“California King” (2025) / Z-View

Posted on by

California King (2025)

Director:  Eli Stern

Screenplay: Eli Stern

Stars: Travis Bennett, Jimmy Tatro, Victoria Justice, Joel McHale, Melanie Haynes and Kevin Changaris.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Perry is excited to learn that Lynette, his high school girlfriend, the love of his life has broken up with her boyfriend.  Perry wants to win her back.

But how?

With the help of his buddy and Lynette’s brother a scheme is born.  Perry will save Lynette’s brother from kidnappers.  That’s right.  Kidnappers.  Perry, his friend and Lynette’s brother will fake the kidnapping and rescue.

What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

California King is tries too hard to be hip.  I usually give movies at least 30 minutes before I give up.  With California King I lasted 21 minutes.  Your mileage may vary.

California King (2025) rates 1 of 5 stars.

“The Rip” starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck & Directed by Joe Carnahan – The Teaser is Here!

Posted on by

Whoa!  Check out the teaser for The Rip starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck & Directed by Joe Carnahan.

Deal me in!

Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.

Starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck & Directed by Joe Carnahan.

The Rip is only on Netflix, January 16.

 

“Charlie Chan on Broadway” (1937) starring Warner Oland / Z-View

Posted on by

Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)

Director:  Eugene Forde

Screenplay:  Charles Belden. Jerome Cady story by Art Arthur Robert Ellis, Helen Logan

Stars: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, J. Edward Bromberg, Leon Ames, Marc Lawrence, Douglas Fowley and Lon Chaney Jr..

Tagline: DEATH STRIKES TWICE IN MANHATTAN’S GAYEST SPOTS!

The Plot…

Charlie Chan (Oland) and his son Lee (Luke) are in pulled into the murder investigation of a woman who knew political secrets and had threatened to tell all.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Lon Chaney Jr, appears uncredited in one of his first roles.

This was Warner Oland’s 15th and second-t0-last outing as Charlie Chan.

Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937) rates 2 of 5 stars.

HATCHET GIRLS by Joe R. Lansdale / Z-View

Posted on by

HATCHET GIRLS: A HAP AND LEONARD NOVEL by Joe R. Lansdale

First sentences…

“Wait a minute, now.  You’re saying you want us to deal with a pig problem?” Leonard said.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Hap and Leonard agree to help a poor single mother raising several children.  She has a pig problem.  When Hap and Leonard say they’ll take care of it, they got much more than imagined.  Turns out the hog was attacking the woman and her kids every chance it got.  When Hap and Leonard arrived, the porker attacked them too.

Never ones to back down from a challenge, Hap and Leonard finally trap the hog.  In doing so they discover the woman’s neighbors are making meth and the piggie knows how to access the stash.  No wonder the oinker was so hyped-up all the time.

The cops are called.  An investigation finds no only the make-shift meth lab, but bodies buried in the back yard.  This brings Hap and Leonard smack dab in the middle of drug dealers, crooked cops, a mysterious crime boss who is called the Benefactor and worse still, a gang of women looking to take over the area’s drug trade.  The women, are smart, tough and ruthless.  Every one of them is a cold-blooded killer, who uses a hatchet to finish the job.

Unfortunately for Hap and Leonard, they’ve become targets for all involved.

+++

HATCHET GIRLS is the fourteenth in the series. If you like crime stories with the perfect mix of humor, action and mystery, then HATCHET GIRLS (and all of the Hap and Leonard tales) are for you!

Rating:

‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” – The poster and trailer are Here!

Posted on by

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – The poster and trailer are Here!

In select theaters November 26 and on Netflix December 12.

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus.

Starring Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.

SCAR IN THE SKY by J. Todd Scott!

Posted on by

J. Todd Scott’s SCAR IN THE SKY drops this coming Friday.  Here’s the lowdown…

Lightning never strikes twice —until it does.

A killer is hunting down survivors of lightning strikes in this dark and twisting thriller, perfect for fans of J. H. Markert and Richard Chizmar.

Everything changed for Andi Ellis when she was struck by lightning and her heart stopped. Andi was resuscitated, but she was never the same—electronics strangely malfunction in her presence: clocks can’t keep time; batteries swiftly die. And while many lightning strike victims are left with temporary “lightning tree” markings, on her they are permanent scars.

Years later Andi, her eight-year-old daughter, and a fellow lightning strike survivor have fled Texas and Andi’s dangerous ex to go off the grid in a strange and secluded desert community.

Meanwhile, two private investigators pursue a US senator’s missing daughter who they find too late. When searching for information on the strange lightning scars on the girl’s body, they find themselves pulled into an FBI investigation—people who have been struck by lightning are being murdered.

As the death toll mounts, the task force traces the killer farther west—closer and closer to Andi Ellis and her daughter, and the haven she’s carefully created.

Thriller and horror readers will be enthralled by the dark turns in SCAR IN THE SKY.

SCAR IN THE SKY paperback

SCAR IN THE SKY hardback

Sly Stallone as The Toymaker from “Spy Kids 3D” by Andrew Charipar!

Posted on by

Andrew Charipar is a Florida artist that I met going to conventions throughout the state.  Andrew was always friendly.  Getting a sketch at any show Andrew attended was mandatory.

In addition to his work as an artist, Andrew owns and manages Misfit Corner Comics in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here we have Andrew’s take on Sly Stallone as the Toymaker from Spy Kids 3D!

LADY MAYHEM written by Jenny Lynn Wright, illustrated by Karl Slominski / Z-View

Posted on by

LADY MAYHEM written by Jenny Lynn Wright, illustrated by Karl Slominski

Publisher: Calculated Rebellion

When her father dies under suspicious circumstances a young woman returns to the city she left years before.  It was labeled an accident.  She knew it wasn’t.  The cops wouldn’t investigate.  No charges were filed.

The woman begins to dig.  She discovers her dad was a bookkeeper who learned things about many bad people.  He was starting to work with an honest cop.  Before they could prove enough, an “accident” happened.  Now everyone was ready to move on.

Except his daughter.

They didn’t know she was coming.  But they’d soon learn.

And they’d call her Lady Mahem.

+++++

LADY MAYHEM is Jenny Lynn Wright and Karl Slominski’s love letter to revenge stories.  The kind you’d find in ’80s movies, as well as comics like The Punisher and Miller and Darrow’s Hard Boiled.  Wright and Slominski love their inspirations and it shows on every page.

They’ve set their story in a corrupt town in the not too distant future.  This opens up opportunities for interesting visuals with flying cars and advanced weaponry.  Some things don’t change though.  We’ve got crooked cops, ruthless crime lords, one honest cop and a murdered parent with a grown child out for vengeance.  Only this time it’s a woman.  A very capable woman.

They call her Lady Mayhem.

 

Rating: