Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
One of my favorite movie surprises of the last few years was Jason Statham and the movie “The Transporter.”If you feel the same, you’re probably happy that “The Transporter 2” is currently filming in Miami.
It looks great.
I mean really, really great.
A couple of days ago I posted some pics from “Sin City” and links to more. At that time I told you that I couldn’t wait to see “Sin City.” JoBlo reports an April 1, 2005 release date for Sin City. I hope they are not foolin’.
I like Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Dan Hedaya, and Michael T. Weiss. So when I saw that they all starred in a movie called “Freeway“ [along with Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer and Brittany Murphy], I decided to give it a look. And although I’m glad that I watched it, it’s not a movie I can easily recommend. It was well done. I have no complaints with the acting, directing, or editing. In fact I would commend most of the actors for taking on roles which allowed them to stretch.
It’s such a dark, dark comedy and at the same time a modern day take on “Little Red Riding Hood.” Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up, so maybe my recommendation isn’t needed.
Let me just say, that if this is the sort of thing that you like, then you’ll like it. And if you don’t like it, hey, blame Siskel and Ebert!
“Freeway” rates a C
I can’t wait to see Frank Miller’s Sin City on the big screen. It’s still hard for me to believe that it’s being made. Especially when you add Robert Rodriguez [one of my favorite directors] to the mix.
When the topic of comic adaptations to movies would come up, my first choice was always Sin City.
But the fly in the ointment was that Sin City creator, Frank Miller, had said that Sin City would never be made into a movie. Frank didn’t want to turn over his creation to a studio that would Hollywoodize it and turn it into something else.
But that was before Robert Rodriguez showed Frank exactly how he would adapt Sin City to make it faithful to the comics. Robert even brought Frank on board to serve as co-director! When it was announced that Rodriguez and Miller were teaming to create Sin City, I thought, “How can it get any better?”
Then the cast began to form… Mickey Rourke… Bruce Willis… Jessica Alba… Rosario Dawson… Benicio Del Toro… Michael Clarke Duncan… Josh Hartnett… Michael Madsen… Clive Owen… Nick Stahl… Elijah Wood.
Ain’t It Cool News just posted some screencaps from Sin City. You can see them by clicking HERE. Cool aren’t they?
Now if we could just get a release date for the movie!
One of my all-time favorite movies is Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy “Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”
If you love it as much as I do, then you’ll be happy to know that a special 40th Anniversary Two Disc set is being released on November 2nd.
And whether you love “Dr. Strangelove” or not, you’ll probably be surprised to read just how realistic it was. Read
THIS ARTICLE and suddenly the comedy seems even darker.Thanks to Mark Evanier for posting the link.
Dr. Strangelove rates an A+
One of my favorite Al Pacino movies is Carlito’s Way. If you haven’t seen it, you should give it a look, especially if you’re a fan of Pacino, Sean Penn, or gangster movies. It’s directed by Brian DePalma and is really, good. [I’d place a link to the dvd, but they’re coming out with a Special Edition in the near future so you should wait if you’d like a copy for your collection.]
At any rate, Carlito’s Way is one of my favorite movies. So you think I’d be excited to hear that a prequel may be in the works, right?
Well, unfortunately what JoBlow is reporting, is that if there is a sequel it doesn’t look like Pacino, Penn or DePalma will be involved!
The cool thing is that no matter what happens with the prequel we’ll always have the original.
“Carlito’s Way” rates an A
Calling all Horror fans… Calling all zombie fans…
Calling all George Romero fans…
There’ s an interview with George Romero over at AICN. Romero talks about his latest zombie movie and more…
That is all… [for now]…
Frank Miller.
Robert Rodriguez.
Mickey Rourke.
Bruce Willis.
Jessica Alba.
Rosario Dawson.
Benicio Del Toro.
Michael Clarke Duncan.
Josh Hartnett.
Michael Madsen.
Clive Owen.
Nick Stahl.
Elijah Wood.
Whew! This baby is gonna rock.
Don’t believe me? Read this interview with Robert Rodriguez [brought to us by Quint at AICN] and you’ll be a believer! Man, I can’t wait…
The Sci Fi channel has, for weeks, been advertising an “unauthorized documentary” [some even called it a “disturbing expose” ] about M. Knight Shyamalan. The story was that M. Knight first cooperated, but then tried to shut it down when producers delved too deeply into his personal life. The documentary advertised that it would present a “buried secret.” I’ll be the first to admit that the documentary sounded interesting, but something about it just didn’t seem right. My wife speculated, a couple of weeks ago, that M. Knight was probably behind the whole thing… and it turns out she was right.
Today the Sci Fi cable network and parent company NBC Universal acknowledged that the documentary was really part of a “guerrilla marketing” hoax that went too far. It seems that “a number of entertainment journalists…” were left “…grumbling after they were duped…”
I watched the special and it was so obvious that the doc was set -up, that anyone who is upset because they were duped should be upset with himself for being so gullible.
The Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow site is starting to make available more and more cool stuff to get us all psyched for the movie.In addition to the cool movie poster shown to the left, JoBlo.com has six others that are just as cool. [Well… most of them are.]
JoBlo also has several images from the movie.
The official site has a new trailer, which looks even better than the teaser did.
There’s also a cool clip of an undersea battle available at Apple’s trailer site for Sky Captain.
I really don’t know how Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is going to do at the box office, but I do know that I can’t wait to see it.
The cheers that you’ve been hearing may be from horror fans around the world.It’s been announced that George Romero is finally going to get to see his fourth “Living Dead” movie make it to the big screen! Written and directed by George his-own-bad-self, it’ll be titled Land of the Dead. [Leaving behind the “time” theme of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.]
In this one, the zombies have overrun the world and the few people still alive are forced to live behind fortified skyscraper walls. Only now the slow-moving brainless zombies are starting to change…
The film is set to begin production in October.
As most of you know, Michael Mann and Tom Cruise are teaming on Collateral. It’s the story of a hitman [Cruise] who hires a cab driver [Jamie Fox] to drive him to five locations in one night.
What the driver doesn’t know [at least at first] is that a hit is taking place at each stop.
The initial teaser trailer was released a few weeks ago, and while it looked interesting, I wasn’t completely sold.
The full trailer is now available, along with some more stills from the film. I’ve got to admit that NOW the movie is starting to look better. The producers have to walk a thin line in how much they show though… they need to show enough to get interest up, but if they give away too much, then no one will want to see the movie.
Knowing too much can be a bad thing. If you don’t believe me, just ask the taxi driver.
Brittany Murphy, who plays Shelly, hosted and was joined by Sin City creator and film co-director Frank Miller, director Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. For full details click HERE.
Walter Mosley‘s eighth Easy Rawlins novel is now available and I’m putting in my order! I’ve read, and enjoyed all of the Easy Rawlins‘ stories and Little Scarlet, set during the Watts riots of 1965, looks to be a welcome addition to the series. Easy, an unlicensed PI, along with his best friend, the cold-blooded killer called Mouse, find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation which could land Easy in jail or dead.
Devil in a Blue Dress is the only film adaptation of an Easy Rawlins‘ novel, and although it didn’t set the box office on fire, it’s definitely worth a look. Denzel Washington plays Easy Rawlins, but the movie is OWNED by Don Cheadle as Mouse. Jennifer Beals, looking as pretty as ever, also co-stars in this excellent film by Carl Franklin.
Yeah, I think I’ll order the book tonight and pull the dvd off the shelf. It’s time I spent a little time taking things Easy.
