As you know, Frank has kept up contact with Rochelle Davis since we learned of all the legal issues she was going through last year. As we reported last week, she is on the road to getting her life back on track. Frank contacted Rochelle recently about doing an interview. She has agreed! We want to solicit questions from fellow fans to ask her (to be approved by her manager of course). So we need you to get those questions in to me at aboyandhisbird@gmail.com . We will use as many questions as we can. This is going to be a great opportunity for fans to catch up with one of the most beloved actors/actresses from the first film.

Thanks to Frank for this update on Bai Ling. Here is the latest. Let’s hope this is the last we see of her in trouble.

Also an update from Frank on the latest with Rochelle Davis (Sarah from the first film). She is doing well with plans to marry. She has gone through a lot of stuff over the last year but it appears things are on the right track. I spoke with Robert Zuckerman and let him know about the issues Rochelle was having last year. He was able to make contact and I know he reached out with a lot of love to her. Our personal wishes and prayers are with Rochelle and hope for nothing but the best for her and her son and the new life they are about to have.

 Hello everyone. As I mentioned the other day, while things are slow on the news front, we thought it would be interesting to revisit our reviews from years back and see how opinions may have changed (good or bad) or not even at all, over the years. One thing you will notice about these reviews, they are pretentious free! I am absolutely tired of these 3 and 4 page reviews that spend the majority of the review giving you the background of why the reviewer has the opinion they have, explaining their love or admiration for the source material or for like-movies or just simply go on some rant about this and that and finally by page 3 you get the review and by then could care less. We setup the reviews in a very basic format with a quick synopsis of the story and then my review. I am not posting the original synopsis, because, well, you more than likely wouldn’t be here if you didn’t already know about what I am talking about :)

Below is an explanation of the rating system I use. It isn’t high-tech by no means, but works for me:

1 Crow: Bad, can’t recommend it.
2 Crows: Not the worst, but boarding on a total waste of time
3 Crows: Average, check it out but don’t pay full price
4 Crows: Excellent, highly recommend you check it out
5 Crows: Outstanding, perfection personified!

If you see something that has a ½ added to it that means it is a notch above the whole number rating, but not quit the next higher number. So if something is rated 3 ½ crows, that means I rate it higher than a “good” project, but not quit excellent.

So let’s get to it. The first film we will look at is what started the franchise in the first place, the original film from 1994, “The Crow”.

What I said then:

This is one of the best movies based on a comic I have seen. The performances, across the board, were excellent. Alex Proyas, acting as director and visionary, was able to recreate the look of O’Barr’s alternative and gothic Detroit. Brandon Lee was elevated to God-like status for his portrayal of Eric Draven, but even more so because of his real-life death while making the film. The film was not shown until a year after his death. I remember being hesitant about watching the movie. I felt that it would be an almost sick voyeuristic peek at the life and death of Brandon Lee. I was finally able to overcome my initial reluctance to see the film. The story, which calls upon the basic premise of setting the wrong things right, touched a chord within me. I have long enjoyed movies that played on the revenge theme. However, I did not expect to ever see a movie filled with violence to be so poetic and beautiful. What sets this movie apart from other movies of this genre is the concentration on love and the extremes it takes us to. It is what continues to bring new fans to it even after 7 years. 4-Crows

My thoughts today:

Nothing much has changed about my feelings for the film 14 years later. I would say it probably isn’t the best comic to film adaptation I have seen, especially given films like Spiderman 2 and Sin City, but all in all, the film has held up for me. I don’t watch it as much anymore as I used to, but when I do, it still has a great affect on me. There are some films that you look back on and wonder how you ever thought you enjoyed it as much as you thought you did. There are many films I remember from when I was a teenager that I thought were just absolutely great and now, MANY years later, I watch them and go “meh, it is OK”. Not this one. It still remains one of my top 10 favorite films of all time and probably will stay that way. 4-Crows all the way.

We did a full-length review of the Collector’s Series DVD release for this film back in 2000/2001, you can read it here. All in all, I was pleased with the release, but the politics that led to the release missing many items and contributors, mainly Proyas, still remains a sore spot with many fans. However, for all of its faults, you can not get a better edition of the film. They did a great job restoring the sound and images. I can not wait to see this film on Blu Ray. The O’Barr feature is still the definitive interview done with O’Barr. Some items missed by most fans on the DVD, such as the text commentary and script/view option only available via DVD-Rom, with the new technology could be made available via the player rather than having to be a DVD-Rom feature. Like I said back when my original review was posted, I hope that we can get a release of the film on Blu Ray that has all the players involved contributing. I’m not one of those that is clamouring for a director’s cut, I would just like to have the fantastic making of “Crow Chronicles” finally seen by everyone, all the deleted footage brought together and for us to get a director’s commentary. Not a lot to wish for :) I can not even imagine what this film will look and sound like in High-def, it will be great! As of today, no word on when that day will come.
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Take Care…..Come what may

Bai Ling who played Myca in “The Crow” was arrested on Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for shoplifting. Click here for more information from MSNBC News.

Click here to read the article from Bloody Disgusting about Jason Statham wanting to play “The Crow”.

Thanks to Jaymo Tristas for passing this along.

The Crow: Salvation will be showing this Monday, August 6^th at 11am EST/PST on the FX Cable Network.

Bryce Zabel, the executive producer of The Crow: Stairway To Heaven, has posted a new blog about his appearance last weekend at San Diego Comic Con. For those crow fans who enjoy a good cook book please check out The Hollywood Cookbook: Cooking For Causes put together by his wife and the wife of actor Don Most. There is even a few recipes contributed by Mark Dacascos in the cookbook.

Speaking of The Crow: Stairway To Heaven, Cherish Alexander formerly of The Painkillers has her own website and MySpace account. Her myspace page features streaming audio of My Bonnie and Goodbye which was used in The Crow: Stairway To Heaven. Cherish has also released her solo CD entitled “Fallen Awake” please visit her website for more information.

James O’Barr will be appearing at the Lazy Dragon Con in McKinney, TX this weekend, for more information click here. James O’Barr will also be appearing at Realms Con in Corpus Christi, TX August 24^th thru the 26^th. Visit James O’Barr’s myspace page for more information.

Just a quick reminder The Crow: Stairway To Heaven DVD Contest is still ongoing so please get your entry in today by visiting here.

Hey everyone, do not forget, Bryce Zabel and Mark Dacascos will appear at San Diego Comic Con on Friday July 27th between 2 and 4 pm in the autograph section of the convention. This is perfect timing because the box set for STH comes out Tuesday, July 24th (next week!!). You can purchase a copy of the set and then take it to the convention and get it signed by Mark and Bryce.

To go along with the release of STH on DVD, Arts Alliance America and Bryce Zabel have provided some nice items for a contest that Crowfans.com is running. Details are still being worked out. The prize list has been finalized and is listed below.

So you are asking “How do I enter?”. Easy, by being a member of The Tides of Sin Discussion Board or by submitting your email address in the contest entry form found here . There will be 11 winners of some very nice items. The prize list includes:

3 Autographed DVD Box Sets & The Crow: Stairway To Heaven soundtracks
1 DVD Box Set & The Crow: Stairway To Heaven soundtrack
1 The Crow: Stairway To Heaven soundtrack
4 DVD Box Sets
2 Emmy Nomination Video

Here is the final list of DVD extras that will be included in the 5-disk set:

Commentary with Bryce and Mark on the first 2 episodes - “The Soul Can’t Rest” and “Souled Out”, gag reel, Production Dailies from: “A Gathering Storm”, “Death Wish” and “Dead to Rights”, script & original episode descriptions for ALL 22 episodes, Photo Gallery, Mark Dacascos Filmography, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven Original Score by Peter Manning Robinson and reprints from Kung Fu Magazine story about Mark and The Crow.

The majority of the extras will be included on the 5th disk a long with the final two episodes of the series. The commentary track with Bryce and Mark will be on the 1st disk.

THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN complete series is available July 24th. You can pre-order the set from Amazon.

Garth over at DarkHorizons ran this story today:

Alex Proyas (”The Crow,” “I, Robot”) will direct “Dracula Year Zero,” Universal’s origins tale about Vlad the Impaler and one of several films about the Romanian royal who inspired Bram Stoker’s vampire tale.

Scribes Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless tell Variety that the goal was to show Vlad when he was still vital and to explore the fact that he’s considered a hero in Romania for fending off the Turks.

The aim was too play off the horror and the sympathy you have for a character that “sells his soul to the Devil to save his kingdom and family.” Michael De Luca produces.

Recently, Frank took a little vacation time and headed up to sunny Seattle. His travels first took him by one Kona Kitchen which is owned by Yuji Okumoto (Pestilence) from THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER. Yuji wasn’t at the restaurant because he was in LA filming a documentary and he was flying out to Japan on Monday.  On the walls of the restaurant he had a lot of autographed pictures including The Rock, as well as fellow WICKED PRAYER cast mates Tito Ortiz (Famine), Danny Trejo (Harold), and Edward Furlong (Jimmy Cuervo) as well as Crow alum Mark Dacascos (Eric Draven from the series THE CROW: STAIRWAY to HEAVEN). The food was excellent and reasonably priced especially for Seattle where prices can be a bit high. Frank had the Aloha burger with seasoned fries. A common problem in the northwest is soggy fries or overcooked fries, not so here, they were cooked just right,

Below you will see his pictures from WICKED PRAYER as well as Mark Dacascos. If you are ever up in the Seattle area, definitely give Kona Kitchen a visit. Click on the image to view the full size.

One of the last stops Frank made was to the grave of Bruce and Brandon Lee. The atmosphere was solemn. There was a piece of a VHS box from THE CROW setting on Brandon’s headstone. Another ironic symbol, a crow was flying around the area cawing. Along with the pictures taken at Kona Kitchen there is one of the gravesite. Please click on the image to view the full size.

As you know, we have followed the recent troubles that Rochelle Davis (real name Andrea Ruano) has endured since Oct 26th, 2006. The upshot of everything, given all of the charges that were being leveled at her (I saw the transcript and it read like a laundry list from hell), she ended up only being charged with conspiracy and child endangerment. These were far lessor charges than what she could have seen thrown at her.

Recently, Frank spoke to Rochelle’s manager Jaine Flanagan. By her own account, Jaine has been more of a friend than a manager to Rochelle over the last 10 years. Jaine reports that Rochelle suffered a great deal after Brandon’s death. They had become close friends and Rochelle described herself as one of Brandon’s biggest fans. According to Jaine, Rochelle had a hard time after the accident auditioning for other parts. Her heart just was not into it. Though things came to a head on October 26th of last year with her arrest, Rochelle had other challenges that she had endured since her last acting job on The Crow. Finally, it was a lack in judgement which cost her dearly when the people whom she had become friends with turned out to be some pretty unsavory characters. She has learned a valuable lesson through the course of the events that have transpired over the last 8 months.

Will she act ever again? Who knows. Right now, she is just trying to get her life back on track for her and her son Destin. We hope that she will feel up to talking with fans in the coming months. I know that she is loved by the fan base and everyone is pulling for her to get back on her feet. When I was visiting with Robert Zuckerman he mentioned how much he would love to reach out to her now. I hope she knows how much she is loved, by those who know her and by those who have never met her. We are all a family and when one of your family hurts, everyone hurts.

I pray for nothing but the best for Rochelle and Destin.