Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Most fans of this site have probably seen the poster for Stallone in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. (You definitely did if you saw Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero.) Now, thanks to Ctrl Shift Face we can see what the Stallone Terminator 2 movie would have looked like.
Oh, and if you like the Stallone Terminator 2: Judgment Day poster, click on it to see a apocalyptic-sized version.
Alex Toth’s Bravo for Adventure is out in a trade paperback for the first time and fans are going to want to grab a copy.
Alex Toth’s magnum opus contains all three of The Genius’s stories starring Jesse Bravo, knock-about pilot and reluctant swashbuckler, including the original graphic novel.
More than forty years after its creation, Bravo For Adventure remains a rollicking pastiche of 1930s high-adventure, replete in the visual trappings of film noir without any of that genre’s existential depression. By this point in his career Toth had stripped out all extraneous lines and detail, demonstrating complete command of his staging and chiaraoscruo technique, and cementing his reputation as the medium’s most sophisticated storyteller.
Also included are never-before-seen pencil roughs, preliminary drawings, and story fragments, as well as Toth’s own coloring samples for an edition that never saw print, and–freed from storage after 40-some-years–the coloring for what was intended to be Bravo’s original 1975 first printing in France! It’s not just a comics collection, it’s a capital “E” Event — the ultimate Bravo for Adventure, published by special arrangement with the Toth family!
I usually don’t post any of my Stallone commissions until I’ve received them, but Tom Reilly sent me a scan of the Jack Carter/John Wick piece he did for me and I like it so much I just couldn’t wait!
Tom Reilly is an artist from Mount Desert Island, Maine. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, with a BFA in Illustration. Tom’s work has been included in exhibits such as the Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Exhibition, the Rhode Island School of Design Illustration Triennial Exhibition, and the 2017 MoCCA Arts Festival.
You can check out more of Tom’s art at his website or follow him on Twitter.
The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark poster and trailer are here!
From the dark imaginations of Academy Award®-winner Guillermo del Toro and acclaimed director André Øvredal, based on the iconic book series, comes Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark — in theaters this summer.
It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind…but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying home.
Eddie Muller (Host of TCM’s Noir Alley) and Michael Kronenberg (Designer/Artist for the Film Noir Foundation) posted their choices for the Top Ten Noir Comics. Their list is a good one as you can see above.
I’ve read 8 of their top 10 only missing out on Crime Suspense Stories (their first choice!) and Blacksad. I’ve heard great things about both and plan to check them out at some point.
My top three (in alpha order) would be:
If you’re a fan of crime fiction/noir, then check them out. I’d also add one more. That would be Frank Miller’s Sin City yarns and I’d start with The Hard Goodbye.
Samantha Olthof at Film School Rejects takes us through Shot by Shot with the Rambo: Last Blood Trailer. I did catch something I missed in the trailer – Rambo coming up out of the ground during the attack on his property. Check and out and see if there’s anything you missed.
Jack Giroux at /Film has an interesting interview with John Wick 3 director, Chad Stahelski. It’s worth a read and here are a couple of tidbits to whet your appetite before you click over…
They call it the curse of the sequel. They love the first movie because it’s original, but by its very nature, the sequel can’t be original in the same way as the first one is because it’s a sequel [Laughs]. So how do you become original, how do you keep the audience invested in what they love and at the same time, show them something new? They want to see it again, but they don’t want you to repeat exactly.
Same with backstory. Halle [Berry] can look at John with the anger, the love, and the look and stoicism and still agree to help, and that should tell you there’s something there. I don’t need her to say, “I love you. We were together for five years.” If you’ve gotta say that, you got the wrong cast or you’ve gotta drop the writers.
Click over and get your John Wick 3 fix!
John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019)
Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad and Shay Hatten and Chris Collins & Marc Abrams from a story by Derek Kolstad
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston.
The Pitch: “It’s time for the sequel”
Tagline: “Tick Tock, Mr. Wick”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
John Wick [Reeves] is on the run after killing a member of the High Table on neutral ground. With a $14 million bounty on his head, there’s danger at every turn. Wick has a plan, but for it to work, he’ll have to fight his way out of the city and to the one person who can provide a possible option for his life. The odds are against any of it working, but then again, this is John Wick we’re talking about.
The John Wick series is the best movie franchise in years. Each new chapter (film) really feels like an extension of the previous films. In other franchises each film often feels like a step up or slightly different world. John Wick 3 raises the bar for action and provides a broader view of Wick’s world. The new cast members (Berry, Dacascos and Dillon) are perfectly cast.
If you liked John Wick 1 and 2, you’ll dig Chapter 3. They’ve already set a release date for John Wick 4 and that’s May 21, 2021.
Rating:
It’s no secret that Marshall Rogers was (and remains) one of the best Batman artists ever. What may be a secret is that Black, White and Bronze recently posted a Marshall Rogers Batman Gallery that is worth a look.
My buddy, Andy Smith has been a working professional artist for over 25 years. He’s worked for all the major companies and equally impressive; Andy has been the author and artist on several “how-to” books on drawing super-heroes and comics.
Andy’s latest book is on Kickstarter and is titled, Dynamic Hero Templates. The 48 page book is 11″ x 8.5″ in a landscape format. It features 8 varying male physiques so there’s a variety of body shapes to use to design your characters.
Andy created Dynamic Hero Templates for all ages and skill levels. He also priced the book at $10 which is not only affordable but less than the $12.95 price point after his Kickstarter ends. If you missed out on Andy’s earlier books or are a fan of his art, there are addition levels of support that will get you exactly what you crave. Dynamic Hero Templates also would make an excellent gift!
Tim Grierson & Will Leitch and Vulture.com present The 50 Best Sports Movies of All Time. I’m happy to report that Creed came in at #28 and Rocky at #3.
The list is a good one, but I’d have included The Set-up, Requiem for a Heavyweight and a couple more from the Rocky series and Paradise Alley. (Would you expect any less?)
Here’s what Grierson and Leitch said about Rocky and Creed:
28. Creed (2015)
The Rocky series had run out of gas several times by the time Ryan Coogler got together with his Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan to inject the whole franchise with adrenaline and soul … and even liven up old Rock himself in the process. The best scenes of Creed aren’t even about boxing at all, as we see young Adonis Creed struggle with his identity, his purpose in life, and the power of his feelings for a young, hearing-impaired musician (played wonderfully by Tessa Thompson). Putting Rocky Balboa in the Paulie role is a brilliant idea, and the relationship between the young boxer and his trainer works … and even manages to transcend the whole 40-year-old enterprise.
3. Rocky (1976)
Roger Ebert famously wrote, in his initial review of Rocky, that Sylvester Stallone reminded him of a young Brando, and while that classification hasn’t, uh, aged so well, you can understand what he was thinking. Before all the sequels, before the montage sequences, before Stallone became a muscled, chiseled ode to misguided masculinity, he was just a guy who wanted to tell a story about a past-his-prime palooka who met a girl and then suddenly finally got his chance at the big time. This is a big hokey underdog story, but it’s told with a grit and realism that matches the era; Rocky’s just a good-hearted schmo from the neighborhood who doesn’t have the stomach to break thumbs for the mob but isn’t sure what else the world has for him either. But he’s got heart, kid. This series is more than 40 years old now, but, as Creed showed, this story remains eternal. It’s probably going to outlive us all. Even Stallone.
Leon Redbone, the singer-songwriter known for his sense of humor and songs performed in the musical styles of the 1920’s has died at the age of 69.
Redbone’s website announced his passing with the following…
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th, 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127. He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat. He’s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence, and has plans for a rousing sing along number with Sári Barabás. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, ‘Oh behave yourselves. Thank you…. and good evening everybody.’”
I first became aware of Leon Redbone from his performance on Saturday Night Live. I loved that he was so willing to do his own thing in a style no one else (at least to my knowledge) was doing. Redbone went on to create albums, provide songs for movies and do voice work for movies and television.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.
The poster and trailer for Rambo: Last Blood are here.
Check ’em out and let me know what you think. As for me, I like what we’re seeing today and have been seeing on Sly’s Instagram. Rambo: Last Blood seems like a natural progression from the previous Rambo movies. I can’t wait for September 20th.
The page above comes from Empire created by Samuel Delaney and Howard Chaykin in 1978. Empire was a nearly 100 page graphic novel. I bought my copy at Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum and can remember my excitement reading it. I haven’t read Empire in years and wonder how it would hold up.
