Month: January 2019

Sly Stallone Regularly Posting “Rambo 5” Pics

If you’re not following Sylvester Stallone’s Instagram, you should. Sly posts several updates a week and his most recent was the photo above with this…

Every few days until the MOVIE comes out I’m going to post images from the upcoming RAMBO . See if you can follow along with the story using your imagination. All of the images that I post will be in black-and-white, but the film will be in dramatic color… #rambo5

I am more psyched for Rambo 5 than any of the other previous Rambo films. Not because I will think it will be the best, but because I know how good it will be. Can’t wait for Sly to amaze us all once again.

Martin Scorsese’s 131 Essential Films

Martin Scorsese is as much a film lover as a film director.  Colin Ainsworth at Mental Floss has compiled 131 Essential Movies According to Martin Scorsese.   

Of the 131 films on Scorsese’s list, I’ve seen the following 35:

1. Nosferatu (1922)
2. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) 
3. Metropolis (1927)
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
5. Stagecoach (1939)
6. Citizen Kane (1941)
7. Cat People (1942)
8. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
9. Gilda (1946)
10. Beauty & The Beast (1946)
11. The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
12. T-Men (1947)
13. Raw Deal (1948)
14. The Third Man (1949)
15. Gun Crazy (1950)
16. Night and the City (1950)
17. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
18. House of Wax (1953)
19. Pickup on South Street (1953)
20. Dial M for Murder (1954)
21. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
22. The Searchers (1956)
23. Touch of Evil (1958)
24. Vertigo (1958)
25. The Hustler (1961)
26. Cape Fear (1962)
27. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
28. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
29. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
30. Klute (1971)
31. The Godfather (1972)
32. Apocalypse Now (1979)
33. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
34. Do the Right Thing (1989)
35. The Player (1992)

Obviously, everyone’s mileage will vary but I found it interesting that there are as many films that I loved on the list (Stagecoach, The Searchers, Godfather) as there are films I felt were over-rated (2001: A Space Odyssey, Midnight Cowboy, Klute).

Eric Beetner Talks All the Way Down and More!

Eric Beetner’s new novel, All the Way Down, comes out tomorrow.  I pre-ordered it and can’t wait.  Beetner has never disappointed me and All the Way Down sounds like a cross between Game of Death, Die Hard and The Raid: Redemption.  Here’s the Amazon description:

Dale is a crooked cop. It started slow, but grew like a cancer and now he can’t get out from under the thumb of Tat, a would-be kingpin in every vice he can turn a profit with.

And now Dale’s number is up – the top brass knows. But instead of getting busted, Dale gets an offer. The mayor’s daughter is being held by Tat in his fortress built from an abandoned office tower. They want her back but if they storm the gates, Lauren is as good as dead. So they’re sending Dale on what could very likely be a suicide mission: infiltrate Tat’s fortress and bring her out alive.

If the Mayor even really wants her alive…

Floor by floor Dale and Lauren have to fight off an increasingly difficult and dangerous set of obstacles.

Meanwhile, Dale’s wife has her own troubles and some of the drug kingpin’s goons are only adding to an already rough day.

The clock is ticking down along with the floors of the building and escape is looking less and less likely. But to save her, and to save himself, he must make it all the way down.

Beetner recently was interviewed by P. J. Bodnar at the Big Thrill.  Beetner spoke about All the Way Down, writing advice, his next novel and more.

Oh, and if All the Way Down sounds like something you’d like then you can be dealt in by clicking on this link and ordering from Amazon.

John Wick & Jack Carter Get a Tune (Tone) Up by John Beatty

Regular readers probably remember seeing the John Wick & Jack Carter piece that John Beatty created and gifted to me back in November.   After he was finished John decided it would look better with a gray wash and created / added to the piece as you can see above.  You can see it even better and bigger if you click on the image.

I’ve attached the U-Stream of John adding the tones below.  You can check out all of John’s live drawing recordings here.