Gotta Eat & Drank! Sambar

On Thursday night we hit Culver City for some happy hour and latest X-Men flick, Apocalypse. Since moving to the west side, we've slowly discovered some cool and favorite spots around the Marina Del Rey and Culver City area. Downtown Culver City is quite beautiful with classic architecture and a bevy of spots to eat and drank like Rush Street, Honey Kettle Fried Chicken, Lyfe Kitchen, City Tavern, The Culver Hotel and Coldstone for dessert. That also brings people in so finding a seat can get tricky if you don't time it right. There's plenty of places to check out but we were running late and missed Happy Hour at several joints, one ended at 5:45 PM, what the f*ck...Across the street from the Arclight is Sambar, a beautifully built Thai and Indian infused restaurant. It felt pretty classy but service was very friendly as we sidled up to the bar and ordered cocktails, lamb meatballs, spicy calamari, bacon and cheese naan and chicken masala. The bartender was whipping up some test cocktails and gave us one to try, it was smooth and tasty. The food was all excellent, very light, well spiced and flavorful. Full, slightly buzzed and happy, we made our way to the theater. Sambar's Happy Hour runs 4:00 - 7:00 PM Tuesday to Sunday and we'll definitely be back.

GRIP & RIP WEEKEND: Room and Spotlight

Some weekends are for chilling, others are for GRIPPING IT AND RIPPING IT! Know what I mean? And by gripping it and ripping it, running and gunning, doing the Damme thing, on and on, I mean seeing 3 movies in 24 hours, working out, happy hours, checking out the new Fuller House on Netflix, going to a convention and watching a few minutes of the Oscars! The lady is into the awards stuff, so we upped our Best Picture viewings starting with Room over at the Cinemark Howard Hughes. Happy Hour at Dave & Busters came first where the kind of crappy service is ok because it's so cheap during HH. Followed by some racing and shooting games like Daytona and Aliens.

I knew nothing about Room going in besides Brie Larson from Scott Pilgrim VS The World was in it and it was about a mom and her kid, in you know, a room. Based on her novel, Emma Donoghue scripts and Frank's Lenny Abrahamson directs a sad but not depressing look at protecting your family and being reintroduced to the whole wide world when you've only known a small piece of it. Larson is fine as the mother but it's young Jacob Tremblay as her 5 year old son Jack who steals the show just by acting like a precious and precocious kid. I hadn't even watched the trailer for Room before we saw it so I had no clue what the outside world was going to be. Was it post-apocalyptic? Were they in another time? No, it totally wasn't but that was fine. I did find small issue with the fact that the "held against their will" film was shot in Canada yet set in Ohio. Why's it gotta be like that? Oh yeah, we used some Raincheck passes from the Expendables Marathon debacle to see the flick for free.

On Saturday it over to Culver City for drinks and grub at City Tavern, a chill, stylish joint with wood decor for cider, mac n' cheese, a burger and fries. Downtown Culver City has a nice feel, lots of impressive architecture, clean storefronts and you can feel the history. After City Tavern we stopped in for a quick drink at The Culver Hotel, who also does Saturday Happy Hour. James Dean starring East of Eden was being projected on the wall which I thought was Burt Lancaster classic Elmer Gantry at first. Damme. Then it was across the courtyard to The somewhat new Arclight Cinema for Spotlight. The true story of how Boston Globe reporters uncovered the city and worldwide scandal and cover up of Catholic priests abusing children. This is a total Oscars flick, true story, fighting the system, sad sexual overtones, etc. But it's solidly put together by director Tom McCarthy and co-writer Josh Singer along with a heavy hitting cast that includes Michael Keaton and standout (a lot coming from me) Mark Ruffalo who looks like Antonio Banderas here with his 2000's Julius Caesar haircut.

A few minutes in, I leaned over and asked the lady if the picture seemed dark and flickering to her, she agreed so I went to find a staff member. He told me straight up that Theater 8 is dark for some reason, something to do with the projector. But the flickering was new, he came in and watched a few minutes and agreed, making a call to someone but the issues remained. After the film I approached some crew to ask what the problem was, they apologized and we got some free tix. It's funny because I used some comp tickets to see it in the first place, mwa ha! Watching a bunch of people jot down notes and talk on phones in offices isn't exactly a visual feast so it was annoying but not worth any additional rage and retribution.

Hey Arnold: June Boom

No June Gloom for Arnold as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords is still a historical and media force to be reckoned with. Breakthrough sci-fi action thriller Total Recall celebrated it's 25th anniversary this past Monday, reminding us that Paul Verhoeven is a mad cinematic genius and that the Colin Farrell remake was laaaaame! The Oak hit Rio for the Arnold Classic Brazil where over 25 competitions in martial arts, power lifting, bodybuilding, chess and pole dancing(?!) took place. Terminator: Genisys promotion is in full swing with billboards around town and TV spots aplenty. Original creator James Cameron lent his support to the new endeavor and told Arnold he loved the flick. The original B-movie, Tech-Noir masterpiece will be playing nationwide as part of Cinemark's Fathom Events starting on June 14th. If that's not enough Arnold for you, and it better frigging not be, you can catch classics Predator and Kindergarten Cop (and tons of other summer classics) via The Arclight Cinemas and of course, as his first iconic role in Conan the Barbarian and Destroyer with me and special guests at The Egyptian Theatre on Saturday, June 27th.

Summer Cinema: Avengers Age of Ultron

It's not technically summer but according to Hollywood, it sure as heck is as Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theaters last night to the tune of $27 million bucks and an anticipated $200 + million weekend. After a surprisingly substantial happy hour at P.F. Changs, we joined the legions of graphic tee clad movie goers for a 7:00 PM showing in 3D. Trailers for Batman Vs Superman, Jurassic World, Ant-Man and Tomorrow Land got us going even though there were 3D trailers mixed in with no warning, come on Arclight!

Age of Ultron opens up at Baron Von Strucker's secret castle lair out in the woods where he's used Loki's alien powered scepter to enhance European twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Now Wanda (Scarlett Witch in the comics) can do crazy stuff with her mind while Pietro (Quicksilver) is super fast. The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, The Hulk and Hawkeye) have been looking high and low for the scepter and finally retrieve it but not before they're all mind jacked by Wanda. They have individual visions of their past and futures, not all of them sunny. Back in NYC, science bros Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to unlock the power of the scepter before it's returned to Asgard. They're also working on some artificial intelligence to create a "suit of armor" for the world which goes haywire and becomes Ultron, a huge robot with a twisted sense of humor who wants to destroy the Avengers and then the world. Lots of banter, action, hero team up smash moves, a little romance and world trotting follows. It was nice to see all of the characters getting things to do (Hawkeye becomes a much more central character) and there's some nice bromance between Cap and Thor and even Iron Man. New characters The Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver and The Vision are used to various degrees, basically there to fill a function and add some special f/x mayhem.

I had conflicted feelings watching Avengers, it was big and entertaining but it just wasn't that engrossing? Between the non-stop quips and jokes, as is Marvel's style to provide laughs but also cuts any tension, then the random stopovers and realizations (they get beat up then go to a farm house a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinterrrrrr!) or the ending where they fight a bunch of Ultron Storm Troopers and...direct civilian pedestrian traffic. Hmmmm. Thor goes on a random side mission while Quicksilver was used to much more effectively in X-Men: Days of Future Past. There's something very unheroic about a gearing up scene where a guy grabs a pair of Adidas sneakers..."Do you know karate? You do karate, man?" Double hmmm. We also get an Asian character! Who doesn't do much then goes away...Anyways, I was also pulled out of the movie by the absolutely sub-par 3D non-experience the Arclight provided. Their glasses are heavy and bulky and it was so dark with the glasses on I literally kept flipping them up to see people on screen with actual skin and flesh tones instead of a gray haze. Just another reminder that Hollywood hasn't figured it out. I'd like to see the flick again on a bigger screen and in 2D.

Ask Me a Question: Die Hard 2 w/ Steven E. de Souza

Last night The Arclight Presents screened Die Hard 2: Die Harder at the flagship Hollywood location.  I'd talked to the programmer there about some possible movie nights before the Van Damme Triple Dip and the opportunity arose for me to host when I secured screenwriter and director Steven E. de Souza as guest.  de Souza of course is responsible for bolstering the careers of Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis through massive hits like 48 Hours, Commando and Die Hard 1 &2.  He also wrote and/or directed Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicles Judge Dredd, Street Fighter and Knock Off.  I knew he was an intelligent man with years of experience so stories we would not be lacking.  Mr. de Souza did not disappoint and we could have used an extra hour at least to dig deeper into his career.  Next time I guess...

Oh Die Hard 2, oh late 80's and early 90's action cinema.  From the opening blue titles that punch you in the face, DH2 is a big, loud, violent, funny and profanity laced good time.  We find John McClane, the hero from the Nakatomi Plaza hostages incident in L.A., in Washington, D.C. at the airport trying to pick up his wife Holly.  Turns out a band of disillusioned veterans turned highly skilled, ruthless terrorists are taking over the airport to insure the safe landing of a military leader.  Of course their plans don't go as smoothly when McClane gets involved.  Faxes, Twinkies, airplane phones, tasers, fistfights, gunfights, snow mobile chases, naked tai chi, one liners, ejector seat to avoid grenades, head butts and huge explosions ensue.  I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down to watch DH2 but I've always enjoyed it and never understood why fans of the series seemed to rag on it.  Director Renny Harlin keeps things moving in a sleek and bloody fashion while writers de Souza and Doug Richardson flip events and characters we saw in the first film to give audiences a similar experience but a new story.  Watching it on the big screen it was semi shocking to hear the amount of cursing involved along with seeing McClane smoke indoors as well as deliver lines in a 90's, "go fuck yourself" tone throughout.  Good ol' fashioned squib hits explode from every gunshot and the flick was LOUD.

Unlike the next three films, Die Hard 2 maintains a semblance of McClane's everyman appeal.  In part one he's never been in a limo, gets jet lag, is going through tough times with his wife, etc.  In part two we meet him as he's getting his car towed and he's not trying to save the world, he's just trying to save his wife. There's also a terrific supporting cast involved with Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton and Reginald VelJohnson reprising their roles from the first film as the wife, asshole journalist and supportive street cop. Familiar faces Franco Nero, William Sadler, John Amos, Dennis Franz, Art Evans, Fred Thompson are in the mix along with soon to be famous faces Robert Patrick, John Leguizamo and Colm Meaney in small parts. 

After the film, Mr. de Souza joined me for a Q&A that could have lasted several hours and I would have loved every minute of it:

- Been a professional writer since he was a senior in high school. Wrote pieces for magazines and newspapers then went to work at local TV station.
- Gave himself 90 days to make it in Los Angeles, armed with a sci-fi and a crime script, got them to an agent through a friend of a relative who returned them saying he was too busy to read them.
- In first week in L.A., got onto a game show, won a car and was listed in Variety, some kind of record.
- Importance of networking, never know who knows who or who sees what.
- Worked at Universal and Paramount on shows like Six Million Dollar Man & Knight Rider.
- Met Larry Gordon who liked his blend of action and comedy, cleaned up 48 Hours in three weeks.
- Writes for the actor, Nick Nolte was a slob and Eddie Murphy showed up to a meeting in a suit, put it in the movie instead of having Nolte get in shape like he was supposed to.
- No actor in mind, writes for classic stars like Spencer Tracy and Audrey Hepburn.
- Female actors loved to play characters with male names for some reason.
- Should be able to cover character name in a script and tell who is speaking, not just your own voice.
- Went to expensive lunch with agent who spurned him years earlier who was now trying to woo de Souza to join their company, de Souza waited until they paid the check and revealed the disparaging note.
- Larry Gordon working at Fox, studio head Barry Diller met Arnold Schwarzenegger and said he'd greenlight a $10 million dollar film on the spot.
- Found dust covered script for Commando, tailored it to Arnold, de Souza plotted it out like television, notes sent to production staff who started building sets.
- Arnold couldn't make a movie with his shirt on after the iconic Conan and Terminator so Commando was a welcome change.

- de Souza would run lines with neighbor Arnold who was taking singing lessons to learn the rhythm of native English speakers.  de Souza got so good at mimicking Arnold, some of his dubbed lines remain in final film.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme wouldn't run lines with de Souza, instead preferring to do so with his latest wife.  Would think he said "see you ladder" instead of "later" but actually said it correctly then would do it again and say the wrong word.  Called cut on his own movies even when someone else was directing.  Classic.
- Die Hard was another script lying around, McClane seen as wimpy because he was normal so Arnold, Stallone, James Caan, Burt Reynolds and Richard Gere passed.
- Willis had a deal with Fox so in desperation, was paid huge $5 million fee.
- de Souza and Willis are from same area in New Jersey and got along great, Yippie-Ki-Yay came from Roy Rogers show they both watched as kids.
- Monday after DH was released, got call that part 2 was a go.
- Again, found old script, 58 Minutes based on a novel and made it into Die Harder.
- Turned elements of first movie around so audiences wouldn't know what to expect.  The dick cop character becomes an ally, European terrorists become Americans, the Green Berets are actually bad guys...

It was a crazy Q&A and I didn't have to do much prodding as de Souza has stories for days from his 40 years as a professional writer.  We went from his high school years to the 90's and his peak of influence in 30 minutes.  de Souza was cool enough to hold court outside and answer questions.  I heard rumblings of Commando 2 not happening because Arnold got too expensive, Die Hard is NOT the sequel to Commando, The Running Man 2?  Sure, why not.

It was another great night, thanks to Justin and the staff at the Arclight and Zach from de Souza's team for making it happen and of course anyone who attended.

Gotta Drank! Jackson's

I've been frequenting the Arclight in Hollywood for about the last 3-4 years.  It's their flagship location, site to frequent premieres, special events and where famous types go just to check out a flick.  They've opened up several more locations and we checked out their Beach Cities spot in Manhattan Beach a couple weeks ago for some Hunger Games and returned this past weekend for Home Alone.  Located off Rosecrans Ave, it's a busy boulevard filled with businesses and offices alike.  Parking is kind of weird, there's a lot behind the theater, a garage not meant for moviegoers then another garage across the street where the gate is either up or down.  A former Pacific Theatre, the inside is nice and spacious but the actual auditorium we saw Hunger Games in, I swear that the seats were angled away from the screen instead of centered and cascading out...the smaller theater for Home Alone was fine though.  Ah, what a Christmas classic, it still holds up with a mix of comedy and light family drama as Macaulay Culkin's little shit Kevin McAllister is subjected to a bunch of assholes in his family and ends up accidentally spending the days before Christmas Home Alone, get it?  He learns how to be self sufficient and appreciate his family while eating junk food and watching inappropriate movies.  Then at the end of course, he wreaks what should be insufferable harm on two burglars via blow torches, a nail in the foot, an iron to the face and a tarantula, etc.  You really get the hankering for a cheese pizza or macaroni and cheese afterwards...

The courtyard of the theater contains a P.F. Changs and Jackson's, a family run bar and restaurant with a wood motif and a front door that you think is a service entrance.  We came here before HG and ordered some mules with Jameson and boy did their ginger beer suck! Highly not recommended.  We came back for actual dinner this time and boy howdy, the place is a bit pricey!  It's a little high end modern with asparagus appetizers, salmon dishes, butternut squash soup and the like.  The Mac n' Cheese wasn't amazing but not horrible, the hummus plate was tasty, the burger was good and the fries were excellent, nice and crunchy. 

(Pre) Ask Me a Question: Die Hard 2 w/ Steven E. de Souza

What's your favorite Holiday movie?  A Christmas Story? It's a Wonderful Life?  Scrooged?  Nah, I'm talking about action movies set at Christmas time!  Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, I Come In Peace, The Last Boy Scout and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang come to mind; i.e. Joel Silver, Shane Black, Renny Harlin and Richard Donner created their own wonderful sub-genre to celebrate peace on earth, goodwill towards men as well as extreme violence, machine guns, one-liners and explosion filled mayhem.

This December, The Arclight Cinemas is hosting multiple screenings of Holiday set classics dramatic, funny and action packed.  I'll be hosting Die Hard 2: Die Harder with special guest screenwriter Steven E de Souza on hand for Q&A.  Unlike The Van Damme Double Dip, Dolph Night or The Carl Weathers Tribute, The Arclight Presents Die Hard 2 was not curated by Dammaged Goods.  While I did secure the guest, I won't be doing my usual trivia, prizes and custom tee shirt giveaway as the event is only a couple weeks away.  In a strange bit of repertory screening coincidence, DH2 helmer Renny Harlin has 3 films showing in Los Angeles this month.  This Thursday is The Adventures of Ford Fairlane at The Egyptian in Hollywood complete with Andrew Dice Clay and screenwriter Daniel Waters in attendance for a night I wish I had programmed.  The same evening in Sherman Oaks, Harlin's "amnesiac assassin" tale  The Long Kiss Goodnight starring Gena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson is also playing.  Mr. Harlin was cool enough to respond to my invitation to speak at DH2 but awesome/sadly he's shooting a film overseas.  Super buff and intense villain William Sadler lives in New York full time while I'm still working on lining up some additional guests.

Screenwriter Steven E de Souza is a billion dollar man, as in, his films have grossed that much around the globe in a star studded career dating back to the early 80's when he moved to Los Angeles from Philadelphia.  He quickly landed on a game show where he won a car then was able to talk some producers into reading his writing samples which led to a job at Universal.  There he worked on KNIGHT RIDER, writing and producing 20 episodes in the first season.  From there features came a calling and he became a go to guy for scripts combining action, humor and character.  His scripts were picked up by mega stars of the eras: Commando and The Running Man for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Die Hard, it's sequel and Hudson Hawk starring Bruce Willis, Beverly Hills Cop III with Eddie Murphy, Judge Dredd for Sylvester Stallone then two with our guy Jean-Claude Van Damme; Street Fighter, where he also directed, and the crazy nano-bombs and counterfeiters in Hong Kong tale, Knock Off.   de Souza jumped back to television periodically, developing animated sci-fi-action mash up, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs as well as globe trotting action explorer series Adventure, Inc. starring Dammaged Goods Hall of Fame'r Michael Biehn.

The Arclight and Cinerama Dome in Hollywood is a Los Angeles landmark.  The Dome opened in 1963 when back then, it was radical concept that would cost less to construct with a shorter completion timeline than typical theaters.  The large, curved screen was meant to to utilize 3 projectors as well as 70mm print along with it's geodesic design to give films an epic, event quality experience in terms of picture and sound.  By the late 90's, stadium seat multi-plexes were all the rage and The Dome was in danger of being demolished.  It was deemed a historical landmark in 1998 then in 2002 after a 2 year renovation, reopened as part of The Arclight Cinemas Complex under Pacific Theatres.  Since then the Arclight has hosted movie premieres and special events while drawing out actors and filmmakers just wanting to catch a movie.  Every seat is assigned and an employee welcomes you at every screening.  I believe there's a 3 trailer maximum before the film with no other advertisements.  Talking and texting are grounds to be removed and guests are usually not allowed in 5 minutes after start time.  There's a full service cafe, bar, gift shop and coffee bar in the lobby as well as an upstairs bar for 21 and Over screenings where you can imbibe alcohol during the flick.  Die Hard 2 will be one of those 21+ events...

Ask Me a Question: John Wick w/ Keanu Reeves

Hardcore action thriller John Wick hits theaters this week, critics are surprisingly loving it so we'll see how audiences respond to Keanu Reeves playing a badass hitman in a straight forward, violent as shit, moody action flick.  For my full review, head over to Action A Go Go where I contributed my thoughts on seeing the film a few months ago at a sneak preview but only now published in respects to the parameters of the early test screening.



A sold out Arclight Dome audience soaked up the film's relentless action and violence before welcoming star Keanu Reeves, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, producer Basil Iwanyk and writer Derek Kolstad:

- Kolstad's original script was about a 70 year old man, also hates being in front of people
- Agent received 5 offers on script, suggested not taking highest offer as Iwanyk's Thunder Road Pictures would actually make the film quickly
- Written, sold and produced in 2 years
- Brought Keanu Reeves on, revised, adding many more deaths, original script only had 12, current version probably has 5 times that by my estimation
- Reeves thought his The Matrix stunt coordinators/2nd Unit Directors Leitch and Stahelski would be great to direct, Iwanyk had already talked to them and was about to suggest
- Leitch and Stahelski approach film as Character, Story and World
- Shot in 46 days, ran out of money
- Reeves trained for 3.5 months in martial arts and tactical gun handling with SWAT and Navy Seals
- Reeves was one insisted more people die to make it "MORE!"
- Reeves was quite funny and sweet, thinks the film should be a drinking game, a shot of whiskey for bullet to the head, beer for to the body and tequila for something else I can't recall...
- Leitch and Stahelski very influenced by Asian action cinema, love Tony Jaa and inspired by long shots in camera the Thai filmmakers were able to accomplish
- Working on big movies with David Fincher, Jim Mangold, Wachowski's (on 6 films) was the best film school they could ask for
- Give full props to a reluctant Reeves for being a martial artist and putting in more time training than most black belts

It was a good time and of course more was talked about.  I hope the movie does well this weekend and we see more from Leitch and Stahelski.  Not sure what it is but Q&A's at The Arclight are always a little stiff.  Maybe they try to get too prestigious with it but unless the guests are really into it, things just kind of plod along.  Happened with Larry Franco, David Michod & Robert Pattinson, luckily Tim Allen & Dean Parisot (rumored director for Bill & Ted 3) didn't need a moderator to show the audience a good time.  The moderator didn't even ask the directors any questions for a while and you could see them about to speak then stopping themselves.  Oh well, just another example of what I won't be doing when I'm up there.  Thanks to Neither Here Nor There for the pics.

Summer Cinema: The Expendables 3

After the false fire alarm, a 30 minute delay and the theater's inability to start the 3rd film, my friends and I motored over to The Arclight in Hollywood to catch The Expendables 3.  On the way, two motorists got into some kind of road rage beef and were racing/cutting each other off.  Right next to me.  At one point, I passed one of the cars as they got caught behind a dump truck and hoped they wouldn't try to cut me off because then it would be bad news for both of them as giving the finger and brake checking is for bitches and bitches get stitches, you know?! Cause if we're gonna get into it, let's get into it!  Know what I mean?  Anyway, the theater was about half full for the 8:30PM show and I'm glad we saw it with an audience as having a theater entirely to yourself is cool, but it's also cool to see something with enthusiastic fans.

The Expendables 3 starts off with a rescue mission involving a helicopter, machine guns, an armored train, Wesley Snipes with crazy eyes and like parts I and II, some bad CGI.  Turns out that Snipes' character Doc was an original Expendable along with the faceless Hammer and Woodsman, that the team started with 5 and grew to 22 before Doc was captured after attempting a political assassination.  Now, free and teamed up with Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Gunnar Jensen, Toll Road and Hale Caeser (Played by franchise staples Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews) they're off to stop an arms dealer from purchasing some big ass bombs.  Said arms dealer is revealed to be Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), also a former Expendable who went dark and thought killed by Ross.  After Stonebanks shoots one of the team to torment Ross, Barney thinks it's time for the team to go on with their lives before someone punches their ticket.  With the help of crusty mercenary recruiter Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer), he then slaps together a new, young and hungry team for a suicide mission to capture Stonebanks for the C.I.A. but instead of Bruce Willis' Church from I & II we're introduced to Max Drummer (Harrison Ford).  Things go bad on the operation and of course, the old Expendables bail out their buddy Barney and take on Mad Mel's army.

From the opening minutes, Expendables 3 looks brighter and sleeker than the first two installments.  Unlike 2, the picture is crisp and shiny, giving it a modern feel and in general the costumes, visual design, sets, locations and shooting style make for a slick and mostly handsome production.  Of course there's some bad CGI as usual with helicopters, planes and explosions looking REAL fake on the big screen.  Director Patrick Hughes and writers Stallone, Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (that's a very Hollywood sounding name, isn't it?) attempt to pull things in a darker direction with Barney burning internally to get back at Stonebanks, even at the cost of his own life.  There's lots of quiet close ups for pontificating and moving shots that highlight the vast locations like a Somali port, metropolitan high rises, a grand forest and the rubble filled remains of a European hotel.  Acting wise, new addition Mel Gibson is terrific as the conscienceless art buying, arms dealing Conrad Stonebanks and his van scene opposite Stallone is one of the greatest of any of the 3 films.  He makes it look so effortless and it really shows the difference between an action star and an actor.  Bruce Willis replacement Harrison Ford gets to drop some boring exposition as C.I.A. guy before getting funny towards the end while looking all of his 70 some years.  Antonio Banderas as fast talking Galgo is also a highlight, stealing every scene he is in with excited but not annoying chatter that covers up a bit of sorrow.  Wesley Snipes looks lean and mean but delivers some of his dialogue with hammy, Boogeyman relish.  New kids on the block Kellan Lutz, Rhonda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz don't get much to do but handle their roles just fine.

On the action front, the PG-13 rating does negate some of the brutal impact displayed in the first two flicks so it will be interesting to see the R rated cut with bullet hits, throat slashing and all that good stuff.  For the most part it's a guns and grenades affair with some fast, spin move filled fisticuffs from Stallone, Rousey, Statham and Mel Gibson's stunt double.  But the truck chases, boat crashing, night club brawls, shootouts, collapsing rooftop, tank barrage, motorcycle jumping and helicopter chases all add up to an exciting time.  I enjoyed the flick as it's not as serious as the first or as jokey as the second.  There's still plenty of "what the crap" moments like Arnold squeezing in several of his famous lines and the random use of certain characters (Jet Li, cough, Jet Li).  But in the end the 3rd installment feels very modern and stylish in it's execution.  While Brian Tyler score seems to be mostly recycled from the first two films, instead of using 70's rock tunes, the film is filled with modern tracks.

Unfortunately, The Expendables 3 hit theaters on a wave of critical drubbing, PG-13 backlash and  millions of illegal downloads.  It opened up with a not fantastic $16 million, limping into 4th place after parts I & II opened up # 1 with $34 and $28 million.  The flick did earn an A- Cinemascore which means audiences are enjoying the film.  Mine was great as we applauded each introduction, one liner, big explosion, etc.  After pumping up the international release with appearances in Cannes, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, global takes are down 45% in some territories so this may indeed be The Expendables' last ride.  Chalk it up to a crowded market, franchise fatigue (3rd movie in 5 years) and not really bringing anything new to the table, The Expendables is a victim of it's own surprise success as they haven't messed much with the formula, keep cramming in more faces and haven't taken much risk.  It's kind of like watching episodes of G.I. Joe, the good guys fight the bad guys, the good guys never die and we get new characters along the way.  Only instead of selling toys, we're selling legacies. 

Ask Me a Question: The Rover

In a bit of summer time counter programming, it was time for Australian semi-post apocalyptic, revenge thriller western The Rover at The Arclight in Hollywood.  Writer/director David Michod was scheduled for Q&A afterwards and late in the day it was announced co-star Robert Pattinson would also be joining for a chat to hype up the limited release.  Michod had previously given audiences the low key yet engrossing family crime saga Animal Kingdom in 2010.  The Rover starts off by telling us it's been 10 years since The Collapse.  Then we cut to the arid desert of Australia where we find Guy Pearce's Eric sitting alone in his dusty car before he enters a near empty, makeshift bar playing some kind of Asian music.  Outside, a trio of criminals flee the scene of their latest job with one bleeding from a gunshot wound.  We hear them arguing over leaving someone behind and in the heat of the moment, a fight breaks out and they go crashing into the side of the road.  Their vehicle temporarily disabled, they hop into Eric's car and drive off.  What follows is a deliberately paced, shockingly violent and well made piece of revenge and redemption cinema if not the most enjoyable or engaging.

On the trail for his car and possessions, Eric comes across Rey, the thought dead 4th bandit and brother to gunshot afflicted Henry (Argo and Killing Them Softly's Scoot McNairy).  Eric takes Rey to get cleaned up and in the process turns him into his prisoner/guide to find big brother.  Dubbed a "half-wit", Pattinson convincingly plays Rey as equal parts dim, cocky and innocent behind fake teeth, mumbling southern accent and a bad fade haircut.  Throughout the film of course their antagonistic relationship turns symbiotic as they come to an understanding and help each other through.  We learn more about Pearce's mysterious Eric through bits and pieces that he was a soldier, formerly married, etc but Michod is smart enough to keep the reason why he's so keen on getting his car back a mystery until the very end.  We're never told exactly what The Collapse entails but there's still businesses open (that only take American cash), cars on the road and guns galore so it's not exactly Mad Max but Michod does an excellent job of setting up the run down, violent world without much explanation. 

Pearce plays Eric as focused yet disheveled with little dialog for vast stretches of the film.  Pattinson does a fine job acting in an unglamorous role and shows he's serious about using that Twilight fame to anchor an actual career.  Being shot in remote Australia gives us plenty of long takes of rocky and desolate landscapes and we can feel the heat and grime through sweaty brows, filthy clothes and flies buzzing about everywhere.  The music and sound are used to great effect, helping to build up tension then break it like when Pattinson sings along to a random pop song in the car out of nowhere.  Similar to fellow Australian film-making like John Hillcoat's The Proposition or Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly, The Rover is equal parts quiet, violent, impacting, beautiful and sad.  I can't say The Rover kept my interest the entire duration but at the end it was an experience to watch but not something I could ever imagine viewing again.

After the film, a Q&A hosted by an excited yet kind of goofy critic from Access Hollywood welcomed David Michod and Robert Pattinson.

- After Animal Kingdom, Michod's world was turned upside down.  Endless meetings, reading scripts he knew he'd never direct.
- Channeled professional and personal frustration into The Rover.  Feels that climate change is biggest threat to the planet but no one cares and for first time, the future does not seem very bright.
- Animal Kingdom and Warrior's Joel Edgarton has a Story By credit but there was no mention of his involvement.
- Pattinson had seen a teaser from Animal Kingdom and knew it was something special.  Read The Rover, was blown away by it and signed up.
- Got the look from seeing some white trash type but can't remember how he came up with the accent.  Being on a set of Australians, nobody could tell if it was good or bad.
- Shot in remote parts of Australia where it was 120 degrees and used night vision goggles to star gaze since there wasn't much else to do.
- Music came from various sources and inspirations but Michod cited going down an iTunes rabbit hole for 7 hours and discovering some out there stuff.
- Much was discussed about the film's conclusion, themes and story but I feel those would be spoiler heavy.  It's a simple movie so no need to ruin it here.
- Michod talks about hating to do "action" scenes because he gets 1/3 of the shots he would usually get in a day and it's not about talking to actors, it's just about technical garbage.

Like many of the Q&A's at The Arclight, The Rover's wasn't great.  For some reason, maybe it's because it's The Arclight, but it feels like the energy is sucked out and the moderators are looking for some highfalutin, important discussion on cinema and the state of blah blah blah.  It didn't help that our host had some really poor questions and the audience didn't change course with their mundane queries about favorite scenes to shoot and other crap I can't remember but it just wasn't very memorable.  More than several attendees left before the end and Robert Pattinson made for a borderline horrible guest.  Not that he was rude but he just didn't have much to say and barely looked up the entire time.

Now, that time Tim Allen and Dean Parisot did Q&A, it didn't matter that the moderator was blah, they just riffed without prodding and gave the audience great stories and background on the making of Galaxy Quest.

"By Grabthar's Hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be entertained!"

Ask Me a Question: X-Men: Days of Future Past

After cinematic go rounds with Spider-Man and Godzilla, it was time to get even bigger.  X-Men: Days of Future Past is allegedly Fox's biggest greenlit film in history behind Avatar.  Why?  Because the filmmakers decided to make a huge summer tent pole action film that involved time travel, a period setting and two casts.  Two casts?  Yup.  If you've kept up with the X franchise since 2000's X-Men, 2003's X2: X-Men United, 2006's The Last Stand, 2009's Origins: Wolverine, 2011's First Class and 2013's The Wolverine, you know that the merry mutants call for a huge entourage of guys and gals with wondrous and freakish abilities who fight on the side of good and evil.  First Class served as a prequel with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender taking over roles previously played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.  Days of Future Past blends the new and original cast while introducing yet even more new characters.  What could have descended into overcrowded camp a la Batman and Robin (which is still an enjoyable romp, what?!), Days does a surprisingly effective job of utilizing both casts to tell a grand tale ripped from the panels of the comic books.

Continuity has always been an issue in the X-Men franchise because the original was a difficult production that studio Fox didn't quite believe in.  When it was a success, it was more about getting to the next film than it was maintaining a cohesive timeline.  In The Wolverine, we saw Hugh Jackman's gruff, adamantium metal fitted bones and clawed anti-hero hanging out in Japan.  Upon return he's greeted by friends-enemies-friends Professor Xavier (Stewart) and Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (McKellan) who have put their differences aside to face a larger threat and need Wolverine's help.  From there we jump right into Days of Future Past with a small contingent of X-Men; Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Colossus, Bishop, War Path, Sunspot and Blink as they continuously evade seemingly unstoppable mutant hunting machines, The Sentinels.  I think it's Warpath who can sense them coming then Kitty transfers the consciousness of Bishop to his body a few days prior to warn his comrades so they can escape death.  Xavier, Magneto, Wolverine and old standby Storm catch up with the crew and think they can change the present by altering the past.  With Logan's healing factor and slow aging, he's the perfect candidate to go back 50 years to 1973 to help stop an assassination that will cause the Sentinel program to take root.

We then switch settings and casts for the 1974 scenes which sees Professor Xavier a shell of his former self after destructive results of First Class 10 years prior.  Logan, Xavier and Hank McCoy aka Beast recruit the super fast mutant Peter (Pietro in the comics) Maximoff (Evan Peters) to help break young Magneto (Fassbender) out of the Pentagon so they can stop the shape shifting Raven aka Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from taking out weapons and Sentinel designer Bolivar Trask (Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage).  His death will trigger even more anti-mutant fervor while cementing the need for the Sentinel program.  The flick starts off well enough, just diving right in without much set up or explanation.  Even as a fan of the movies and comics, I was a little confused though as The Sentinel program seemed to come out of nowhere.  I suppose it could have all happened in the 7 year gap between Last Stand and Days but a little clarification would have been nice. 

Early scenes show the young X-Men using their powers to battle the Sentinels with Iceman finally flying around on ice bridges and slides.  Initial scenes with young Xavier and Magneto are very powerful with excellent performances from McAvoy and Fassbender. The 70's vibe provides some laughs with the fashion, water beds, etc.  Hugh Jackman looks swoler and striated as ever in his surprisingly lone shirtless scene but he does get in a heinie shot which I think is a first for the X-Flicks and does his usual likable loner act.  Going into the flick, everything we had seen of Quicksilver looked hokey and ridiculous.  His appearance seemed to be derived from Doc Brown from Back to the Future and the Carl's Jr ad of him eating a burger in super speed/slow motion was just awkward.  But in the film, it all works marvelously and he's one of the most memorable characters in the flick with arguably the greatest scene in the picture as he uses his super speed and mischievous sense of humor to break Magneto out.  In the comics, Mags is his father and there's a throwaway line alluding to it.

With the two casts jockeying for screen time, I was slightly astonished that much of the film takes place in the 70's with the First Class cast and Wolverine in a bit of a supporting role.  I figured it would jump between time lines with conflicts reflecting each other a la Inception but for the most part, the present day cast is confined to what seemed like only a handful of meaty scenes which don't really utilize or showcase characters like Kitty Pryde, Iceman and Bishop or the actors who play them.  That's actually a departure for this series that has always been so Wolverine centric and then gave Storm a boost at the expense of Cyclops when Halle Berry won an Oscar.  There are some great cameos throughout and the film ends on a high note that gets you pumped for future installments.  If you're going to see this, forgo the post-conversion 3D as it adds nothing to the experience.  NOTHING.  The Arclight's glasses are incredibly heavy and uncomfortable and they're battery operated so you get power flickers too boot.

After the film, producer Lauren Schuler Donner and Quicksilver, Iceman and Bishop actors Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore and Omar Sy participated in a Q&A that was streamed out to each Arclight location around California.  Some quick bites:

- Project was brought to Donner's attention by former development exec, she read Wolverine's bio in a series bible and loved him.
- X-Men was most difficult because they didn't know what direction to go, she shrugs off part 3
- Story hammered out by Bryan Singer, Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Simon Kinberg then bounced off of Donner and then Kinberg went off to write script.
-X2 writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris did a few tweaks and are coming back for X-Men: Apocalypse which is still in story development mode.
- Had a subplot where present day Magneto, Professor X and Iceman go to the Mansion to rescue Rogue (Anna Paquin) but was cut due to time restraints.  Will be finished and scored and included in DVD release.
- It was kind of a low key affair but Omar Sy was visibly excited to be there and won the audience with his love for the franchise, gratitude for the opportunity and French man charm.
- Evan Peters was offered the role flat while Ashmore had to audition 5 times back in 2000 and was cast as a different character before taking over Bobby Drake.
- Shooting the movie was like a family reunion and Sy's first day was working with Professor X, Magneto, Storm and Wolverine which also meant Patrick, McKellan, Berry and Jackman.
- James McAvoy is a practical joker and cut the cheese in the middle of a scene
- Scheduling nightmare as Jackman was promoting Wolverine, Ashmore on The Following, Paquin on True Blood, Patrick and McKellan starring in a play together, etc.

I don't quite understand all the loathe for X-Men 3.  Part of it stems from the casting off of director Brett Ratner as a talentless hack but they guy knows how to make movies look good, always has great casts and has made fun flicks like Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 with enjoyable mass market efforts like The Family Man, After the Sunset and Tower Heist.  X3 isn't perfect, there's too many characters crammed in, Cyclops gets killed off after 4 minutes of screen time, blah blah but the same people who made Days, made The Last Stand and had no problem singing it's praises on the DVD features and commentaries.  After director Matthew Vaughn jumped ship thinking he couldn't do what he wanted to do in the limited time frame, Ratner came in with little prep and made a perfectly fine X-Men movie because let's face it, X-Men isn't a masterpiece and Origins: Wolverine is downright crap with it's shoddy f/x, nonsensical mutant cameos, poor production values and unfulfilled potential.  While people go see Marvel marathons, I seriously doubt you'd get too many people willing to sit down for a triple feature of X-Men movies.

The Arclight does stuff like this all the time I feel but this just felt underwhelming.  From the eh moderating to the volume of the microphones being barely audible to the 20 minutes to get out of the parking garage, it was just like all the energy and goodwill from the film had been sucked out.

Ask Me a Question: Terminator 2 w/Robert Patrick

As I navigate the seas of social media and work on getting the word out on the Van Damme double feature while traveling to 3 cons in a month, I'll be taking a break to attend yet another throwback screening at the Arclight Hollywood to see one of the greatest sequels of all time, Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.  If you'll recall, The Terminator and Aliens screened not long ago sans guests while T2 was a winner in an audience choice poll and has the T-1000 himself, Robert Patrick, stopping by to introduce 1991's highest grossing movie and my first R rated flick in a theater.  In addition to T2, Patrick has popped up in everything from Die Hard 2: Die Harder to Double Dragon to Walk the Line and Gangster Squad while appearing on TV in X-Files and The Unit.  Since his first credit in 1986, Patrick has convincingly played heroic, nefarious, fatherly and amusing opposite Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Denzel Washington, Demi Moore and Harrison Ford while being directed by the likes of James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Robert Rodriguez and James Mangold.

Judgement Day takes place years after the first as soldier and father of the future Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) and Sarah Connor's (Linda Hamilton) son John (Edward Furlong) has been targeted for termination.  Patrick plays the more advanced than Arnold's T-800 model, the shape shifting, liquid metal T-1000 that is the ultimate infiltration unit that can imitate nearly any form and has a penchant for turning his limbs into huge knives and stabbing weapons.  Picking up many of the same beats from the original, T2 is a huge, groundbreaking, exciting, action packed, visual roller coaster compared to the low budget, tech noir B-movie masterpiece of the first.  Upon release the film took in half a billion dollars in theaters alone and ushered in a new era of digital f/x.  In 1996, Universal Studios unveiled a part live action, part 3D film that reunited the main cast for an amusement park attraction that ran for 15 years.  I'm sure it will look fantastic on the big screen and I'll bet Mr. Patrick will have some great stories to share.

*UPDATED*

The Los Angeles Times just announced their line up for the 5th annual Hero Complex festival.  Years past have seen guests like Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Richard Donner, Warren Beatty, Peter Weller, John Carpenter, Roland Emmerich and many more attend.  This year centers on future set Science Fiction with double bills of The Terminator and sequel Judgement Day with writer/director James Cameron appearing as well as Alien and Aliens with star Sigourney Weaver.  Coincidentally, I've seen Terminator, Aliens and Judgement Day on the big screen all in the last couple of months and just saw Weaver discuss Aliens at Calgary Expo.  I guess that just shows you how dang popular these movies are.

Arclight Presents Terminator 2:  Judgement Day with special introduction by co-star and T-1000 Robert Patrick was a great night out.  My friend helped rope Patrick in and he was a very cool guy and accommodating to the dozens of fans looking for a handshake or photo.  Patrick's teenage children had never seen the flick and were in attendance as well.  To begin, Patrick welcomed the crowd and mentioned a few tidbits about the production like studying predators in the wild to develop his often imitated run to show no wasted movement, catching up to the camera car doing 13 miles per hour, James Cameron telling him they were making history when doing the "walk out of fire" shot and hitting Arnold with a padded metal pipe a little too hard in a fight scene.  He listed Cop Land, Walk the Line and Gangster Squad as some of his personal favorite movies and roles while giving props to director James Mangold.  After the flick, Patrick told us he hadn't watched the film in at least 20 years and that the steel mill was chopped, shipped and reassembled in China!  I had some shirts made up for the night and gave some to him and his family, he really seemed to like them and so I'm hoping to trade him additional shirts for a sit down interview.  Which would be a first for Dammaged Goods! 

Gotta Drank! 3Dog Cantina

After a movie at the Arclight we walked up Cahuenga Boulevard in search of sustenance.  Old standbys Big Wangs and Kitchen 24 didn't seem too appetizing nor did newish burger and beer joint, Stout.  All of a sudden, I realized there's a lot of bars on this corner with the aforementioned trio, swanky gastropub Saint Felix, a new, tiny cocktail joint called The Powder Room and I believe semi recent additions The Blue Boar Pub and 3Dog Cantina.  The last two share the same owner but I was in the mood for some Mexican grub and we went with Cantina.  This used to be a pretty big and I thought happening sports bar where I'd viewed a few UFC fights.  Not sure if it's the same owner but the interior was completely renovated but still spacious.  It was surprisingly quiet on a Sunday evening but hey, I hate crowds so no complaints from this guy.

Their drink menu has plenty of variety with the expected tequila and margarita offerings as well as some mother fucking moonshine, which I am an imbiber of and quickly ordered.  Complimentary chips and salsa started us off and they have 3 varieties of fresh made guacamole available.  Food wise, you've got your tacos, burritos and fajita selections.  My carne asada tacos were very tasty if a little pricey at $16 for 3 but ya know, it's Hollywood.  Most surprising was their kale Caesar salad, if you're not a fan of salad or kale, I urge you to try this just once, it's that good.  Happy Hour runs through the week with specials on food and drinks so we'll definitely be back to take advantage.

Hitting the Thunder Road:

Vernal Viewing: Terminator Four(th time)

Today is coincidentally the first day of Spring aka the vernal equinox aka warming temperatures, equal days and nights and the rebirth of flora and fauna.  What does that mean?  Another night at the Arclight Hollywood, this time for a Dome screening of 1984's The Terminator.  If you'll recall, this is the 2nd week in a row I've seen a Michael Biehn/James Cameron joint on the big screen after Aliens on Wednesday last.  There must have been some kind of writer meet up because I spotted a huge table of folks I recognized from Comic-Con panels.  Basically, they choose a year and go through the awesome genre movies that came out and then present/discuss them.  While it sounds like a neat concept but with so many speakers and topics, it's hard to keep the "mommenemum" going.  A few years ago I corralled a party of 11 to go see a Predator/Predator 2 double feature and it remains one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.  Tonight, we had a group of 8 but hey, for a 30 year old movie, that's still pretty good.

Before the flick, an Arclight staff member welcomed us and let us all know he was a huge fan of The Terminator as well.  To start things off, there were some trivia questions and giveaways of their famous caramel popcorn.  Who won one?  This guy.  With the answer to the question, what was the name of the night club Sarah Connor first encounters the Terminator and saved by Kyle Reese?  Why, that's Tech Noir!  Sadly, the theater wasn't very full but we had great seats and were ready to take a trip back in time and into the future...

As you've read on this online memoir plenty of times, I love James Cameron, Arnold, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, The Terminator, Aliens, etc.  This would be my fourth viewing of The Terminator on the big screen in as many years.  This time around I noticed more of the "heart" of the movie, the scenes between mother of the future resistance, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her time traveling protector/father of the future, Kyle Reese (Biehn).  These quiet moments are tucked in between shootouts, foot races, car chases, explosions and hyper alloy combat chassis shenanigans.  The Tech Noir sequence, where Reese zeroes in on the Terminator and sends him through a window with shotgun blasts really starts my favorite section of the movie.  The ensuing alley chase then cars screeching around the streets of Los Angeles, Reese's explanation of who he is and what the Terminator is, into another car chase, the police station assault and Reese exclaiming "I didn't build the fucking thing!" ...great stuff.

This time around I also noticed how well rounded the three characters are and how skillfully efficient Cameron's script is.  While Arnold is the title character and "star" of the show, Reese and Connor have equally important weight in the picture.  Reese is the storyteller, letting us know what's happening, what happened and what's going to happen next.  He's there to protect Sarah at all costs and guide her on her journey to becoming a formidable leader that will help mankind defeat the machines in the future.  Meanwhile, instead of just being thrown into the mayhem and screaming along like a damsel in distress, Sarah Connor is never dragged along helplessly, she quickly accepts what's happening and learns to adapt, lead and survive.  Of course Arnold's T-800 is there to wipe out Connor's existence and does so with muscular, silent menace.

People like to give Cameron a hard time that he's more interested in technology than telling a story which is total and utter bullshit.  You don't have screenings of 20-30 year old movies if it was only about the whiz-bang.  The Terminator, like all of Cameron's films, is at heart, a love story.  Kyle Reese travels across time for Sarah with no chance of ever getting home.  He's memorized every curve and nuance of a photo of Sarah and fallen in love with her in the process.  Always wondering what she was thinking about when the photo was taken, we the audience learn that she was thinking of him.  If that's not swoon worthy, I don't know what is...

Come with me if you want to live!

Gotta Drank! The Bowery

The 80's keep on rocking and rolling at The Arclight Hollywood this week as screenings of Aliens and Back to the Future remind us how great they are.  This would be my 2nd viewing of Aliens on the big screen while it was something like the 7th of BTTF.  Yeah, that's a lotta Flux Capacitating!  It's also week one of two of seeing Michael Biehn on the big screen as next Wednesday it's time for The Terminator.  The crowds have been a little subdued this week but you can bet your ass I'll be clapping and getting rowdy for Arnold, Biehn, Cameron, Paxton and Henriksen.  The last time I saw The Terminator, it was preceded the week earlier by a screening of The Abyss.  Hopefully Navy Seals and Tombstone are next in my double Biehn screen viewing.

Anywho, before Aliens, we walked a couple blocks over to Vine where there's a slew of bar and restaurants like The Well, grilled cheese house The Melt, some Italian joint and The Bowery; a cozy and dimly lit establishment that claims to have the best hamburger in Los Angeles.  I've had it and wasn't wowed but then again, it's served on an English muffin.  To me, English muffins are only good if they're toasted to a nice crispy finish and slathered in butter.  Bowery has some other tasty selections as well though on it's small menu.  Happy Hour runs the entire week I believe from 4-7.  As I'm fighting a cold, it was Hot Toddy time.  You know, whiskey and hot tea with lemon and honey on the side?  This might have been the best Hot Toddy I've ever had simply due to the fact that they gave me a shot glass full of honey with it.

Goodnight, future boy!

)

Gotta Drank! Stella Barra Pizzeria

It's been an Arclight-centric couple of weeks for movie going and right next door is newish establishment, Stella Barra Pizzeria.  I believe it used to be a gastropub but it went kaput.  The new joint is pretty nice inside, wide open with a big bar.  Thin crust, hot oven pizzas are the specialty but we just went for a quick drank before a flick.  I believe they had a Happy Hour special going for drinks that we just missed.  Their cocktails weren't too expensive and I opted for the Honey Badger which was kind of like a Hot Toddy only cold with Tequila, so not really like it at all I guess...

Last Man Standing: Harrison Ford

It's 80's time over at The Arclight as they're showing classic flicks like Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, Back to the Future and Die Hard over the coming weeks (a.k.a. Michael Biehn on the big screen 2 weeks in a row!).  On Wednesday, the Dome was nearly sold out for a revival of 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which finds the globe trotting professor fighting gangsters in China before embarking on a quest for magic stones in India where he uncovers a dark cult of heart stealing baddies.  The film looked great up on the big, curved screen of The Dome and Steven Spielberg's work still holds up with it's mix of walloping action, exotic locales, romance and buddy comedy in the purposely dark story.  Apparently writer/producer George Lucas was going through a divorce at the time and not in the best of moods and also wanted to follow The Empire Strikes Back's move into scarier territory.  If you've never been to The Dome, always sit in the middle sections, whether you're in the front row or the way in the back, it's still a good view.  Sitting on the sides is a little weird because the curvature of the screen seems to distort the image, to me, at least.

Earlier in the week and during dinner, I had been discussing American leading men and how we have so few of them coming up the ranks.  Batman, Spider-Man, Robocop and Superman are all played by Europeans.  Australians like Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth have a lock on playing tough guys while for a moment America was getting Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera shoved down our throats.  Point Break, a film about an Ohio football player turned FBI agent chasing down a California surfer, just got cast with an Australian and a Scotsman in the leads.  Don't get me wrong, we'll always have our Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cruise and Smith contingent but those guys all started off in the 90's and are "cool guys" who were deemed pretty or funny before coming into their own.  Tom Hanks, a marvelous actor, has made a career of being the nice guy.  Where's the American ideal, the cowboy, the quiet loner, the get it done, Doer?  Burt Reynolds had his day but his good ol' boy charm just wasn't taken seriously.  Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood did it their way but apparently that's not the times we're living in anymore.

In the 90's, every big script went to 3 guys:  Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford.  Gibson is fucking harsh but his career was sold on his Australian upbringing.  Costner was a McQueen wannabe but never half as cool, in fact, he kind of comes off as a dick.  But Ford...Ford was it, Ford, in my estimation was our last American Man.  The O.G.  He was strong, dignified and fought the fight because it was the right thing to do.  In Temple, he is a movie icon for the books with his strong jawed handsomeness, dry wit and laconic personality.  A former carpenter who turned to acting, Ford brings a real life weariness and knowing confidence to the screen with his creaky gait and fit yet not overblown physique.  Turns in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Witness, Patriot Games and The Fugitive showcased his anchoring presence and easy going action charm.  While Air Force One gave us the only President, cinematic or otherwise, we can imagine throwing down with terrorists before tossing them off his plane.

Here's to you, Harrison Ford, for showing us how it's done.  Hopefully they manage to cram in "get off my plane" in Expendables III where he's playing a pilot.

Ask Me A Question: Galaxy Quest

After a pretty rough last week which saw me missing out on the Thor/Avengers/Thor II triple feature, I rebounded last night by attending part of the 50th Anniversary of the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight with a totally inspired selection, Galaxy Quest, with star Tim Allen and director Dean Parisot.  I hadn't seen the flick from 1999 for quite some time but remembered it fondly and have a buddy who is a big fan.  Of course, I'm a lifelong Tim Allen fan because he tells it like it is and doesn't worry about all that Nancy Boy, PC shit the rest of you seem to occupy yourselves with.  They screened a 35 mm print which was great but with it's faded colors and scratches, kind of made you pine for a cleaned up, digital copy. 

Galaxy Quest is basically a meta-fantasy version of Star Trek; the cast of a cult sci-fi show that's long been off the air makes their living doing appearances at conventions and soaking up fandom.  Aliens fighting a ruthless mutant marauder view the show as historical documents and enlist the has been crew to live out the show's adventures for real.  What makes the film hold up, besides Stan Winston's awesome make up and effects, is the cast.  Wow.  Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Daryl Mitchell are superb while Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell and fresh faced Justin Long steal just about every scene they're in.  It's also a pretty layered movie about fame, family, fans and the fantasy of a higher calling.

Tim Allen and director Dean Parisot were great and basically ran the Q&A without any prodding.

- Big movie from DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg was involved who loved the film.
- In the beginning, there was a different director and direction, more like Spaceballs.
- Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted Allen to star and took him to an awkward breakfast with production staff where he was introduced as the lead to much resistance.  Those who did not agree were not working on the movie the next day.
- Katzenberg is a man who says what he means and means what he says.
- Allen is friends with Bill Shatner now because of the movie.  Didn't try to impersonate Shatner but did channel Yul Brynner from The Ten Commandments when sitting in the Command chair.
- Allen gave Alan Rickman a hard time since he was a trained actor and Allen was a comedian.  Whereas Rickman would do actor warm ups, Allen would do dick and fart jokes for 20 minutes.  After a month Rickman realized it was the same result just a different process.
- Parisot and Allen loved Winston's effects except for the pig alien.
- Allen was impressed Weaver signed on so soon after Alien 3.
- Weaver loved wearing the blonde wig and would leave set with it to go to parties. 
- Originally a 150 page script, whittled down to focus on the family of actors.
- Tony Shalhoub carried a bag of snacks around with him on set, Allen compares it to Brad Pitt and Robert DeNiro who are always eating in films as it gets the actor out of their mindset.
- Shalhoub based his performance on David Carradine in Kung-Fu.
- DreamWorks mishandled the marketing, aiming it only at kids which was a mistake they later admitted.  Caused the removal of Weaver's biggest laugh when "Fuck this!" became "Screw this!".
- Allen doesn't like the name Twitter or Tweet.
- Is included on a list of top ten of most successful Star Trek movies.
- Allen had sausage on the brain; used it to reference breakfast and as a metaphor for the movie business and something else...
- Original trailer was voice over, showed off the serious, sci-fi aspect then Allen as a loser hero but canned in favor of selling Justin Long to kid audience.
- Sequel written but for whatever reason, legal, etc never moved forward.

It was a fun night and made me want to watch some Star Trek but let's be honest, I'm not gonna sit down for that long...