Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Walking Dead fans, Charlie Adlard fans and art fans will want to check out this interview with Charlie Adlard the artist on The Walking Dead comic series. [Don’t you love how that all ties together?]
Source: Hero Collector.
In a tribute to the 25 years of the Internet Movie Database’s existence /Film posted The Top Rated Movies of the Last 25 Years on the IMD.
Of the 25 films they selected, I’ve seen twenty. Here they are with my thoughts on each…
2012: Django Unchained: Good film but over-rated.
2010: Inception: See Django Unchained.
2009: Inglourious Basterds: Very violent and a bit long but wow, what a cool film.
2008: The Dark Knight: The best Batman film ever and one of the best superhero films as well.
2006: The Departed: Excellent crime movie and works for multiple viewings.
2005: Batman Begins: Average film that doesn’t hold up on closer look.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Well done. Truth be told though all of the LotRs movies run together to me.
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: See above.
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: See above.
2000: Memento: Inventive story-telling. I want to watch this again soon.
1999: Fight Club: I enjoyed this and look forward to watching it again someday.
1998: Saving Private Ryan: Another classic. Endlessly rewatchable.
1996: Fargo: The Cohen Brothers hit another homer.
1995: Se7en: Love this film and what an ending!
1994: The Shawshank Redemption: Always felt this was over-rated.
1993: Schindler’s List: Spielberg’s masterpiece.
1992: Reservoir Dogs: Tarantino’s best work.
1991: The Silence of the Lambs: A classic. Anthony Hopkins was only on screen for a small amount of time, but he’s what comes to mind when you think of Silence of the Lambs which is even more impressive when you think about how good Jodie Foster and the rest of the cast were.
1990: Goodfellas: I’ve grown to love this movie more with each reviewing.
Those are Francis Ford Coppola’s notes from a page of Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather. If you’re a fan of The Godfather movies and love behind-the-scenes materials, then you’ll absolutely love Cinephilia and Beyond’s ‘THE GODFATHER’: A HISTORICAL CURIOSITY THAT PROVED INSTRUMENTAL FOR OUR FILMMAKING EDUCATION AND APPRECIATION.
If you click over, plan to stay a while because there are a treasure trove of Godfather items waiting.
In a tribute to their 25 years of publishing, Entertainment Weekly selected their choices for The Best TV Shows of the Last Twenty Five Years.
Of the 25 shows they selected, I’ve seen nine. Here they are with my thoughts on each, plus one I’ve never seen and two I’m shocked that didn’t make the list…
Roseanne: I watched a few episodes over the years but it wasn’t for me.
Larry Sanders Show: See my comments for Roseanne.
X-Files: This is one show I wish I had watched more of. I plan to give it a try again. I have a feeling it would have grown on me if I had given it a chance. Have to say though that I was bored out of my mind with the first movie — perhaps the new one will be better.
Friends: I watched it for a season or two and just grew tired of it.
Sopranos: I think I’ve seen all the episodes… but not on HBO and so some of the violence was cut. I would like to watch this series again (uncut) someday.
The West Wing: Never missed an episode and loved this series.
The Office: I didn’t watch it regularly but always enjoyed it when I did catch it.
The Wire: The Wire along with Deadwood are the two series I’ve never seen and want to badly.
The Colbert Report: Always enjoyed it the few times I tuned it.
Breaking Bad: Saw every episode and consider it one of the best series of all time.
How could Seinfeld and Justified not make the list?
In a tribute to their 25 years of publishing, Entertainment Weekly selected their choices for The Top 25 Movies of the Last 25 Years.
Of the 25 films they selected, I’ve seen eleven. Here they are with my thoughts on each…
Silence of the Lambs: A classic. Anthony Hopkins was only on screen for a small amount of time, but he’s what comes to mind when you think of Silence of the Lambs which is even more impressive when you think about how good Jodie Foster and the rest of the cast were.
The Player: An under-rated film that doesn’t get a lot of talk. All the cameos were a hoot.
The Piano: I watched it years ago and remember not thinking much of it.
Pulp Fiction: Inspired a new generation of film-makers and re-energized Travolta’s career.
Boogie Nights: I always thought it was over-rated.
Saving Private Ryan: Another classic. Endlessly rewatchable.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Well done. Truth be told though all of the LotRs movies run together to me.
Memento(2001): Inventive story-telling. I want to watch this again soon.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: See my comments for LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Letters From Iwo Jima: Not one of Clint’s best but still good.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012): A good movie that I felt was over-hyped.
Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight recently ran a survey to determine The 25 Most Rewatchable Movies of All Time. From the submissions Hickey was able to determine the top 25 overall, the top 25 for men and the top 25 for women.
You might be surprised that the lists weren’t all that different…
There were quite a few movies that would have made my list of most rewatchable movies that didn’t make the cut for men or women: Enter the Dragon; The Big Heat; Get Carter [Stallone version]; Cabin in the Sky and The Outlaw Josey Wales just to name five.
ScreentRant presents 10 Movie Outtakes that Made it to the Big Screen.
Nicolas Delort created the very cool Wolf Man poster above. It is just one of seven prints featuring the famous and much-loved classic Universal Monsters [Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man and The Mummy].
Delort’s art for each of the Universal Monsters has been made into prints that are available from Dark Hall Mansion.
Source: io9.
I try to keep our posts here light, fun and focused on some aspect of entertainment. My hope is that the folks who drop in daily will get a smile. Sometimes, and it is rare, I post something serious.
I thought that Mark Manson’s How We All Miss the Point on School Shootings was one of those rare, serious pieces worth posting. I hope regular readers will as well.
If you just drop in for the entertainment posts, have no worries, we’ll be back to the fun stuff with the next post.
Matthew Jackson and Mental_Floss present 13 Fascinating Facts About Miller’s Crossing. Here are three of my favorites…
2. THE COEN BROTHERS TURNED DOWN BATMAN TO MAKE MILLER’S CROSSING.
After Raising Arizona’s success established them as more than one-hit indie film wonders, the Coens had some options with regard to what project they could tackle next. Reportedly, their success meant that they were among the filmmakers being considered to make Batman for Warner Bros. Of course, the Coens ultimately decided to go the less commercial route, and Tim Burton ended up telling the story of The Dark Knight on the big screen.8. GABRIEL BYRNE HAD TO CONVINCE THE COENS TO LET HIM KEEP HIS IRISH ACCENT.
Though he was an Irish native playing a lieutenant to an Irish mobster, the Coens did not originally want Gabriel Byrne to use his own accent in the film. Byrne argued that his dialoguewas structured in such a way that it was a good fit for his accent, and after he tried it, the Coens agreed. Ultimately, both Byrne and Finney used Irish accents in the film.11. JON POLITO HAD TO CONVINCE THE COENS TO CAST HIM IN A DIFFERENT ROLE.
When Polito read the Miller’s Crossing script, he loved it and immediately wanted to audition for the role of Johnny Caspar. The Coens had different ideas, and were considering the 39-year-old actor for the role of Caspar’s enforcer, Eddie Dane, instead. The role of Caspar was originally supposed to go to an actor in his mid-50s, but Polito was adamant.“Anyway, I said I won’t read for anything but Johnny Caspar,” Polito told The A.V. Club. “’And tell them that they’re gonna have to come back to me cause I’m gonna play Johnny.’”
The Coens ultimately gave in, and Polito was cast. They must have liked what they saw, too, because they ended up casting him in four more films after that.
If you’re a fan of film noir, you’ll enjoy Nora Fiore’s The Dark Beauty of Film Noir in 50 Shots at One Perfect Shot.
One word of warning, as you scroll down through the photos you may feel an overwhelming desire to watch a bunch of great movies!
Mark Mancini and Mental_Floss present 13 Spooky Facts About The Monster Squad. Here are three of my favorites…
3. THE CREATURE DESIGNERS WORKED HARD TO AVOID LEGAL PROBLEMS WITH UNIVERSAL.
First and foremost, The Monster Squad is an affectionate tribute to Universal’s iconic horror movies of the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. Nevertheless, the studio passed on producing the film, which was ultimately picked up by TriStar. This forced The Monster Squad’s visual effects team to get creative.“Although we were doing a movie that was a takeoff on the Universal classics,” said legendary monster creator Stan Winston, “… none of our designs infringed on the original designs of the Universal characters. There were subtle changes; we had to be sure that nothing about them could be considered a copyright infringement of a design.” Which is why Dracula has no Lugosi-esque widow’s peak, Frankenstein monster’s neck bolts have migrated to his temples, and Wolfman has pointy ears and a face that Dekker describes as “more lupine” than what Universal had come up with.
8. DUNCAN REGEHR BEAT OUT LIAM NEESON FOR THE ROLE OF DRACULA.
In 1986, Liam Neeson was still a relative unknown and, like many struggling actors, decided to try out for a horror movie. Apparently, he nailed his audition with a superb take on the Count. “We thought for sure we [were] going to hire this guy,” producer Jonathan Zimbert revealed inMonster Squad Forever. “Then Duncan came in and was not only as brilliant, but he was terrifying also.” Twenty years later, Wizard magazine named Regehr the “greatest Dracula of all time” for his chilling performance in The Monster Squad.12. THE MOVIE SPENT JUST TWO WEEKS IN THEATERS.
Released on August 14, 1987, The Monster Squad was both a commercial and critical flop.Vincent Camby of The New York Times called it “a silly attempt to cross breed an Our Gangcomedy with a classic horror film, which usually means that both genres have reached the end of the line.” After a two-week theatrical run, the movie was pulled. However, it slowly built a following via video rentals and cable broadcasts.Today, The Monster Squad commands a dedicated fan base. When the cast and crewreunited for a special two-night showing at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in 2006, both screenings sold out. As Dekker once put it, “It took 20 years for the movie to find its audience.”
Today we have Playing for Change’s riff on the classic Marvin Gaye tune, What’s Going On?
The Creed Featurette is Here!
Want to see the oldest movie footage of New York City known? You can by checking out the video below.
