David Morrell’s Ruler of the Night

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Word on a new David [First Blood] Morrell novel is always welcome here!

On November 15, 2016, we’ll get the third part of Morrell’s Victorian mystery trilogy featuring Thomas De Quincey with Ruler of the Night.

Like David Morrell’s previous De Quincey novels, Ruler of the Night blends fact and fiction to an exceptional degree, this time focusing on a real-life Victorian murder so startling that it changed the culture-in this case, the first murder on an English train. The brutality of the crime stoked the fears of a generation who believed that the newly invented railway would “annihilate time and space.”

In Ruler of the Night, readers feel they’re actually on the harrowing fogbound streets of 1855 London as the brilliant Opium-Eater, Thomas De Quincey, and his irrepressible daughter, Emily, confront their most ruthless adversary. The stakes couldn’t be greater: both the heart of Victorian society and De Quincey’s tormented soul.

 

 

The fast-paced narrative matches the speed with which the railway changed Victorian life. It brings back Scotland Yard detectives Ryan and Becker, along with Lord Palmerston, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert, and introduces a host of new characters from this fascinating era. Master storyteller David Morrell transports readers back in time, away from the modern world and into the dangerous shadows of the past.

I Died a Thousand Times (1955) / Z-View

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I Died a Thousand Times (1955)

Director: Stuart Heisler
Screenplay: W.R. Burnett
Stars: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin, Lon Chaney, Jr., Earl Holliman and Dennis Hopper.

The Pitch: “Let’s remake ‘High Sierra.’”

Tagline: “The Story Behind The Terrifying 60-Day Hunt For Desperado ‘Mad-Dog’ Earle!”

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Roy Earl [Palance] an infamous bank robber [think Dillinger] is sprung from prison by an old crime boss who wants Earl for a big robbery. Obligated for his freedom, Earl drives west to check out the set up.

Once he meets up with his old boss, Earl discovers the robbery plan is good and the money is right, but his partners are young, inexperienced thugs [Marvin & Holliman] looking to make a name for themselves… plus they have a woman [Winters] with them and everyone knows women and crime plans don’t work out.

Before it is over there will be a robbery, people killed, double-crosses and a manhunt for the “Mad Dog Killer” Roy Earl.

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Sinner Man by Lawrence Block

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A lot of folks are going to love Sinner Man.  It’s Lawrence Block’s first crime novel that had been lost for nearly 50 years!

To escape punishment for a murder he didn’t mean to commit, insurance man Don Barshter has to take on a new identity: Nathaniel Crowley, ferocious up-and-comer in the New York mob. But can he find safety in the skin of another man…a worse man…a sinner man…?

It’d be a sin to miss this one.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) / Z-View

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

Screenplay: Frank Miller

Stars: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Lloyd, Jaime King, Stacy Keach, Lady Gaga and Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez.

The Pitch: “It is time for Sin City 2.”

Tagline: “There is no justice without sin.”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

If you enjoyed Sin City, you’ll want to come back for a second anthology of Frank Miller yarns.  Rourke, Alba, Dawson, Willis and King all reprise their original roles.  Brolin is excellent as he  picks up the role played by Clive Owen and there is an explanation from the original Sin City stories explaining the change in his look.  Eva Green is perfect as Ava.  Gordon-Levitt is also a welcome addition to the cast.  I hope there won’t be a seven year gap until the next Sin City tale.

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Everest (2015) / Z-View

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Everest (2015)

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Screenplay: William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy
Stars: Jason Clarke, Ang Phula Sherpa, Thomas M. Wright, Keira Knightley, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Robin Wright .

The Pitch: “The true story of mountaineers stranded on the highest mountain in the world during one of the worst blizzards imaginable.”

Tagline: “Never let go”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The tagline says it all.

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George Perez on Svengoolie!

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Most every week at 10pm on Saturday my wife and I check out whatever monster movie that horror host Svengoolie is serving up on ME-TV.  Last week we were pleasantly surprised to see George Perez and his lovely bride featured.

Seems George and his better half also regularly tune in to Svengoolie.  They were shown wearing their Sven t-shirts along with the very cool art that George created for Svengoolie.  You can see a larger version here.

I wonder what surprises Svengoolie will offer up tomorrow night with Captive Wild Woman.

Source: Greg Litchfield.

Hercules (2014) / Z-View

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Hercules (2014)
Director: Brett Ratner
Screenplay: Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes.

The Pitch: “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is Hercules.”

Tagline: “Before he was a legend, he was a man.”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Hercules (Johnson) travels with a band of mercenaries travel the world working for the highest bidder.  After they have trained a warlord’s army they learn that his motives were not what they seemed.

Johnson is a great Hercules and I like the idea that his fellow mercenaries add freely to his reputation to make their enemies more fearful.  I would have liked to have seen less CGI, less team Hercules and more HERCULES!

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Standoff (2016) / Z-View

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Standoff (2016)
Director: Adam Alleca
Screenplay: Adam Alleca
Stars: Thomas Jane, Laurence Fishburne and Ella Ballentine.

The Pitch: “A hitman, a little girl who witnessed the murder and the only man who can save her are trapped in a remote house…”

Tagline: “A Deadly Game Only One Can Survive”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A hitman (Zishburne) tracks a little girl (Bird) who witnessed a murder to a rural house owned by a grieving vet (Jane).  A psychological battle punctuated by high power weapons ensues.

Fishburne is outstanding as the hitman determined to leave no witnesses.

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Key Largo (1948) / Z-View

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Key Largo (1948)

Director:  John Huston

Screenplay:  Richard Brooks and John Huston from a play by Maxwell Anderson.

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Thomas Gomez, Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis and Jay Silverheels.

The Pitch: “Bogie. Bacall. Huston.”

Tagline: “WHERE MEN IN HIDING WAITED…WITH READY GUN!”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Frank McCloud (Bogart) a World War II vet, travels to Key Largo, Florida to visit the family of a soldier in his unit who was killed in the war.  McCloud arrives at the hotel just ahead of a hurricane and finds the hotel deserted except for his friend’s father and widow and famous mobster, Johnny Rocco and his crew.  Rocco’s crew are already on edge and the worsening weather keeps pushing them closer to the breaking point.

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