Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The new Jack Reacher: Never Look Back trailer looks like the movie will be a fun, if predictable, ride. I liked the first Jack Reacher movie and have no reason to think the sequel will be any less fun.
The new Magnificent Seven poster is here! Seems like there’s a big Hateful 8 vibe going on.
Mark Mancini and Mental_Floss present 11 Facts About History of the World, Part I. Here are three of my favorites…
2. THE LEAD CAVEMAN WAS PLAYED BY MEL BROOKS’S FORMER BOSS.
In 1949, the late, great Sid Caesar hired Brooks as a joke writer for The Admiral Broadway Revue, a short-lived NBC variety show. After the series ended, Brooks joined the staff of Caesar’s next program, Your Show of Shows. Working for a living legend was something the younger man would never forget. Even today, when Brooks is asked about his mentor, he often says “No Sid Caesar, no Mel Brooks.”
Twenty-two years after Your Show of Shows ended its run, Brooks expressed his gratitude to Caesar by giving him a major role in 1976’s Silent Movie. Brooks would cast the comic again in History of the World, this time as Chief Caveman, who has a zeal for music (and slapstick).
4. ORIGINALLY, JOSEPHUS WAS GOING TO BE PLAYED BY RICHARD PRYOR.
Josephus, a quick-witted Ethiopian slave, is a principal character in the film’s Roman Empire segment. Richard Pryor seemed perfect for the part and, to Brooks’s delight, he accepted the role. Unfortunately, though, a terrible accident kept him out of the movie. On June 9, 1980, less than a month after History of the World began production, the comic lit himself ablaze while freebasing cocaine and had to be hospitalized. At the suggestion of Madeline Kahn (who played Empress Nympho), Brooks handed the role to tap dancer Gregory Hines.
11. BROOKS NEVER INTENDED TO MAKE A SEQUEL.
With a title like History of the World, Part 1, you’d assume that a Part 2 would be hot on its heels. But Brooks has stated that he never intended to make a sequel. On June 7, 1981—just four days before the movie opened in theaters, the director weighed in on this subject in The New York Times. “Will there be a History of the World, Part 2?” he asked, rhetorically. “No. Maybe a Part 4, never a Part 2.”
The misleading title—as he later put it—was meant as “a joke,” one he now regrets. “I’m sorry I did that, the kids keep writing me letters asking when we are going to see part two,” he explained while promoting his DVD box set, The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection of Unhinged Comedy. Still, he’s definitely thought about what new topics he might spoof in a potential follow-up—as he states in the below clip. “There’s a lot of things I haven’t covered in history. Things like the Civil War.”
“I have some ideas where Vic Mackey is, but I don’t know where Vic Mackey is until someone puts me in a writers’ room with a group of these people and some people who aren’t here and give us a week to sort it out,” Shield creator, Shawn Ryan said, pointing to the rest of The Shield writers on stage, including Kurt Sutter, Glen Mazzara, Scott Rosenbaum and Chic Eglee.
Shawn Ryan said this to an audience at the ATX TV Festival last Saturday. I sure hope someone at FX was listening. Who wouldn’t love to see a Shield mini (or even on-going) series? It worked with 24. FOX is doing it with Prison Break. C’mon FX, let’s do this!
Source: Deadline.com.
Yeah, I’ve got con fever. Or con fevah, as my good buddy, John Beatty calls it.
If all goes as planned, the fever [or fevah, if you prefer] will break tomorrow when Doralya and I load up the Jack Carter mobile Queen’s Kia Soul and head for Charlotte to attend HeroesCon 2016.
We’re going in a day early to make the most of the weekend. We plan to meet up with friends [Little John and Patricia, others?] for dinner and catching up.
Friday through Sunday will be non-stop fun. Look at the guest list, artist’s alley and the schedule of events! I’ve pre-arranged for some Stallone sketches for pick-up and will be on the lookout for others to add to the collection. I’ve packed my books ready to be autographed, made the list of artists to see and haven’t forgotten the HeroesCon shirts I have to pick up for John Higashi and The James Howell. Higashi has a sketch mission for me as well.
HeroesCon has been a Zablo family tradition since my sons were kids and it is always a blast. If you’re able to make it, come on down. I’ll be the guy getting the Stallone sketches.
Garin Pernia and Mental_Floss present 15 Solid Facts About The Flintstones. Here are three of my favorites…
4. THE FLINTSTONES DIDN’T COPY THE HONEYMOONERS.
It’s true that Fred was based on Jackie Gleason’s Honeymooners character Ralph Kramden, but Joe Barbera made him different. “So many people say, ‘Did you copy The Honeymooners?’ I said, ‘Well, if you compare The Flintstones to The Honeymooners, that’s the biggest compliment you can give me,” Barbera told Emmy TV Legends, “but The Honeymooners don’t have all the gags that we had in there,” including a Stoneway Piano and the Polarrock Camera.
7. PEBBLES WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A BABY BOY.
In 1962, during the show’s third season, the producers decided Fred and Wilma should have a child. Barbera told Emmy TV Legends the plan was for their child to be a boy, until Ideal Toy Company (the company that created the Rubik’s Cube and Betsy Wetsy) changed his mind. One day, Barbera received a call from the guy in charge of Flintstones merchandising. “He said, ‘Hey, I hear you’re having a baby on the show.’ I said, ‘Yeah,’” Barbera said. “He said, ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ ‘What else, a boy. A chip off the old rock.’ He says, ‘That’s too bad. I have the ideal toy. If it was a girl, we could’ve made a hell of a deal.’ I said, ‘It’s is a girl.’” They sold three million dolls within the first couple of months.
8. MEL BLANC KEPT VOICING BARNEY DESPITE A HORRIBLE CAR ACCIDENT.
The Man of a Thousand Voices portrayed Barney Rubble, even following a devastating head-on car collision in 1961. Blanc didn’t let a 70-day hospital day deter him too much, and when he got out of the hospital, the cast and crew came to his home to record episodes. Blanc recounted the experience in his book, That’s Not All Folks, writing: “Tangles of wires were scattered all over the floor, and chairs and microphones were arranged around my hospital bed.”
The cast gathered around Blanc, and the producers talked to him through a built-in speaker. “Every couple of hours Joe would ask if I was too tired to carry on, but I insisted on completing the show,” Blanc wrote, saying that they recorded about 40 episodes in that manner. “Thankfully, by September, my doctors allowed me to sit up a bit, elevated by way of a pulley-cable system, to a semi-sitting position. It was no more than a few inches difference, but as I laughingly told my colleagues, ‘How nice is it to be able to look at your faces instead of at the damned ceiling.’”
Sly Stallone is set to star in a film currently titled Godforsaken (although the name will change) as an…
…aging ex-con with more regrets than memories. Upon hearing about his son’s death his solitude is quickly broken as he must now protect the only family he has left and avenge a son he hardly knew.
Jim [Cold in July] Mickle is on board to direct for STX Entertainment.
Source: Deadline.
With the passing of Muhammad Ali, there have been many stories that exemplify the man that Ali was. I love the story, told by Kevin Iole about the time Jim Brown Challenged Muhammad Ali to a Fight and It Didn’t Go Well for Brown.
“ROCKY”
by Gabz
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary!
Grey Matter Art, under license from MGM Studios is proud to present a new officially licensed, limited edition screen print for the 40th anniversary of the classic film, “Rocky” by talented artist, Grzegorz Domaradzki (Gabz). GMA are thrilled to be working with Gabz again to showcase this amazing poster. There are 2 separate editions for this poster, a regular and variant Edition. Below are details regarding the poster and release date.
Artist: Gabz
Size: 24×36
Regular Edition: 225/$45.00
Variant Edition: 175/$60.00
Printed by: D & L Screen Printing
This poster was released on Wednesday, June 08th on our website shop page at 1:00 PM (est) at www.greymatterart.com
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Brittney Hutagalung created today’s sketch of Sly as Jack Carter. Brittney had posted some sketches of Jon Bernthal that she was taking to MegaCon. I liked “Bnie’s” art and saw that she was open for commissions so I set this one up.
Brittney’s prices are very reasonable and she gets my highest recommendation.
My guess is that nearly all of you have seen the cover above created by Neal Adams for the Superman vs Muhammad Ali treasury comic.
Seen it. Owned it. Old news, right?
Well, how many of you knew that Joe Kubert created the original cover (see below) Apparently Ali’s folks weren’t happy with The People’s Champ‘s likeness, so Neal Adams was brought in to do the book.
Source: David J. Spurlock.
If you’re a fan of the original Star Trek you’ll get a kick out of Dusty Abell’s authorized tribute poster.
Dusty has 123 people and items for super Star Trek fans to identify. Here’s a larger version of the poster so you want have to strain your eyes. If you need some help, you can see an answer key chart /Film.
If you really like the poster you can buy a copy at Dusty’s site. And Star Trek fans will want to be on the lookout because word is that Dusty’s poster is being turned into a 1,000 piece puzzle.
Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 11 Fun Facts About My Three Sons. Here are three of my favorites…
1. THE STAR MANAGED TO NEGOTIATE A SWEET SET OF WORKING HOURS FOR HIS SCHEDULE.
Fred MacMurray was a well-established film star when he was approached by executive producer Don Fedderson about starring in a TV series. MacMurray agreed with two conditions: one, that he would own a percentage of the show, and two, that he only would be required to work three months of each year. In reality, MacMurray was a dedicated family man, and after years of being away on movie sets had planned to retire early and spend the majority of his time at home with his wife and four-year-old twin daughters. But the money Fedderson offered him was too tempting to pass up—and would secure his children’s future—so he signed on to play the widowed patriarch on My Three Sons.
MacMurray’s “three month” stipulation meant that the writers had to have each season’s scripts ready in advance so that MacMurray could film all of his scenes in one fell swoop and have them edited into the various episodes of the series after the fact. Years later, several other actors caught on to this concept and agreed to star in a project only if it was filmed in “the MacMurray Method.”
4. BILL FRAWLEY CARRIED A GRUDGE … TO GREAT LENGTHS.
That there was no love lost between former I Love Lucy co-stars William Frawley and Vivian Vance was certainly no secret in Hollywood, but Frawley had been willing to set aside any personal differences when Desilu proposed a spin-off series starring Fred and Ethel Mertz. Vivian Vance absolutely refused, however, and Frawley never forgave her for denying him a steady paycheck.
“On the third season of our show, lo and behold, Lucy decided to do The Lucy Show and they were on the next stage over from ours,” Stanley Livingston recalled. “She probably picked that stage knowing Bill and Vivian would have to pass each other. When Bill saw Vivian, he’d yell some sort of obscenity at her. He got me to participate in a couple of his pranks. When she was doing a scene, he’d get us kids on the show to sneak in and knock over a stack of empty film cans or throw them like a Frisbee to make a big racket and ruin her scene so she’d have to do it again.”
8. THE SERIES CHANGED NETWORKS MIDWAY THROUGH ITS 12-YEAR RUN.
My Three Sons was effectively cancelled by ABC in 1964 because the network was bowing to pressure from rival networks and slowly converting their black-and-white prime time shows to color. All things considered, in their opinion the added expense of filming My Three Sons in color was not worth it, so they axed the show from their schedule. CBS, however, thought the series still had some legs so they picked it up for the fall 1965 season (and continued running it through 1972).
Paul Gulacy sits down (or perhaps stands) for an interview /podcast with Doug Bost and Adam Bernstein.
