Tim joined Tom Barnard and the crew on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the comedy “Like a Boss” and action comedy “Bad Boys for Life,” and a preview of Quibi’s horror anthology “50 States of Fright,” which includes the Minnesota episode “Grey Cloud Island” (written and directed by Adam Schindler and Brian Netto). Click to listen below. Then on Friday, Tim reviewed “Like a Boss” and “Bad Boys for Life” with Jordana Green on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM. The segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
VIDEO: Watch Tim review “A Star is Born” and “Venom” with Ellery McCardle on KARE 11.
“Venom” (PG-13)
Tom Hardy takes his career to dizzying new heights with “Venom,” his second comic book movie role after playing the ominous Bane in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” In “Venom” he plays Eddie Brock, an investigative reporter who gets a bit too close to the story of a corrupt scientist (Riz Ahmed) and encounters an alien substance that bonds with him and creates this monstrous alter-ego.
Directed by Reuben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), “Venom” marks the second time we’ve encountered the Marvel Comics creation on the big screen, 11 years after critics and fans blasted Topher Grace’s version in “Spider-Man 3.” Here, though, there’s no Spider-Man to be found and instead of being a villain, Venom is more of an anti-hero that audiences can get behind, mainly because the bad guy is battling an even-worse guy.
There’s no question that “Venom” is trying to capitalize on the irreverent tone of Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool” movies with its humor, and for the most part it works thanks to the brilliance of Hardy, who delivers yet another strikingly original performance opposite the always great Michelle Williams.
And while the film isn’t nearly as polished as his eccentric Marvel cousin and plays it safe with a PG-13 rating, “Venom” is still very entertaining and leaves the door open for more, as teased by the film’s end credits scene.
Lammometer: 7 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Sadly, it’s the end of the road for “Ash vs. Evil Dead” when the series finale airs Sunday night on STARZ, but before fans start mourning the loss the show, they can take comfort in knowing that the amazing memories of it will live on not only in the episodes of the horror comedy, but in the stories about it from the likes of its bloody great cast members.
For Dana DeLorenzo, who made the ass-kicking role of Kelly Maxwell her own, she’ll always hold dear the pilot episode of the series, because it gave her the unique opportunity to work with director Sam Raimi, the architect of the “Evil Dead” universe. For a glorious 22 days, DeLorenzo and her fellow cast members shot the pilot in New Zealand, which would be the production home for the show for the entirety of its three seasons; and where she marveled at Raimi’s passion for the craft of making the impossible possible and giving “Ash vs. Evil Dead” its crucial first breaths of life.
The wonderful thing DeLorenzo discovered about the “Spider-Man” trilogy filmmaker was that he was just as much of a superhero and person off the set as he was on. In one instance, she was a first-person witness to his heroic actions as he rescued her from, appropriately, a demonically-possessed escalator in Auckland, New Zealand.
In a recent phone conversation from Los Angeles, DeLorenzo said it all occurred at SkyCity, which includes a massive tower like the Seattle Space Needle, after Raimi wrapped up his work on the “Ash vs. Evil Dead” pilot.
“It was Sam’s last night in New Zealand and we were all celebrating. Bruce and his wife, Ida, were there, me, Jill (Marie Jones) and Ray (Santiago), as well as Sam,” DeLorenzo recalled. “We were at the Sky Tower and in the center of it — I can’t even give you the scale of it because it is so big – there were two escalators that were the biggest things I’ve ever seen in my life. They went on for days.”
At the end of the night, DeLorenzo said, the group was coming down one of the monster escalators when suddenly the jovial atmosphere turned into something that you would see in, well, “Ash vs. Evil Dead.”
“We were goofing around and dancing on the way down, and I’m the first one off the first of the escalators to turn and go down the final escalator. I was wearing this very loose, stretchy, spandex-y, very wide-legged jumpsuit, and when we got to the bottom I was starting to walk, and something pulled by leg back,” DeLorenzo said. “All of a sudden, because the jumpsuit was all connected, the elastic top – strapless, by the way – starts pulling down. It’s was truly like Kelly trying to get through The Rift and I couldn’t move forward, and the jumpsuit is slowly being ripped off me from the top to the bottom. This all happened in a split-second, but it was very slow in my mind as things very terrifying at the moment are, and I screamed instinctively. I screamed because in a second I was going to be standing in the middle of Sky Tower for all to see, naked!”
DeLorenzo said as she tried to hold her top on, Jones hopped in front of her to cover her chest, and “then comes this hero Sam Raimi.”
“He jumped off the escalator in his suit and gets down on the floor on his hands and knees and starts yanking the bottom of my jumpsuit from the evil, possessed escalator,” DeLorenzo said while literally acting out the madness of the moment. “He was pulling with all his might. He was ripping and grunting because it would not rip, and finally, on the third tug, they did, and half of my pants went up the escalator – they’re gone – but luckily, Sam Raimi saved my life. I was physically being pulled into the escalator because it was that strong. I was not only about to be dragged up the escalator, but humiliation-wise, I was about to be butt-ass naked in front of half the city of Auckland, New Zealand. After saving the day, Sam slowly stood up and started brushing himself off and said, ‘Well that was sobering!’ and everyone laughed.”
While she can laugh now about the time Raimi selflessly jumped in and saved her from the demonically-possessed escalator, DeLorenzo is completely serious about the pure class of the filmmaker from the day she auditioned for “Ash vs. Evil Dead.”
“I’ve said from Day 1 since I had my screen test with Sam and Bruce, and Sam was the man behind the camera – it was an actual camcorder on a little tripod, which I loved – and in a three-piece suit, that he is both the most and least intimidating person in the room,” DeLorenzo said. “When talks to you, he is so disarming and looks at you as if no one is there, no matter what else is going on. So, I’m in this room full of producers, shaking this man’s hand who I know is the great Sam Raimi, and he is just asking me about my shoes, he’s asking how my day was, and it felt more like that I was talking to Sam the butcher at the grocery store. He then walked away, and I realized, ‘Holy shit! That was Sam Raimi!'”
DeLorenzo said she is also grateful to “Ash vs. Evil Dead” casting director Lauren Grey, who brought her in for the initial audition and callback. In addition to Grey and showrunner Craig DiGregorio, DeLorenzo feels Raimi is one of the main reasons she was cast as Kelly Maxwell.
“It was because he made me feel so comfortable,” DeLorenzo said, admirably. “Comfortable enough to do something I’ve never done in any audition – even for a commercial, let alone a production as big as this – and ask for another take and do it again.”
As fate would have it, asking for that second take is the reason fans had the opportunity to watch DeLorenzo not just play – but define – who Kelly Maxwell was through three seasons of “Ash vs. Evil Dead.”
“I owe so much to Sam, and I have taken so much away from not only the screen test with him,” she said. “He set the bar for the show for me and for the character of Kelly, and he showed so much class because of the way he collaborates with people.”
DeLorenzo said that because Raimi is such a high-profile filmmaker, he could have just said, “‘We’re going to do it this way’ and everybody would have said, ‘Yes! Sure! Fine!'”
But he didn’t.
“Instead, he set the bar and not only learned everyone’s names – and go up to everyone in-between shots, to the people doing the thankless jobs that no one ever credits them for – and ask them how their day was,” DeLorenzo said. “With me, regarding Kelly, he asked me to sit down and said, ‘I want you to help me write this scene. I want to rework this thing,’ and I said, ‘Uh, Sam, I’ll just do whatever you want!’ And he corrected me and said, ‘No. I asked you because I want you to help me.’ I was just so blown away by that.
“Sam Raimi was willing to take his baby and say, ‘I want you to have some input. I want to hear you say what you think Kelly’s backstory is and what do you think happened Kelly’s mom. Why did she die six months ago in a car accident?'” DeLorenzo added. “Because of that, it informed Kelly for me for the rest of her journey. It was so vital because that stuff matters. You might ever see that backstory on screen, but that matters and informs who I am playing. I am so indebted to Sam.”
NOTE: To celebrate the entire “Evil Dead” film and television experience as “Ash vs. Evil Dead” approaches its series finale Sunday night on STARZ, the following is a reprint of an interview I did with Bruce Campbell in 2002 for the Anchor Bay Entertainment release of the “Book of the Dead” special edition DVD of “The Evil Dead.”
Thanks for all the memories, Bruce, and Hail to the King, Baby!
By Tim Lammers
April 2002
Although some actors despise being associated with one particular role, it doesn’t bother Bruce Campbell in the least that fans continue to kiss his Ash nearly 20 years after the release of the cult horror film classic “Evil Dead.”
“I don’t have a problem with ‘Evil Dead’ — people misinterpret that sometimes,” Campbell told me in a recent interview. “This film gave us the most creative freedom of any movie we’ve ever done in the following 20 years.”
Ash, for those who are familiar the film, is the square-jawed moronic anti-hero who battles his way through a haunted cabin, possessed woods and a trip back to the medieval times in the film and its two sequels, “Evil Dead 2” and “Army of Darkness.”
Although many know him as Ash, Campbell is hardly a one-trick pony. Since the debut of “Evil Dead” in 1982, he’s gone on to act and direct in several other notable projects, including such television gems as “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” and “Xena: Warrior Princess.” Sure, the “Evil Dead” keeps coming back to haunt him, but in his case, that’s a good thing.
Directed and produced by longtime friends Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, respectively, the trilogy of films have developed an enormous following over the past 19 years, culminating in the latest release “The Book of the Dead,” a limited edition DVD of the film that not only chronicles the making of the film, but examines the impact it’s had on fans with Campbell’s documentary short “Fanalysis.”
Even keeping true to the (evil) spirit of the film, the DVDs producer and distributor, Anchor Bay Entertainment, has packaged the disc and other contents in a replica of the Necronomicon from the film. For the lack of a better word (as Ash would say), it’s “groovy.”
But anybody familiar with the movie knows that there’s much more to this “book” than its creepy cover. Shot on a shoestring budget in Tennessee and their home state of Michigan, Campbell, Raimi, and Tapert weave together a bloodstained tapestry of movie magic, madness and mayhem.
Marked by Raimi’s wild, kaleidoscopic point-of-view shots and hyperkinetic pacing (and Campbell’s willingness to playfully and painfully get his butt kicked on cue), it puts that other lost-in-the-woods movie, “The Blair Witch Project,” to pitiful shame.
But more than anything, it’s the end result of a group of friends’ effort to defy all odds and see their dreams and passion to make a movie come to fruition.
“It thumbs its nose at the system and I think a lot of people can identify with it,” Campbell said. “‘Evil Dead’ is completely independent and off the grid. There was no studio financing whatsoever. People get behind it because it’s the David against Goliath, it’s the little engine that could, because it only cost $350,000 to make, but in 1998 when it got released on video, this crappy little movie got to No. 3 on the charts behind ‘Titanic’ and ‘Lady and the Tramp.’ People like to see little things succeed.”
The continuing success of the film and its sequels, of course, contributed to Campbell’s opportunity to write his critically acclaimed book “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor.” For those who haven’t read it yet, it takes a few shots at few celebrities, but is far from being a trashy tell-all tome.
“It’s about making low-budget movies and I mention a few people along the way,” Campbell said. “But I don’t go out of my way to trash anybody, and if I did, it’s because I felt that they were idiots. It’s not that I’m not an idiot, it’s just that I thought they were bigger idiots.”
Readers reacted favorably to “If Chins Could Kill,” propelling it to peak at No. 19 on the New York Times Bestseller’s List. The success, as a result, has given Campbell a whole new status in the entertainment industry.
“It’s better, because you get more respect,” he said. “That’s what is hard, is to get any respect. I’m actually tempted to write a novel and try and make it into a movie because it will get read more easily than if I wrote it as a script. It’s bizarre.”
There’s no question that Campbell has earned a massive amount of respect from the fans: His website is wildly popular, and in the past two years, the merchandise relating to the films has been coming out at a fast and furious pace to whet the appetites of those who can’t get enough of the films.
Among them, McFarlane Toys has released three different action figures from “Army of Darkness,” while National Entertainment Collectibles Association has produced a plethora of products ranging from “Evil Dead” and “Army of Darkness” lunch boxes to an Ash “Head Knocker,” which is reminiscent of a bobble-head doll.
And, there’s even more to come: Sideshow Toy, praised for its dead-on (no pun intended) creation of the 12-inch Universal Monsters doll series, will soon be releasing Ash and Evil Ash dolls from “Army of Darkness.”
“Dead” merchandise aside, the ultimate experience for any fan of the films is to get to meet Campbell in person, and the actor has given his followers plenty of opportunities. Although he’s frequented the convention circuit for the past few years, the release of “If Chins Could Kill” in 2001 gave many more “Evil Dead” fans the opportunity to talk with the man. He made tour stops in 65 cities, and is up for it again for future projects as long as he remains in demand.
“As long as people keep buying what I’m doing (I’ll do it),” Campbell said. “I’m an actor, a gypsy, a dog-and-pony show sort of guy. At one point it might be because I’m working on a TV show, or it could be because I’m writing a book or in a movie. It’s nice to have job rotation within the entertainment factory.”
Part of Campbell’s most current rotation came with a small, but memorable role in Frank Darabont’s “The Majestic,” where he played the swashbuckling hero of screenwriter Peter Appleton’s (Jim Carrey) classic-style adventure film “Sand Pirates of the Sahara.” The call for the role came from a high-profile fan: director Frank Darabont.
“Darabont had known of me from the ‘Evil Dead’ movies so he gave me a holler — So Jim got to star in the ‘A’ movie and as always, I got to star in the ‘B’ movie,” Campbell mused.
Of course, anyone who has seen “The Majestic” or Darabont’s prior two films “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” know the filmmaker has an incredible handle on recreating the atmosphere of the classic films of yesteryear. In the case of “The Majestic,” Campbell believes Darabont’s deft touch was ultimately the downfall of the film, which was a disappointment at the box office.
“There’s a strange demographic change happening,” Campbell said. “Movies never used to be marketed at teenagers, they used to be marketed at adults. So when your marketing changes, your movies are going to change right with it and unfortunately it’s led us into an embarrassing, tragic phase of filmmaking in the last 20 years.”
But there is hope. Campbell and Raimi have teamed together again, if only briefly, in the director’s big-screen version of “Spider-Man” which debuts in theaters May 3.
“It’s a pivotal role, because I give Spider-Man his name,” Campbell said. “You won’t see much of me, but its pivotal.”
No matter the amount of screen time, there’s no question it will be, well, groovy. What else would you expect from a Campbell and Raimi movie?
