Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Have you seen the news about The Flying Man?
He can fly and is super-strong. The Flying Man has also killed 16 people… all linked to crimes.
Is the Flying Man a hero, a villain, an alien or something else?
The Flying Man is an amazing short film that I hope leads to a full-length feature.
Adam D’Arpino presents 24 Things You Might Not Know About Goodfellas.
Regular readers know the drill: using just D’Arpino’s list, here are my three favorite facts…
5. The famous “funny how?” scene wasn’t in the script.
Maybe the most famous (and certainly the most quoted) scene in Goodfellas comes at the beginning, when Pesci’s Tommy DeVito jokingly-yet-uncomfortably accosts Henry Hill for calling him “funny.” In addition to being the driving force behind the scene on screen, Pesci is also responsible for coming up with the premise.
While working in a restaurant, a young Pesci apparently told a mobster that he was funny—a compliment met with a less-than-enthusiastic response. Pesci relayed the anecdote to Scorsese, who decided to include it in the film. Scorsese didn’t include the scene in the shooting script so that Pesci and Liotta’s interactions would elicit surprised and genuine reactions from the supporting cast.
8. Only five murders take place on screen.
Despite its reputation as a violent movie, the number of on-screen deaths actually portrayed in Goodfellas is a surprisingly tame five (Spider, Billy Batts, Stacks Edwards, Morrie, and Tommy), or 10 if you include the results of Jimmy Conway’s handiwork following the Lufthansa heist. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that violence, and the threat of violence, is a constant presence throughout the film. Still, compared to a body count of 214 in John Woo’s Bullet in the Head, released in the same year, or 255 in Saving Private Ryan, or even 24 in Scorsese’s Best Picture winner The Departed, Goodfellas isn’t terribly bloody.
13. The real life Henry Hill was just as surprised as you are that he never got whacked.
Henry Hill’s testimony against some of the most ruthless and powerful Lucchese crime family associates led to roughly 50 convictions, his stint in witness protection was short-lived, and as Hill learns from the very beginning, rule number one in the wiseguy world is “never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.” So why was Hill able to live to be a (relatively) old man and die of natural causes, instead of ultimately meeting a violent end like so many of his past associates?
According to Hill, he had absolutely no idea. In 2010, he told the Telegraph, “It’s surreal, totally surreal, to be here. I never thought I’d reach this wonderful age,” and hypothesized he was still standing simply because “there’s nobody from my era alive today.” Following his death in 2012, The Guardian hypothesized that bureaucratic disorganization in the organized crime world or fame might have kept Hill standing.
Click here for the full list.
Source: Mental_Floss.
Who Killed the Black Dahlia? A Look at the Most Compelling Suspect by is an excellent read for anyone with an interest in the 68-year-old unsolved case.
Here are a few tidbits….
It was 68 years ago this week that the body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short was found mutilated and sliced in half in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. Newspapers would give the victim of this crime an unforgettable nickname: the Black Dahlia.
Clearly, someone so maniacal would be easy to track down, right?… Clearly not.
Last year, retired LAPD detective turned private investigator turned author Steve Hodel made a splash with fresh evidence in the case against his late father, Dr. George Hodel… Hodel believes his father killed Short in the basement while the rest of the family was out of town, having confirmed the dates aligned with Short’s murder…(and his father) was actually on the LAPD’s shortlist after the crime…
Source: i09.
Chris Mills announced this week that Gravedigger, the brilliant crime comic that he does with Rick Burchett will begin appearing from Action Lab Entertainment‘s Danger Zone later this year.
Regular readers know that I am a huge fan of both Mills and Burchett [separately] and Gravedigger is one of my all-time favorite comic characters. Hopefully Action Lab will get enough sales of two existing Gravedigger sagas – The Scavengers and The Predators to call for a nice hardcover and more Gravedigger yarns.
You can believe that I will keep you posted.
I just heard about The Expanse — a ten episode series starring Thomas Jane. Here’s how the Syfy Channel describes it…
A thriller set two hundred years in the future, The Expansefollows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.
This hour-long, ten episode series is based on the popular New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as The Expanse, written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). Abraham and Franck will be show producers.
Count me in.
Men of Wrath is a five issue mini-series created by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney published by Marvel.
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ron Garney
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Ira Wrath is ready to pull the trigger on the last remaining member of his family, and bring the story of his bloodline to a violent end.
*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Men of Wrath #3 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.
Rating:
Behind the Scenes on the set of John Wick!
Men of Wrath is a five issue mini-series created by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney published by Marvel.
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ron Garney
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Dig deeper into the bloodstained history of the Raths, an Alabama family caught in a generational cycle of violence. Are all members of this clan of killers cursed to live and die by the sword, or can one of them break the chain?
*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Men of Wrath #2 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.
Rating:
Darwyn Cooke’s Revengeance has been announced and I can’t wait…
REVENGEANCE is a psychological thriller with darkly humorous overtones. When Joe Malarky is faced with a criminal tragedy, he sets out to make things right on his own. What follows is Joe’s odyssey through the underside of the city and the madness that seems to drive his crazy world. REVENGEANCE takes place in Toronto in the mid-eighties and is part crime story, part psychotronic melodrama, and a wholly fond look back at the author’s hometown.
If Revengeance sounds like your cup of Diet Coke then let your local comic dealer know to order you a copy!
Source: Almost Darwyn Cooke.
Better Call Saul extended trailer!
Shaft is an on-going series published by Dynamite. Shaft created by Ernest Tidyman.
Writer: David F. Walker
Artist: Bilquis Evely
Colorist: Daniel Miwa
Cover Shown: Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz & Ivan Nunes
Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine with all the chicks? Shaft! Created by author Ernest Tidyman, and made famous in a series of novels and films, iconic hero Shaft makes his comic book debut in an all-new adventure. He’s gone toe-to-toe with organized crime bosses, stood up to the cops, squared off against kidnappers, and foiled assassination attempts. But who was John Shaft before he became the hardboiled investigator with a reputation as big as New York City itself?
*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Shaft #1 should appeal to fans of the Shaft movies and is for mature audiences due to adult language.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Men of Wrath is a five issue mini-series created by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney published by Marvel.
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ron Garney
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Ever since Great Grandfather Isom killed a man over some sheep, a black cloud has hung over the Rath family. Now, over a century later, Ira Rath, the coldest hitman ever to walk on Alabama soil, has taken a job that will decide the fate of his cursed family once and for all. Writer Jason Aaron (Southern Bastards, Scalped) and artist Ron Garney (Weapon X, Thor: God of Thunder) team up once again, to bring you the story of a Southern family, whose only heirloom is violence.
*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Men of Wrath #1 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.
Rating:
The Big Ugly by Jake Hinkson.
Ellie Bennett is an ex-corrections officer who has just served a year inside Eastgate Penitentiary for assaulting a prisoner. She’s only been out for a day when she accepts a strange job offer from the head of a Christian political advocacy group. He wants her to track down a missing ex-con named Alexis. Although no one knows where Alexis has gone, it seems like everyone in Arkansas is looking for her—from a rich televangelist running for Congress to the governor’s dirty tricks man. When Bennett finds the troubled young woman, she has to decide whether to hand her over to the highest bidder or help her escape from the most powerful men in the state.
Jake Hinkson writes noir… but always with a twist from expected conventions. In The Big Ugly our protagonist is a wrongly-convicted, tough ex-con who becomes a private-eye of sorts. No twist there, right? Oh, did I mention that our “hero” is a woman?
Ellie Bennett is a tough-talking, rough broad who is all woman. Ellie finds herself dealing with two-competing factions who want to “silence” Alexis – the woman Ellie has been paid to find. If Ellie refuses to cooperate she’ll end up back in prison at best and at worst in an unmarked grave with Alexis.
Ellie is in way over her head. Either Ellie cooperates and still ends up with one of the competing factions after her or she refuses and has both groups after her. Perhaps there is a third option…
The Big Ugly is for mature audiences due to mature language, sex and violence.
Rating: 4 out of 5
The Tagline: “Sometimes good people do evil things..“
The Overview: *** Beware – spoilers are found below ***
Hank [Bill Paxton] and Sarah [Bridget Fonda] are living the American Dream. Married and expecting a child, Hank works at the local feed store and Sarah is a librarian. Known and respected by folks in their small town, things seem wonderful for the young couple.
When Hank, his dim-witted brother, Jacob [Billy Bob Thorton] and Jacob’s alcoholic friend, Lou [Brent Briscoe] accidentally stumble across a downed plane buried in the snow, they find their morality tested. The plane contains a dead pilot and over four million dollars cash.
Hank wants to report their find to the police with hope there will be a reward. Lou wants to keep the money and say nothing. Jacob sides with Lou. Ultimately, they decide that Hank will keep the money for the three. If no one comes calling after the plane is found in the spring, they will split the money equally and leave town going their separate ways.
It is a simple plan. What could go wrong?
*** Even More Spoilers Below ***
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Rating: 4 out of 5
The Cold Kiss by John Rector.
Nate and Sara, on the run from their past, are driving to Reno. When they’re approached at a roadside diner by a man offering $500 for a ride into Omaha, they can’t help but see it as a sign of blessings to come.
But in a few hours, that man is dead in their back seat . . . and he’s got a bag of money . . . more than either one of them know what to do with.
Forced off the road by a blizzard and trapped in a run-down motel, Nate and Sara make a life-altering decision that unleashes a nightmare. Before they know it, Nate and Sara are fighting for their lives and forced to confront every bad decision they’ve made along the way.
For two young lovers who may have used up all their chances, this is a final trip down a dark tunnel that might lead them to heaven, but drags them through hell.
First, let me give credit to Eric Beetner whose 60 Second Review turned me on to The Cold Kiss.
Rector takes what could have been cliche – nice young couple stumble on more money than they ever dreamed possible and their decision to keep it costs them more than they could ever have imagined.
In fact their decision to keep the money is just the first of many that take them deeper and deeper into a nightmare that might only end when they are dead.
The Cold Kiss is for mature audiences due to violence.
Rating: 4 out of 5
