The Cochise Film Festival is a celebration of the low budget and independent films that often get overlooked by most mainstream reviewers and promoters. Recently started up by Adam A. Park (an independent film maker and actor in his own right with a great little movie called ZombieMutation coming soon) and using films from his production label Trash House Cinema, he and his crew put together an interesting and eclectic selection of movies.
Fans of the hit show Sherlock, the good one not the crappy American version Elementary, should be overjoyed at the recent Hollywood Reporter announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul McGuigan are teaming up to bring the story of The Beatles manager Brian Epstein to the big screen. Cumberbatch will play Epstein in the yet untitled film, and McGuigan, who has directed several episodes of Sherlock, is attached to direct. Like any good story to come out of Hollywood there is also another Brian Epstein biopic in the works based on Vivek J Tiwary’s graphic novel titled The Fifth Beatle, Epstein’s oft used nickname. McGuigan and Cumberbatch do have the advantage of having Tom Hanks in their producing corner however, so hopefully that will bring some extra credibility to the project.
The story is reported to focus more on the personal life of Epstein than that of The Beatles, and little as I know about Brian Epstein he is described as a “closet homosexual with drug and gambling problems” so it seems like there is a lot of material to draw from other than him being the manager of the biggest band in the world.
For his part Cumberbatch has become quite the hot commodity of late, lending his talents to the much-anticipated The Hobbit, working with Brad Pitt in Twelve Years a Slave, and taking on the role of a young Khan (rumored) in J.J. Abrams world of Star Trek. One would think that the familiarity between Cumberbatch and McGuigan will help raise the acting level of the project and as pictured above, at least on looks and accent, it seems like they have the right man for the part.
‘Killer Within’ has to be one of the most heart-wrenching episodes of The Walking Dead to date. The last episode focused solely on Woodbury and the Governor, but this episode was mainly dedicated to the folks back at the prison, although we did visit Woodbury briefly. Merle has spoken with Andrea, who told him where the farm was, which is where his brother Daryl was last seen by her, which likely will not end well. Michonne is still obviously uneasy about being in the little town of Woodbury, but Andrea is eating it up. She has a drink with the Governor, and he even tells her his name is Phillip. For a short second, I thought it was cute! Then I remembered the floating heads in tanks, and brought myself back to the edge of my seat to await what happened next.
Back at the prison, someone had opened the chain on the gate and let the walkers in, as well as firing up the generator and sounding the alarms, thus attracting walkers from everywhere. Hershel was just getting on crutches for the first time, and Lori is all super pregnant, so this wasn’t the best timing. Some quick cleanup of the courtyard was required…
Rick, Daryl and Oscar go try to shut off the generators to stop the alarms from sounding when Andrew (whom we predicted was still alive weeks ago) tried to attack Rick. For his trouble he then got shot in the face by Oscar, who will now undoubtedly become a member of Rick’s group. The somewhat funny image of Daryl crouched down with a knife behind Oscar just in case he tried to shoot Rick was pretty awesome. {Editor’s Note – Stupid Andrew.}
There were two very gruesome deaths this episode. Two main characters met their end in almost unwatchable ways. The first was T-Dog, who had gotten bitten by a walker thanks to Carol’s failure to watch his back. Despite this, he kept going with Carol to help her get out, and ultimately let himself get attacked so that she could get away. This guy got torn apart. It was grotesque. {aka awesome}
The next happened when Lori went into labor while she, Maggie and Carl were running from a gang of dead. They hid in the boiler room and Maggie declared that Lori would have to give birth right there. Carl, who has clearly not yet been traumatized enough, was going to have to help deliver his baby sister. Poor kid! Maggie yanks Lori’s pants off and tells her to push. Lori is bleeding, though, and is clearly going to need a c-section. She gives this long speech to Carl, which would be absolutely devastating if I cared the least bit for her character, and then tells Maggie to cut her open, and instructs her to also do what needs to be done when she turns. Maggie slices her stomach, finds the uterus, and pulls the baby out with Carl’s help. The baby is alive! The mother however, is not. Carl then takes it upon himself to shoot his mother so that she cannot turn. That was devastating. {Meh.}
When Maggie and Carl returned to Rick with the baby girl, Rick quickly realized the situation and exerted some intensely raw emotion. I mean, good lord; that was some of the best acting I have seen on this show. My eyes had tears in them. I cannot watch this show without putting myself in their shoes. I constantly ask myself what I would do in their situations. But something like having to shoot your own mother? That would be beyond my capabilities.
Overall, I would say that this episode was outstanding. The acting was phenomenal. We lost two main characters in one episode, making sure we know that anything can happen during any episode.
Grizzly Bomb 