Category: Movies
Congo (1995) / Z-View
Congo (1995)
Director: Frank Marshall
Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley based on the novel by Michael Crichton
Stars: Laura Linney, Tim Curry, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker and Stuart Pankin.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn Michael Crichton’s Congo into a movie!”
Tagline: Where you are the endangered species.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
A ragtag group joins forces in an effort to get into the Congo. Two members are young guys who want to take a gorilla from the US back to her birthplace. The other members are on a search and rescue mission to find what happened to an earlier team that discovered a rare diamond and was wiped out. Neither group was expecting to find killer gorillas.
Rating:
Highlander is Coming to IDW!
(Art above by Dan McDaid)
Fans of the movie Highlander will probably want to check out the new series from IDW. Written by novelist Brian Ruckley and art by Andrea Mutti (who did the art below) the series will premiere in 2017.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter.
Executive Action (1973) / Z-View
Executive Action (1973)
Director: David Miller
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo from a story by Donald Freed and Mark Lane
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Ed Lautner and Dick Miller.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie on the Kennedy assassination.”
Tagline: Their Goal…Assassination. November 22, 1963…Accomplished!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Think Oliver Stone’s JFK only not as stylish.
Rating:
Borderland (2007) / Z-View
Borderland (2007) / Z-View
Director: Zev Berman
Screenplay: Eric Poppen and Zev Berman
Stars: Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy and Rider Strong
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”
Tagline: Inspired by a true story.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Three college students head south of the border for a weekend of fun and end up on the wrong side of a Satanic drug-dealing cult.
Rating:
Tom Whalen & the World of Alternate Movie Posters!
Today artist Tom Whalen takes us inside the world of creating and collecting alternative movie posters.
House on Haunted Hill (1959) / Z-View
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Director: William Castle
Screenplay: Robb White
Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long and Elisha Cook, Jr.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”
Tagline: First Film With the Amazing New Wonder EMERGO: The Thrills Fly Right Into The Audience!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Fredrick Loren [Price] offers five people $10,000 to stay the night in a mansion that legend has is haunted. Despite their fears and needing the money, they group is locked in with no way out except death…
Rating:
The Haunting (1963) / Z-View
The Haunting (1963)
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Nelson Gidding based on Shirley Jackson‘s novel The Haunting of Hill House
Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s The Haunting of Hill House!”
Tagline: You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Dr. Markway [Johnson] and three companions in an effort to prove the existence of ghosts go to Hill House – a remote mansion with a long history of violent deaths.
The Haunting has beautiful cinematography and director Robert Wise builds the tension and terror. While there are a couple of great scares the movie relies on pace and an increasing sense of doom to ramp up the fear factor. They don’t make them like this any more.
Rating:
He Ran All the Way (1951) / Z-View
He Ran All the Way (1951)
Director: John Berry
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler based on the novel by Sam Ross
Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a crime romance movie!”
Tagline: DYNAMITE hits the screen with their kind of love!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Nick Robey [Garfield] is a dumb, weak-willed middle-aged man living with his abusive, alcoholic mother. Nick reluctantly joins in on a payroll heist that goes bad. Nick’s partner and a cop are killed but Nick gets away with the cash.
Nick hides out at a swimming pool and meets Peg Dobbs [Winters]. She’s as stupid as Nick so you know she’s going to fall for him. Nick walks her home and before long he’s hiding out in the family apartment. The police are closing in and Nick’s not sure Peg really loves him. What’s a fella to do?
Rating:
Spy Chasers (1955) / Z-View
Spy Chasers (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Jerome S. Gottler and Bert Lawrence
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey and Leon Askin.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: They’re in the Underground with a Beautiful Spy!… in a laffdaffy riot of cloak-and-dagger adventure!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys are recruited to help an European King regain his throne.
Rating:
“Sicario” (2015) written by Taylor Sheridan, directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin / Z-View
Sicario (2015)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Max Trujillo, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Kevin Wiggins, Edgar Arreola, Dylan Kenin, John Trejo and Daniel Kaluuya
Tagline: The border is just another line to cross.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Kate Macer is an FBI agent recruited to join a US task force fighting the war on drugs along the Mexican border. After joining Kate learns things aren’t as they seem and lines are being crossed that bring into question her ethics and place her life in danger.
Thoughts…
Sicario was nominated for three 2016 Academy Awards…
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Sound Editing – Alan Robert Murray
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score – Jóhann Jóhannsson
- Nominee for Best Achievement in Cinematography – Roger Deakins
Sicario is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. Taylor Sheridan creates a smart screenplay with action, drama and a story that sticks with you.
Denis Villeneuve’s direction makes every scene interesting. Everything in this movie works – the cinematography, the sound, and the actors are all perfectly cast.
Benicio Del Toro felt that in the original screenplay, his character spoke too much. He approached director, Denis Villeneuve, with his concerns. Villeneuve agreed and estimated that 90% of his dialogue was cut which made his character much more mysterious and interesting.
Villeneuve told the movie’s composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, that he wanted the score to contain the sound of a “threat” like that found in Jaws. Jóhannsson came through like gangbusters.
Sicario gets my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Dave Wachter and Barney Ross
Dave Wachter is back and he brought his take on Sly from The Expendables with him. I met Dave several years ago and became an instant fan. I wasn’t the only one to discover Dave’s fantastic sketches! How can you not like a great guy who is a terrific artist?
It has become a HeroesCon tradition that I get Dave to draw his take on Sly. Somehow this one was never posted until now.
You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig
Bowery to Bagdad (1955) / Z-View
Bowery to Bagdad (1955)
Director: Edward Bernds
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Bernard Gorcey.
The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”
Tagline: YOU’LL LOVE THEM IN BAGDAD!…As those Ding-Dong Daddies Go Haren-Scarem via The Magic Carpet!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys find a magic lamp but before they can decide on their wishes, a group of mobsters discovers the genie and the battle for the lamp is on!
Rating:
Born to Kill (1947) / Z-View
Born to Kill (1947)
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay based on the novel by James Gunn
Stars: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak, Elisha Cook Jr., Isabel Jewell and Esther Howard
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn the novel Born to Kill into a movie!”
Tagline: THE COLDEST KILLER A WOMAN EVER LOVED!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
On the run from the coldblooded murder of a woman and her boyfriend, Sam [Tierney] meets two half-sisters. Although attracted to Helen [Trevor], Sam puts the moves on Georgia since she has money. She’s attracted to him and after a whirlwind romance they are married.
Sam still has eyes for Helen and she likes the idea of Georgia’s money. A match made in hell, right? Things become even more complicated when sleazy private eye, Arnett [Slezak] shows up. Arnett knows Sam’s a murderer but is willing to take cash to go away. More people are going to die when you’re dealing with a man who was born to kill.
Rating:
