Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The fourth installment of Fargo is set in 1950 Kansas City, where two criminal syndicates fighting for a piece of the American dream have struck an uneasy peace. Chris Rock stars as Loy Cannon, the head of the African American crime family who trades sons with the head of the Italian mafia as part of tenuous truce.
The 4th season of Fargo looks like a lot of fun!
IMPAwards is running a survey to determine the best action movie poster design from 2019 releases. Click over and you can select your top five choices.
My first choice would be Rambo: Last Blood. Of course it’s hardly ever fair when you ask me a favorite if it includes Stallone. So for this contest I thought I’d include my other two top favorites: Hellboy and John Wick 3.
Jordan Peele’s Us displays a master attention to detail at a nearly unparalleled level. Like his previous horror film, Get Out, there is much more to be discovered on repeat viewings, especially in the production design. In this case, his book choices all align with the film’s themes, and are great additions to the movie. For this video essay, I point out some of the hidden books, as well as other clues and details hidden in plain sight you may have missed when you saw the movie. Edited by H. Nelson Tracey http://www.hnelsontracey.com/
Check out Duncan Fegredo’s take on the classic Universal monsters. I love these! Click on the photo to see a monsterous-sized version.
Source: @SteveNiles.
They’re all in. Ozark Season 3 returns to Netflix March 27, 2020. Jason Bateman (Marty Byrde), Laura Linney (Wendy Byrde), and Julia Garner (Ruth Langmore) double down on risky decisions to expand their empire in the next chapter of the thrilling crime drama series.
I was surprised at how good Ozark is! Looking forward to season 3!
IMPAwards is running a survey to determine the best drama movie poster design from 2019 releases. Click over and you can select your top five choices. Dragged Across Concrete would be my first choice from the posters displayed.
Christopher Fudiccia and ScreenRant posted 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of my favorite horror films and perhaps the one that is most deserving of an new movie. Fudiccia presents ten fun and informative facts. Below are three of my favs and my thoughts on each. Click over the article for all the facts and the full details.
The Film Was Originally Presented In 3D. (I’ve seen Creature from the Black Lagoon many times, but never in a theater and never in 3D. There’s money to be made if Universal ever decides to do a 3D re-release! – Craig)
Glenn Strange Almost Played The Creature (I did not know this. Given the fact that Strange played Frankenstein in several movies, he seems like a natural choice… if he was a better swimmer. Ha! – Craig)
The Gill-Man Wasn’t Really A Monster (This is an argument I’ve heard from fans. See the rationale Fudiccia presents. I’d agree except for the fact that the Creature kills two native workers at the start of the film. – Craig)
Ben Sherlock and ScreenRant posted Yo, Adrian!: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Rocky Franchise.
Most regular readers here will know the majority of the trivia posted, but there may be a few that surprise you. Below are three of my favs and my thoughts on each. Click over the article for all the facts and the full details.
Thanks To Rocky, Sylvester Stallone Has An Oscars Record Tied With Charlie Chaplin And Orson Welles. (Sly was the third person to ever receive Academy Award nominations for writing and acting in the same film! Since Sly earned this honor, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Billy Bob Thornton, Matt Damon and Roberto Benigni have joined this elite group. – Craig)
Rocky Balboa Was The First Rocky Film To Use Real Punches As Sound Effects. (Most folks know Sly and his co-stars traded real punches at times during the fight scenes, but how many knew that the real punch sounds weren’t used until Rocky Balboa? – Craig)
The Original Film’s Script Was Tweaked To Accommodate Production Errors. (While not technically a production error, the skating scene with Rocky and Adrian originally was supposed to take place with the skating rink full of people. The budget wouldn’t allow it, and I think the film is better for it! – Craig)
Jason Copland recently sent out a newsletter update on his crime-scifi-noir graphic novel Full Tilt which stars Massimo Miller. I’ve loved the look of the series from my first reading of the synopsis…
Massimo is the Consigliere for the Chessa Family, a position bestowed upon him by the syndicate’s boss, Russo Chessa. As Consigliere, Massimo acts as advisor and liaison in all matters that pertain to the family business giving him meaningful influence over syndicate affairs. Holding this position of power is all the more remarkable due to the fact that most of Massimo’s life was spent as a slave of a rival crime organization. Chosen for his loyalty and integrity, Massimo is no yes man. He is a heavy smoker, however, much to Russo’s chagrin. Massimo’s preferred brand is Marlboro XXV Kings.
Full Tilt is going to be full of interesting characters such as the gentleman above. You can swing over to Jason’s site and check out more of mugs, thugs and dames that populate his Full Tilt world.
If you’re so inclined (and I hope you are) after seeing preview art for Full Tilt, that you’ll follow Jason on Twitter and sign up for his newsletter. If you’re on the newsletter e-mail list, you’ll get Full Tilt updates with behind the scenes art, process discussions and be entered into drawings for free art. (Congrats to this newsletter’s winner, Juan Albarran.)
As you can guess, I’m going to end this post by suggesting that you follow Jason Copland on Twitter and sign-up for Jason’s newsletter. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
How about this Halloween poster created by Rich Davies? If you’re so inclined, you can check out a bigger version at Alternative Poster Movement.
Here’s the final trailer for the BBC/Netflix Dracula. I’m looking forward to this one!
He’s been around for centuries, but what happens when a worthy adversary bites back? From the makers of “Sherlock,” Claes Bang stars as Dracula in this brand-new series inspired by Bram Stoker’s classic novel. On Netflix Jan 4.
Here’s the poster and trailer for the new Amazon Prime tv series Hunters. Not sure about this one yet, but I will be tuning in to check it out.
Inspired by true events, HUNTERS follows a diverse band of Nazi Hunters in 1977 New York City who discover that hundreds of escaped Nazis are living in America. And so, they do what any bad-ass vigilante squad would do: they set out on a bloody quest for revenge and justice. But they soon discover a far-reaching conspiracy and must race against time to thwart the Nazis’ new genocidal plans.
Below is the season 5 teaser for Better Call Saul which returns Sunday, February 23 on AMC.
Jake Rossen and Mental Floss present 8 Surprising Facts About Cary Grant. Grant appeared in over 75 films (including two of my favorites, Arsenic and Old Lace and North by Northwest).
Cary Grant lived an interesting life. Here are my three favorite facts and my comments on each. Click over to the article to get all the details.
3. CARY GRANT WAS OFFERED THE ROLE OF JAMES BOND. (While I really like Grant’s acting, I can’t see him as James Bond. Well, maybe he’d have pulled off a Roger Moore-type Bond if he had been younger. All in all — good pass.)
8. CARY GRANT RETIRED EARLY. (Grant did something that many stars talk about doing but don’t. Most stars retire and then make a comeback. Grant did it right. He retired from acting and never came back.)
4. CARY GRANT REALLY LOVED LSD. (I include this fact not because I like Grant’s drug use, but because it is so surprising. It goes to show, you never know about people. Who’d have thought Cary Grant would be into LSD? Not me.)
Check out this really well done short, Skywatch.
SKYWATCH is a sci-fi proof of concept written & directed by Colin Levy.
This short has been six years in the making, funded via Kickstarter, and crafted by volunteering artists across the world.
Starring young up-and-comers Uriah Shelton (13 REASONS WHY, LOOKING FOR ALASKA) and Zach Callison (STEVEN UNIVERSE, THE GOLDBERGS), the short also features an appearance by Jude Law.
When two outcast teens hack into a ubiquitous drone delivery system to pull a prank on their neighbor, they accidentally crash-land a dangerous prototype – and find themselves entangled in a life-and-death conspiracy.
