Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Last week I shared Andy Bennett’s riff on a Jack Carter and Lono from 100 Bullets. I liked Andy’s work on it so much, I’ve ordered a Jack Carter & John Wick piece for pick-up at HeroesCon this year. Although Heroes is still a couple weeks away, Andy shared with me the piece that will be waiting for pick-up. Yowzers! (And don’t you just love the nod to Tango & Cash?)
If you’d like to see more art from Andy, you can by clicking here.
The original Jonny Quest ran on ABC during the prime time 1964 – 1965 season. Most series, especially a cartoon series, that ran for such a short time would hardly be remembered. Yet Jonny Quest came back in two television series, two television movies, at least one comic book series and three computer games.
When it premiered, I was the perfect age for Jonny Quest. Check out the video below and you’ll see why Jonny Quest made such an impact.
Heroes & Icons present 10 Huge Action Hollywood Action Heroes in Tiny Early Television Roles. Here are three of my favorites…
SYLVESTER STALLONE ON ‘POLICE STORY’
Rocky and the Rifleman, together? Now that’s mucho macho. In “The Cutting Edge,” Chuck Connors plays veteran cop Sgt. Ed Peebles. Naturally, he is teamed with a young partner, Elmore Caddo, played by Sly Stallone in his first television role. Airing a year before Rocky hit screens, the episode included a prescient line of dialogue. “They actually call me ‘Rocky,'” his character says. “I prefer that.”
BRUCE WILLIS ON ‘MIAMI VICE’
Moonlighting made Willis an immediate star in 1985. His resume was light leading up to that breakout role. A year earlier, he earned his first television credit in a very early episode of Miami Vice, “No Exit.” With pleated pants, puffy blouses and wavy hair, he oozed ’80s style — and made a pretty sleazy arms dealer.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ON ‘STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO’
The cult film Hercules in New York introduced the Austrian strongman to American audiences in 1970, but Arnie mostly kept to flexing competitions the rest of the decade. In 1977, he bulged his way onto the boob tube making his TV debut on an episode of The Streets of San Francisco dubbed “Dead Lift.” It was not much of a stretch (though it was a significant flex) as he played a champion bodybuilder named Josef Schmidt.
Clint Walker fans will want to check out his extended Television Academy interview where Walker talks about…
…the many odd jobs he held before embarking on a film and television career. He tells how he ventured out to Hollywood and landed a role in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” and how the role led to other film projects and eventually a contract with Warner Brothers. Walker then details the series for which he’s best know, Cheyenne, in which he played the title character, “Cheyenne Bodie.” He describes auditioning for the role, how he kept in shape, and the many stunts he performed on the program. He outlines the show’s production schedule, speaks about his co-stars and famous guest-stars, and explains the importance of Cheyenne as television’s first hour-long Western. He explains why he believes Westerns were so popular in the 1950s and why their popularity waned. Walker then talks of his famous contract dispute with Jack Warner, chronicles how Ty Hardin came to play the lead in Cheyenne, and gives his reasons for returning and then ultimately leaving the program. He talks about other film and television appearances, including those in “The Night of the Grizzly,” the made-for-television movie Yuma, and the series Kodiak. Stephen J. Abramson conducted the interview on September 21, 2012 in Beverly Hills, CA.
The video is broken into chapters for easy listening.
There are several new character posters for Hotel Artemis that you can see here. And check out the new Hotel Artemis trailer below!
The fine folks at Heroes & Icons present The Overlooked Second Roles of TVs Greatest Western Stars. Here are three of my favorites and my thoughts…
JAMES ARNESS IN ‘HOW THE WEST WAS WON’
Twenty years is a long time to play a character. And that was just the beginning. Arness kept pinning on his Marshal badge in Gunsmoke TV movies up until the mid-1990s. Audiences could not get enough of Matt Dillon for four decades. In the middle there, from 1977–79, Arness headlined How the West Was Won, a loose adaptation of the 1962 film that began as a miniseries. The veteran cowboy actor played Zebulon “Zeb” Macahan, a rugged pioneer, tracker and Army scout who moves his family from Virginia to the frontier. Bruce Boxleitner and Eva Marie Saint rounded out the stellar cast.
I was a huge fan of How the West Was Won and Zeb Machan was my favorite character. He was a no-nonsense frontiersman who seemed so different from the heroes on tv at that time. I’d like to see the series again to check out if it holds up to my memory of how good it was.
CHUCK CONNORS IN ‘BRANDED’
Former three-sport professional athlete Chuck Connors cut an impressive figure as a TV cowboy. His imposing presence also made him suitable as an indomitable villain, as he so often portrayed later in his career. However, two years after The Rifleman star hung up his Winchester, he slid into a new uniform, portraying unjustly disgraced cavalry captain Jason McCord on Branded. McCord was a vagabond, wandering the country like the Fugitive or Incredible Hulk, seeking to prove himself. Connor’s broad shoulders wore the massive chip in it well. Alas, kicking off in 1965, the series lasted a mere two seasons. Perhaps it was doomed to be an outlier, as the show was a rare scripted drama from Goodson-Todman Productions, a studio best known for churning out hit game shows like The Price Is Right, Family Feud, Match Game and Password.
I was a huge fan of Branded. It hit at a great time for me as I was really into the whole Custer legend. The thought that a man survived the battle and was unjustly branded a coward made for good drama.
JAMES GARNER IN ‘NICHOLS’
Nichols was a reunion between James Garner and Warner Bros., his first work for the studio since his iconic role as Maverick. The two lead characters had much in common, from their black hats to their sharp wit to their similar adventures. However, Nichols took some unexpected turns. For starters, our hero rode a motorcycle, not a horse. Then, after shaky ratings, producers killed off Nichols — only to replace him with his twin brother, Nichols. This new Nichols had a mustache. The great Margot Kidder co-starred as the love interest, yet somehow audiences just did not click.
Nicols was a different spin on the western. It was set at the turn-of-the-century and the hero drove a motorcycle! I loved it… but you know the series is in trouble when they kill off the star’s character… even if he returns as his twin brother.
Around this same time there was another series set in the turn-of-the-century west called The Bearcats that I liked. It didn’t last long either.
Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present 30 Alien Facts That Will Blow Your Mind. Here are three of my favorites…
11. Blow its bloody head off!
In Aliens, the Marines scatter when the xenomorphs peel away from the walls, retreating to the safety of the APC. One pesky creature manages to get its sharp talons wedged into the doors; and then gets its head blown off by Hicks.
After endless takes where actor Michael Biehn struggled to get the barrel into the alien’s jaws, the crew came up with a way. They simply started with the gun in its mouth, pulled it out, and reversed the shot. Proof that sometimes the coolest tricks don’t require CGI.
5. Terminator connection
Preliminary Aliens drafts had Bishop mention that he was created by Cyberdyne Systems – the technology corporation responsible for creating Skynet in the Terminator saga. It was later switched to Hyperdyne.
One element that does remain happens aboard the drop ship. In the special edition, Hudson’s “ultimate badass” rant about the Marines’ arsenal of weapons, makes reference to a “phased plasma pulse rifle.” The weapons the Marines use are in fact, M41A pulse rifles. This line is a cheeky connect between James Cameron’s previous film, in which the T-800 asks a gun store clerk for a “phased plasma rifle.”
Bill Paxton, who plays Hudson, also appeared in The Terminator as one of the street punks at the observatory.
1. Kane’s last supper
Ridley Scott deliberately kept the actors off the Alien set while production designers and the effects crew dressed the scene for Kane’s last meal. Despite having read the script, none of the principal leads knew what was going to happen. So when the chestburster emerges from John Hurt and a stream of fake blood blasts a stunned Veronica Cartwright, her shocked reaction and scream? Completely authentic.“Everyone was wearing raincoats,” Weaver later recalled. “We should have been a little suspicious.”
The article contains so many more interesting facts. It’s definitely worth a read!
I would by THAT comic in a second! Of course, I’m a huge fan of Rick Burchett’s art, but the mock-up cover Chris Mills designed just (no pun intended) screams that this will be a fun comic. Although it is just a mock-up, Mills has announced some very interesting and exciting news. Take it away, Chris…
I’m currently planning a line of action-adventure comics featuring my own versions of some old, public domain comic book heroes. My goal is to take characters from the 1940s and re-invent them in a 1970s-1980s style — which was my favorite era of comics.
Chris currently has plans for two on-going titles: Space Crusaders and Sleuth Comics with a third title, Savage Sagas, being a one-shot.
This is exciting news and something I hope you’ll consider supporting. I know I will.
Check out Chris’ site for full details.
Nishant S. Yagnick, Manjul Tripathi and Sandeep Mohindra are three neurosurgeons (and big-time Michael Jackson fans) who’ve published an article explaining how the King of Pop was able to make his gravity-defying lean while keeping his spine straight, not just in his Smooth Criminal video, but also in live performances.
While the secret has been known for quite a while, the illustrations used by Yagnick, Tripathi and Mohindra make it clear that the shoes aren’t the only thing required to make the illusion work. You must also have an extremely solid core. They explain…
“Several MJ fans, including the authors, have tried to copy this move and failed, often injuring themselves in their endeavors. Trained dancers can lean forward a maximum of 25 to 30 degrees, but even then, it can put serious strain on the Achilles tendon.”
Jackson and some of his dancers were able to hit 45 degree angles with their lean!
If you check out Michael Jackson’s Gravity-Defying Lean Continues To Fascinate by Lars Gotrich at The Record you’ll get more details plus the extended version of Smooth Criminal as well as a link to Michael Jackson’s patent for the Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion!
A special tip of MJ’s fedora to Nishant S. Yagnick, Manjul Tripathi and Sandeep Mohindra for writing an academic paper for neurosurgery that is fun!
Escape Plan 2: Hades is now available for pre-order. Escape Plan 2: Hades stars Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, 50 Cent, Jaime King, and Titus Welliver. Here are the listed special features:
If you order from Amazon consider using one of the links above or this one!
Last year at HeroesCon, Andy Bennett created his take on a Jack Carter and Lono from 100 Bullets team-up. Sure wish there was a real series coming with these two. I liked Andy’s work on this so much, I’ve ordered a Jack Carter & John Wick piece for pick-up at HeroesCon this year.
If you’d like to see more art from Andy, you can by clicking here.
Today we have a vintage Steranko riff on Doc Savage and his crew. You can see a much larger version of it as well as Doc Savage art by Gene Colan, Marie Severin, Dan Adkins and Michael Ploog if you click over to I Can’t Stop Thinking About Comics.
The Damsel Poster and Trailer are Here!
The Final Sicario: Day of the Soldado Trailer is Here!
The Staircase Poster and Trailer are Here!
