Most of the you regular ZONE readers know that I love a good MONSTER movie.

Obviously the key to a great monster movie is, well, a great monster. The really cool monsters are the ones that scare the crap out of ya before they actually get their paws, claws, or mitts on you.

The creatures from "The Lord of the Rings" movies are that kind of scary.

If you love movies, then you owe it to yourself to try and find tthe latest issue of Maxim Goes to the Movies, which is on newstands now.

I picked up a copy and enjoyed nearly every article in it! It features a nice interview with Billy Bob Thorton, a sneak peak at "Spider-Man 2," pieces on the new "Starsky and Hutch," "Big Fish," "Paycheck," "The Alamo," interviews with Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino about "Kill Bill Volume II;" "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," a Michael Madsen interview, a long "Hellboy" preview, and so much more.

Why are you still reading this? Go out and get the magazine... you won't believe how good it is!

Chuck Wepner has received a bit of press lately since he filed a lawsuit against Sylvester Stallone for a percentage of the profits made off of the "Rocky" movies. While the lawsuit is laughable, it's not as funny as this true story...

Wepner fought Ali in 1975.

Before the fight Wepner, known as the "Bayonne Bleeder" told his wife. "Go out and buy some expensive lingerie because after the fight you'll be sleeping with the Champion of the World!"

Ali won the fight. A bloodied Wepner walked back to his dressing room...

... where his wife asked, "So, do I go to Ali's room or does he come to mine!"

The season finale of Survivor is on tonight. Although I normally watch Alias, I'll pass on it to find out who gets the million bucks.

I really don't care who wins this one. If I had to guess I'd say it'll be Darrah.

After Ruppert got booted few weeks ago I said, anyone but "Johnny Fairplay." The guy is so annoying. Yet, the more I thought about it and watched him work... although he's still very irritating, he has played the game well. He's not the smartest or the strongest, but has been the best at working others.

To think that he planned to pull the "grandma's dead" scam long before he went to the islands... well, maybe he does deserve the million bucks.

If you're a regular reader of my ZONE posts, then you know I'm a huge Steve Niles fan. I first discovered Niles through his novels and then his comics. Niles' classic 30 Days of Night is being prepped for the big screen.

Since I've talked so much about Steve Niles, I think it's time I give some time to Ben Templesmith the artist who helped make 30 Days such a runaway hit.

Templesmith has an interview here and his personal website here.

If you enjoy them you should give his comics a try!

Michael Madsen is one of those under-rated actors who makes a movie better every time he shows up.

For nearly a decade fans have been hoping that Madsen, Quentin Tarantino and John Travolta would get together and make "The Vega Brothers" based on their characters from "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction."

As the years passed the project seemed doomed to never happen. In this interview Madsen says that Tarantino has a plan to make it work...

One of the movies coming out next year, that I'm really looking forward to, is "The Riddick Chronicles." This sequel to "Pitch Black" [a movie that I loved] reteams Rob Cohen and Vin Diesel.

Riddick is a role that Diesel was born to play and I have high hopes for the proposed trilogy.

Unfortunately the movie doesn't open until next year... still there's the trailer coming out Monday and several cool things happening before the movie is released!

The last issue of MAD magazine that I bought featured a Frank Frazetta cover for the parady of Judge Dredd starring Sly Stallone.

In other words it's been years.

That'll probably all change in January when Mad #438 hits the stands.

It features the work of Arthur Adams, Michael Allred, John Byrne, J. Scott Campbell, Dave Gibbons, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, and John Romita, Jr. Here's a link to more info.

You may not buy it, but you'd be, uh... mad not to at least give it a look!

Rick Remender. You know, the award winning animator who created Swingtown. He worked on the classic Iron Giant. Titan AE. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Still not sure? OK, maybe if I list some of his comic work. The Avengers. The Terminator. Doll and Creature. Black Heart Billy. Teenage Mutant Turtles.Ok. Granted Rick Remender is not a household name. But it should be. The guy has a gazillion cool ideas. He writes. He draws. He animates. The dude is a natural born creator. Rick is pencilling and Big Beatty is inking a 48 page Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book and I gotta tell ya, the art is amazing. It's black and white with really sweet tones thrown in. I've never bought a Turtles book before. Ever. But I may have to break down and get this bad boy.

But back to Rick. Check out his website. The new school design rocks. Plan to spend a while. Be sure to check out his Swingtown animations, his sketchbook [I want to see more of The Last Days of American Crime], heck order a book or two if the spirit grabs ya, and drop him a line and tell him I sent ya!