Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
If like me you’re a fan of Sean Phillips & Ed Brubaker or maybe just their cool crime series, Incognito, then you’ll be pleased to hear that the series has been optioned.
This trailer for the Jonah Hex movie is such a let down. The movie had so much potential with a cast that included Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox and a story based on the DC comic series. The “high tech” weapons, gatling guns on horseback and Jonah Hex as a gunslinging medium just don’t work.
Jonah Hex should have been a gritty western in the vein of the old Clint Eastwood classics. The sad part is that movie goers who don’t know any better will think that the stupid parts of the movie came from the comic series. Bah.
Movieweb recently posted a nice little interview with Michael Biehn who spoke about the making of Tombstone. Biehn provides a wealth of behind-the-scenes information and more. Here are a few tidbits:
I think Unforgiven is the best Western ever made. That is my feeling. You can go back to films like Shane. That, to me, is a great Western. Maybe things like The Outlaw Josey Wales, and a few others. But for me, Unforgiven is the greatest film that was ever made. Our film was more pop oriented.
Tombstone was such a good movie because it had a great script by Kevin Jarre. It had great characters. And it had great actors to play them. Kurt was great. I don’t think Val has been better in any other movie. It’s his greatest performance. You have Sam Elliott, you have Bill Paxton, you have Powers Boothe, you have Thomas Haden Church. You’ve got Jason Priestley and Billy Zane. Billy Bob Thornton and Frank Stallone. Everywhere you look, there is a new face that pops up. They are a celebrity, but they fit into this world.
I give Kurt Russell a lot of credit for managing everybody’s egos. And making the right decisions on what needed to be cut and what didn’t need to be cut.
The interview covers a lot more ground including why the original director was fired, lost Tombstone footage, and why Biehn won’t work with Bill Paxton on a certain project. You can read the full interview right here.
If you want to see a Japanese teaser trailer for The Expendables just click right here.
Most folks these days won’t watch black and white, let alone silent movies. I have no problem with either, if the film is a good one. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in the days when most shows on television were broadcast in black and white.
At any rate, I’m looking forward to seeing Fritz Lang’s silent [and yes, black and white] classic Metropolis with the fully restored footage. If you check out this trailer and make it all the way to the end, Metropolis may be a movie you’ll want to watch as well.
Pretty cool, huh?
I discovered this Captain American piece over at Bleeding Cool in a post called Put a Comic Icon on Your Wall. As Rich Johnston says, they’re “incredibly stylish” and “completely unlicensed” which means they may not be around for long.
I recently discovered the art of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr. through a post called Lost: The Saturday Morning Cartoon over at io9.com. As you’ve probably figured out already, Myers drew the cast of Lost [including the smoke monster] as they’d look in a Saturday morning cartoon. Cool idea and cool end result.
You can see more of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr.’s art here and here. It’s worth checking out!
This week we have a watercolor piece of Sly as Jack Carter by Fatima Camiloza. I saw Fatima’s art here and noticed that she was doing ten dollar 4″x6″ watercolor pieces. I liked Fatima’s art enough to give it a go and the piece above is the end result.
I’m extremely pleased to have a piece by Fatima in my collection… and perhaps there will be more in the future!
Photo via MMA Weekly
Here are the results for the top three fights on the WEC pay-per-view card from last night:
Mike Brown Vs. Manny Gamburyan.
Prediction: Brown by TKO.
Result: Huge, huge upset as Gamburyan wins by TKO in the first which makes me 0-1 for the night.
Additional coverage by Cagewriter.
Ben Henderson Vs. Donald Cerrone.
Prediction: Henderson by Decision.
Result: Henderson wins by tapout in the first round taking me to 1-1 for the night.
Additional coverage by Cagewriter and Bloody Elbow.
Jose Aldo Vs. Urijah Faber.
Prediction: Aldo by TKO.
Result: Aldo by unanimous decision so I end up 2-1 for the night.
Additional coverage by Cagewriter and Bloody Elbow.
The top three fights on the WEC pay-per-view card tonight should be excellent. Here are my predictions:
Mike Brown Vs. Manny Gamburyan. Both of these fighters come in with just five losses. The difference is that Brown has 23 wins compared to Gamburyan’s 12 wins. Brown shocked the world when he upset Faber to win the title. I don’t think the world will be as shocked when he defeats Gamburyan tonight.
Prediction: Brown by TKO.
Ben Henderson Vs. Donald Cerrone. This could be the fight of the night. Both of these guys are tough. They fought before and Henderson came away with a unanimous decision. There’s an old saying that past performance is the best predictor of future performance.
Prediction: Henderson by Decision.
Jose Aldo Vs. Urijah Faber. The title is on the line. Just a couple of years ago Faber was unstoppable. Then he was upset by Mike Brown, who was in turn TKO’d by Jose Aldo. Almost everyone see Aldo winning by TKO or KO. One thing I’ve learned is that the race doesn’t always go to the biggest or fastest dog, but that’s the way to bet.
Prediction: Aldo by TKO.
Peruvian filmmaker Ricardo de Montreuil made this teaser for a potential film trilogy. The Raven aka Chris Black possesses a unique power that threatens the current power structure…
The chase is on as Chris runs for his life in this sci-fi thriller set in an alternate and futuristic Los Angeles.
This has a lot of potential. I hope we see more soon!
I’ve never been a fan of any of The Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but I have to admit I like this motion poster for the reboot.
Frank Mir is one of my favorite MMA fighters. In this short video interview Mir tells what happened in the Carwin fight [no excuses], his thoughts on a potential fight with Anderson Silva [he’d welcome it] and does he still want to fight Brock Lesnar [he does]. It’s a nice little interview brought to us by the good folks at MixedMartialArts.com.
What with all the talk lately about James Brolin playing Jonah Hex in the up-coming movie and Darwyn Cooke providing the cover to Jonah Hex 56, I’ve been thinking about my favorite artists who’ve drawn the deformed gunslinger.
This is Howard Chaykin’s prelim for the cover of Jonah Hex #4 which was cover-dated February 2006. It’s interesting to note that this appears to be an older Jonah Hex than we normally see and the powerlines in the background would indicate that the story takes place later in Hex’s life. Chaykin said that…
“My inspiration for the image – and this is based on memory, as opposed to actually looking at the artwork in question – was a cover for a MAX BRAND paperback by an illustrator named Roy Andersen – who did a beautiful series of covers for Warner books back in the seventies or eighties…”
The artwork appeared in Rough Stuff magazine #4 and can be found in back issue bins in most comic shops.
The piece above by Darwyn Cooke accompanies the write-up for Jonah Hex #56 in the latest issue of Previews. Although Cooke is only providing the cover [Phil Winslade and others illustrate the tale by Justin Gray and jimmy Palmiotti], it may be worth the price of admission.
