Private Eyes on Netflix Instant

Just discovered a couple of private eye flicks that I've never seen before are now available on Netflix Instant: Blake Edwards' 1967 Peter Gunn feature, Gunn, and the 1957 Mickey Spillane adaptation, My Gun Is Quick, "introducing" Robert Bray as Mike Hammer.

Weirdly, Netflix's print of Gunn has French titles and credits, and is, unfortunately, presented in pan & scan instead of its proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This makes certain scenes very cramped, and, in the case of a love scene between Craig Stevens and Laura Devon (replacing the TV show's Lola Albright as Gunn's main squeeze, Edie), disturbingly intimate. Still, I'm grateful for the opportunity to finally see it; to the best of my knowledge, it's never been released on U.S. home video, and I've never stumbled across it on TV.

My Gun Is Quick has a bad reputation among Spillane fans and film buffs, but as it's a 50s Mike Hammer film, I've wanted to see it for years. Even if it's bad, it will be cool seeing the Mike Hammer character in his proper time and setting, shot while the books were still the hottest things on the shelves. Like Gunn, I don't think it's ever been on video, and it eluded me for decades on cable TV. It is coming out on manufactured-on-demand DVD-R from the MGM Limited Collector's Edition line in a month or so, but I'd like to see it before shelling out cash to buy a copy for my collection... so....

I found both of these completely by accident - Netflix's instant titles are infuriatingly difficult to search through. There are some surprising - and rare - gems hidden in there, but they're damned hard to find.

Hey, Warner Archives!

A few years ago, when my wife and I lived in Florida, our cable package included the GoodLife Network. This channel specialized in old TV shows and Rascal scooter/men's enhancement product commercials. But one night a week, they ran a spy night (I Spy, The Avengers and The Persuaders) and on another, it was Warner Brothers private eye night, with back-to-back episodes of the "shared universe" P.I. shows 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye and Surfside Six. (No Bourbon Street Beat, though. I wonder why?) 

Anyway, although my wife can be kinda picky about old television shows, we both enjoyed 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye a lot. The shows were stylish, witty and featured fun ensemble casts and charming leads.

I'd love to have them all on DVD, but they've never been released on disc. I was talking about it with Brandi the other day, and it occurred to me that these shows would be ideal for the Warner Archive manufactured-on-demand DVD program. Like the many Hanna-Barbara cartoon shows that they've been issuing in complete series sets, the WB private eye shows would probably only be of interest to a comparatively small group of fans - but those fans would certainly be willing to pay to have them in authorized, complete season/series sets. They just started putting out The F.B.I. on DVD, so, obviously, they're not opposed to releasing some of their live-action TV back catalog.

I know I would collect them, if affordably priced. Anyone else out there want to see Warner Archives pull these great shows out of the vault?

Remembering Peter Cushing

Remembering the late, great Peter Cushing on his birthday. He was born on this day in 1913. Whether he was playing Van Helsing, Frankenstein, Doctor Who, Grand Moff Tarkin or Sherlock Holmes, Cushing was always a delight to watch.

CHUCK NORRIS KARATE KOMMANDOS

My review of this awesome 80s animated series is now posted at DVD Late Show, but I just had to share this video here. Enjoy!

THE BIG BANG Giveaway @ DVD Late Show

Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to give away free DVDs over at my DVD Late Show review site. Right now, I'm running a one-week contest with the prize, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment, being the new nuclear noir, The Big Bang, starring Antonio Banderas, Sam Elliot, Autumn Reeser, Thomas Kretschmann, William Fictner, and Delroy Lindo.

I'll be reviewing this quirky, stylish Raymond Chandler homage on the Late Show site shortly, but I wanted to direct your attention to this contest, just in case you don't visit the Late Show regularly (and I really wish you would - over the past couple of weeks, I've posted reviews of Queen of Blood, The Terror on Blu-ray, The Dorm That Dripped Blood, The Great Scout And Cathouse Thursday and Daughters of Satan, and I've got The Big Bang, The Ambulance, Dementia 13 and Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos coming up soon! ).

Anyway, here's a LINK to the DVD Late Show Contest Page, with complete details on how to enter to win this disc. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully - a lot of people don't send me their names and addresses, and then I have to discard their entries. (Gotta have some rules, right?) Good luck!

Free Comic Book Day!

Today is Free Comic Book Day at participating comic book stores around the country. Unfortunately, I won't be able to participate this year, but I encourage every comics fan to head out to their local comics retailer, and bring a friend along!

There are a lot of great-looking giveaway books this year from all the major publishers. I'm particularly enthusiastic about the Civil War Adventure comic from my pal Chuck Dixon and artist Gary Kwapisz - which features action-packed historical tales of the American Civil War... and the all new Richie Rich comic from Kizoic/Ape Entertainment. It's an exciting new, action-adventure-oriented update of the classic comics character, and a perfect introduction to comics for young readers. 

And don't worry that your kids won't know who Richie Rich is - the same comic includes a Kung Fu Panda adventure, based on the Dreamworks animated movies. Both stories look great!

If historical tales and kid's comics aren't your thing, don't worry. Marvel offers the ever-reliable Spider-Man, DC has upcoming movie star Green Lantern, IDW offers Joe Hill's Locke & Key, and Archie Comics have, well, Archie (& the gang)! So drop by your local store today, and check out all the free comics goodness!

New Blog: Movie Poster Vault

My wife and I love movies... and movie posters. And I thought it would be fun to collect scans of amazing movie poster art on a site for our own enjoyment. But we wanted there to be some sort of unifying theme, so we decided that we would only post the theatrical posters for movies we actually own on DVD, Blu-Ray or Laserdisc. As we possess over 3,000 titles... and counting... this may take a while. Especially since we only post a batch of posters to it every once in a while.

If you've ever been curious about what my video collection looks like, well, the Mills Movie Poster Vault should give you an idea of the variety of films that my wife and I (though most of the posters so far are from movies that are more "mine" than "ours.") have collected. 

I probably should have set it up on Tumblr, since it seems to be a more image-oriented service, but I'm used to Blogger, so I set it up there. Check it out if you're interested.

Meanwhile, over at The Late Show...

It's that time again: another reminder that I also write regular reviews of cult, B-movie and genre DVD and Blu-Rays, and publish them over at my DVD Late Show website.

Over the last few weeks, I've posted quite a few new reviews, including the Antonio Margheretti monster flick Alien From The Deep, the "lost" serial based on the classic newspaper strip, Brenda Starr, Reporter, the crime thriller The Killing Jar, SyFy Channel "mockbuster" Battle Of Los Angeles, the new Hammer horror film, The Resident (co-starring Christopher Lee) on Blu-Ray, the "Blaxploitation" horror chiller, Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde, Roger Corman's Dinoshark, the Warners Archive release of Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd, the creature feature Behemoth, the Sixties caper film, Machine Gun McCain, starring John Cassavetes, psychedelic 70's kidvid H.R. Pufnstuf, the Gothic spinetingler, The Black Sleep, and the Fred Olen Ray B-Western, Deadly Shooter.

Coming up in the next couple of weeks: The Great Texas Dynamite Chase with Claudia Jennings, Georgia Peaches, Queen Of Blood, Tron Blu-Ray, Vanquisher, Larry Cohen's The Ambulance, The Terror Blu-Ray, Dixie Dynamite with Warren Oates & Christopher George, Daughters of Satan, starring Tom Selleck(!), Dementia 13 on Blu, and more. Check it out!

R.I.P. Elisabeth Sladen

British actress Elisabeth Sladen, the real-world alter ego of plucky journalist Sarah Jane Smith, one of the best companions to renegade Time Lord known as The Doctor, has passed away at age 63 from cancer.

Sladen joined Doctor Who in the 1973 serial, "The Time Warrior," as the new companion of the Third Doctor, played by John Pertwee. She stayed in that role for three years, tagging along as the Third Doctor became the Fourth (Tom Baker). So beloved by fans - and producers - of Doctor Who, she returned to the franchise numerous times: first in the 1981 spin-off "pilot," K-9 & Company, and then in the same year's anniversary special, The Five Doctors. In 2006, she returned to the revived series in the acclaimed "School Reunion" episode, which led to the BBC green lighting her own show, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She was shooting the fifth season of that series when she passed away.

I'm pretty sure that the first full episode of Doctor Who I ever saw was "Robot," on PBS back when I was in art school, around 1983 or 84. Sladen co-starred with Tom Baker in that story, and I think I fell in love with her right then and there. Sarah Jane Smith is still my favorite Doctor Who "companion," and proved herself a formidable heroine in her own right. Smart, brave, cute-as-a-button and prickly as a cactus, Sarah Jane - and by extension, the actress who portrayed her so well - was my kind of woman.

Rest in Peace, Ms. Sladen... and so long, Sarah Jane - the finest companion a time traveler could ever hope for.

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...

There are at least four comic book-based super-hero movies coming out this Summer: Thor, X-Men: First Class, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Green Lantern. While I'm not particularly interested in the X-Men prequel, I am looking forward to Thor and Captain America; they look pretty good.

The one I'm really eager to see, though, is Green Lantern.

I've always loved Green Lantern. The costume, the magic ring, the space opera elements -- especially the space opera elements -- the "Silver Age" Green Lantern is just such a cool character/concept. And while I was definitely enthused about the character getting a live-action feature film, I was initially a bit wary. But this new footage not only assuages my fears, but genuinely excites me. It's almost exactly what I think a Green Lantern movie should be. I think Ryan Reynolds brings just the right fighter pilot "Top Gun" cockiness to Hal Jordan, and I love the realization of Oa, the ring, and the major Green Lantern Corps characters like Abin Sur, Sinestro, Tomar Re and Kilowog. I was a bit skeptical about the design of the lantern power battery and the CGI-costume when I first saw the stills, but I love how they look on film. Lantern's uniform is supposed to bea  construct of the ring, after all...

And... when Reynolds recited the Green Lantern oath... I don't mind telling you: I got misty, brother.

I think I'll actually have to go to the theater for this one, after all.

THE BIG BANG!

This upcoming film noir/sci-fi/black comedy looks great! A cool cast  and an really intriguing premise add up to a movie that I'm really looking forward to checking out. Here’s the full official synopsis:

Late one night, Los Angeles private investigator, Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas) gets a visit from a recently paroled Russian boxer with an intriguing job offer: find Lexie, his missing girlfriend—and the 30-million dollar stash of diamonds she’s hiding. As Detective Cruz sets out to find her, the clues send him into the city’s seediest corners, from a Hollywood action star with a dirty little secret (James Van Der Beek), to an enterprising porn producer who takes a personal interest in his own work (Snoop Dogg), and a kinky waitress with an unusual fetish for particle physics (Autumn Reeser). Lexie proves to be as elusive as she is beautiful and Cruz becomes obsessed with finding her. With time running out, Cruz discovers the trail leads to reclusive billionaire (Sam Elliott), and his physicist (Jimmi Simpson), intent on recreating The Big Bang underneath the New Mexico desert. Tailed by a trio of cops also looking to find the missing diamonds, and with the body count piling up, Cruz soon realizes that what appeared to be a standard missing person’s case is anything but, and could quite possibly bring about the end of the world as we know it.

 Judge for yourself - the trailer can be found HERE. Thanks to Zablo for the head's up!

Elsewhere on the Interweb: DVD Late Show

Just another periodic reminder that I also write and publish reviews of cult, B-movie and genre DVD and Blu-Rays at my DVD Late Show website.

I admit things over there have been a little slow this Winter, but I'm starting to get back into the reviewing groove, and have posted several new reviews over the last couple weeks, including looks at the latest incarnation of the long-running (and apparently, unkillable) Scooby Doo franchise, Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the popular AMC horror series, The Walking Dead, a low-budget sci-fi flick called Interplanetary, the classic film noir flick Kansas City Confidential (restored in HD), Roger Corman's Sharktopus, and the latest Gamera double-feature disc from Shout! Factory.

My plan is to post at least one review every day this week, so please take a moment and check out the DVD Late Show site if you can. Thanks!

ADDENDUM: Oh, and as it happens, this month marks the SIXTH anniversary of the DVD Late Show reviews. Nearly 600 hundred DVD and Blu-Ray reviews since March of '05. Not too shabby.

Widescreen At Last!

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of months. Aside from simply having too much to do (Kolchak: The Night STalker Files, Gravedigger, Femme Noir, Captain Midnight, etc.), my wife & I also finally purchased a HD television set.

Although I've been enjoying our Blu-Ray player for a couple years (thanks to a generous Christmas gift from my mother-in-law), I haven't actually been getting the full benefits of the technology since I was still viewing the discs on a standard-definition monitor. But about two weeks ago, that 15 year-old TV finally gasped its last breath. It lived a full and meaningful life, but after years of heavy use, it just couldn't go on any longer.

Fortunately, the timing was pretty good for a change. Some automotive repairs we'd been saving for for a while turned out to be much less expensive than we expected (how often does that happen?), and we found a remarkably good deal on a high-end 55" Phillips LED set. (It's even Netflix Instant-ready.)

Needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time (too much, actually) over the last month or so, looking at my Blu-Rays and DVDs on the big screen. I've watched tons of Star Trek - both classic episodes and the features - crime and action stuff like Crank 2, Faster, The A-Team movie (which I'm ashamed to admit I thought was pretty good, actually), Machete, and television shows like The Walking Dead and Space: 1999 in HD. I've also been checking out many of my standard-def DVDs to see which ones still look good, blown-up on the big screen. Some look better (Prime Cut) than others (Out Of Sight), obviously, depending on the age of the disc and the bitrate, but overall, I'm thrilled with my new TV set.

Now, all I need is a new surround sound set-up, and the Alien Blu-Ray box sets....

OUTLAW TERRITORY Volume #2

I am informed that the Western anthology, Outlaw Territory, Volume 2, from Image Comics, is now available. The collection is 240 pages and contains 30 stories, in a variety of styles by a horde of talented creators. Most importantly, it contains a story by yours truly, illustrated by Joe Staton & Rick Burchett, and colored by Michael Watkins.

Here's a glimpse at that story:

It should be on sale at most comic book shops now, or you can order it from Amazon here: Outlaw Territory Volume 2 OGN

Wednesday Cover: Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files #2

Here are two alternate covers for Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files #2, which should be in comic shops this week or next, and can be ordered directly from Moonstone now. The cover above (which has nothing to do with the story, although the girl does resemble a character introduced within the issue) is by interior artist Jaime Martinez. The cover below (which also has nothing to do with the story, but certainly is a damned cool illustration) is by Woodrow Hinton III.