Way back in 1984, the Coen Brothers were trying to raise the $75,000 that they would need to produce and direct their first film, Blood Simple. Sam Raimi, with whom the Coen Brothers had worked on Evil Dead, suggested that they put together a fake trailer to draw the interest of investors.
The Coens and their cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld (who would later go on to have his own directorial career), took Raimi’s advice and put together a trailer that, to be honest, has more in common with Evil Dead than with Blood Simple. Then again, that was a smart move on their part. Evil Dead made a lot of money.
Bruce Campbell appears in the trailer, playing the role that was later played by Dan Hedaya in the actual film. (It’s hard to imagine Campbell playing that role, just because Hedaya gave such a perfect performance as Julian Marty. That said, I could very well see Campbell in the role played by John Getz.)
Here is the fake Blood Simple Trailer, featuring Bruce Campbell! (Admittedly, because of the way the trailer is shot, you don’t actually see Bruce’s face. But you’ll recognize the hair immediately.)
And, for the sake of comparison, here’s the trailer for the actual film:
When I first heard that Liam Neeson would be playing Frank Drebin, Jr. in a reboot of THE NAKED GUN series, I thought it might be a joke. Turns out it was the absolute truth! I’ll admit that I love the original NAKED GUN movies starring Leslie Nielsen. I watched every one of them at the movie theater and proudly own the DVD box set. Based on that love, I certainly hope that Neeson’s version will be a fun movie, and I’ll probably watch it at the movie theater sometime after it opens on August 1st as well. Check out the trailer for THE NAKED GUN (2025) below!
Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in World War II, was born on June 20th, 1924. After performing unimaginable acts of bravery in the war, Audie Murphy came back to America and became a respectable actor while battling PTSD. He starred in the story of his own life, TO HELL AND BACK (1955), a movie that my son watched on repeat when he was growing up. Back in 2010, we visited Arlington National Cemetery and specifically looked up Murphy’s gravesite. Based on cemetery records, the only site visited more than Murphy’s is that of John F. Kennedy. Also, every time I drive through Greenville, TX on my way to Dallas, I’m sure to look at the monument to Audie Murphy along interstate 40. I never miss making sure I spot the monument and think of Audie Murphy. Sadly, Murphy would die at just 46 years of age in a plane crash in Virginia.
I stumbled on the full trailer for James Gunn’s Superman by accident today, as I was looking for background music to play while handling some apartment chores. I don’t know why IGN has this first and not the Warner Brothers YouTube Channel, but it’s not a “Concept” trailer.
I don’t know if I’m fully sold on this. It definitely feels a bit lighter compared to earlier presentations of the character. I do like David Corenswet’s approach (via Gunn’s writing/direction), though I thought he did a great job in Ti West’s Pearl and in Twisters. It definitely looks like there’s a great deal going on here, and the Man of Steel has quite a bit of backup to help him out.
We’ll all find out on July 11, when the film premieres in theatres.
I remember being so excited when it was announced that John Woo was making a sequel to HARD-BOILED, and that Chow Yun-Fat would be the star. Of course, the sequel was a video game, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m not much of a gamer myself (my prowess reached its peak with Mario Cart: Double Dash), but I proudly bought “Stranglehold” for my son so I could watch him play. It was pretty darn cool to be honest with you! I can’t believe it’s been 18 years since the game came out in 2007. Enjoy this blast from the past my friends!
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday May 12th, we are showing STRATEGIC COMMAND (1997) starring Michael Dudikoff, Paul Winfield, Richard Norton, Amanda Wyss, Bryan Cranston, and Michael Cavanaugh.
This movie focuses on Rick Harding (Michael Dudikoff), a former Marines officer, who’s now working in the FBI as a chemical weapons designer. While packing up one night, a group of armed soldiers break into the FBI research lab. Interestingly, these soldiers are led by a man named Carlos Gruber (Richard Norton).
So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch STRATEGIC COMMAND! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
After the runaway success of A BETTER TOMORROW, John Woo quickly released a sequel. A BETTER TOMORROW II isn’t as good as the original, but the emotions and action are ramped up dramatically. Check out this trailer from the Hong Kong Legends DVD release!
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday May 5th, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo with DARK ANGEL (1990) starring Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues, and Michael J. Pollard.
I really enjoy Amazon Prime’s plot description for the film… “A renegade cop undercover on a drug sting discovers a murderous alien who feasts on the brains of heroin addicts.” Honestly, if that description doesn’t make you want to watch the film, there’s probably nothing I can say to bring you along. On a side note, I remember this movie going under the name I COME IN PEACE when I was in high school, which is kind of cool because the bad guy will say he comes in peace right before committing horrific murder. But now it’s called DARK ANGEL, so that’s that.
So join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch DARK ANGEL! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of horse racing, although I will periodically go to the Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs, AR, and watch them run. I did enjoy the horse racing movie SEABISCUIT (2003) when I saw it a decade or so ago, and I always enjoy driving past the beautiful horse farms in Lexington, KY, when I’m on my way to see my wife’s family in West Virginia. This weekend was the Kentucky Derby, and I saw a stat that every horse running is a descendant of the 1973 triple-crown winner, Secretariat. I thought that was pretty cool stuff. I told my wife about it, so we decided to watch the movie SECRETARIAT (2010) this morning.
The film centers on Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane), a Boulder, CO housewife who takes over the management of her dad’s horse stables in Virginia when his health gets so bad that he can no longer handle it himself. The business is facing a lot of financial problems, and her husband just wants her to sell everything and come on back home. But Penny doesn’t want to sell, especially when the stable acquires a young colt that just may have to the right combination of speed and stamina to become a great racehorse. Wanting to see her horse get a chance to run, she hires eccentric trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) and the aggressive jockey Ron Turcotte (Otto Thorwarth) in order to give “Secretariat” a chance to reach his potential. And boy does he ever, ultimately becoming the first “Triple Crown” winner in 25 years.
I’ll go ahead and say that I pretty much got exactly what I was expecting with SECRETARIAT. It’s a “feel-good” movie that made me happy at the end. Outside of him being a triple crown winner, I didn’t know much about Secretariat’s story, so it was fun just seeing how dominant he truly was during his legendary run in 1973. And the performances from the leads are very good. Diane Lane is beautiful and convincing as the housewife determined to give every thing she has to make Secretariat a winner. John Malkovich’s eccentric horse trainer is the kind of role he excels in, and he’s both funny and emotionally engaging. I liked Otto Thorwarth and Nelson Ellis as Secretariat’s jockey and groomer, respectively. Each of them had their individual moments to shine. I also wanted to mention how impressive the camerawork is during the racing sequences. For a film like this to be exciting, the races have to be exciting and director Randall Wallace and cinematographer Dean Semler deliver in spades. If I had any complaint about the film, it would probably be the oversimplification of some of the supporting characters. For a film based on a true story, it was odd to see the owner of Secretariat’s primary competition reduced to almost a comic book villain in his behavior. That aside, I enjoyed the film and I’m glad I watched it.
Chow Yun-Fat turns 70 years old on May 18, 2025. I’m going to celebrate his career by revisiting some of his best movies this month.
PRISON ON FIRE begins with a young man named Lo Ka Yiu (Tony Leung Ka-fai) accidentally killing a thug who physically assaults his dad. He soon finds himself convicted of manslaughter and is sentenced to three years in a Hong Kong prison. Lo is not cut out for life in prison, and it doesn’t take long for him to get on the wrong side of the gang leaders. They immediately sniff out his weakness and go about terrorizing him and blaming him for everything that comes up. This extends to the head prison guard Scarface (Roy Cheung), a completely ruthless bastard who does his part to make life miserable for the newbie. Luckily for Lo, he meets Ching (Chow Yun-Fat), a seemingly happy go lucky fellow prisoner who takes pity on the young man and decides to show him the ropes. Ching is one of those guys who keeps things loose and seems to be able to get along with everybody. The two men form a good friendship, but that doesn’t stop gang leader Micky and Scarface from continuing to pick on Lo. When Ching and Lo have had enough and stand up for themselves, all hell breaks loose!
PRISON ON FIRE is an excellent example of a high quality Hong Kong film of the time. The characterizations and tone are uneven and over the top at times, but director Ringo Lam knows how to rein everything in just enough to convey the power in the story without making us laugh at it all. Tony Leung Ka-fai (known as big Tony in 80’s & 90’s Hong Kong film circles to distinguish him from the great Tony Leung Chiu-wai), portrays his character as weak and afraid until he’s been pushed so far by the gang leaders that he basically loses control and begins attacking everyone with a huge shard of glass. I don’t love the performance, but he does effectively show what happens to a nice, but weak guy in this situation. Chow Yun-Fat is not the superhuman, cool badass of films like THE KILLER and HARD-BOILED in this film. Rather, Chow plays his character as funny, easy-going, and not especially tough, until the prison guard Scarface pushes him so far that he loses control and deforms the man for life in a scene that’s extremely exciting and ends with a gruesome exclamation point. It’s an endlessly likable performance. Scarface is played by the fine Hong Kong actor Roy Cheung. His portrayal of the character makes Clancy Brown’s Captain Hadley in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION almost seem like a nice guy in comparison. You can’t help but be emotionally invested when a possessed Chow takes him on at the end. The other standout performances are from Ka-Hui Ho and Tommy Kwong as the gang leaders in the jail. Ho’s Micky is an absolutely garbage human being, while Kwong’s Bill is tough, but ultimately good to our heroes.
For historical reference, PRISON ON FIRE was released in 1987, at the height of Chow Yun-Fat’s popularity and at a time when he was working non-stop. It was one of eleven movies he made in 1987, with CITY ON FIRE, AN AUTUMN’S TALE, and A BETTER TOMORROW II being other standouts. Just think about that, 11 different movies in one year alone. It’s quite the tribute to his talent that he was able to create unique and memorable characters that have stood the test of time. As a matter of fact he would win a Hong Kong Film Award in 1987 for his performance in the prior year’s A BETTER TOMORROW, and he would win one again the next year for Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE. He is truly one of the great international stars of the last 40 years. He doesn’t work very often these days, but he’s still making movies and is generally considered one of the nicest, most humble humans on earth. He’s famous for the way he treats his fans, usually grabbing their phones and taking selfies with them with a big smile on his face! This is going to be a fun month as I rewatch many of the movies that made him famous.
Here’s an extremely long Trailer for PRISON ON FIRE without subtitles. It focuses on the action elements of the film so it’s pretty easy to follow.
Through the Shattered Lens 