Category: Movies

Big Year for Aliens & Predator

Chris Warner has been at Dark Horse Comics since their very first issue over twenty years ago.  His Black Cross character was featured in their premiere title.  Warner went on to work on other Dark Horse properties like The American, Predator, Barb Wire and many others.  Occasionally he would even come up with a new Black Cross story.  [It’s way past time for another Black Cross mini-series!]

Eventually Warner moved into an editorial position where he suggested the first Aliens vs Predator mini-series [years before the movie came about].  Chris Warner is now the editor in charge of both the Alien and Predator properties for Dark Horse and boy, does he have plans for them this year!  He tells Newsarama [and you] all about it [if you click here].

“The Descent” Rises to the Occassion

The Pitch: “Charlie‘s Angels” [times two without the comedy] meets “The Cave.”

The Overview: Six women friends on an adventurous weekend of deep cave exploration find themselves in a life or death struggle to find a way out after a cave-in.  Unfortunately the cave-in is the least of their worries… the creatures hunting them plan to feast.

The Good: The feeling of claustrophobia.  The creatures.  There some legitimate scares [and some cheap ones as well].  Juno [Natalie Jackson Mendoza] and Sarah [Shauna Macdonald].

The Bad: Trapped over a mile below the surface, with dwindling food and water, few supplies and no sure way out… and that’s not the worst of it!

The Ugly: The creatures.

The Summary: I wasn’t expecting “The Descent” to be as good as it was.  And while it isn’t a classic, it is a solid horror movie that manages to come up with new creatures and situations in a sub-genre of horror that could have been very routine.  “The Descent” is worth a look.

Z-View: “The Wrestler” is a Winner

The Pitch: “Rocky” meets Professional Wrestling.

The Overview: Randy “The Ram” Robinson is a washed up professional wrestler hoping for one last shot at the big time, a romance with an aging stripper and a reconciliation with his college-age daughter.

The Good: Mickey Rourke.  Maresia Tomei. Both received well-deserved Oscar nominations.  And let’s not forget writer Robert Siegel and director Darren Aronofsky.  The behind-the-scenes before and after the matches stuff.  The movie feels real.  There is no sugar-coating motivations or easily resolved situations.  Did I mention how good Rourke and Tomei are?

The Bad: The “hardcore” match.  Robinson’s relationship with his daughter.  Getting old.

The Ugly: Did I mention the “hardcore” match?

The Summary: I went in to see “The Wrestler” expecting a lot.  I wasn’t disappointed.  It deserves all the honors it is getting thanks to the efforts of Rourke, Tomei, Siegel and Aronofsky.  I look forward to watching this again when it’s in my collection.

The Apocalypse is Coming!

I’m a big fan of Victor Gischler’s Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse.  Yesterday at his blog Victor announced:

I’m happy to report that producer Brad Wyman — the dude responsible for some pretty cool films — has optioned my novel Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. Mr. Wyman is eager to make the film version as close to the novel as possible, and I’m thrilled as hell.

Me too, Victor, me too.