Paul Green's Blog, page 6
July 14, 2013
The Lone Ranger down to #5 in Second Week
It’s official. The much hyped The Lone Ranger has bombed at the box-office with a 61% drop from #2 to #5 in its second week with takings of only $11.1 million. To date the worldwide total is only $119.1 million. According to The Hollywood Reporter Wall Street analysts are predicting a major loss for Disney of between $150 million and $200 million.
July 8, 2013
Hallowed Ground by Steven Savile & David Niall Wilson Book Review
“When a man known only as The Deacon set up camp outside Rookwood, a murder of crows took to unnatural, moonlit flight. The crows came to Rookwood; trouble soon to follow. Things were already strange in that God-forsaken town, but no one could have predicted the forces and fates about to meet in a dust-bowl clearing in the desert. A Preacher. A Demon. An Angel. A Gunslinger. A bargain with the darkness was signed in blood, and broken, and as such deals usually do, it went south. Now the fate of lost lovers, faith healers, ancient Gods and the Devil himself collide in a circle of wagons tended by the damaged and deformed, the saved and the shorn. There’s a power come to Rookwood, and this one-horse town is about to be transformed. Such deals are only made and broken…on Hallowed Ground.”
The promotional description sets the scene for this well written and atmospheric Weird Western. Savile and Wilson tell a story of a sleepy town ripe for something to awaken them from their routine, predictable lives. The Deacon is the person to peak their interest with a tent Revival on the outskirts of Rockwood. But demonic forces await them. Provender Creed stands alone in his refusal to come under the spell of the Deacon, his magical talisman and his minions, including the Crow Men and a mysterious mystical woman known as Lilith. Although the novel deals with familiar themes and motifs the clear, descriptive writing style keeps you wanting to read more.
About the authors: Steven Savile, International bestselling author of Silver, The Last Angel, and The Sufferer’s Song, and David Niall Wilson, Bram Stoker Award-winner David Niall Wilson, author of Deep Blue, This is My Blood, & Heart of a Dragon.
Published by: Crossroad Press & Macabrein Ink Digital. Available at: Amazon
Review: copyright Paul Green 2013
The Lone Ranger : John Carter revisited for Disney
Disney’s The Lone Ranger, which cost at least $225m (£151m) to make, took just $29.5m (£19.8m) over Friday-Sunday. The opening was weaker than John Carter, last year’s major failure for Disney.
Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution, commented: “We thought it would appeal to a broader audience than it did.”
The majority of the film’s audience in its debut weekend were over 25 years of age.
“You think you have everything in place,” said Hollis. “Even when you have all the ingredients for what you think will be a four-quadrant ‘everybody’ picture, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.”
July 3, 2013
The Lone Ranger : Critics Are Not Impressed
The Lone Ranger has received an overwhelming negative response from film critics.
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter: “This attempt for another ‘Pirates of the Carribean’-scaled series tries to have it too many ways tonally, resulting in a work that wobbles and thrashes all over the place.”
Ty Burr, The Boston Globe: “Ugh. ‘The Lone Ranger,’ Gore Verbinski’s bloated, $250 million western comedy is like watching an elephant tap dance in your living room: Everything gets trampled and the dancing’s not very good.”
Claudia Puig, USA Today: “‘The Lone Ranger’ is a boisterous, relentless production, long on action but short on fun.”
Stephanie Zacharek, The Village Voice: “‘The Lone Ranger’ has it all, but what you end up with is not much. It’s an extravagantly squandered opportunity.”
Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times: “Hammer is charming but bland, and Depp, hidden behind a mask of makeup, mostly gives Tonto a deadpan dignity; their often rote interactions don’t justify the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running time.”
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York: “It’s all too much and not enough — a succession of disparate, can-you-top-this episodes inelegantly piling up like skidding cars on a freeway.”
Peter Debruge, Variety: “By the film’s climax…what began as an elegantly epic, potentially realistic retelling of the Lone Ranger legend has devolved into Wile E. Coyote-style cartoon shenanigans.”
© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
June 14, 2013
“The Guns of Shadow Valley” kicks off Kickstarter campaign
Santa Barbara, CA – June 14, 2013 - Dave Wachter and Jim Clark are comic creators and Wild West aficionados. Starting their comic book “The Guns of Shadow Valley” in a traditional format five years ago, they could not land a publishing deal, so they began a webcomic instead in the summer of 2009.
Since this humble beginning, they have had a large following of thousands of readers per week, over 100 pages of story, and nominations for Eisner and Harvey awards for excellence in digital publishing.
Then, everything came to a screeching halt.
“I’ve loved working full time with IDW and Dark Horse comics, but the paying gigs kept me from my dream project. It’s the one that I was really wanting to make a reality,” said Wachter.
So, the two decided to bring the story full circle by finishing the epic tale with an oversized, hardcover edition of The Guns of Shadow Valley.
“We have everything else in place, now we just need the financial resources necessary to complete the project,” said Wachter. “We are turning to Kickstarter and comic fans across the world for help.”
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site where individuals can invest in projects they feel are worthwhile. The Guns of Shadow Valley campaign will kick off on June 14th and end on July 15th. The goal is $24,000 which will complete the second half of the comic storyline, print the entire story as a hardcover book, and throw in lots of extra incentives.
“For us, this is our opportunity to finish what we started. Our readers have been begging us to start it up again,” said Clark.
Readers can pre-order a signed and numbered copy of the hardcover edition for $30, and there additional benefits and rewards, such as T-shirts, original paintings, and even cameo appearances in the story.
The western motif is infused with other elements such as sci-fi, steampunk, superpowers, mysticism, and folklore. “If you can imagine ‘X-Men meets The Magnificent Seven’, then you have a good idea of The Guns of Shadow Valley and its theme,” said Clark.
Interested parties can visit the Kickstarter page at www.gunsofshadowvalley.com/kickstarter to learn more about the plans for the project and pre-order the book.
“We can’t wait to show everyone how this ends,” said Wachter.
To see the actual comic, visit www.gunsofshadowvalley.com.
Contact:
Jim Clark
creators@gunsofshadowvalley.com
PO Box 265
Santa Barbara, CA 93116
Ph.: 805-669-8449
June 3, 2013
‘East Of West’ Sci-Fi Western
A new ongoing alternative history comic book series – East of West sees the Seven Nations of America created after the almost mystical conclusion of the American Civil War. Enter the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and fast forward to 2064 where a supernatural apocalypse awaits.
From the award-winning team of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta.
Copyright Image Comics 2013.
Fatale # 13 : Black Bonnie
Fatale #13
Story : Ed Brubaker
Art : Sean Phillips, Dave Stewart
Cover : Sean Phillips
The main ongoing series features a beautiful woman named Josephine who has a magical power over the men she meets in her travels.
Issue #13 is a change of pace with ”Black Bonnie,” replacing Josephine in the old west of the 1880s. An effective mix of horror and noir in a spaghetti western setting.
Copyright Image Comics 2013.
May 23, 2013
The Whirlwind In The Thorn Tree : Book One of ‘The Outlaw King’ by S. A. Hunt
Ross grew up to be a writer, just like his dad, Hugo Award nominee E. R. Brigham. The thing is, he’s never published anything worthwhile in his life. So when his father dies unexpectedly and leaves him the obligation of finishing the final book in his wildly popular gunslinging fantasy series, Ross thinks he’s got the world on his shoulders. What he discovers is a trail leading to the fantasy world of his father Ed’s outlaw novels, where the proud Gunslingers of Ain protect the land of Destin from an army of immortals bent on destroying every world in existence — real and fictional.
Available on Amazon as a Kindle e-book or Paperback
About the author S. A. Hunt:
Logistics Coordinator / Military Policeman, US Army
Former Strategic Surface Specialist, Herat/Kabul, Afghanistan
April 22, 2013
Merkabah Rider: Once Upon A Time In The Weird West by Edward M. Erdelac
F
or years the Rider, one of the last of an ancient Jewish order of astral travelers, has sought his renegade teacher Adon across the demon haunted American west.Now it is 1882. The Hour Of Incursion is here. The Great Old Ones, beings of immeasurable power from the roiling chaos before the dawn of Creation, are stirring in their ancient slumber. It is high noon for the entire universe. Seeking to rouse the Old Ones, Adon has gathered together the Creed – an army of fallen Hasidic mystics – and a host of dark allies including skinwalkers, necromancers, an undead master gunslinger, Lilith the Queen of Demons, and the Angel of Death himself.
The Rider and Kabede, in a last bid to stop Adon, recruit their own band, including an unstoppable preacher more steam engine than man, an alien entity from the dawn of time, a young witch, and the enigmatic Faustus Montague, an angelic being from another universe. But Lucifer the master of hell watches from his capitol city, ready to commit his legions to the winning side. And he has an agent among the Rider’s companions….
“Riding out of the Old West comes the Merkabah Rider, a Hasidic gunfighter who owes his provenance as much to the nasty inhabitants of Elmore Leonard’s westerns as he does his piousness to Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane. This highly original episodic series breathes new life into the overworked western with tight action, inglorious heroes, and unpredictable plots.” – Weston Ochse, award-winning author of SEAL Team 666 and Scarecrow Gods.
