Rumors started to circulate last week that an A-list actor was HIV positive. A friend said they heard it was Charlie Sheen. That somehow didn't surprise me, I was actually kind of surprised it wasn't announced he had some other life threatening disease already. I mean let's face it, Charlie Sheen has partied. Partied HARD since he was a teenager. After a string of excellent performances and working with top Hollywood talent in the likes of Red Dawn, Platoon, Wall Street, The Rookie, Major League and Navy Seals, Sheen found further fame and huge fortune on television. His salary on hit sitcom Two and a Half Men peaked in 2010 where he was the highest paid actor on television, earning $1.8 million an episode. Public meltdowns, messy divorces, sex with hookers and porn stars, a drinking habit along with drug use led to multiple stints in rehab and his ultimate firing from the show. Sheen went on an epic crusade to clear his name, participating in eternally entertaining and quotable interviews where he claimed to be a "Vatican Assassin", had "tiger blood and Adonis DNA", was a "bitching rock star from Mars" while using a drug called "Charlie Sheen". A nationwide tour failed to cement his status as a truth saying messiah for our times and before you knew it, Sheen was cleaned up, apologizing on TV and back with a new show, Anger Management. I absolutely LOVED Two and a Half Men and refused to watch it after Sheen was replaced by Ashton frigging Kutcher because it just wasn't funny anymore without the star.
Cut to today and Sheen announced on the Today show that he is HIV positive and has known for the last four years. He's been under watchful medical care and treatment to the point the disease isn't even detected in his blood. Sheen used the forum to explain that he's taken the illness very seriously, alerted those closest to him along with potential sexual partners. That has opened him up to betrayal and blackmail shakedowns that have cost him and his five kids nearly $10 million dollars. But his private physician was quick to point out that Sheen does not have AIDS, the auto-immune disease that was seen as a death sentence in the 80's and 90's before proper treatment became the norm. Sheen is now using the attention to fight the stigma and shame HIV still causes in some people's minds. Hopefully having a famous face will encourage others to seek help and not keep a dangerous secret to themselves that endangers others. During the interview, Sheen's wit, passion and personality shined through in a very difficult and private time. He is who he is and isn't hiding. Good for you, Mr. Sheen, still the man.
After a nice morning workout it was time to finish up one of Chuck Norris' greatest flicks and successes, 1986's The Delta Force. A full on Cannon production as co-studio head Menahem Golan directed the flick and co-wrote with regular Norris and company collaborator James Bruner. Inspired by the 1985 Trans World Airlines hijacking where Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad members took control of Flight 847 and demanded the release of 700 Shi'ite Muslims from Israeli custody. Passengers of Jewish descent were separated from the others, traveling military personnel were beaten, U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem was killed and it took two weeks and intervention from then U.S. President Ronald Reagan along with Lebanese officials to free the remaining hostages. The hijackers original demands were met when Israel released over 700 prisoners. Many of the original perpetrators remain at large while one was arrested in 1987, sentenced to life in prison but paroled in 2005.
In the film, events more or less unfold as they did in reality for the first half. We meet Captain Scott McCoy (Norris) during the disastrous Operation Eagle Claw where poor planning and communication, unexpected conditions and inefficient training ended with the deaths of eight Delta Force members and the failure of rescuing hostages in Iran. Tired of the bureaucrats planning and his men dying, McCoy resigns after rescuing his teammate Pete Peterson (William Wallace) from an exploded helicopter. Cut to five years later and New World Revolution terrorist Abdul (Robert Forster) and one accomplice hijack a plane waving guns and grenades. Passengers with Jewish sounding names are separated, three military divers are beaten and the hostages come to grips with the possibility of dying. Meanwhile the smartass and crusty Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is given the greenlight to make up for Eagle Claw and get the hostages free. McCoy gets the call and rejoins his crew which includes Bobby (the always great Steve James) and Pete. It's a good thing McCoy came voluntarily because Alexander had a Presidential decree ordering him back to service.
While the events that inspired the film are harrowing, frustrating and sad, the film derived is a fantastic time in the 80's vein of action film that no longer exists. In actuality, The Delta Force is a bit of a odd case as it's part docudrama, part deeply cast disaster movie and part ridiculously entertaining action movie. Joining Norris, Marvin, Forster and James are familiar faces from the 60's and 70's like Rat Packer Joey Bishop, 12 Angry Men's Martin Balsam, The Inglorious Bastards' Bo Svenson, The Magnificent Seven's Robert Vaughn and The Poseidon Adventure's Shelley Winters. There's plenty of human drama in the first hour as families are separated, there's flashbacks to the Holocaust, the young Navy diver is killed and dumped on the runway and the Jewish hostages are taken while the women and children are released. This all builds up for a cathartic second hour where the commandos are given the go ahead and resources to bring the hostages home.
After landing in Beirut, the movie veers from history and gives us the
story many viewers would like to have seen. Basically, the Delta Force
commandos roll in on dune-buggy's and motorbikes to take out the bad
guys with extreme prejudice. Like this is how America kicks ass, extreme
prejudice. Working with Mossad intelligence, McCoy and Pete infiltrate the terrorist hive where their local contact is taken by Abdul and plunges to his death. His sacrifice doesn't go wasted as Chuck and his buddies do the Damme thing and show up to get the job done. There's three sites where hostages are being held and rolling in under the cover of darkness with blue lights on their vehicles and U.S. flag patches on their shoulders, it's finally showtime. By this point the action takes us by air, land and sea and into the streets. You get a pretty destructive car chase with Chuck hanging out the side firing his Uzi and several jeeps and cars being flipped and exploded. Then there's the mass hostage rescue where McCoy and Bobby blow out the floor from beneath, emerge and waste the terrorists using machine guns and night vision goggles. Plenty of baddies get riddled with squibs and tumble down stairs, Steve James gives a strong thumbs up and Chuck wastes a dude hiding under a bed then delivers "sleep tight, sucker". Outside, the main force attacks with missile equipped motorcycles and dune buggy's mounted with M-60's in a hail of explosions and property damage.
The physical stunts and destruction are pretty incredible. McCoy uses a bazooka to blow up some bad guys then takes a zip line down the building because Marvin's Alexander is in a hurry. Gunfire and squibs destroy rooms and bodies, motorcycles ramp and fly all over the place, flames burn right next to actors, every other car explodes, Norris and James fire bazookas near simultaneously then shake hands and the final big stunt involves Chuck Norris' double chasing a moving airplane, riding on on the seat of a motorcycle, grabbing a rope and climbing up...it's just terrific stuff set to Alan Silvestri's exciting and way overused yet effective electronic score. Then when McCoy catches up to Abdul, it's payback time to the max as Chuck flies in through a window on his motorbike and proceeds to thrash Abdul with punches, karate kicks and Judo throws all over the house through furniture, out a window, smashes his arm in a car door then blows him up with a rocket from his bike. Phew!
Once the hostages are freed and everyone is headed home, the Delta Force hands out cans of Budweiser beer and everyone sings "America, The Beautiful" before coming back to reality as Pete dies from his wounds. With their families waiting, the freed hostages celebrate while Delta Force carries off their dead and heads off to their next mission. I couldn't help but think this would make a great double feature with 1990's Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn starring Navy Seals, another middle eastern terrorist tinged tale of heroism, sacrifice, skill, one liners and showcase of America's ass kicking acumen. Originally set to star Cannon's "two Chucks" Norris and Bronson, the latter fell out over unknown reasons. Probably financial as they both took home up to $5 million a picture. Marvin made his deal within 20 minutes after speaking with Golan and settled for a somewhat paltry $50,000 for 8 weeks of shooting towards the end of his career. Marvin was a much better choice than Bronson at this point as he was still lithe, dignified and trim while Charlie was no longer the granite featured muscleman of his youth.
Opening on Valentine's Day of 1986, The Delta Force grossed nearly $6 million at 1,720 theaters behind Down and Out in Beverly Hills and The Color Purple on it's way to a $17.7 million total. That put it at #50 for the year but would be one of Norris' highest earners alongside Missing in Action, The Octagon, A Force of One and Good Guys Wear Black. 1990's sequel would earn less than half of the original. The Delta Force would be Oscar winner Lee Marvin's final film as he died in 1987. Cool and buff sidekick Steve James would go on to re-team with American Ninja star Michael Dudikoff in Cannon's Avenging Force and Ninja sequel The Confrontation before showing up as Norris' cop buddy in Hero and the Terror. James sadly passed away in 1993. Cannon Films would be on it's last legs as 1987's costly trio of under performers Over the Top, Superman IV and Masters of the Universe along with a crashing bond market spelled doom for the mini-major known for genre and art house films alike.
Another night, another premiere. This time at The Grove in West Hollywood for Jean-Claude Van Damme's latest, Pound of Flesh. After making friends with Popular Press Media Group and interviewing producer Kirk Shaw and director Ernie Barbarash, I snagged an invite and a V.I.P. wristband, oh la la. We arrived around 6:00 PM as I was told the 400 person screening was overbooked. There was a fan line outside and the red carpet was all set up inside the lobby. During check in I excused myself past UFC fighter Michael Bisping and boxer Victor Ortiz showed up as well. Running back and forth from Morel for happy hour, I bumped into Chuck Zito again, I introduced myself to him at Skin Trade and we chatted a minute. He's a very dapper and strong looking man. Mr. Sheldon Lettich was meeting up with us and in the lobby I ran into Carl Weathers and Aki Aleong from Pound of Flesh and The Quest. It was a bit of a mad house in the lobby but I chatted with Ernie Barbarash then spent a while talking to Vladimir Kulich aka Buliwyf from The 13th Warrior! Kulich was with I Come In Peace's Mattias Hues and they all live on the westside with Kulich being Carl Weathers' neighbor! Kulich was super cool and fun to talk to, it probably helped that I knew his work from 13th, Smokin' Aces, Breach of Trust and other randomness. I'll have to get him for a Dammaged Goods chat but it was awesome to hear about his time working on 13th, how it shot for 9 months, the dual schedule with director John McTiernan and Michael Crichton, etc.
Then I spotted Van Damme's buddy Kamel, the majong parlor operator from Double Impact among many other VD films. Introduced myself to Peter Malota, a high kicking actor and stuntman who you'd know as the guard with spurs on his boots in Double Impact as well as popping up as The Spaniard in The Quest. Born in Albania, Malota has lived in Detroit for the last 20 years and was great to talk to. I didn't spend much time looking at the red carpet but noticed Terminator 3's Kristanna Loken at one point and then the man himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme, showed up with daughter Bianca. Van Damme was looking great, slim and built in a tight white top and trademark, trademark initialed ball cap. This is the 3rd time I've seen him in person and the 2nd time it's been a complete mob. After the taping of Jay Leno's Tonight Show, people rushed Van Damme's car and wouldn't back off so they sped away. It was more of the same here with security constantly yelling for people to step back. I was in the theater hallway when this happened and the man walked right by me in a huff. The next time I saw him, you could tell he was a little flustered from all the attention. The man has some really rude and pushy fans as a friend got shoved out of the way at one point. Inside the theater I spoke to Todd Senofonte, Van Damme's longtime stunt double who also worked on PoF as he mentioned it being a tough shoot. Former wife Darcy LaPier was there as well, not sure if their son Nicolas was in attendance or not.
Kirk Shaw and Barbarash introduced the film, talking about spending a couple of years securing the script and Van Damme, the difficulties of making modest budget action films and thanking everyone in attendance along with paying tribute to co-star and martial artist Darren Shahlavi who recently passed. Chinese producer Henry Luk expressed his satisfaction with the film and project and is looking forward to making more movies soon. In a funny moment Van Damme yelled "volume, please!" as the microphones weren't working which was followed by "focus!" shouted out by none other than Charlie Sheen! The night was running late of course and we all settled in to watch Pound of Flesh, the tale of JCVD's Deacon, a kidnap and rescue specialist who gets taken by some organ harvesters in Manila. Waking up without a kidney, Deacon and his peaceful brother George (John Ralston) set out to get it back as the vital bodypart was supposed to go George's daughter. Working with Kung (Aki Aleong), an old crime buddy, they crack open the lucrative business of casing targets using hospital information, drugging them and removing their organs. The movie did a nice job of mixing the drama with the action as Deacon is a self described bastard while George is the good guy. Once upon a time, this could have been another film where Van Damme played twins.
Fights by John Salvitti are a nice change of pace for Van Damme with elbows, knees, throws, grappling and high kicks all being mixed together. Mike Leeder gets punched in the face and Van Damme does the splits while holding onto the side of a car in an applause inducing moment. You also get lots of Van Damme nudity in the opening minutes, in fact, there's more male nudity in the film than female! The man is still in great shape though. Besides the action, Van Damme gets some nice dramatic moments, talking about his backstory and challenging brother George to do whatever it takes to save his daughter. Even if that included Damme'ing his soul. There's also a few bits of humor throughout which were a welcome touch. Darren Shahlavi did a solid job as the evil enforcer Goran, playing the role with plenty of charisma and physicality. If anything, the film could have used more fighting between him and Van Damme to show off their kicks and cinematic grace.
After the film I congratulated Kirk Shaw on the film and turnout, apparently they had to rent out a second theater! He told me they were developing another project with Van Damme so we have that to look forward to. We hit the after party for a few minutes where it was just too jam packed with people. Some friends waited it out and ended up meeting Van Damme closer to midnight. While I didn't get to meet the man, I know in my heart, my soul and my gut that it will happen some day. Hopefully for a screening of Lionheart, Bloodsport and JCVD in Hollywood...It was a great evening and congratulations to Michelle, Jessica, Ernie, Kirk and everyone involved.
It started with seeing a random Facebook sponsored post announcing that Doritos Loaded would be available at a 7-11 in Hollywood for a 4 hour window one Saturday. A week later, the 7-11 next door had posters plastered across the front windows proclaiming they were in stock. Even the shelves were full of empty cases just waiting to be filled with hot, cheesy, Dorito shell goodness. After all Taco Bell sold more than 1 BILLION Dorito Locos Tacos in 2012 alone and hired an additional 15,000 employees to keep up. I found the Nacho Cheese version a little strong as you just felt like you were eating spices and chemicals. The Cool Ranch variety introduced later was a little easier on the palate. Would deep fried cheese surrounded by the same zesty, crunchy shell give 7-11 yet another staple on top of the Slurpee? If my batch is any indication then the answer is a resounding NO. Basically they're not crunchy and that same spice/salt/chemical overload from the Taco shell mixed with salty cheese just made this a very not exciting eating experience. If you've ever had deep fried macaroni and cheese, Loaded Doritos has nothing on those little wedges of crispy, soft, cheesy goodness.
Speaking of Taco Bell, did you hear about F-18 Charlie Sheen being drunk in the drive through line and talking to people behind him? Check out the great clip here. Charlie Sheen is the best. Some people talk shit about him but give the guy a break, you paid him millions to act like an exaggerated version of himself then acted shocked when he became that hilarious, truth speaking, over the top character. Two and a Half Men was such a funny show when he was on board. Now with Ashton Kutcher you realize how lame and potentially offensive it can come across without the proper delivery or truthfulness of the performance. Between Red Dawn, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Platoon, Wall Street, Young Guns, Eight Men Out, Major League, NAVY SEALS, Men at Work, The Rookie and his turn as a machine gun toting, ass kicking president in Machete 2, Sheen will always be #winning here at Dammaged Goods.
And speaking of Not Eating, a list of foods Nutritionists won't eat caught my attention and included usual suspects like processed meat and cheese (preservatives), non-dairy creamer (nutritionally bankrupt), diet soda (increases sugar cravings), cereal and fat-free dairy (added sugar), bacon (high fat and salt content) and hot dogs (processed, high preservatives). To that I kind of just say "fuck that", I ate a leftover Whopper from Burger King for breakfast the day after the doctor told me my physical and bloodwork stated I was in excellent health. After years of fast food consumption I figured I would have high cholesterol, triglycerides or something something like the media is always screaming about. Remember when Avocados were bad for you? Now they're super food? Or that time saturated fat and butter were the enemy but now people add a dollop of the rich stuff to coffee to make it "bulletproof"? So what bad news did the doc hit me with? None! That's the power of eating relatively clean much of the time, training regularly and indulging a couple times a week. Think about it, if you're working out and eating say 4-5 meals a day, that's 28-35 meals a week so if a few of them aren't so good for you, who cares? As long as you're not eating fast food or take out at EVERY meal I think you'll be fine. Most of the time I take buns off my sandwiches or add spinach to burgers to give it a little extra dose of nutrition and also to make myself feel better mentally. Just as eating poorly is easy, eating healthy can be difficult but just takes some planning and getting used to. I'd also love to see how many of these nutritionists are in any kind of shape because if there's one thing I hate is someone out of shape talking about being in shape. That's called being a poseur.
Hugh Jackman is about to play Wolverine for the 6th time. That's as many times as there are Superman movies. More times than cinematic Spider-Man and one less than Batman. Where 5 actors have played Batman and his mask Bruce Wayne, Hugh has played Wolvie each and every time. Soon he'll venture into Roger Moore James Bond territory. This past Saturday in Hall H he appeared on the FOX panel for two different movies, playing the same character!
Anyone who has read X-Men knows Wolverine is the moody hot head with unbreakable bones, claws that pop out of his knuckles, healing factor and gravity defying hair. While the level headed leader who fires optic blasts that shatter mountains is Cyclops. Calm, cool and collected yet a babe
magnet (Jean Grey, Psylocke, White Queen) and badass in his own right;
Cyclops has never been given any cinematic credit. In X-Men he isn't phased by Logan's tantrums but doesn't have much to do besides be the punch line, have his girlfriend hit on and not be able to land a jet. In part II, he has a quick fight scene, gets captured, mind controlled and forgotten for much of the running time. His minutes quickly run out in X3 as Cyke is in brooding mode over the loss of Jean Grey and then seemingly vaporized by her returning spirit/ghost/whatever. Poor James Marsden...but seriously, he's doing alright.
My theory is that the X-Men movies were made too late. If this were a 90's joint, prime time of the buddy picture, we could have had a great cinematic version of Cyclops played by none other than the sensitive action hero himself, Michael Biehn. Biehn was the rare breed of "action" hero that was equal parts handsome, physical, courageous and vulnerable. Look to his performance as the lovelorn, time traveling, father of the future Kyle Reese in The Terminator. Or as soft spoken, take command under pressure while fighting Xenomorph hordes, Corporal Hicks in Aliens. Or maybe his greatest cinematic Cyclops similarity, Lieutenant James Curran in 1990's Navy Seals where he's paired with bad boy Charlie Sheen.
In Seals, Biehn plays a leader who is strong yet compassionate and carries the responsibility of protecting his team while still managing to get the girl. Sheen plays hot dog Hawkins, the brash, "shoot first, ask questions never" type who tries to get the chick but fails. His recklessness ends up costing the life of a team member and gets him into a verbal beatdown with Curran, who is holding the stone of grief. By the end of the film Hawkins has to give up his selfish ways in order to save Curran's life and get the team to safety.
This dynamic absolutely could have worked with Cyclops and Wolverine. If you'd like a classier example because you're a movie snob who's never seen Navy Seals but judges anyway because you saw Clerks; I give you Lethal Weapon's Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson, best dad ever in The Patriot) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny "Damn birds" Glover). One's crazy, one's calm, one shoots to kill, the other to wound and question. Or just look to Leonardo (leads) and Raphael (cool but crude) from Ninja Turtles. It's the same damn thing.
But X-Men was a gamble, big budget comic book movies were far from the norm in 2000; so much so that FOX hedged their bets around the mysterious loner/badass character, had drafts of the film titled Wolverine and the X-Men, shut down production midway to reassess and the fact that it was a hit and spawned 4 sequels is a bit of a movie miracle. Besides, Cyclops is already dead during the Days of Future Past story arc so we can't really complain about his absence.
Ah well, maybe someday, after Hugh Jackman stops playing Wolverine we'll get a decent onscreen adaption of Cyclops.
Here's the golf scene from Navy Seals featuring Biehn, Sheen, Bill Paxton, Dennis Haysbert and Rick Rossovich among others just cause:
Cut to today and Sheen announced on the Today show that he is HIV positive and has known for the last four years. He's been under watchful medical care and treatment to the point the disease isn't even detected in his blood. Sheen used the forum to explain that he's taken the illness very seriously, alerted those closest to him along with potential sexual partners. That has opened him up to betrayal and blackmail shakedowns that have cost him and his five kids nearly $10 million dollars. But his private physician was quick to point out that Sheen does not have AIDS, the auto-immune disease that was seen as a death sentence in the 80's and 90's before proper treatment became the norm. Sheen is now using the attention to fight the stigma and shame HIV still causes in some people's minds. Hopefully having a famous face will encourage others to seek help and not keep a dangerous secret to themselves that endangers others. During the interview, Sheen's wit, passion and personality shined through in a very difficult and private time. He is who he is and isn't hiding. Good for you, Mr. Sheen, still the man.
