Beyond Fest 2016: Big Trouble In Little China w/ Kurt Russell & James Gunn

The first film to sell out at Beyond Fest this year was a repertory screening of 1986's John Carpenter classic Big Trouble In Little China. I was honored to provide the write up on the BF website for one of my favorite films as one of my favorite actors, Kurt Russell, would be appearing for a post film conversation with Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn. Big Trouble sold out in less than a day and of course my most anticipated evening of the festival. I had no idea Russell would be attending the film and as a Russell film naming contest took place to introduce the night, I ran to the bathroom and saw the man standing in a hallway seemingly by himself. Caught by surprise I locked eyes with the film icon, inexplicably pointed at him and fist pumped as he smiled and waved. This would be the third time seeing Russell live and I'd actual met the guy briefly a while back and he was just as cool and funny as you'd want him to be.

Big Trouble In Little China holds up now better than ever, it's irreverent sense of humor mixed with mysticism soaked action, big sets, crazy costumes, whip fast banter and perfect cast is a one of a kind crowd pleaser. Russell and Gunn sat and watched the film and came down after where Russell was only too happy to view the film after such a long time with an audience who appreciated it. He looked back with nothing but fond memories, recalling that everyday on set was something cool to see, something cool to do and cool people to be around. The leading man gave director John Carpenter total credit for the esteem Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble, et al are held in and shared that neither he nor Dwayne Johnson brought up the proposed remake The Rock is looking to produce and star in while the two worked together on Furious 8. Russell saw Jack Burton as a mix of himself, Jack Nicholson, John Wayne and the kind of guy you didn't ask for his opinion but shared it anyway. Russell shared several stories of being a young actor and how Fox executives didn't know what to do with the film, fools! Russell also dropped gems like "ifs, and's and Peter Pan's" aknd the classic "that guy knows what fucking time it is".

Ask Me a Question: The Return of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary

The Egyptian Theatre is three nights in to it's awesome Night of the Living '80s: A New Wave of Horror series celebrating zombies, slashers and evil spirits. Re-Animater and From Beyond kicked things off Thursday night with an appearance by director Stuart Gordon. The Changeling and Poltergeist followed Friday with director Peter Medak while Saturday was the big one, the 30th anniversary of horror-comedy zombie classic Return of the Living Dead and alien slugs invade a college town cult favorite Night of the Creeps. It's not even Halloween but this ended up being an incredibly strange evening as I dealt with road raging drivers on the way there then spotted a first, a guy trying to find a vein and shoot up in a trash can off Hollywood Boulevard. Before the film, you had people in costume showcasing scary clown from IT, Tar-Man from Living Dead and some chick with a bloody ax and racoon tail while funny clips screened discussing Satanism, the music video for Big Trouble In Little China, a funny teaser for upcoming Beyond Fest and much more. Creepshow Cabaret started things off with some tantalizing peekaboo action with one scary clown disrobing, one sad clown doing a show, the ax wielding lady gripping and grinding it seductively and finally a lap dance for unstated guest of honor, Clu Gulager.

The Return of the Living Dead takes place in Louisville, Kentucky where Uneeda Medical Supply provides skeletons, cadavers and taxidermied animals to local schools and hospitals. Frank (James Karen) is breaking in new hire Freddy (Thom Mathews) and we learn that the zombie movie Night of the Living Dead was based on true events and that Uneeda has some of the creatures in storage downstairs. The dim witted duo go to take a look at the frozen subjects, housed in Army Corp. of Engineers designed tombs but they end up springing a leak. Trying to contain the situation, owner Burt (Gulagher) doesn't want to call the police or army and decides to ask neighbor Ernie (Don Calfa) to incinerate a resurrected cadaver in his mortuary. Unfortunately the resulting smoke goes into the clouds, comes back down with rain and raises a cemetery's worth of brain hungry zombies where a bunch of Freddy's friends are waiting to pick him up after work. 80's greatness follows as the surviving humans barricade themselves in, try to find a way to kill the zombies and escape.  There's laughs, scares, brains, blood, tits and synth galore from writer/director Dan O'Bannon with story assists by Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo and Rusell Streiner.

At roughly 90 minutes, Dead moves fast and uses it's few locations economically where you don't feel closed in or that the low budget production couldn't afford to do more. The cast throughout is great with Clu playing Burt big, serious and near rabid while James Karen and Thom Mathews make a terrific team of bumblers, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. gets to say Fuck a lot and call Gulager a honky while Linnea Quigley's sole purpose is to be naked for the duration of her screen time. Mark Venturini is hilarious as the angst ridden, taken advantage of Suicide, Beverly Randolph gets to play cute and shrieky as Freddy's girlfriend Tina while John Philbin and Jewel Shepard play the not to be couple Chuck and Casey. Don Calfa as embalmer Ernie comes off just creepy enough you think he'll turn on our survivors but does not. Matt Clifford's synth and rock song score is fantastic and great at pumping up a crowd. Zombie shenanigans are laugh out loud funny while also gory and disgusting with brains being eaten, heads knocked off with bats and the like all gloriously done practically with prosthetic limbs, costumes, fake blood and cow brains. All in a really enjoyable time capsule that was great to see for the first time on the big screen with a packed and enthusiastic audience.

After the film a MAMMOTH panel was introduced by our film historian moderator David Del Valle that included actors Clu Gulager, Beverly Randolph, John Philbin, Thom Matthews, Brian Peck and Jewel Shepard, production designer William Stout and I believe documentary producers/authors Gary Smart and Michael Perez as well as make up artist Kenny Meyers. It was a bit of a warbled affair as Del Valle didn't introduce anyone or their role in the film then asked the 10 person panel how they met Dan O'Bannon and what it was like to work with them.

- Clu found O'Bannon very smart and praises Living Dead as having a near flawless last 10 minutes.
- Thom Mathews auditioned a couple of times and calls Living Dead the best experience he ever had on a project.
- Meyers was brought in last minute as previous f/x man was fired. O'Bannon screamed at Perez not to tell him "no problem". As that what was the last guy kept saying.
- Stout believes that O'Bannon and George Lucas changed cinema by finding production designers who came from other arenas of art and not just architecture.

- Brian Peck had a agent horrible who wouldn't put him up for a role, went in multiple times then heard nothing. One day reading Variety sees the film was ramping up for production and he was listed as part of the cast.
- Jewel Shepard met O'Bannon in a strip club where she worked and was offered role of Trash. But Shepard was tired of playing the naked girl and ended up as Casey instead.
- John Philbin auditioned half a dozen times, didn't think O'Bannon liked him.

Things got crazy when Gulager reminisced about his early career when someone told him, "walk softly and carry a big dick", not knowing what that meant, the actor unveiled a giant penis and said he carried it around town until realizing it was stick, not dick. So here's an 86 year old actor in front of 500 people, talking to a giant penis, asking it questions then answering in a falsetto voice. That was a moment of greatness before things took an awkward segue with much of the panel talking about the differences of making films in the 80's compared to today. Back then you could be an unknown and land a leading role while today you need a demo reel and credits to even get an agent. Shepard remarked that it was easy for her, she just got naked. Thom Mathews didn't seem to appreciate that advice as his 11 year old daughter was in the audience. Beverly Randolph got things back on track as there were two copies of documentary More Brains! up for grabs and Brian Peck asked a couple of trivia questions. There was still Night of the Creeps to screen but already pushing 11:00 PM it was time to go home. After a quick chat with filmmaker Larry Brand we hit the road and one of the weirdest, oddest, realist nights in my Hollywood experience came to an end.

What the Flick?! Big Trouble In Little China Remake

1986's cult classic Big Trouble In Little China is one of my favorite movies. I saw the oddball tale of blowhard trucker Jack Burton who gets caught up in a kidnapping, in between rival Chinatown gangs and ancient mysticism complete with sorcery on cable channel TBS one night as a youth and have loved it ever since. Rumors of a sequel have long persisted with a TV show once bandied about. The closest we've come is an ongoing comic book series from BOOM! Studios. Although the film has lived on through cable, VHS and DVD, it was still a flop upon release. Costing a sturdy $25 million bucks plus marketing, the film only brought in $11 million at the box office. On their entertaining commentary, director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell talk about the film's legacy with the actor wondering if the film has finally made it into the black after all these years. Carpenter answered that by simply asking, "where are my checks?" so by Hollywood accounting, the film has not made money.

News of a sequel hit the internet like a bolt of lightening Monday night with news that Thor and X-Men: First Class scribes Ashely Miller and Zack Stentz pitched an update to rights holder Fox and closed a deal to script. The bigger news? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in talks to star as Burton and produce as the original is one of his favorite films.  Miller is a convention staple, appearing on numerous panels on genre flicks and writing so his heart is obviously in the right place. Johnson is coming off his first solo headlining hit, San Andreas, after years of reinvigorating franchises while being unable to launch his own. At first glance, he seems like a terrible choice. His over the top persona and invincible physicality would negate the original character who was always in over his head, talking a big game then getting kicked across the room and not being able to hold his own in a fight. Sidekick Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) and crusty cool old guy Egg Shen are the real heroes of Big Trouble as they're the ones who fill us in on what's going down in Chinatown and Chi punches, kicks, flips, flies and sword fights his way through goons while Burton knocks himself out or gets trapped under a fallen villain and misses the battle.

Beyond that, is Hollywood really going to bankroll a film where the cast is 90% Asian? If you'll recall, the original has Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall and Kate Burton but every other significant role is filled by the likes of James Hong, Dun, Victor Wong, James Lew, Donald Li, on and on. This is the studio that gave us a totally white version of Orange County on TV and the showrunner removed minority characters from scripts. AKA a Six Demon Bag of slightly racist and melodramatic lame. They also botched the original release by A) not getting the movie and B) having no idea how to market it. Head of studio commented that Jack Burton wasn't too good of a hero, completely missing the point. Johnson is a funny guy, maybe he sees this as a chance to go back to doing some comedy that isn't kiddie friendly like The Tooth Fairy or The Gameplan. If he diffuses his physical presence by constantly being beat up by mystically strong baddies, having no idea what's going on, talking a big game but ending up with lipstick on his face, etc, it could totally work. But if he plans on just bulldozing his way through tossing funny one liners and not knowing he's supposed to be the sidekick, we're in Biiiig Trouble. And not the Tim Allen ensemble cast kind.

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

After a night of birthday celebrating it was down to Long Beach for the Comic Expo on Saturday. This is usually the smaller of the two LB shows but this year expanded so much that they had to move it to another section of the convention center. There was some science technology summit or other happening where LBCC usually is so we were around the back by the Performing Arts Center and Aquarium. Replica cars from Knight Rider, Jurassic Park, The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future welcomed you, it was a breeze to grab tickets and head inside. Right away we saw one Lance Henriksen at the non-RAW, RAW booth with The Lone Gunmen actor Dean Haglund along with a local artist. I immediately searched the floor for NECA's new Bishop figure and took it over to Mr. Henriksen to sign. Having already bought his book last year, The Lance was still just too Damme cool and gracious, chit chatting about Alien 5 (He hasn't heard anything) and how he actually hadn't seen the new figure yet. Again, just a great guy and here's hoping I put together an event he can attend. Why was it the non-RAW, RAW booth? Well convention specialist Mike was on hand, the RAW Studios banner was up, but neither Messrs Thomas Jane or Tim Bradstreet were attending. The Jane is still shooting new show The Expanse up in Canada while Bradstreet was also out of town. Here's hoping the duo return to Long Beach soon as their previous years have been outstanding with screenings and panels.

From there we walked the floor which was nice and padded with carpet checking out comics, toys, arts and crafts, Big Trouble in Little China ReAction figures and Funko's were around. I recognized some vendors from previous shows, guess we're becoming regulars huh? The floor boasted over 165 exhibitors and artists but strangely didn't feel much bigger than previous shows. Star Wars Laser Tag was set up in the back, there was a signing area where Futurama's Phil LaMarr and martial arts heroine Cynthia Rothrock were set up near a new addition, video games projected on a big screen. Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers action ensued. Writing legend and X-Men mainstay Chris Claremont showed up and had a line at his table the entire day.

11:00 AM marked our first and only panel of the day, G.I. Joe Cartoon Voices! Hosted by combat fatigue clad Flint aka Bill Ratner, the panel included Keone Young (Storm Shadow), Hal Rayle (Deep-Six), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Lady Jaye), Jerry Houser (Sci-Fi) and Neil Ross (Shipwreck). There was a great camaraderie between the actors and they started things off with a reading of a funny G.I. Joe skit where Cobra ninja assassin Storm Shadow is actually trying to help the Joes. The panel included much talk of working for Wally Burr who would push his actors to provide a realistic, non-obvious cartoony performance in sessions that went 7-8 hours versus the typical 4. Basically if you didn't leave blood on the music stand, you weren't doing it right. Burr also strove for authenticity and instead of having an actor play ethnic, he'd just go out and get a person from the community aka Asian or black characters being played by Asian and black actors. Many a tale spoke of Megatron voice actor Frank Welker who would help the young guys while also being able to give you the sounds of a rocking chair or a male or female dolphin! Lewis was proud that her character wasn't fetish-ized and her action figure was the first female toy to have short hair. Lewis was great, very cool, very smart and just a ball of fire. She made sure everyone was involved during the panel and offered some terrific insight into being a positive force in the world. This was Houser's first time at a convention and he was really funny with a voice you swear you recognize but don't know why. Rayle went into Deep-Six and I immediately thought he was doing Charles Bronson, which he was! Rayle based the voice on Bronson as Tunnel King Danny in The Great Escape.

There was some enlightening stuff like the script girl encouraging the cast to buy Hasbro stock as the toy giant knew FCC regulations were changing so the cartoons could have commercials for their products during the run-time essentially make it a 30 minute advertisement. Ratner said if he would have invested $1,000 dollars in 1985, it would have been worth $28,000 just a few years later. Jokes about their figures selling poorly leading to being featured less on the show were common place during sessions of 10-12 voice actors. Houser said Sci-Fi was really good at sitting still in silence...I asked when the panel realized they had jumped generations and started going to cons with Lewis and Ratner saying they'd only known about the show's impact in the last ten years. Frank Welker couldn't make it but doesn't believe people still love the shows 30 years later. Rayle has only been going for a few years and is headed to Australia for a show soon. A few passionate fans spoke of their love for the show and Lewis shared that the percentage of first responders and EMT's in the Joe community is extremely high when compared to the rest of the population. She and Ratner also attended the official G.I. JoeCon where they watched the new live action movies and Lewis mentioned that there wouldn't be cons for those in 30 years. Young was asked about working for supposed tough guy writer-director Kurt Sutter on Sons of Anarchy to which he responded he'd worked with guys like Billy Wilder so Sutter was nothing and that was the point of being a professional. I ran into Young in the hallway after and asked him about Surf Ninjas, he said it was a lot of fun and they shot it in beautiful Thailand. On and on it went, just a really great time, lots of laughs, stories and heart. If that weren't enough, Neil Ross gave next week's Sunbow Celebration a shout out, Yo, Joe!

It was off to get our Dublin Donkey's on across the street at The Auld Dubliner and next door to collectible store Geeky Mamas where they have an awesome selection of toys old and new, accessories and clothes. I totally meant to get a Transformers or Joe shirt for next week but didn't see any good ones...Back at the show we walked the floor some more, checking out artist alley and digging through random boxes. That Hashtag Show is coming to Sunbow Celebration and I introduced myself, cool guys who like Long Beach the same as I do for it's chill vibe, guest approachability and nice surrounding area. Grabbed a few Captain America Annuals and Sgt. Rock issues from a 3 for 1 booth as well as a collection of time traveling mutant soldier badass Cable for a solid $5! Created in "1990, the dawn of the most action-packed decade in comic-book history" by Louise Simonson and wunder-kid Rob Liefeld. "Body-Slide by one". I would have liked to stuck around to see Claremont's panel, it had been a full and fun day so we headed home. Just when I thought Long Beach Con wasn't evolving, they shut my face by putting on a terrific show. Here's hoping to an even bigger one in the fall. Bring on Emerald City!

Comic Shop of the Day: Things From Another World

It was a Universal Studios Citywalk Saturday as we ventured north to check out Game of Thrones on real IMAX then feasted at Karl Strauss and walked around the always nice but not too busy Citywalk.  It's been a while since I was here and was pleasantly surprised to see that the comic shop had moved to a larger space.  Things From Another World was always a stocked but stuffy joint in it's former location.  Now they've got all kinds of room to show off a life size Iron Man and all the toys, games, shirts, merch and comics you can shake a stick at.  As this area is a tourist trap, this is also how comic shops should be, slinging all the things you love to look at and might even buy.  From action figures to statues to mini toys, patches, keychains, playing cards, etc Things has you covered on the merchandise side but also has racks of graphic novels and new comics.  Big Trouble In Little China is already up to # 8!  Yeesh, will have to catch up sometime.

Check out all the goodness from their old store but imagine more of it in a larger space:

Con-Man Double Event: CalComicCon w/ Frank & Son

Sunday funday as we ventured east first to Yorba Linda for the California Comic Con before heading up to the City of Industry for weekly staple Frank & Son Collectible Show.  In this day and age of over hyped and over crowded cons with social media presence, CalComicCon is like taking a step back in time or maybe shopping at the farmer's market of comic book conventions.  Unlike say Comikaze, Wizard World or Salt Lake that tout celebrity guests, charge you to wait in line less and then push you to pay your favorite celebs $40 bucks to sign something for you, CCC is all about the comic books.  Is it small?  Yes.  Is it a nice change of pace?  Double yes.  Yorba Linda is a picturesque sprawl of suburbia with strip malls and greenery off the 57 and 91 freeways in Orange County.  The Community Center is just a few minutes off the 57 and is where CCC has called home since at least 2007.  With only comic book centric Marv Wolfman and Thomas Yeates as invited guests, this show isn't for casual fans; it's for comic book readers and collectors.

Walking up, the atmosphere was warm and inviting with a hot dog/taco stand outside, vendors on the patio selling .50 cent issues and a very friendly staff that welcomed us and explained the set up.  Parking was free with a $10 admission.  You got a raffle ticket upon entry and there were drawings every hour.  The show was being held in two separate rooms and on the patio.  While you could walk the space in just a few minutes, every vendor and table was full of books, comics, graphic novels and novels to flip through.  High end ones in the plastic cases and graded to 50% off trades and of course the .50 boxes outside.  I was only too pumped to grab a stack of 1980's Avengers comics along with a handful of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.  The seller told me I missed out as this was the last of his Sgt. Fury collection, drat!  From another table I picked up movie novelization of James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd's The Terminator!  Now I get to see how Reese, the T-800 and Sarah Connor play out in print.  Being a small show, we only spent about an hour there but were very satisfied with our haul.  Now it was off to the City of Industry for Frank & Son...

Only 15 minutes up the 57, Frank & Son Collectible Show has it's own warehouse in an industrial complex near Walnut. Parking is free with two lots and street available.  No fee to get in either.  Usually the show only runs on Wednesday and Saturday but extended to Sunday this week as Stan "The Man" Lee was special guest.  I haven't been here in years and was very surprised to see how Con like this show was without the Con.  It was just rows and rows of stalls and vendors hocking toys, video games, cards, knives and trinkets.  All those booths you check out at conventions outside Artist Alley at any other show, that's this place, all the time!  While there were toys, toys and more toys to check out, I was surprised at the lack of comic books for sale.  There were a handful of big spreads selling issues new and old but I just didn't feel like skimming through boxes of unorganized comics hoping to find a gem.  I recognized several vendors from shows around town and everyone was very chill and polite.  A couple were a little overzealous in trying to sell stuff when all I wanted to do was see what they had but ah well.  Then we randomly started chatting with a vendor who ended up being writer and author Pat Jankiewicz.  Nice guy and a fellow #MovieBro, we rapped about flicks, actors and our favorite conventions. 

Seems like the Big Trouble In Little China Funko's haven't shipped yet so I had to be contented with picking up a Rocketeer ReAction figure along with a Funko mini-mystery figure where helmeted Cliff Secord runs 1 out of 72 and was already fetching a $50 price tag.  For $7 bucks, my luck held steady and I pulled out a 1 out of 12 Robocop. There's an exhibition hall in the middle where guests sign.  Frank & Son have a variety of actors and athletes come through for special events, reunions, etc.  Towards the back was a gaming and tournament area as well as a discount household goods store(?!) selling clothes, tools and supplies.  Going strong since 1988, Frank & Son is definitely the place to come to pick up your favorite swag but I think it's more fun to do that at in a convention setting where you can walk the floor, take in a panel, go back, etc.

That's all the Cons I got for January, see you in February for Long Beach!

D'You Know What I Mean 2015: Weathers, Carpenter & Jane Weekly Round Up

We're mid way through the first month of 2015, how's it going?  I'm feverishly working on the next Dammaged Goods Presents event, children of the 80's and 90's will be super excited.  While hanging around the interwebs between e-mails and phone calls I came across:

I set this up! Victory!

Happy Birthday Carl Weathers!  The likeable former professional football player known for his roles in Rocky I-IV, Predator, Action Jackson, Happy Gilmore, Toy Story of Terror and Arrested Development celebrated the big 6-7 this past 14th.  That puts him right under co-stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  With an acting career dating back to 1975, Weathers' film and television output has slowed in recent years as he focuses on screen writing and lending his famous face to charities; playing in celebrity poker tournaments, raising awareness for cancer, bringing water to west Africa, campaigning for film tax incentives across the country as well as being a finalist in the newly formed Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame for his portrayal of Apollo Creed in the Rocky films.  Speaking of Creed, a new film featuring the grand son of the legendary character has just begun production with rising star Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone starring in the 7th film of the series.  Even though Apollo died in 1985's Rocky IV, it would be great to have Weathers reprise the role in some kind of voice over or flashback to pay respect to all the work he put into making the character so memorable.

Only two days later, another titan of cinema celebrated his 67th birthday, writer/director/composer John Carpenter!  The man behind such B-movie genre classics as Escape From New York, They Live, The Thing and Big Trouble From Little China has also slowed down in the filmmaking world but has kept busy through writing comic books, releasing a new album of "lost themes" and playing video games.  With four of his films already remade, it was just announced this week that Fox has acquired the rights to reboot Escape From New York and Carpenter will act as a consultant.  Multiple parties have held the rights in recent years from New Line Cinema, Joel Silver and most recently Studio Canal.  Rumors of a prequel starring Gerard Butler to begin a new trilogy never materialized.  Let's see if Fox can put together something special that can replicate the experience of the films while moving it in a new direction.

Last but certainly not least, the trailer for SyFy's 10 part "future noir" series The Expanse dropped during this week's Television Critics Association's press tour.  Based on a series of novels, The Expanse is set 200 years in the future and follows a detective (Thomas Jane) as he crosses the solar system searching for a missing woman and uncovers a conspiracy in the process.  Being touted as SyFy's most ambitious project to date, cast and crew began production in Toronto in November occupying most of the stages at Toronto's Pinewood Studios.  The trailer shows off sleek production design, zero gravity sex and The Jane looking very slim, trim and stylish in a fedora and some kind of half shaved, half long hair cut.

Jane participated in a Redditt Ask Me Anything session yesterday to hype his new film with Bruce Willis, Vice, that hits theaters and VOD this weekend.  Nothing too crazy which is kind of disappointing as Jane is the king of WeirdCool.  Jane mentions never watching his films after they're completed, sneaking out of premieres, fans wanting to wrestle him, has never seen Game of Thrones, his love for making baseball picture 61*, almost drowning on Deep Blue Sea,  taking name Jane from Indian religion Jain while shooting a Bollywood feature at 16, how the studio would have given The Mist a bigger budget if they'd change the ending, not being very good in comedy The Sweetest Thing, shooting Vice in Mobile, Alabama being great, Bruce Willis being the guy you see on screen, his favorite horror film is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that Lawrence Kasdan likes his actors to be on set whether or not they're working.

Paneled Goods: Big Trouble In Little China

By now I'm sure you're aware that John Carpenter and Kurt Russell's 4th cinematic collaboration Big Trouble In Little China from 1986 is one of my favorite movies.  Of all time.  A flop upon release, the film has built up an epic cult following and this year alone has seen multiple screenings around Los Angeles, a UK special edition Blu-Ray, tee shirts and comic books.  At San Diego Comic Con, I picked up the first 2 issues of BOOM!'s new series as well as a their SDCC exclusive which I thought was a 90's style issue # 0 but it was just the first issue with a different cover...

Picking up directly after the events of the film, Big Trouble In Little China is the continuing adventures of Jack Burton and the Pork Chop Express.  Written by The Goon's Eric Powell with an assist from director John Carpenter and pencils by Brian Churilla, BTILC is an amusing read but not quite enough to get me back into monthly reading.  # 1 starts right after the end of the movie which saw big mouthed, not very swashbuckling Jack Burton drive off into the dark, rainy night with a mysterious monstrous creature on the back of his truck after defeating the thousands year old wizard Lo Pan with help from Chinatown residents Wang Chi, an ass kicking, high flying, truck driving restaurant owner and Egg Shen, a tour bus driver and sorcerer.  In The Hell of the Midnight Road & The Ghosts of Storms has Jack becoming the creatures ipso facto guardian since he killed former master Lo Pan with a knife to the forehead.  Dubbing him Pete, Jack returns to Chinatown in time for Wang's wedding in a bid to try and get rid of the creature.  Unfortunately, the vengeful, high kicking Wing Kong burst in and then Qiang Wu , a warrior disciple of Lo Pan shows up.  Wang attempts to do what he does best, which is kick ass with flying kicks, but gets snatched in mid air by Qiang Wu.  Qiang is ready to kill Wang unless Jack travels the Black Road in the Hell of the Seven Faced Widow to retrieve the jars that contain the spirits of the three storms, Thunder, Rain and Lightening.

Of course, never afraid of a challenge and full of John Wayne style bravado, Jack accepts and hits the road along with Egg Shen.  With Six Demon Bag in hand, Egg leads Jack to the Midnight Lands via a door opened from a brick wall via chalk outline, adding to the mystical quality of the book.  Along the way, we learn more about Jack's past and run ins with unusual lovers and adversaries like a vampire ex-wife and a father in law who heads a cult to resurrect a Babylonian demi-god.  There's lots of banter throughout with plenty of Jack talking to himself and classic lines "Like I always say" or "When some wild eyed..." so the tone and spirit of the film is well at hand.  Adding some pretty funny and out there backstories also gives the comic a nice zaniness similar to the film that stopped to explained nothing.  Artist Churilla gives Burton a nice Kurt Russell-esque quality complete with strong chin, pseudo mullet and the tank top/jeans/tall leather boots outfit with pencils and gives Victor Wong's Egg Shen the appropriate goofy, wise and weird appearance.  Eric Powell seems to have a pretty solid grasp on the world and tone of the story but not a ton happens in the second issue.  While Carpenter is a big name, the original film script was written by W.D. Ricther then Gary Goldman so I wonder if they were consulted.

I thought it was a little weird that Jack wouldn't be at Wang's wedding but there's a line thrown in about Jack being on the run from the cops which harkens back to the opening of the film when an attorney asks if Egg knows his whereabouts.  Then at the wedding there's no sign of Gracie Law, Uncle Chu, Eddie, Margo or anything of the Cheng Sings.  Where's James Lew?!  While a fun read, colorful and a nice continuation of the movie, at $4 bucks a pop I don't foresee myself keeping up regularly.  Hopefully a couple of cons from now I can pick up a nice collected edition.

Until then, keep on shaking the pillars of Heaven.

San Diego Comic-Con 2014: SaturDAZE Part I w/ Ernie Reyes, Jr

Saturday in San Diego started at 5:00AM as I was volunteering for the 3rd year in a row at 6:00AM.  My first year included packaging the welcome kits con goers receive upon entry, you know, those big WB branded bags and the commemorative book/event guides?  Last year I got put on the Hasbro line duty where I helped masses of toy buying fans queue up to pick up convention exclusives and met my first Brony.  This year I was hoping for the same thing and got Autograph Line where I'd either be waiting in line for someone physically unable or directing traffic.  Luckily I got to direct traffic and helped organize die hards who had lined up as early as the night before to get signatures from the casts and crews of The Hobbit, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, The Flash, Arrow and Constantine among the 9 options.  A set number of pretty nifty hologram wristbands were doled out for each title with The Hobbit reaching capacity first followed by Arrow.  I experienced my first Con induced heartache of the day as I witnessed a young fan who had been in line for hours before 6:00AM have the wind taken out of her sails and walk off, totally not interested in the other 8 signings.  Overall it was a fun shift talking to the security crew, Con staff and attendees in line.  Being so early, it's not hot yet, people are too tired to be grumpy and I was standing right by the beautiful marina and water front.  From there I observed the huge Hall H line that wrapped around the marina's concrete sidewalk into the island park.  I couldn't help but think a breakfast cart/truck would do gangbusters as there were around 3,000 folks in line.

Walking back to this year's Comic-Con'do was a little tricky at 9:30AM as everyone is trying to get in.  The sidewalk was packed with attendees trying to get in along with those annoying Bible thumpers taking up valuable space.  I witnessed a young girl having a panic attack and being helped by a local police officer but I wonder if that was a ploy to get out of the crowd...come on, it's Comic-Con, massive hordes of people is just part of the deal.  The only panel I was really gunning for on Saturday was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 30th Anniversary a shellebration of 3 decades of comics, cartoons, toys, movies, video games, merchandise and heroes in a half shell.  Unfortunately I over napped and arrived at the line 30 minutes before the panel to find a huge crowd already waiting.  However, I spotted mother fucking Ernie Reyes, Jr., the martial artist/actor who played Donatello's fight double in TMNT then graduated to lead role Keno the pizza boy in Secret of the Ooze before headlining Surf Ninjas!  Some other guys in line and I went over and got in quick greetings and photos as Reyes, Jr. was uber cool and rocking the red and white pizza delivery jacket costume from the movie!  Oh and he looks younger than I do even though he's 10 years older.  Jerk.  It was a nice consolation prize as I did not get into the panel but hey, I've seen lot of Ninja Turtle stuff through the years and gotten to meet Kevin Eastman and now Keno himself.

With time to spare before my next panel, I popped into The Art of Fear where horror authors riffed on how they scare audiences and approach the craft of writing.  For what I thought would be a nice filler panel, it was actually quite informative and entertaining.  The panel talked about drawing inspiration from real life events such as the Salem witch trials, new strains of virus, trends in mental health and more.  While some of the self induced horror smacked of BS to me (it's dark, oh no!), it was fascinating to hear about how at one time or another, things we find totally fantastic and false (witches, vampires) were real fears to large segments of the population.  It will be interesting to see what people 100 years from now laugh at us for being afraid of.  The authors also discussed their writing methods and how they got their starts.  One uses Excel spreadsheets to keep track of her characters, sub-plots and twists while another explained how he self published to Amazon and after 10 days his title became a hit and big time publishers came looking with a 4 book deal.  All in a pleasant surprise and sadly more engrossing than the panel I was actually waiting for...

Which was Big Trouble in Little China: Shaking the Pillars of the Comics Industry, a look at BOOM! Studios new title based on the 1986 John Carpenter cult classic film starring Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun, James Hong and Victor Wong.  I picked up the first 2 issues of the series at the show earlier in the week and found # 1 funny and an interesting take on the movie that didn't quite make sense story wise but went along with it.  I don't know what it is but this is the 2nd panel on Big Trouble I've seen that didn't include anyone involved in the actual film that came off very lackluster.  Remember when I saw it with the creators of Robot Chicken and a film school guy who wears scarves with graphic tees and it sucked?  This wasn't quite as bad but wasn't one for the Con books either.  Writer Eric Powell didn't have much to say beyond he thought he could do a good Jack Burton and that John Carpenter is down to earth and not a typical Hollywood douche.  Editor Ian Brill chimed in talking about the genesis of the project and how much everyone loves Carpenter while moderator Chris Sims told us he made his new lady friend watch Big Trouble on one of their first dates.  I wondered if the creators went through any old drafts of the screenplay by W.D. Richter and Gary Goldman for inspiration but there were a lot of questions about nothing in particular asked.  I did however sit next to a nice guy dressed as Jack Burton himself and behind a woman who attended on behalf of her super fan husband who could not be there.

Summer Cinema: The Purge: Anarchy

Are you much of a horror film fan?  I'm not.  Everybody always seems so dumb and going places they shouldn't be or the horror is a big cop out because it's just people scaring themselves in the dark.  So I was aware of The Purge's existence, it's one of those low budget horror movies from factory Blum House that starred Ethan Hawke and Lena Headley in a home invasion horror story set in a future where all crime is legal for 12 hours to help keep society balanced.  The scenario sounded contrite to me and these $3 million cheapies with former low watt movie stars just seemed like filler that turned a profit without actually being entertaining.  I knew a sequel was being produced and was intrigued by the casting of the up and coming Frank Grillo, an actor that's caught my attention since his small role in Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness then full on in Warrior and The Grey as an MMA coach and roughneck oil worker asshole.  Quick bits in End of Watch and Zero Dark Thirty seemed to signify he was getting seen by the right people then a role as a villain in this years smash Captain America: The Winter Soldier seemed to possibly foretell a future of playing henchmen.

With no interest in seeing The Purge: Anarchy, I caught a blurb review about someone likening it to a John Carpenter infused action movie from the 80's.  That immediately piqued my interest because if there's one thing Hollywood needs, it's more lost John Carpenter movies.  I'm not talking remakes of Halloween, The Fog or Assault On Precinct 13 (which wasn't bad), I'm talking about Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror which plays like a lost Carpenter flick with it's mix of action, horror, humor and gruesome f/x set to a killer synth score.  That said, The Purge: Anarchy is totally a riff on Assault On Precinct 13 and They Live mixed with Van Damme's Hard Target or basically a surprisingly satisfying action movie disguised as a horror flick in the marketing materials.  Incidentally, writer/director James DeMonaco wrote the 2005 remake of Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13.  Set in a future where new government has installed the annual Purge, a 12 hour window where all crime like murder, looting and rape are legal.  It's a little far fetched a concept to get around at first as our story centers on some peeps who get stuck outside after it starts.  If you knew this was coming, wouldn't you just take a day off and fortify your house?  But once you get past that, there's unrelated characters coming together, a rebellion questioning the underlying intentions of the Purge, rich VS poor societal lines and a possible military style government conspiracy at play, all themes very familiar to Carpenter fans.

We meet our core characters a couple hours before The Purge starts: there's hard working waitress and her daughter Eva and Cali (Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul) then struggling couple Shane and Liz (Zac Gilford from The Last Stand and Kiele Sanchez), then you have heavily armed and despondent looking Frank Grillo driving around in his souped up crime mobile.  I'm not even sure if they say his name in the flick but I think it's Sergeant Leo.  The 3 unrelated parties all run into each other and stick together to survive while uncovering much more at play than just thugs going on a spree.  While watching the film, I couldn't help but think that Grillo would make a pitch perfect The Punisher on the new Daredevil series on Netflix or anywhere.   He's spot on here as a man on the revenge trail, armed to the teeth, muscular yet lithe with dark features and a commanding presence that gives a sense of both safety and fright.  Make no mistake, Anarchy is an action flick with only a handful of scares, one of them that made me jump in my seat.  It's mostly gunplay with a few bursts of foot chases and fisticuffs.  I thought it was kind of a missed opportunity that we see Grillo's character driving around the city in his souped up, Mad Max style battle car but there's no chase scene that destroys it.  Guess they only had the one.  It's an interesting change of pace since part one was a home invasion flick, this one is action oriented so the next could be a disaster movie with an earthquake occurring during the ritual to change things up or take on the form of any genre.

After opening up #2 this weekend with nearly $30 million in box office receipts on a $9 million dollar budget, we can be sure to see more Purge flicks in the near future.  Especially after Universal and producer Jason Blum just signed a 10-year first look deal.  Now somebody make a flick as wild, zany, quotable and downright wonderful as Big Trouble In Little China or The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

Ask me a Question: Big Trouble In Little China

The Arclight has been hosting a plethora of throwback repertory programming of late with focus on 80's classics, 90's action movies and The Modern School of Film which sees actors, writers, musicians and the like selecting a favorite film and discussing after.  Last night it was Big Trouble In Little China with the creators of Robot Chicken.  The John Carpenter and Kurt Russell classic finds Russell as Jack Burton, a blowhard truck driver with an inflated sense of self who teams up with buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), a truck driver/restaurant owner in San Francisco Chinatown when thugs kidnap his fiance with green eyes to be the sacrificial lamb of thousands year old sorcerer of no flesh Lo Pan (James Hong).  Basically, if you've ever heard of Big Trouble you fall into one of three camps:  You love it, you don't get it or you've never seen it.  Me?  I fucking love this movie.  From the opening sequence with Tremors and 3 Ninjas' Victor Wong showing off his magic powers to the awesome synth score by Carpenter and Alan Howarth to Russell's mulleted John Wayne style hero who is actually a sidekick to the three henchman known as Storms that rock huge straw hats, twirl swords and ride lightening to the quick bantering between characters courtesy of Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein and W.D. Richter...it's all wonderfully zany, funny, quotable and plain classic.

This is my third time seeing it on the big screen and it looked great.  The comedy, pace, Kung-Fu fight scenes and what the heck weirdness made this a fast 100 minutes of action, laughs and characterization that doesn't stop to explain.  It's a ride that you're either on or off.  The audience was full of fans wearing related tee shirts, tanks and jackets who clapped and cheered at all the appropriate moments.  Post credits, a panel of writers and directors from Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, who created Robot Chicken, participated in one of the weirdest post movie Q&A's I've ever seen.  The founder of Modern School of Film introduced the film and gave us a taste of his personality and style that to me, was way too serious and highfalutin for the movie and guests he'd assembled for the night.  It's an interesting concept, to invite filmmakers, artists, etc to speak about their favorite films but in execution it falls a bit flat because they had nothing to do with the preceding.  Reciting trivia and professing your love for a movie is all well and good but it just sounds better coming from someone who was there and part of it.  The panelists seemed like nice guys but the entire conversation seemed kind of pointless and mainly unrelated to the film.  Basically, I felt like all of the fun of Big Trouble In Little China was suddenly sucked out of the theater and audience.

Until next time, keep shaking the pillars of heaven.  No horseshit.

Born Ready: Kurt Russell

Not only was this past Monday St. Patrick's Day, it was also the birthday of one titan of cinema and life: Kurt Russell.  While Russell didn't inspire me the way Jean-Claude Van Damme or Arnold did as a kid, his films and attitude were definitely a big part of my formative movie watching years.  Always a perfect mix of funny and physical with a rough around the edges charm, Russell just effortlessly comes off as a cool guy.  After hearing stories about him and then seeing him in person last year, I can definitely say I still believe it to be true.  A few weeks ago I opined that America doesn't have many leading men of the durable and capable variety and I would argue that Russell was one of our last.

Coming off a string of television work and Disney features, Russell transitioned to Hollywood leading man the help of directors like Robert Zemeckis, John Carpenter, Mike Nichols, Garry Marshall, Ron Howard and Roland Emmerich while playing a multitude of iconic characters like Snake Plissken, R.J. MacReady, Jack Burton, Gabriel Cash, Captain Ron and Wyatt Earp.

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

Used Cars - Probably Russell's funniest and most dialog heavy role of all time where he plays salesman Rudy Russo, a small time hustler/charmer trying to raise enough money to join the Senate and skim all the graft he knows is waiting.  Socially irresponsible with some great practical car stunts.

Escape From New York - The B-Movie classic that helped launch his career and a character that has lived on through a sequel, comic books, toys and more.  The ultimate wise ass anti-hero before there were wise ass anti-heroes.

The Thing - Drinks whiskey, plays computer chess, flies a helicopter, wears a huge sombrero and blows shit up.  What more could you ask for from an arctic set, alien thriller with Cold War paranoia?

Big Trouble In Little China - Arguably my favorite Russell flick since the time I saw it late night on TBS then bought the VHS at Saturday Matinee in the mall.  Russell's turn as blowhard trucker Jack Burton is hilarious and shows his gameness for not giving the audience what they expect as he's actually the sidekick but doesn't know it.

Tango & Cash - A beautiful love story between two hard working men just trying to make it in life.

Captain Ron - Good times.  Again shows his willingness not to be pigeonholed as he seemingly plays a buffoon in this broad family comedy who isn't actually an idiot.

Tombstone - The master class example.  Russell plays legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in this popcorn western action classic that nearly fell apart but was saved and came out a winner unlike the bloated attempt by "serious" actor and Oscar winner Kevin Costner.

Executive Decision - Showcases Russell's ability to play heroic but not cartoonish as an intelligence analyst thrown into a combat/hostage scenario after leader Steven Seagal plunges to his death aboard a Stealth Bomber 1/3 of the way into the movie.

Breakdown - Russell plays regular here, very regular as a guy moving cross country with his wife and becomes the target of a kidnapping scheme run by truckers out in the middle of nowhere.  Very freaky and became my mind's worst case scenario when thinking of pulling up stakes and driving cross country to California.

Soldier - Is it a good film?  That's debatable.  Is Russell awesome in it?  Yes.  As a silent career soldier facing his younger replacement, Russell is built like a tank in this science fiction action flick set on a near deserted trash planet in the same universe as Blade Runner.

Mr. Russell had taken a hiatus from filmmaking as he and life partner Goldie Hawn have been busy running a winery and producing their own label.  He's slowly coming back as Canadian heist flick The Art of the Steal has rolled out this year and a part in the latest Fast and Furious chapter is in the works.  Russell had already turned down an offer from friend Stallone to appear in The Expendables, citing he wasn't interested in ensemble acting or looking back.  While it would be nice to see him in one of the 90's reunions, you gotta respect the fact he doesn't need the work and is still setting out to do his own thing.

Snow Screen: Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

Several years and a couple of San Diego Comic-Con's in the making, Drew:  The Man Behind the Poster, received a limited theatrical release before hitting DVD and Netflix this fall.  The story of Drew Struzan, one of if not the most known and beloved movie artists of all time (seriously, can you name another poster artist?); Drew is a study of the man's work peppered with bits about his life and now legacy featuring a plethora of famous interviewees and fans including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Thomas Jane, Frank Darabont, Leonard Maltin, Michael J. Fox and Guillermo Del Toro.  The last two being particularly funny in their comments and recollections of describing their relationship with the artist.


The documentary opens with a brief and melancholy look at Struzan's loveless childhood that led him to moving out after high school.  A Los Angeles native, Struzan attended Art Center in Pasadena where he honed his craft for six years.  Newly married with a child, Struzan went to work designing album covers which culminated in his much revered piece for Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare in 1975.  An advertising agency came calling and convinced Struzan to switch to movie poster art which paid much more handsomely.  The die cast, history was now in the making.

  
Drew's narrative focuses on a few major eras of his work, the first being Star Wars, which came in as a partnership offer from a friend who was good at robots but not humans.  George Lucas loved the combined work and as time has shown us, commissioned Struzan for dozens more pieces for the original 1977 trilogy, 1997 Special Edition releases and 1999's second trilogy.  His collaborations with Steven Spielberg, primarily Indiana Jones, is the next era highlighted with many an observation by the man himself, Harrison Ford.  Struzan's work with Jim Henson on The Muppet movies comes after which was a surprise as you forget how many wonderful posters he's created over the years.

As a documentary, Drew delivers a wonderful 90 minute look at the artist whose work defined a generation at the movies.  His textured, vibrant and better than photo-real style conveyed story, action, excitement and wonder in a single image in less than a second's glance.  The 80's were arguably his go-go years with iconic posters for Back to the Future, First Blood, Coming to America, Blade Runner, The Goonies, Police Academy, Big Trouble In Little China and Masters of the Universe among dozens more forever embedded themselves into the mind of young viewers like myself.  The last title is subject to some slight ire as an example of the poster being better than the movie.  It's an absolutely stunning poster but I disagree it's a bad movie because I whole-heartedly love Masters for all it's "Conan the Barbarian meets Star Wars done on the cheap" sensibility.

As a narrative feature, Drew might not be as interesting to unaware or casual fans as conflict isn't a heavily featured topic and there are no high stakes to speak of.  Struzan's hardships as a child and his later professional strife with shady business partners are covered by not dwelled upon showing that the soft spoken, kind hearted artist has not become bitter.  In the end, Drew is a lovingly insightful look into the career and influence of an artist who unknowingly put a stamp on cinematic history without even trying.

For more information on the documentary and how to see it, check out the official site.

That's My Motto

"You know what's really cool?  Being cool with yourself."

It's the simplest yet most difficult thing to do isn't it?  But when you know who you are and know what you like, people around you pick up on it and in this case, send you stuff because it reminded them of you.  Today I am the fortunate recipient of a Limited Edition, Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Big Trouble In Little China by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth.

Big Trouble is one of those movies people either:  Love, Have Never Seen or Don't Get.  I, fortunately, got it and love every minute of it.  In what  would be the 4th of their 5 collaborations, star Kurt Russell and director Carpenter give us their most fun and kinetic collaboration.  It's a buddy/action/adventure movie filled with kung-fu fighting, Chinese mysticism, sorcery, monsters, quotable lines, James

Hong, Victor Wong, Chinese food, the Asian Eric Bischoff, mullets, tall leather boots (for men), plaid suits, Al Leong, knife throwing, expanding henchman, Raiden's father (Get over here!) and big rig drifting.

Carpenter produced some of the most iconic and atmospheric music of the 1980's.  Halloween, Assault From Precinct 13, Starman, Escape From New York, BTILC and so many others have some of the coolest and catchiest themes in cinema.  The two disk set boasts 20 tracks with another 2 as       bonus and an insert booklet with filled with facts, history and quotes from Carpenter himself.  It's Asian tinged synth with some rockin' guitars for  back bone.  The title track features Mr. John Carpenter himself on vocals.