Spanish Hellboy II Poster
Want to see the Spanish “Hellboy II” poster? IMPAwards.com has it HERE. Want to see the Spanish “Hellboy II” poster? IMPAwards.com has it HERE. Want to see the Spanish “Hellboy II” poster? IMPAwards.com has it HERE. Craig’s "Dark Knight" Review
The Pitch: Batman done right.
The Overview: Batman has been fighting crime for a year. He’s formed an uneasy alliance with police Lieutenant James Gordon and together they have made the streets of Gotham a bit safer. Harvey Dent, the charismatic and popular district attorney, with the aide of attorney Rachael Dawes [Bruce Wayne’s ex] are putting away criminals through the courts. Together the four [Batman, Gordon, Dent and Dawes] have created a one-two punch taking on organized crime in Gotham.
Without warning and with no explanation, a criminal psychopath who calls himself the Joker appears on the scene and begins to terrorize the city. Batman, Gordon and Dent will have to pay a terrible toll if they are to have even a chance at stopping the Joker.
The Good:
- Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is amazing from every little tic and nod to the perfect inflection with his dialogue. Ledger understood that the Joker isn’t a clown, but instead a psycho with face paint.
- The screenplay by Jonathon and Christopher Nolan provides great action sequences, spot on characterization and grounds everything in reality.
- Christopher Nolan’s direction.
- The city of Gotham. This is the first time in any Batman movie that the city seemed real.
- The dinner scene with Bruce, his date, Rachael and Harvey. Bruce went in not wanting to like Harvey, but comes to realize he is a decent man and leaves respecting him.
- The use of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
- Every scene with Heath Ledger as the Joker.
- Bringing back Cillian Murphy for one scene as the Scarecrow.
- The use of the right actors for small but important roles: Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni, William Fichtner as the bank manager, “Tiny” Tim Lester as a convict. Anthony Michael Hall, Jai White and Nestor Carbonell also appear.
- Gary Oldman is perfect in his role as Gordon.
- The effects for Harvey Dent as Two-Face. The way the coin toss; Two-Face name, and new look of his outfit is all worked out for the movie.
- The Joker telling Batman the opposite locations for the rescure of Rachael and Harvey. The Joker’s scene with the criminal bosses, the Joker being “questioned” by the Batman, the Joker visiting Harvey in the hospital and then the scene right after when he walks out of the hospital. So much of the movie is just plain good. Oh, and did I mention that Heath Ledger ruled in his role as the Joker?
The Bad: I’m not sure Maggie Gyllenhaal was the best person to play Rachael and I still don’t like the look of Batman’s cowl, but with so much to like about the movie, let’s just move on, ok?
The Ugly: What happens to Harvey Dent.
The Summary: I’m a Batman fan. No prior Batman movie had given me a Batman that totally worked… not even Nolan and Bale’s “Batman Begins.” “The Dark Knight” works. It works because the movie is grounded and the characters are treated with respect. Excellent choices were made all the way around. Heath Ledger’s performance is amazing and gives the movie an additional boost. I look forward to having “The Dark Knight” in my dvd collection.
The Ghost of Gargantua
A trailer for Wild Bill Black’s “The Ghost of Gargantua” is now on-line. “Ghost of Gargantua” is the sequel to Bill’s ever-popular “The Amazing Colossal Woman.” Long-time ZONErs may remember this post where I talked about filming that was going to take place at one of Tim Gordon’s Tampa Cons. It did and much of it appears in the trailer below.
Here’s some trivia before you watch:
* The screaming crowd scenes were filmed on August 20, 2006 using fans in attendance at Tim Gordon’s con.
* At 2:09 in the trailer there is a close-up reaction shot of “The James” Howell. If you look closely at the collar of his shirt, you’ll notice its red. The red was from fake blood. Earlier in the day, we had shot a scene of “The James” being attacked by a vampire in a hotel room. That scene will appear in a future Bill Black release.
* You may recognize the four mugs featured in the trailer and pictured below: starting at the top and going clockwise – 1] “The James” Howell – comic book and art collector, writer and director and all around great guy 2] me 3] John “The Master” Higashi – comic art collector, master of sketches, leader of the pack 4] John “Big” Beatty – comic book artist, king of nonsense, and my oldest friend [although not as old as Jim Ivey or Bill Black].
* John Beatty is wearing a patch in the trailer. It’s a running gag that his character, “Patch,” shows up in several of Bill’s movies. This is his second appearance with a third soon to follow!
* John Higashi gets a close-up in the trailer where he yells “Godzilla.” It was totally ad-libbed and brought down the house.
So sit down, relax, let your mind take you back to the days of drive-ins, Nightmare Theater and watch the trailer for “The Ghost of Gargantua!”
UCF Fight Night 14 Results
Let’s take a look at the results of last night’s fights:C.B. Dollaway looked like his was going to have a long night with Jesse Taylor when three-quarters of the way through the first round he pulled off a “Peruvian necktie” forcing Taylor to submit. I busted out laughing while watching C.B. work Taylor into the hold. I’d never seen the move before and didn’t realize what was happening. I don’t think that Taylor did either. Then when it was announced that Dollaway had one via “Peruvian necktie” I started laughing again — the hold sounded like something that Gordon Solie would come up with while announcing Professional Wrestling from Florida in the early 70’s! Hats off to Dollaway for the win.
Frankie Edgar convincingly defeated Hermes Franca by winning every round. for a unanimous decision. Franca’s year off must have really taken its toll. Except for a few brief bursts by Franca, Edgar controlled the entire fight and looked good in winning. Brandon Vera defeated Reese Andy by unanimous decision in the most boring fight of the night. Andy tried to pressure the much bigger Vera, but was pretty ineffective. Vera was just plain tired, but did enough to win. Anderson Silva defeated James Irvin by TKO at 1:01 of the first round. Silva landed a strong kick that knocked Irvin to the mat and then followed with several unanswered shots to the head forcing the ref to call it. Silva looked strong and confident while Irvin seemed a bit stiff. Then again, who wouldn’t be when facing the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Although Silva says that his main priority is defending his middleweight title, I don’t think that we’ve seen the last of Silva at light heavyweight and he may even challenge for the title before to long. In the strangest decision of the night: Kevin Burns won via TKO at 3:35 of round three over Anthony Johnson. Johnson was well ahead in the fight and Burns needed a knock out to win. Suddenly Burns swung and appeared to connect with Johnson’s chin. Johnson spun around and went to the mat. Burns hesitated and then dropped down reigning blows on Johnson until the ref stepped in to call it. Johnson immediately and repeatedly complained he’d been poked in the eye. Replays showed that’s exactly what happened. Burns had jabbed with his left and his fingers went into Johnson’s eye and Burns’ followup right totally missed. Johnson went down because of the pain to his jabbed eye. Add to this the fact that Burns had poked Johnson in the eye earlier in the match and was warned if it happened again he would lose a point or be disqualified and you have the makings of a DQ win for Johnson. Nope. Burns was given the victory. Looks like Burns unintentionally took a cue from either Rick “The Dirtiest Player in the Game” Flair or Curly of the Three Stooges. If you tuned out after the Silva win, you missed the KO of the Night. Rory Markham was on his way to being knocked out by Brodie Farber. We were still in the first round and the two had been exchanging punches like it was the final seconds of the final round that both needed for a victory. Farber landed a couple of shots that rocked Markham. As Markham back peddled, Farber began stalking him. Suddenly Markham unleashed a head kick that knocked Farber out cold! Overall a good card that opened up the potential for more great fights.
Wild Bill Checks In
My old buddy [okay, he’s not that old], Wild Bill Black dropped in to say that he’s going to be a guest at Tim Gordon’s August 10th comic show. Tim’s shows are always a blast and having Bill there just adds to the fun. Wild Bill says that he’ll bring some of his comics and dvds for fans to purchase. Autographs are free. ; )Bill said that he’ll also bring some trailers and film clips for the show’s film room. But why wait, you can see the trailer for The Blue Bulleteer Captured by the Cloak by clicking here.
If you’re able to make the show, you should. I can gurantee a fun time.
UFC Fight Night 14
Tomorrow night SpikeTV presents UFC Fight Night 14 starting at 9pm EST. There are some interesting match-ups. Let’s take a look at four of them.- Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin: This is one of the co-main events. Silva who is the UFC middleweight champion [and has totally dominated his division] moves up in weight to meet James Irvin. Silva is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter today. He’s 6-0 since entering the UFC and 21-4 over all. Irvin comes in with a 14-4 record [4-3 in the UFC]. Most folks are predicting Silva to dominate Irvin. Truth be told, Irvin probably has just a puncher’s chance. I really like both of these fighters and will hate to see either lose. Smart money goes on Silva.
- Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy: Vera is coming off a two fight losing streak. Not so impressive for a fighter who claimed he was going to be the first to hold both the heavy and light heavyweight titles at the same time. Andy is making his UFC debut at the age of 35. Vera is coming down in weight so that could effect his performance. This is Andy’s first UFC fight so he could be tight under the big lights for the first time. Vera is 8-2 and Andy is 7-1 [and on a 4 fight win streak]. Andy has a strong wrestling background. This is a tough one to call, but I’m leaning toward Vera.
- Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca: Edgar comes in with an 8-1 record to face Franca at 18-6. Both men lost their last fights by decisions [Edgar to Gray Maynard and Franca to Sean Sherk]. Franca has impressed me in earlier fights so I’m giving him the nod.
- C.B. Dollaway vs. Jesse Taylor: Both of these guys were on this season’s Ultimate Fighter, but Jesse’s behavior got him booted. Dollaway went on to lose in the semi-finals and then was brought back and beaten in the finals. The surprising part was that Dollaway was one of the favorites to win the whole thing. Both Dollaway and Taylor have strong college wrestling backgrounds and in fact faced each other twice, with Dollaway winning both times. This is MMA though and things are a bit different. I think that Taylor’s strength will be enough to get him the win.
1st Look: QoS
First Showing.net lives up to their name with a first look at the poster for James Bond’s next adventure: “Quantum of Solace.“
Watchmen Trailer!
It’s not my favorite graphic novel of all time, but after seeing this trailer for Watchmen, I can’t wait to see the movie adaptation. Looks like Zack Snyder has pulled a three-peat with his “Dawn of the Dead” remake, “300” and now “Watchmen.”My guess is that a lot of Watchmen fans will be ordering Dave Gibbons’ Watching the Watchmen book. Maybe I’ll pull down the graphic novel and give it another read.
Rampage’s Troubles Continue?
Yesterday, some of Quentin “Rampage” Jackson’s friends contacted the Irvine police. An officer was sent out and according to Lt. Rick Handfield of the Irvine police, Jackson “was exhibiting some unusual behavior… At the conclusion of our contact, we did detain him and take him to be seen by mental health professionals… We left him with the mental health professionals.” You can read the full account HERE.
While many MMA / news sites are saying how bad this is for Rampage, my thought is that it’s probably a good thing that he’s been taken where he can get some help. My hope is that Dana White and some of his family and friends will be there for him and he will make his way back to where he needs to be.
24 Season 7 Preview
C.T.U. is gone. The nation is under attack. Jack Bauer is on his own… but not until January! Arrgh! Here is a trailer for 24 season 7 to give us a taste. How about you check it out and then I’ll give you my thoughts?
Ok. Thanks for swinging back. Yeah, I agree the plot seems right out of the last Die Hard movie. I know, I know, bringing back Tony Almeida from the dead may be pushing it. But, this is 24 and I’m willing to go with it. They’ve never let me down in the past… well, except for maybe with the cougar trap stuff…
Terminator Salvation Teaser
It’s hard to tell from this quick teaser for “Terminator Salvation” just how good it’s going to be. I’m a fan of the films [the first two by Cameron and Arnold were classics] and I like Christian Bale so I’ll most likely give it a shot. I gotta admit though that when the Terminator theme music kicked in, I would have loved to have seen Arnold.
Get the Digital Plague
The Pitch: “D.O.A” meets Avery Cates with the world in the balance.
The Overview: In Jeff Somers‘ sequel to The Electric Church, Avery Cates is kidnapped and injected with nanobots that infect and slowly kill anyone near him. First it’s his friends who begin to get sick and die. Then people who have come into contact with his friends. Cates must find someone with a cure and then figure out why he was chosen to be the source of the outbreak. If he can do those two things, there’s a good chance he can save himself and the world. If he can’t, he’ll die trying… and either way, he plans to kill a lot of people.
The Good: Jeff Somers‘ writing. Avery Cates. The opening line: “I was going to have to kill a whole lot of people.” The story moves. Happling and Hense. The twists. How zombies are worked into the story and the explanation for them. The reason behind Cates being selected for the source of the plague. Jae Lee is back with a cover illustration.
The Bad: What happens to those infected with the nanobots. What Avery Cates is put through.
The Ugly: What happens to city populations as the plague runs rampant.
The Summary: I predicted that The Electric Church would make my list of Best Books of 2008. I liked the The Digital Plague even better!
I can’t wait to see what Jeff Somers has in store for Avery Cates in his next adventure, The Eternal Prison. In the mean time, I have Jeff Somers ‘ blog to tide me over.
Please Don’t Talk About Love
Yesterday, I described Andrea True Connection and her hit, “More, More, More” by saying this is a song that’s probably better to listen to without watching the video. Today’s selection, “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges is another where you’d probably enjoy the video more by closing your eyes. Great song, not so great video.
Another similarity to yesterday’s post is that this is another one hit wonder. But again, what a hit it was. “I Love the Nightlife” crossed over the charts [pop, disco, etc.] and both oceans to become a top seller in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan. Although it was Alicia Bridges only hit, she remains active in the music business today as a producer and dj.
Rampage Jackson Arrested
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, former UFC light heavyweight champion, was arrested today after leaving the scene of an accident and leading police on a chase. According to reports, Jackson hit two cars and left the scene. A police officer attempted to pull Jackson over, but Jackson fled with the officer in pursuit as Jackson’s vehicle weaved “in and out of traffic, including at one point driving on the wrong side of the road and even on a sidewalk, scaring pedestrians” and hitting at least one more vehicle.One True Connection [2008]
It’s a small jump from The Hues Corporation and their hit “Rock the Boat” to Andrea True Connection and her hit, “More, More, More.”
“More, More, More” is one of those songs that’s probably better to just listen to it. The video starts out okay, but when the full lights come on and we see Andrea with her Farrah Fawcett hair and 70’s cliche outfit and set… it almost comes off as a parody. But the song was no joke — it peaked at #4 in the fall of 1976 [a very good year].
Andrea True was born in Nashville, but moved to New York after graduating high school. She wanted to be an actress, and did land some work as an extra in a couple of mainstream films. At some point she moved into X-Rated films as she continued to seek out mainstream roles. Andrea True ended up in Jamaica where she appeared in some local commercials.
One thing led to another and she ended up writing lyrics to a song her music producer friend [Gregg Diamond] had produced. “More, More, More” was born. Once the song caught on, they produced an album. Two more albums followed, but unfortunately, there were to be no more [or should that be “More, More, More”] hits for Andrea True Connection.
