Russell Crowe’s Next 3 Days Aren’t So Good

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The Pitch: “It’s like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ from the spouse’s point of view, but in this version the spouse plans and executes his wife’s prison breakout.”

The Tagline: “What if you had 72 hours to save everything you love?”

The Story: When a man’s wife is convicted of murdering her boss after an argument and appeals hold no promise, he decides to break her out of prison.

The Cast: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Beghe, Brian Dennehy and Liam Neeson.

The Good: The planning of the escape and a brief scene with Liam Neeson. There’s a nice moment with the man (Crowe) and his emotionally-distant father (Dennehy).

The Bad: Liam Neeson is under-used. What happens when you are a “civilian” dealing with criminals. What happens when a man is pushed to the ragged edge. The movie is a bit long.

The Ugly: The wife’s attitude when she learns too late the her husband’s plan.

The Rating: D+

Ryan Cody Presents: The Icarus Primer

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Are you familiar with Ryan Cody’s Icarus? 

Icarus is a comic that Ryan has been working on for the last couple of years.  

  • ICARUS follows U.S.M.C. Major Robert Riley on his exploits to track and assassinate all super-powered beings on Earth. Things aren’t all that they seem in Riley’s world: Girls that can see the future, an alien invasion and government conspiracies all play a part in this twisting and turning adventure.

Ryan originally completed 32 pages and released the comic in a limited edition print version as well as a digitally.  Recently Ryan revisited the story, added new content as well as re-wrote and re-edited the original pages into something entirely new.  I bought the original Icarus and like the new version better.  But don’t take my word for it.

ICARUS: Primer is a 28 page story that sets up the world of ICARUS and prepares it for it’s launch in 2013. Even if you own or have downloaded it before, this version adds much to the story and hopefully gets you excited about Icarus Rising. Thanks to Ryan you can download the ICARUS: Primer for free.

If you like it, please help by spreading the word now and supporting the comic when it comes out in 2013.

Cooke Knows The Score

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If you enjoy excellent crime fiction and/or great comics, then you’re probably well aware of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels.  So far there have been three – Parker: The Hunter; The Outfit and The Score.

Originally, the plan was for Cooke to adapt four of the Parker novels, but Cooke’s graphic adaptations have been so well received, and Cooke’s having such a blast, there will now be at least five!  Next up is The Handle which Cooke says he choose because “it’s an incredibly visual book. It concerns a casino on an island.”  The release date is scheduled for 2013 and I’d put my order in now if I could!

Darwyn Cooke recently spoke about his take on Parker at ComicCon and CBR.com was there.

The Review: Conan (2011)

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Conan (2011)

The Pitch: “Let’s remake the John Milius/Arnold Schwarzenegger cult classic Conan the Barbarian!”

The Tagline: “Enter an age undreamed of.“

The Story: Conan, born on a battlefield, who became a warrior as a child, gets the opportunity as an adult, to get vengeance against the man who murdered his father.

The Good: Not much really. Jason Momoa shows promise as Conan, but is let down by a really bad script. There is plenty of action (the best two scenes being Conan as a youth fighting four savages, and then as an adult fighting sand warriors) but just don’t think too hard about what takes place before and after.

The Bad: The script is bad. Things happen just because they need to without regard to logic, continuity or common sense. Perhaps the only thing worse than the script is Ron Perlman’s beard.

The Ugly: Did I mention the script? Ron Perlman’s beard?

The Rating: D

Sage Stallone – Rest in Peace

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Sage Stallone has died. At this point the cause is unclear. Sage was 36.

Sage made his movie debut acting with Sly in Rocky V. Six years later they appeared together on screen in Daylight. Sage was an actor, director, producer, business man and musician. Long time StalloneZone readers know that Sage would contact us from time to time and even shared a personal photo of his mom and dad taken in 1971.

Sage appreciated his fans and was always kind and gracious in our interactions.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans. Rest in Peace, Sage.


Kurt Sutter Talks SONS OF ANARCHY

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If you’re a fan of the Sons of Anarchy, then you’ll probably like the TVGuide.com interview with series creator, Kurt Sutter.  Sutter gives us a hint at season five (and even more in the interview)…

  • Jax has the immediate threat of retaliation from Damon Pope (guest star Harold Perrineau), whose daughter was accidentally killed by Tig (Kim Coates) last season. Soon enough, both Jax and Pope will land in bed with Neron “Nero” Padilla (Jimmy Smits), a Latino gangster who becomes a dangerous mentor for Jax. But ultimately, creator Kurt Sutter tells TVGuide.com that Season 5 will be the year that Jax stops taking advice and begins making his own tough decisions.

Z-View: “Savages”

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The Pitch: “Let’s get a name director, a first-rate cast and film an adaptation of Don Winslow’s Savages.”

The Overview: Ben (a pacifist) and Chon (ex-military) are best friends who share a thriving marijuana business and a woman named Ophelia.  The relationship works as well as their multi-million dollar pot business.  All is paradise until a brutal Mexican cartel (is that redundant?) decides to move in on their pot trade.  When Ben and Chon refuse their offer, the cartel kidnaps Ophelia.  Nothing will stop Ben and Chon from getting her back.

The Good: The novel by Don Winslow provides a solid foundation.  The screenplay by Shane Salerno, Don Winslow and Olver Stone isn’t afraid to make changes to the great source material.  The cast: Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, and Salma Hayek are excellent in their roles.  Benicio Del Toro and John Travolta are as well, and own almost every scene they’re in.  Oliver Stone delivers.

The Bad: The things that happen to folks that mess with a Mexican cartel.  Don’t mess with a Mexican cartel.  (Sounds like a commericial for direct tv, doesn’t it?)

The Ugly: Keep an eye out for what happens when “traitors” are bull-whipped.  Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Rating:

Did Anderson Silva Fight Dirty?

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Kirik Jenness at MixedMartialArts.com asks Did Anderson Silva Fight Dirty? and provides a good deal of evidence that Silva did.  There was the questionable knee (to the face?) while Sonnen was down, Silva grabbing Sonnen’s trunks, and the most blatant violation, at least in my opinion, Silva spreading grease from his face over his arms and chest.

Are any of these violations enough to change the ruling of the fight.  Of course not.  Are any of them alone so bad?  Not really.  Except for the spreading of the grease, they occurred during the heat battle.  Taken together though, they seem to show a fighter truly concerned about the other guy’s chances of winning.  That should be some consolation to Sonnen.