. He is also credited for getting Sean Connery in the co-starring role that gave the film gravitas. The success of Highlander created a franchise that included a sequel, an animated series, a television series, tv movies and video games.
The original Highlander film is one of my all-time favorite films. Everything from the screenplay to the acting, direction and soundtrack/score came together. Although I wasn’t a fan of the sequel and didn’t get into the other Highlander ventures, I am such a fan of the original Highlander film, if that was the only contribution that Peter S. Davis made in his career, it would be worth noting here.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Peter S. Davis’ family, friends and fans.
Ben Sherlock at ScreenRant posted The Rambo Franchise’s 5 Best Characters (& 5 Best Action Sequences). His list is a good one. Before you click over let me show you a clip of an action scene that I think should have been included in Sherlock’s list. It is the scene with the river pirates from Rambo.
I love how the tension builds as Rambo and crew move past the pirates’ dock. Just when it looks like they may have escaped trouble, you hear the pirates’ boat start up. Then they are hit with an intensely bright spotlight and machine gun fire churns the water around them. As Rambo tries to negotiate with the pirate leader, Rambo’s eyes move to each of the pirates to see what weapons they possess and their level of danger. Rambo is already determining the order that he will have to take them out should it come to that… and it does.
Be aware before watching the video it contains some profanity and violence.
Murder Among Mormons looks to be another interesting documentary on Netflix. I plan to tune in.
Murder Among the Mormons is the first comprehensive look at one of the most shocking crimes to have ever taken place among the Mormon community and the criminal mastermind behind it all. The three-part documentary series directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and Tyler Measom (An Honest Liar), examines a trio of bombings in 1985 that killed two people and shocked Salt Lake City. The murders send further shockwaves through the community when a trove of early Mormon letters and diaries are found destroyed in the vehicle of the third victim, a renowned collector of rare documents, including the infamous White Salamander Letter — an artifact whose contents threatened to shake the very foundations of Mormonism. As he fights for his life, investigators race to uncover the truth.
I like both the poster and trailer for The Penthouse. Michael Pare and Nicholas Turturro may have a winner. This looks like a pretty good film.
This dark, gripping thriller shows that evil lurks where we least expect it. In sunny Carolina Beach, Peter and Amanda’s new penthouse condo has a perfect view of the marina. One day they notice a couple bickering aboard a docked sailboat. Amanda befriends frightened Tess, but soon afterwards Tess vanishes without a trace. After Peter confronts her boyfriend Charles (Michael Paré, GONE), Charles vows to make the nosy couple’s life a living hell, stopping at nothing until he gets revenge.
I recently took a Dichotomy Philosophy quiz and my results are posted above. You can see an easier to read version by clicking on the photo.
I really wish I had taken this test when I was fresh out of college and then again after my sons were out of high school to compare with the scores I have now. It would be interesting to see which of my perspectives had changed.
Here’s a rare item that I recently saw on Ebay. It’s an advance poster for Cliffhanger directed by Renny Harlin and starring Sly Stallone. I cleaned up the image a bit, but the tagline is still hard to read. It says…
Three miles up on an icy wall of granite.
A thousand ways to die.
And somebody wants to kill him.It’s hell. Frozen over.
I don’t know as much about Winston Churchill as I’d like. Sure, I know he was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, but aside from a few quotes and broad strokes about his life, I don’t know much else. That’s why I found Carla Delgado’s 7 Fascinating Facts About Winston Churchill at Mental Floss very interesting. Before you click over, here are my three favorites and my thoughts on each.
THE ABBREVIATION “OMG” WAS FIRST USED IN A LETTER TO WINSTON CHURCHILL. I don’t know why I find this piece of trivia so appealing. I guess because it is so random. I wonder what possessed John Fisher to use the abbreviation. How did Churchill know what the letters stood for? (Context, I guess.) And why did it take so many decades for the abbreviation to catch on? OMG – so many questions.
WINSTON CHURCHILL LIVED WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS. Churchill suffered from “long periods of despair and lethargy” which some have diagnosed as bi-polar disorder. I’m surprised at the high percentage of “great” people from history who had to overcome things that cripple others. I guess that is part of what makes them great.
WINSTON CHURCHILL WAS AN HONORARY AMERICAN. I didn’t know that Churchill’s mother was American and that he was granted honorary citizenship. I like that fact a lot. We can always use more good Americans. ; )
I like both the poster and trailer for Dutch. This is one I look forward to seeing..
It is the urban-lit cult classic from the Teri Woods series Dutch that breaks all the rules. It introduces a player who will use any means necessary to dominate the streets-and beyond. There isn’t an angle he can’t work or a woman he can’t seduce and it’s taken Bernard James, Jr. aka Dutch, no time at all to turn an African drug lord’s stolen heroin business into the East Coast’s most feared drug empire. And there’s no shortage of enemies vowing to take him down, including a vengeful Mafia heir, an ambitious DA and a conscience-stricken former friend. But none of his enemies can stop what they can’t see. With his life on the line, and the face of the enemy in everyone he sees, Dutch plays the game and scores a winning hand in the face of all that betrayed him. But, there is one woman Dutch just can’t resist who will shake his ice-cold control to its core. And it will be the one betrayal that he never sees coming that will put more than he ever imagined at risk.
KEY CAST: Lance Gross, Jeremy Meeks, Macy Gray, Gunna, Natasha Marc, Tyrin Turner, Melissa Williams, Markice Moore, Michael Blackson
We saw the Debris teaser trailer here. Now we have the full length trailer. Yep, Debris looks interesting and I’ll give it a shot.
Every piece holds the power to change our world. Jonathan Tucker, Riann Steele, Norbert Leo Butz and Scroobius Pip star in Debris, a new mystery premiering Monday, March 1 at 10/9c on NBC.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of two prints by Juan Ramos that sold out on the first day that they were launched! The other print is an alternate poster for the original Frankenstein. The prints were released by Bottleneck Gallery and it is worth a click over to see both The Creature and Frankenstein in slightly larger versions (plus all the other cool stuff on site).
The Arbors poster and trailer are here. I like both enough to tune in when The Arbors comes to one of my streaming services.
Before you click on the Conan animation below, be aware that it contains realistic cartoon violence. I realize that’s an oxymoron, but it applies. The animation is NOT a type you would see on Saturday morning. It is more along the lines of what you might see in an “R” rated Conan feature film. The action is extremely well directed and I would love to see a full-length Conan film done like this.
Hats off to Mostapha Dhaouadi and everyone involved.
Below we have an extended trailer for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6. I’ve watched FTWD since the start and it has never been better. I’m looking forward to its return.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. It’s a letter that along with a copy of the Rambo III script sent to Marlon Brando from Mario Kassar back in 1987 in an effort to get Brando to play Russian Colonel Zaysen!
While it would have been interesting to see Sly playing against Brando, I think it would have created a much different film.
The letter and script sent to Brando is currently for sale with an asking price of $1,500.00 from CFMemorabilia.
