Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
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.
Frank Mir is one of my favorite mixed martial arts fighters. I like him because he’s talented, has a great work ethic, is intelligent, speaks his mind and came back from a devastating motorcycle injury that would have retired lesser men. So it disappoints me to report that Mir said in an interview…
I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries.
Of course the comments Mir made were extreme. I get that Mir doesn’t like Lesnar. Without a doubt Lesnar’s antics after winning the second fight with Mir [getting in his face, yelling at him, etc.] fueled Mir’s dislike. But did Lesnar’s childish taunts warrant Frank wanting to break his neck or hope that Lesnar becomes the first to die in the octagon? Of course not.
As you can imagine, Mir’s comments didn’t go over well with most fans and definitely ticked off UFC president Dana White who responded to Mir’s comments with:
“Mir is a [expletive] idiot! I have never heard something so unprofessional and idiotic in my life.
While it’s true that Dana White has made his share of unprofessional comments, it doesn’t change the fact that Mir joined the club with his rant. But Frank Mir is no idiot. In fact, he comes off as a pretty intelligent guy. He’s no thug.
It’s been announced that Mir will issue a statement later today. My guess is that Mir will say that he’s sorry for the comments that he made and that he really doesn’t want to break Lesnar’s neck or for him to be killed in the octagon. I have no doubt that is the truth.
I also have no doubt that Mir really wants to fight Lesnar for a third time. And that’s just another reason that Frank Mir is one of my favorite fighters.
Tomorrow night Brock Lesner fights former champ Frank Mir at UFC 81. It should be an entertaining fight. I’m leaning towards Mir because of experience, but Lesner is the real deal as an amateur wrestler. He’s also a beast.
Raf, please weigh in.
Get Carter (2000)
Director: Stephen Kay
Screenplay: David McKenna; based on JACK’S RETURN HOME by Ted Lewis.
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Rachael Leigh Cook, Miranda Richardson, Rhona Mitra, Johnny Strong, John C. McGinley, Alan Cumming, Gretchen Mol, Tom Sizemore, John Cassini, Mickey Rourke, Mark Boone Junior, Darryl Scheelar, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Tyler Labine, Stephen Kay, Frank Stallone and Michael Caine.
Tagline: The Truth Hurts
The Plot…
Jack Carter, a Vegas mob enforcer, returns to Seattle for his estranged brother, Ritchie’s funeral. Ritchie was killed in a car crash after drinking. Problem is Ritchie never drank. As Jack digs deeper, he starts to believe Ritchie was murdered.
But why?
Clues point in several directions. Ritchie’s death could have something to do with the club he managed. Cliff Bumbry, the owner of the club has his fingers in other pies. Did Ritchie have dirt on Cliff?
Rumor is Ritchie was having an affair. Could that have led to Ritchie’s murder?
Some leads point to tech millionaire Jeremy Kinnear. How were he and Ritchie linked?
Worse still, Cyrus Paice may be involved. Paice was a rival of Jack’s when Jack was coming up. There’s still bad blood.
As Jack digs deeper he will discover the truth.
The truth hurts.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Get Carter (2000) is a remake of Get Carter (1971) which starred Michael Caine. Caine co-stars in the remake. Stallone and Caine also appeared together in Victory (1981). Caine was originally only supposed to appear in a one scene cameo. The scene scored so high with test audiences, the film was adjusted to give Caine a bigger role.
When producers were hesitant to hire Mickey Rourke (because of his past behaviors), Stallone guaranteed a portion of his salary, to cover any delays caused by Rourke. Rourke was on-time and ready every day.
Gretchen Mol plays an important role but is not listed in the film’s credits.
Tom Sizemore’s voice (also uncredited) is heard when Carter talks to his Vegas boss.
Director Stephen Kay appears uncredited as a party guest. Get Carter features Stephen Kay’s second outing as a feature film director. Kay would go on to direct multiple highly rated episodes of The Shield; Sons of Anarchy; Yellowstone; Mayor of Kingstown; Lioness and Landman.
Frank Stallone appears uncredited in the funeral scene.
Get Carter (2000) is one of my all-time favorite films. The movie and especially Stallone’s character resonates with me. In it you’ll see some of Stallone’s best acting (especially the roof top scene with Rachael Leigh Cook). The film isn’t perfect or a classic, but it remains one of my go-to movies. Your mileage may vary (a lot on this one).
Get Carter (2000) rates 5 of 5 stars
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love seeing artists do their “take” on the big lug. Today we have Marv by Mirko Fascella.
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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James Whale
Screenplay by: William Hurlbut, story by William Hurlbut, John L. Balderston based on premise suggested by FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton, E.E. Clive, Dwight Frye, Billy Barty, Walter Brennan, John Carradine and Una O’Connor.
Tagline: A BRIDE FOR THE MONSTER COMES TO LIFE IN A SCIENTIST’S LABORATORY!
The Story:
The Bride of Frankenstein picks up immediately where Frankenstein ended. Miraculously, although severely injured, Henry Frankenstein (Clive) is not dead. As the crowd breaks up, some carry Henry back home to recover. Meanwhile the monster, also thought to be dead, has survived the destruction of the windmill. It climbs out and begins to wander the countryside.
Once healthy enough, Henry pays a visit to his friend Doctor Pretorius (Thesiger). Pretorius shares results of his experiments and encourages Henry to continue efforts to create living creatures from cadavers. Henry is hesitant. Despite Pretorius’ pleas, Henry refuses.
Things heat up when the monster returns, Pretorius prevails and Henry is forced to create The Bride of Frankenstein. We learn there’s one thing worse than an upset bride.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)
It’s rare that a sequel is better than the original. The Bride of Frankenstein is one of those rare ones.
Universal wanted a follow up after the success of Frankenstein. Director James Whale was hesitant to return. It took four years and multiple writers to come up with a suitable script. Once Whale and the script were in place, Karloff, Clive and Frye returned to reprise their roles.
Elsa Lanchester isn’t listed in the opening credits instead a ? is used to name who was playing the Bride. The same was done in Frankenstein when a ? was listed instead of Karloff’s name as the actor playing The Monster. Despite being the title character the Bride only appears for a few minutes at the very end of the film.
The scene where Henry visits Doctor Pretorius and is shown the little people he created has always seemed a bit out of place to me.
The Bride of Frankenstein has more humor than the original, but the balance is right and it doesn’t detract from the film. I’m looking at you, Una O’Connor.
There are some surprising uncredited cameos in The Bride of Frankenstein. Billy Barty plays a baby, while Walter Brennan and John Carradine show up as town folk.
This morning I saw the beautiful Frankenstein poster above created by Paul Mann. I then followed a link to Mann’s website and went down a rabbit-hole admiring the beautiful art in his portfolio. There are movie posters, book covers, original preliminary pieces for sale and more. If you love art then you owe it to yourself to check out Paul Mann’s portfolio.
Mark Mancini and Mental_Floss present 14 Reanimated Facts About The Bride of Frankenstein. Here are three of my favorites…
4. LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU’LL NOTICE THAT THE MONSTER’S WOUNDS APPEAR TO HEAL.
In the original Frankenstein’s thrilling climax, the monster seems to meet its demise inside of a windmill that’s caught fire. So when we first see the creature in Bride, the big brute is riddled with obvious burns. Also, a lot of his hair has obviously been singed off. For subsequent scenes, however, makeup artist Jack Pierce incrementally toned down the burns and replaced some of the hair. This created the illusion that the monster was slowly recovering from its injuries over the course of the film.
6. BORIS KARLOFF OBJECTED TO GIVING THE MONSTER ANY DIALOGUE.
Although the creature had been a mute in the first movie, Whale decided that the reanimated corpse ought to pick up some basic language skills during the sequel. Both Karloff and the studio disagreed quite strongly, but in the end, Whale got his way. Sara Karloff—the actor’s daughter—explained her father’s reservations in the DVD documentary She’s Alive! Creating the Bride of Frankenstein. “He felt it would take away from [his performance in the original film] and I think he was wrong,” she said. “History, cinema history, has proven him wrong.”
14. IT’S NEIL GAIMAN’S FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE.
“It’s a lot of people’s favorite horror film,” said bestselling author Neil Gaiman of The Bride of Frankenstein. “Dammit, it’s my favorite horror film.” In the above clip, Gaiman recalls staying up late as a boy to catch both Frankenstein and its 1935 sequel in a televised double-feature. What did he think? “Frankenstein was a huge disappointment to me,” Gaiman admitted, but he fell in love with the atmospheric Bride and remains a fan to this day. He is especially fond of the climax, which he cites as his favorite “two to three minutes of film, ever.” Another celebrity admirer is Guillermo del Toro, who, in a 2008 conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, ranked The Bride of Frankenstein as one of his top five films.
It’s no secret that Frank Mir is one of my favorite MMA fighters. His twitter message above, is just another reason why. I appreciate the fact that Mir doesn’t want the winner of Lesnar /Carwin or an immediate rematch against Lesnar. Instead he talks about “working his way to fighting him again.” Here is the fight preview that featured Lesnar’s comments that irritated Mir.
Frank Mir dislikes Brock Lesnar. Watch this video and you’ll hear Frank explain why.
Original video link: Fight Magazine.
Mir also talks about why Carwin is more dangerous than Lesnar and how both of them could beat him. The funny thing is, although I’m writing this several days before the fight, by the time you read this, we’ll know if Carwin was able to beat Mir.
Original video link: Yahoo Sports!
Earlier in the week, Frank Mir made comments that caused a lot of controversy in the mixed martial arts world. Of course saying…
I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries.
… is bound to stir things up. It wasn’t too long before UFC President Dana White responded to Mir’s comments by calling Mir…
a [expletive] idiot!
White went on to say…
I have never heard something so unprofessional and idiotic in my life.
Of course when the guy who writes your paychecks is upset with something you’ve said, it’s probably a good idea to apologize. Which is what Mir did…
“I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks…
So things should have died down, but then a reporter asked Shane Carwin [Mir’s next opponent] to comment on Mir’s tirade against Brock. Carwin hadn’t seen or heard the interview, but had this to say…
…I can tell you that ANY athlete wishing death upon a competitor is either a terrible human being or mentally unfit to fight…”
After that things quieted down… until a Sports Illustrated reporter spoke to Mir about the controversy his comments caused. Mir admitted he was surprised to be called to the carpet…
I’ve heard people say that this is to the death. I’ve heard people say about an opponent, ‘I’m going to kill him.’ I heard Brock say he was going to put his hand up my rear end to pull out a horseshoe. I didn’t hear anyone get too upset about that.”
The SI reporter went on to say that recently fighters like BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell and even Brock Lesnar have said that they wanted to kill or murder their opponents. So why the continued fuss over Mir’s comments?
Even Brock Lesnar didn’t seem to understand the controversy and told a Sporting News Reporter…
“It was out of line, but in the fighter’s mentality, I don’t want to go in the Octagon and kill somebody but I want to do whatever I can to win. Maybe that’s what he was saying…
So now things will, uh, die down, right? Oh, oh, maybe not because Brock added…
“I’d really like to fight Frank Mir again … Hopefully he gets past Shane Carwin so I can give him another beatdown. For a guy to take an ass-whipping like the last one I gave him and for him to keep running his mouth, I’ve just got laugh. … I don’t know what I’ll have to do to shut him up.”
Well, at least Brock didn’t say he’d have to kill him.
Two days ago I posted about Frank Mir saying he wanted to break Brock Lesnar’s neck and he hoped that Brock would be the first to die in the octagon. I predicted that a Mir apology would be coming soon. I was right.
Yesterday I posted that Mir had issued an apology. I predicted that all would be forgiven until the time that Mir and Lesnar fought for a third time. I was wrong.
When Shane Carwin was asked about Mir’s comments said the following:
“I did not see the interview so I can’t comment on what he [Mir] might have said. I can tell you that ANY athlete wishing death upon a competitor is either a terrible human being or mentally unfit to fight…”
Considering that Mir is Carwin’s opponent next month at UFC 111, Carwin didn’t lay it on too thick.
Yesterday I predicted that Frank Mir would say that he was sorry for his comments that he wanted to break Lesnar’s neck or for him to be killed in the octagon. Later that afternoon Mir released the following statement:
“I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks,” said Mir. “I respect Brock, all the other fighters, and the sport of mixed martial arts. I’m sorry that I stepped out of line.”
Ok. Nice apology. All is forgiven… at least until Mir and Lesnar meet in the cage for a third time. Then you know it will become a point of contention and another way to hype the fight.
Frank Mir’s crushing defeat of Cheick Congo this Saturday has thrust him back into the hunt for the heavyweight title. Consider that Congo was considered the striker and Mir nearly KO’d Congo with his first shot. Then Mir choked Congo out taking just 12 seconds over a minute to end the fight.
There are currently two top contenders, [Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez] that most fans would like to see fight Brock Lesnar for the title. Shane Carwin was set to be Lesnar’s next opponent since he’s the number one contender. That fight has been put on hold while Lesnar deals with a private medical condition that could put him out of the fight game for good.
Dana White has said that a decision will be made in the next six to eight weeks if there will be an interim title until Lesnar can return to the cage. If so, it makes sense that Carwin would fight Velasquez for the interim championship. But, the fact that when Velasquez fought Cheick Congo the fight went to a decision, might make a great argument to make the interim title fight Carwin vs Mir!
Truth be told, I don’t care who gets the interim title. I’d just love to see Mir enter the octagon against a healthy Brock Lesnar for a third time!
On Tuesday it was announced that on May 23rd, UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (3-1) will square off against UFC interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir (12-3 MMA). This unification bout will be their second meeting. In the first, Mir won via tapout from a leg bar in the first round.
The card will also feature the highly anticipated bout between Matt Hughes and Matt Sera. There’s no love lost between these two and you can bet that trash talk will lead up to sparks in the ring.
At this point, I’d have to say that the smart money is on Lesnar in the title bout and Hughes in the battle of the Matts. I have to admit that I’ll probably be pulling for the underdogs when May 23rd rolls around.
