Search Results for: cully red

Z-View – Red: Eyes Only by Cully Hamner

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Red: Eyes Only is part of a one-shot published by Wildstorm Comics.

Writer: Cully Hamner
Artist: Cully Hamner
Colorist: Val Staples
Cover Artist: Cully Hamner


Cully Hamner writes and draws the prequel to the Red mini-series that he co-created with Warren Ellis.

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good:

  • Cully Hamner on the art and writing!
  • Nice misdirection on page 2.
  • Wanting to get out of “the business.”
  • Silent but deadly page… when Paul Moses comes calling.
  • The final line of the comic has a great payoff.

The Bad:

  • Disowned by family because “You’re a murderer.”
  • Finding out that getting out isn’t easy.
  • “You’ll be assassinated, sir.  Today.”
  • “I have information!”
  • “What…what… my God… What did I just do?”

The Ugly:

  • Trapped in a moving elevator with an assassin.
  • Thinking you always had a choice but finding out you were wrong.

Red: Eyes Only

Rating:

Cully Sees a Whole Lot of Red

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Recently Cully Hamner posted the cover above that he did as one of the four Red movie prequel comics.   While I’m happy [especially for Cully] that Red was turned into a movie and that it has Bruce Willis [Bruce Willis!] in the title role; I was really hoping that the film would be a faithful adaptation of the comic series.  Instead, we’re going to get a movie inspired by the comic series.  And while the comic was more action/adventure, the film looks to be action/comedy with an emphasis on the comedy.

The movie may work.  But work or not, it won’t change how the Red graphic novel rocks.

Bruce Willis is Red

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It’s hard to believe that I’ve been yapping about Red, the Warren Ellis / Cully Hamner mini-series, for over six years.  Perhaps it’s even harder to believe that it’s been turned into a movie starring Bruce WIllis and Morgan Freeman that will premiere on October 16th.  Perhaps by then you’ll have seen The Expendables enough times to give Red a try.

Are You Ready for Red?

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I’ve been singing the praises of the Warren Ellis/Cully Hamner mini-series for years.  It’s got a cool story and great art by Cully.  Red has even been optioned for the big screeen.

So why am I writing about Red today you ask? (And I’m glad that you did.)  Because on June 9th, for the first time ever, it will be released as a standalone graphic novel!  It will also include the Warren Ellis’ script to the first issue and never-before seen development art by Cully!  You can pre-order your copy by clicking here.

Red Goes Green

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I’ve been a Cully Hamner fan for years. In fact Cully jump started my Stallone Theme Gallery with his kick butt take on Jack Carter. Over a 100 sketches later, and Cully’s is still one of my favorites.

Longtime ZONErs may remember me HERE and HERE talking up Cully’s work with Warren Ellis on Red. Today the Hollywood Reporter announced that the movie rights to Red have been picked up by Summit Entertainment and already have writing and producing teams in place. You can read the full account HERE.

Congrats to Cully and Warren. Let’s hope that the movie is half as good as the comic.

Red Rocks

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While we’re on the subject of cool comics, Red / Tokyo Storm Warning is another trade paperback that you may want to check out.

Red / Tokyo Storm Warning is actually two comic book comic mini-series for the price of one, both written by fan favorite Warren Ellis.

Red alone is worth the price of admission. Drawn by Cully Hamner [check out his take on Sly!], Red is the story of retired CIA assassin Paul Moses who finds himself the target of a hit… by his own government! This would make a great movie and you just know who I’d love to see play Moses.

Tokyo Storm Warning [drawn by James Raiz and Andrew Currie] imagines a world where Tokyo, not Hiroshima, was nuked in WWII. Now American test pilot Zoe Flynn must help turn the tide against massive monsters!

Coming soon to a comic shop near you… or better yet place your pre-order HERE!

“Body Double” (1984) directed by Brian DePalma, starring Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith & Gregg Henry / Z-View

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Body Double (1984)

Director: Brian De Palma

Screenplay: Brian De Palma, Robert J. Avrech story by Brian De Palma

Stars: Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton, Al Israel, Douglas Warhit, Russ Marin, Lane Davies, Larry Flash Jenkins, Monte Landis, Brinke Stevens, Steven Bauer and Dennis Franz.

Tagline:  You can’t believe everything you see.

The Plot…

Jack Scully (Wasson) is a struggling actor going through a rough patch.  He just lost his role in a low-budget horror film.  He came home to catch his girlfriend in bed with someone else.  Jack needs a new place to live until things get back on track.

Things are looking up when Sam Bouchard (Henry), an actor Jack met at auditions, offers a place to stay.  Sam’s rich friend needs a house-sitter.  Sam shows Jack the place.  It’s in an upscale neighborhood.  Very modern.  Plus, there’s a bonus.  Every night at a specific time, a lady neighbor does a strip tease as she changes into night clothes.  She’s easy to watch through the telescope focused on her window. Jack is skeptical until he sees for himself.  She’s beautiful.

Jack agrees to house sit.  Watching the woman across the way becomes a nightly activity.  He’s becoming obsessed with her.  Then one night Jack sees a scary looking hombre across the way, also watching the woman strip.

Jack wants to warn her.  But how can he without making himself look like a creeper?  The next night as he’s watching her, Jack sees the scary man hiding in her apartment.  He races over to warn her, but is too late.  Jack finds her murdered.

And that makes him the key suspect.  Jack begins to suspect he was set up.

He was.  But NOT to be the murderer.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Body Double is a love letter to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Brian De Palma and Robert J. Avrech are both fans of Hitch.  They screened Vertigo and Rear Window for inspiration.

Deborah Shelton’s voice was dubbed by actress Helen Shaver.

Melanie Griffith was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for this film for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Body Double is a fun ride.

Body Double (1984) rates 4 of 5 stars.

20 Truths About the “X-Files”

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Jennifer M. Wood and Mental_Floss present 20 Truths About the X-Files.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. THE IDEA FOR THE SHOW ORIGINATED WITH A PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY.
Chris Carter’s interest in the paranormal was piqued when he read Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/psychiatrist/Harvard Medical School professor John E. Mack’s analysis of a 1991 Roper Poll survey, which stated that at least 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by aliens. “Everybody wants to hear that story,” Carter told Entertainment Weekly. “[Abduction] is tantamount to a religious experience.”

6. IN REAL LIFE, SCULLY IS THE BELIEVER.
In a 1994 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gillian Anderson admitted that Duchovny was a skeptic and she was the believer. “Psychokinesis appeals to me,” she said. “ESP, telling the future, I love that stuff.”

10. CARTER DIDN’T THINK OF THE SHOW AS SCIENCE FICTION.
“I actually resisted the ‘science fiction’ label in the beginning, because the show is actually based in science,” Carter told WIRED. “If it weren’t for Scully, I think the show could be just kind of loopy. So the science and the accuracy of the science is all-important to the success of the storytelling. I think Steven Spielberg called Close Encounters of the Third Kind ‘speculative science’ and I would say The X-Files, for me, has always fit more into that category.”

11 Deluxe Facts About “The Jeffersons”

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Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 11 Deluxe Facts About The Jeffersons.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. THE FIRST GEORGE JEFFERSON WE MET TURNED OUT TO BE A FAKE.
Producer Norman Lear had pegged Sherman Hemsley from the very beginning to play George Jefferson. However, at the time All in the Family hit the airwaves, Hemsley was co-starring in Purlie on Broadway and was reluctant to break his contract. So Lear improvised and hired Mel Stewart as a sort of placeholder.

Stewart posed as George when he joined Louise for dinner at the Bunker home; it was later revealed that he was actually Henry Jefferson, George’s brother. Henry Jefferson appeared in a few more All in the Family episodes before Hemsley was able to assume his role as the Jefferson family patriarch.

4. SANFORD WAS NONPLUSSED WHEN SHE FIRST MET THE ACTOR HIRED TO PLAY HER HUSBAND.
Isabel Sanford recalled during an interview with the Archive of American Television that she first met Sherman Hemsley when she reported to the studio for work one day. An assistant caught her attention and told her that this “young man” (Sanford is 21 years older than Hemsley) had an appointment to see director John Rich, and could she please take him upstairs with her and point him in the direction of Rich’s office? Sanford agreed and when she located Rich she was taken aback when he announced, “Isabel! This is your husband!”

Sanford eyed the “little man that she could squash like a bug” and wondered why the director thought anyone in the world would ever believe that the two characters would be a married couple. Of course, she was cheerfully proven wrong, because years after the show ended, she and Hemsley were often hired as a couple to appear in commercials and other TV shows.

8. MARLA GIBBS DIDN’T QUIT HER DAY JOB … FOR TWO YEARS.
Marla Gibbs had been working as a reservation agent at United Airlines for 11 years (and acting in plays during her spare time) when she landed the role of Florence on The Jeffersons. The character wasn’t intended to be a recurring one, but Gibbs got such a positive audience response that she was called back again a few episodes later. She was eventually offered a contract, but it was for just seven episodes (at the time the Florence character had to alternate stage time with Zara “Mother Jefferson” Cully). Two years later Gibbs was still making the daily commute from the Sunset Boulevard studio after filming had wrapped on The Jeffersons to the Sixth Street United Airlines reservation office in downtown L.A. The producers were surprised when they found out; worried that she was stretching herself too thin, they suggested that she take a leave of absence from the airline. “Not unless you plan to pay me for it,” was her response. She was offered a full contract shortly afterward and said farewell to United.

Z-View: Winter World #6 by Dixon and Giorello

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Winter World created by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino.

Winter World #5 published by IDW Publishing.

Writer: Chuck Dixon

Artist: Thomas Giorello

Colorist: Diego Rodriguez

Letterer: Robbie Robbins

 

Snowblind! Scully is sightless and must rely on Wynn to survive in a world that seeks to kill them at every turn. Their stolen vehicle is carjacked in turn by even more dangerous lowlifes. And their oldest enemy, Skitters, has stalked them across two frozen oceans and two icy continents and is now within striking distance. It’s a cruel world populated by crueler people where each day, each moment, might be your last.

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • Thomas Giorello and Diego Rodriguez continue to impress.
  • “HaHaHaHa!  Didn’t know it has a hundred gallon reserve tank?”
  • “You not run?”  “I knew you lied.”  “You not scared?” “I’m scared.”  “You not RUN.”  “I’ll choose how I die.  It won’t be by getting shot in the back.”

The Bad:

  • Scully is still snowblind!
  • Being left naked in the barren, freezing cold.

The Ugly:

  • The poor baby polar bears.

 

Winter World #6 is for mature readers due to violence.

Rating: 4 out of 5