Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Dave Wachter is back and he brought his take on Sly from the Get Carter. 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
Howard Chaykin is one of my all-time favorite artists/writers. I’m not a big Solomon Kane fan, but this sketch could win me over.
The Courier (2012)
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Brannon Coombs, Pete Dris
Stars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Josie Ho, Til Schweiger, Miguel Ferrer, Lili Taylor, Mark Margolis and Mickey Rourke.
The Pitch: “I’ve got an idea for a new ‘Transporter’ movie!”
Tagline: “He delivers”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
A transporter courier is hired to deliver a briefcase containing who knows what. He’ll be paid a million dollars if he meets the deadline. If he is late his family will be killed.
I’m a Jeffrey Dean Morgan fan and The Courier starts out fun enough with a girl held at gunpoint on a plank from the top of a roller coaster. The clock is clicking down — will the courier get the money there in time.
I won’t spoil it for you but after that intro we’re off and running (the clock is ticking again after all). Great cast and a fun movie right up until the very end. Things seem rushed and convoluted as the movie comes to a close. Mickey Rourke has a glorified cameo.
Rating:
How about a new Blood Father poster and clip?
I am happy to see that The Saviors by James Robinson and J. Bone is getting a trade paperback release. I’m a huge fan of the series.
The Saviors is a comic for mature audiences due to drug references and language. If you’re a fan of 1950’s alien invasion movies [“I Married a Monster from Outer Space,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,”etc.] or well written, well drawn comics, then The Saviors is for you.
When Tomas Ramirez stumbles upon an extraterrestrial conspiracy to take over the world, his life is forever altered. Now he’s banding together with those other few souls who share the knowledge that we are under attack as they attempt to defeat a shadowy alien cabal that is both indestructible and eager to kill anyone who threatens it.
Eisner Award winner JAMES ROBINSON (Starman, Earth 2) and artist J. BONE (The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror, The Spirit) present an adventure story of monstrous proportions.
Creed (2015)
Director: Ryan Coogler
Screenplay: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Andre Ward, Tony Bellew, Ritchie Coster and Graham McTavish.
The Pitch: “I’ve got an idea for a new ‘Rocky’ movie!”
Tagline: “Your legacy is more than a name”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Adonis Johnson-Creed is the illegitimate and widely unknown grown son of Apollo Creed. Fighting is in his blood. When Adonis decides to give pro boxing a go, he seeks out Rocky Balboa to train him. Rocky isn’t interested but before it is over Adonis and Rocky will both face the fights of their lives.
Rating:
Carver: A Paris Story by Chris Hunt looks like a fun ride.
After an absence of five years, globe trotting and notorious gentleman of fortune Francis Carver returns to Paris in 1923. He has come back to aid Catherine Ayers, the wife of a wealthy Parisian socialite and the only woman he has ever loved. Her daughter has been kidnapped by the leader of a crazed anarchist gang, a man named Stacker Lee. In order to bring the girl home, Francis will have to crawl through the underbelly of the city while confronting the demons of his past, before being faced with a final choice: succumb to the man he has become, or take that mask off and be the hero he always wanted to be.
“CARVER is my homage to CORTO MALTESE,” said Chris Hunt, “I’m bringing a modern edge and sensibility to classic, serialized adventure storytelling, starting with the first storyline CARVER: A PARIS STORY.”
Like an American Corto Maltese Carver combines the best elements of European and American Comics into a wonderful synthesis
Featuring a back up story and essay by Paul Pope.
Escape from New York and Lockout are two of my favorite movies. That should be no surprise since a Paris appeal court ruled that they’re basically the same story.
…Luc Besson must pay more than $500,000 (450,000 euros) in damages to John Carpenter and rights holder StudioCanal for plagiarizing Carpenter’s 1981 classic Escape From New York when he made the 2012 film Lockout.
Although there are similarities are there enough to justify the penalty? Not sure I agree, but since Luc Besson’s people aren’t complaining, who am I to?
Source: Deadline.
Cabin in the Sky (1943)
Director: Vincente Minnelli, Busby Berkeley (uncredited)
Screenplay: Joseph Schrank based on the musical by Lynn Root
Stars: Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Lena Horne, Butterfly McQueen, Louis Armstrong, Rex Ingram, Kenneth Spencer, and Duke Ellington.
The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie version of ‘Cabin in the Sky!’”
Tagline: “Broadway’s big, fun-jammed music show is on the screen at last–crowded with stars and songs and spectacle in the famed MGM manner!”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Little Joe [Anderson] dies after being shot during a night of gambling and fast women. Before his soul can be claimed, Little Joe’s wife, Petunia [Waters] prays so hard for Little Joe that angels show up just as the Devil’s soldiers prepare to wisk him away. A decision is made that Little Joe will be returned to the living and have six months to earn his way heaven or be claimed by the devils. The catch is Little Joe will remember none of this.
The devils plot to place every obstacle possible in Little Joe’s path from fast women like Georgia Brown [Horne] to fast cash and no-account friends. Will Joe make it to the Cabin in the Sky?
Rating:
The photo above is purported to be Clarence Anglin and John Anglin, two of the three convicts who escaped from Alcatraz prison in 1962. This picture was reportedly taken in 1975 on a farm where they allegedly lived in Brazil.
The Alcatraz prison break is probably the most famous prison escape ever since it was thought to be impossible and the three convicts were never caught. Of course the Clint Eastwood movie, Escape from Alcatraz, probably helped with public awareness a bit.
At any rate, if you’re interested you can see vintage photos of the convicts, their cells, escape route and more at Could the Alcatraz Escapees Still Be Alive? Here Are Some of Historical Photos of The Great Escape from Alcatraz in 1962 at Vintage Everyday.
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
Director: Ezra Edelman
The Pitch: “The make a documentary like ‘Making a Murderer’ but with the most famous murder trial in American history!”
No Tagline.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
An amazing documentary that explores in detail the trial of OJ Simpson for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman as well as the history of the years leading up to the murders. And not just the history of OJ and Nicole, but also the United States – the evolution of civil liberties, the reputation of the LA police, the rise of O.J. Simpson’s celebrity as a sports and movie star and how these different factors came together to create a climate that gave us the OJ Simpson murder trial.
The documentary takes us past the criminal trial to the civil trial, OJ’s life following it and the subsequent activities and trial that cost OJ Simpson his freedom.
Rating:
Today we have rare behind-the-scenes footage of Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins rehearsing for a scene for Someone Behind the Door. What’s really interesting is that Bronson and the director aren’t getting along and it comes to a head as they work out the scene.
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)
Director: Charles Lamont
Screenplay: D.D. Beauchamp and Howard Christie from a story by John Grant.
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Robert Paige and Anita Ekberg.
The Pitch: “How about Abbott & Costello go to Mars?”
No Tagline: “THEY’RE OUT OF THIS WORLD ON A MISGUIDED MISSLE!”
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Abbott and Costello accidently launch a rocket destined for Mars. It ends up in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Bud and Lou think they’re on Mars after interacting with locals. When they get back on the rocket they’re joined by two escaped cons and all four of them end up on the planet Venus which is ruled by women. Will Bud and Lou get back to Earth? Will they even want to?
Rating:
Wow!
That’s Buzz Aldrin’s travel voucher so he could be paid for his historic trip to the moon! Buzz received $33.31 for his trip to the moon and back. Even back in 1969 that wasn’t a ton of dough.
Source: Buzz Aldrin on Twitter.
The Night Stalker (2016)
Director: Megan Griffiths
Screenplay: Megan Griffiths
Stars: Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips and Louis Herthum.
The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie about the real life serial killer known as ‘The Night Stalker’.”
No Tagline.
The Plot…
A young woman [Young] is given the job to get to know Richard Ramirez aka “The Night Stalker” in an effort to find out if he is responsible for a murder attributed to another man who is sentenced to die for it.
Thoughts…
Phillips is convincing as The Night Stalker.
The drawings that are seen in Richard Ramirez’s cell are actual drawings done by Ramirez.
Rating:
