Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
What is the furthest one human being has ever been from every other living person?
That’s an interesting question. My first thought was, it had to be an astronaut. Although that’s probably the right answer, it may not be! It’s definitely not the only reasonable answer.
Randall Monroe explains why when he answers Bryan J. McCarter’s question in Monroe’s weekly blog, What If?
Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back and he’s brought Sly and the cast of Demolition Man with him! Mike often surprises me with his commissions. Sometimes it is an extra character, placing Sly in a role you wouldn’t expect or upgrading a sketch card to include the entire major players.
You can see more of Mike’s art at his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable. I’m ready to order a new batch… perhaps he’ll have a Black Friday sale. ; )
For their 300th issue Shortlist.com came up with an idea to challenge their favorite writers. The writers were asked to come up with an original noir story that was exactly 300 words long.
Frank Bill, George Pelecanos, James Sallis and over a dozen other writers met the challenge. My favorite of the bunch was Joe R. Lansdale’s “Hit Call.” That doesn’t come as a surprise since Lansdale’s writing always entertains.
Schwarzenegger is back!
I know. I know.
You’ve heard that before. But believe me, Arnold is back this time. Check out this trailer to Sabotage.
Sabotage looks good, doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons I think it’s safe to say, “Arnold is back.”
Another reason is that Sabotage is not a typical Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Sabotage has an ensemble cast. Take Arnold out and the movie would still be one fans would want to see since it looks like a good action film.
David Ayer Sabotage. Ayer was the screenwriter on Training Day, Harsh Times and End of Watch.
Ayer also directs Sabotage . This isn’t Ayer’s first directing rodeo. He also helmed Street Kings, Harsh Times and End of Watch. Ayer creates a gritty sense of realism that most Hollywood action movies miss.
Yeah, we’re in for a great ride with Sabotage. Arnold will, in Sabotage, keep the promise he made in The Terminator. He’s back, baby!
Source: IMDB and Yahoo! Movies.
Growing up I was a fight fan. That meant I was a boxing fan.
MMA as we know it today was decades away. It was a time of tough guys. Marciano – Liston – Ali – Frazier – Norton – Foreman. Boxing appeared regularly on television for free. ESPN had a weekly boxing show. NBC – CBS and ABC regularly aired live boxing cards.
Later boxing became an event sport with all eyes on pay-per-view Super Fights. Ali vs Frazier. Hagler vs Hearns. Duran vs Leonard. The top tier of boxers became celebrities and were given mega paydays. Of course the vast majority of boxers made little and often retired battered and poor. There were fewer and fewer big name fighters and the popularity of boxing began to wane.
Then 20 years ago the UFC was born. Although the company struggled at first the popularity of MMA, specifically the UFC took off. The UFC was on tv with a weekly series and regular pay-per-views. Name fighters began to emerge. Fighters that fans loved or hated but would tune in or equally importantly pay to see fight. Many thought the rise of the UFC would be the death of boxing.
Boxing fans had heard that before. So had the folks in the video below. Check it out and we’ll continue after you watch.
The Fighters looks interesting. Will it bring back boxing? Who knows? It could be the start though. And the kicker is Dana “UFC President” White is one of the creative forces behind the show.
I know I’ll tune. I’m a fight fan.
Source: MMA Fighting.
We’re just a week and a half away from Mob City and I can’t wait.
If you’ve got an extra couple of million bucks lying around, you might want to think about bidding on Jesse James’ Colt 45 revolver that is up for auction on November 24th.
The provenance on the gun is solid, the historical value unquestioned and the demand among gun collectors high. Two million dollars may not be enough to win the gun, so don’t get your hopes too high if that’s all the cash you have lying around.
Source: DailyMail
Doesn’t that guy kind of look like Michael (The Shield) Chiklis?
Yeah, I thought so too.
It’s probably a good thing since Chiklis is set to star in the adaptation of Pantheon which was a mini-series written by Marc Andreyko with art by Stephen Molnar.
What makes this even more interesting is that Chiklis co-created the concept with Anny Simon Beck. IDW published the mini-series and IDW Entertainment is bankrolling the development of Pantheon with the hope of a network sale.
Sources: CBR.com and ComingSoon.
Wow!
How about this new teaser poster for Mob City by Drew Struzan?
It’s nice. And unexpected. I thought Struzan had retired.
Seeing a Struzan painting is always a pleasant surprise. Especially when you thought you wouldn’t see anymore.
Source: Brian Michael Bendis
I was a kid when Lost in Space premiered and I loved it.
Unfortunately, the success of the Batman tv show convinced the producers that camp would make Lost in Space even more popular. I loved Batman and the crazy villain guest stars, but wanted a more “serious” Lost in Space.
If you’ve ever seen Lost in Space, you know how much it changed after the first season. You’ll also probably be surprised at how different Lost in Space became when compared to how it was first pitched. Check out the video below of CBS Presents: Network Sales Pitch.
Source: Retroist.
It’s hard to believe that Al Hirschfeld left us over a decade ago.
Hirschfeld was a favorite of mine [wasn’t he a favorite of everyone?]. So I was really glad when I came across the piece above posted at The Bristol Board.
Captain Disillusion is here to explain how this really cool knife hitting/catching, pineapple cutting and ping pong ball catching video was faked.
Well played, Captain Disillusion. Well played.
Source: Neatorama.
Jay Potts, the creator of the very hip blaxplotation web comic World of Hurt, worked up a very cool Barney Ross, Expendables sketch for me.
As regular readers know, I am really looking forward to the premiere of Homefront on November 27th!
Homefront stars Jason [“The Expendables” franchise] Statham, James [“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”] Franco, Winona [“Black Swan”] Ryder, Kate [“Superman Returns”] Bosworth, Frank [“The Grey”] Grillo and Clancy [“Highlander”] Brown in a screenplay written by Sylvester Stallone [based on the novel by Chuck Logan] and directed by Gary [“Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”] Fleder.
HOMEFRONT is an action movie about a widowed ex-DEA agent who retires to a small town for the sake of his 10-year-old daughter. The only problem is he picked the wrong town.
I was contacted by the folks at Open Road who are promoting Homefront and asked if I would like to put together a contest for a special prize pack including a Homefront poster signed by the cast along with a copy of the book that inspired the film signed by author, Chuck Logan. Of course I was in.
Here are the details…
best,
Craig
