An Academy Tribute to Richard Donner

It was a go-go week with the opening of Wonder Woman, Austin for Russellmania II, back to Los Angeles for the premiere of Van Damme's Kill'em All then the next night it was off to Beverly Hills to the Academy theater on Wilshire for an amazing night, a tribute to Richard Donner! Known to his friends as Dick, Donner is one of the most influential and successful directors in history. From The Omen to Superman to Scrooged to The Goonies to Lethal Weapon, his work is filled with heart, humor and of course, terrific action! Truly unsung in the age of directors as brands or corporations unto themselves, like Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan, Donner worked every job in the film business before become a force in the 80's and 90's. His films set the mold and broke box office records, the former head of Warner Brothers joked that the Lethal Weapon films were huge hits but he had to give Donner a Range Rover to keep making them.

Things kicked off with two former Donner or wife Lauren Shuler employees turned DC and Marvel chiefs Geoff Johns and Kevin Fiege. The two paid tribute to the guy and gal who gave them their first unpaid then part time then full time jobs in the business and how Superman: The Movie will always be the gold standard for comic book adaptations. Film clips followed by heartfelt and hilarious anecdotes flowed through the evening as actors joked about Donner's big booming voice but even bigger heart. Chunk from The Goonies actor Jeff Cohen told of the years long tale of trying to transition out of acting and when it was time for college, asked for a letter of recommendation and instead got his tuition paid for by the generous couple. Corey Feldman was a last minute addition and shared that Dick Donner paid for his rehab and he's been sober ever since.

The highlight though was towards the end when Lethal Weapon stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover took the podium and riffed effortlessly and hilariously off each other for nearly 10 minutes. Joking that Donner would tell Gibson to act better in dramatic scenes or that the actors would both get Oscars for Lethal Weapon 4 when it was really paying for the Donner's third vacation home. There needs to be a Lethal Weapon 5 or at least a sitcom for these guys, pronto! Co-star Rene Russo joined them and sang Donner's praises and then the man himself joined them on stage. Donner was funny but mostly flabbergasted at the turnout and kind praise. In the lobby were posters, slates, production displays and more on display. Truly a great night to one of my favorite directors. I was an intern there when I first moved to LA and got to chat with the down to earth Donner whenever he came in as he asked me about my workout habits as he was working with a trainer several times a week (before saying "yeah? fuck you"), my immigrant parents and calling me "kid" or "Rocky".

Match Up Monday: Die Hard VS Lethal Weapon

Last night the Egyptian Theatre continued their awesome line up of holiday titles. So far you've run the gamut of classics new and old like It's a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Scrooged and White Christmas. But Sunday was for action. Particularly, awesome 80's action with 1988's Die Hard and Lethal Weapon from 1987. I'd never seen either one on the big screen and was excited to soak in two Christmas set staples. Last week I saw some attention whore internet guy trying to act like he was strange or an early adopter/inspiration to consider Die Hard as a Christmas movie. Uh, it's set at Christmas. At a Christmas party. There's Christmas decorations. Christmas music. There's frigging Christmas themed tape used to hide a gun complete with jingling bell sound effects to remind you it's Christmas. What exactly doesn't make the film a Christmas one? Some people just can't get enough of themselves I guess...

Anyways, 20th Century Fox's Die Hard is a classic of film and the genre. John McTiernan directs a polished and creative blend of big action and high drama. Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza's script loosely based on Roderick Thorp's novel is a textbook example of storytelling. You have set ups and payoffs, interesting characters, human drama, wise cracks and funny jokes along with inventive and exciting action sequences that all take place in only a few locations. Every character is memorable from limo driver Argyle (De'voreaux White) to coke snorting douchebag Ellis (Hart Bochner) and Al Leong's candy bar grubbing baddie. It was fun to see Fox Plaza and Century City from the 80's as The Ralph's and McDonald's are still around. No more .74 gas though...Bruce Willis' put upon John McClane has to overcome Alan Rickman's slick group of mostly long haired, European terrorists all while dealing with a pending divorce and running around with no shoes. The digital print looked great and besides a few hairstyles, the film plays pretty timelessly. The film had a tumultuous road to the big screen but proved to be a big hit, grossing $137 million bucks worldwide and leading to two solid sequels and two not so great ones over 25 years and $1.4 billion in global receipts. Oh and everybody says "pal" a lot.

A year before, Warner Brothers redefined the buddy flick with Lethal Weapon, Richard Donner's tale of mismatched cops. Danny Glover plays Roger Murtaugh, a 50 year old ready to retire while Mel Gibson is Martin Riggs, a suicidal cop on the ragged edge. While Rickman's Hans Gruber was after $600 million bucks, Riggs and Murtaugh come up against the remnants of a Vietnam War outfit selling heroin dubbed Shadow Company, lead by The General (Mitchell Ryan) and his out there to Pluto mercenary henchman Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey). Shane Black's explosively dark script along with Donner's workman expertise combines family, loss, intense action, stunts, jokes, drugs and near suicide in a cohesive and endlessly entertaining package. The final chase sequence takes place on Hollywood Boulevard right next to the theatre where we were watching. Musso and Frank's was the only marquee I recognized as still standing. Whereas Die Hard seemed timeless with it's gorgeous print, classical music and polished sheen, Lethal felt very much of it's time. From wild hair and outrageous fishnet outfits, you get homophobia, Apartheid and mismatched partner banter and a really bad 80's song over the credits on a beat up, 30 year old print. Gibson's angry-crazy acting and waking up with a cigarette and beer screams 80's but that's because the flick has been ripped off so much. Michael Kamen's scored both films with DH going atmospheric and heightening the shock value while his Eric Clapton assisted guitar and saxophone riffs in LW are nearly laughably awesome 3 decades later. Over here we get "son of a bitch" stated from nearly every cast member.

The films share much of the same DNA as Joel Silver co-produced both, Michael Kamen composed, both were shot in Los Angeles and familiar faces like Mary Ellen Trainor, Grand L. Bush and Al Leong appear. And you could smoke indoors back then. They both defined the action genre for contained settings with Die Hard launching a plethora of imitators (on a bus in Speed, by boat in Under Siege) while the buddy picture would never be the same after Lethal Weapon. Weapon would be a top 10 grosser for the year with a $120 million dollar take worldwide and kick starting three sequels over 11 years for a $955 million global haul. Die Hard keeps on ticking with new creatives (4 directors in 5 movies) involved and a proposed 6th installment in the works while Lethal Weapon lies dormant after a falling out between producer Silver and now retired series director Donner. Allegedly original writer Black wrote a 5th installment while Warner Brothers was keen to revive the franchise with younger actors but Gibson refused to participate before running into personal woes.

Winner: It's a tie! Die Hard is a masterful piece of filmmaking with a truly unique story while Lethal Weapon is an era time capsule that is arguably more entertaining. Die Hard is one of those movies you watch once in a while and marvel at its near prestige accomplishments but Lethal Weapon is the crowd pleaser you view regularly.

Yippie-ki-yay mother f*cker and go spit. Have a Merry Christmas while you're at it, pal.

Con-Man: San Diego '15 Friday

 
Phew, another fun yet long and crazy day at San Diego Comic-Con 2015! Checked out the floor and found some amazing Predator themed Mini-Mates where you can get plastic versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover and Carl Weathers as Dutch, Harrigan and Dillon respectively. Crappily, they were coming soon and not yet available...It was off to the 75th Anniversary of The Shadow and Doc Savage with artist/publisher Anthony Tollin and writer/producer Michael Uslan. The duo discussed their early encounters with Shadow and Savage and how the two pulp heroes have influenced their lives and careers since. Tollin's Sanctum Publishing has republished nearly 200 Shadow novels and almost as many of Savage. Uslan's first writing job at DC Comics came when The Shadow was canceled but retroactively revived after final sales numbers came in. With no script, Uslan saw his opportunity and pitched a Shadow tale that saw him fighting smugglers using barrels going over Niagara Falls to move drugs across country lines. The two also discussed just how much Batman ripped off The Shadow in the 30's as writers back then thought comic books and pulps were so disposable they figured no one would notice. An attendee was dressed in a terrific Shadow costume that looked straight from the 1994 flick while the Shane Black scripted Doc Savage in development was teased and producer Uslan was visibly excited at the progress. As an added bonus, we got a copy of some collected The Shadow stories along with new issues of the Doc Savage/Shadow/The Avenger team up Justice, Inc. from Dynamite that Uslan is a writer on.

Next it was time for From Novel to Comic to Film: Turning Books into Other Forms of Pop Culture that had a stacked panel including author Hugh Howey, comic book writer and artist Jimmy Palmiotti, Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman, Book of Eli scribe Gary Whitta and literary agent Kristin Nelson. This was a fun and very informative panel as everyone was very versed in the comic book, novel and movie worlds. Lots of talk about studios being risk adverse and everything needing to be based on something existing and successful. Mention of defunct Radical Entertainment where writers could pay to have their scripts turned into comic books and plunked into stores in order to use to pitch to studios. The most famous result being the high watt yet uneven Cowboys and Aliens. Surprisingly, no mention of Whitta's work on upcoming Star Wars flick Rogue One but I did snag a copy of his first novel, Abomination. The panel reiterated writing whatever because you want to, not because you think it will sell to Hollywood. In a bit of insider sharing, apparently Los Angeles comic stores Meltdown and Golden Apple organize their titles by what has been optioned and what hasn't so producers can find properties faster. Howey is in the midst of a career high with Wool becoming an international best seller that's been optioned by Fox and Sand that will hopefully become a TV series. Some interesting talk about translating a property for the media and not being shackled to the source material finding success with Game of Thrones veering from the novels or lackluster with too faithful Watchmen or in Palmiotti's Jonah Hex case, 100 + issues a not a thing made it to the screen. Hollywood!

Again I meant to tackle more panels but ended up walking around the floor and going over to schedule my annual volunteer shift of directing traffic at 6:00 AM. After a little break at the Comic-Con'do, it was back to the show for the best time to walk the exhibition floor, the final hour before closing. It's empty so you can see everything and get to what you want. Well except Funko who closed their booth early because they sent their staff to work an event...great business plan...And MTV who had a shaved headed Manu Bennett signing to promote new show The Shannara Chronicles. I ran into artist and now friend of Dammaged Goods William Stout and checked out more great art, statues and comics. Fox was hosting a game show on the floor asking if you could Beat the Geek at movie trivia. After answering a few questions from the sidelines contestants couldn't, I was put in for Cult Classics, not knowing Edward Scissorhands and Fight Club trivia but winning out thanks to my knowledge of Speed and Commando! My prize? My choice of digital download of several Fox titles, I picked Aliens. Because you know, James Cameron, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen! After dinner plans fell through I walked over to Petco Park where an interactive zone with Peanuts and Point Break were set up among others and a zombie themed run had taken over the stadium. Up several blocks was Skeletor's Lair Pop Up Shop from Mattel with Convention exclusives like tee shirts, Chia Pets, figures and more. The place was decked out with Skeletor art, felt like villain wall paper and a bust of Battlecat!

It's an early morning tomorrow filled with volunteering, more floor walking and panels so no partying tonight. Have fun and see you Saturday!

Con-Man: Salt Lake City Round Up

Saturday was a short day where we hoped to get Danny Glover's photo, see Simon Helberg and maybe Stephen Amell before doing a last walk of the floor for any unseen swag.  We breezed on in the door with our Gold passes and I headed for Photo Ops where a very small line was formed.  I'm not one for paying to interact with celebrities but I hadn't spent much at the show and I had a significant discount so I figured what the hey, it'll make for a funny Christmas card.  Danny Glover has always been an actor I've enjoyed, especially in the Lethal Weapon series and Predator 2 where his clap in Gary Busey's face actually saved a rude asshole and his rude asshole assistant one day at work when I was ready to beat up an old man and his underling. 

After a few minutes on the floor we realized we'd seen everything the day before so we headed to Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory's panel.  An announcer/organizer type came out several times to pump up the crowd with bad jokes and asked us to scoot in to make room for people coming in.  Compared to the light hearted fun of Alan Tudyk and emotional frankness of Manu Bennett from Friday, Helberg's panel was a bit awkward and got pretty old.  Sure I've seen the show he's famous for but I'm not exactly it's biggest fan.  More than one question was in regards to guest stars and all I could think about was the BS fact that they're all supposed Flash fans but John Wesley Shipp from CBS' own The Flash television show never guest starred.  Also, there wasn't an introduction per se, whereas Manu Bennett can have a quick sizzle reel of action pieces, Helberg's clip consisted of him telling jokes without audio.  He seemed like a nice guy but the moderator didn't do much to prep the crowd and talk about Helberg's career, beginnings or how he got involved with the show and just handed the mic(s) to the crowd.  Coupons were handed out for Helberg's autograph and photo op so when people asked for photos on stage they were awkwardly denied.  One question asker said San Diego sucked but I'm sure he's never actually been there to see how clown shoes Salt Lake's show is in comparison but we'll get to that later.

The panel got lame kind of quickly with too many kids asking incoherent questions or people making comments instead of asking anything and then the fawning fans asking for up close and personal time.  They just gave you coupons to meet him, if you want a face to face experience, you gotta pay!  That's how this show works!  Helberg did get to talk about his studies at NYU, thinking the show would be canceled due to the writer's strike, being in awe of Stephen Hawking, the loneliness of shooting his astronaut subplot, working with Joss Whedon for Dr. Horrible, how a movie he directed is based on his bumbling, bad luck ridden attempt to win his girlfriend back and that he can't name favorites among the cast since he would alienate others.  Even though we had primo seats for Stephen Amell, having only seen season 1 I figured the panel would be very season 2 and upcoming 3 heavy so we decided to bounce.  It was off to the arcade for another crack at Captain America and The Avengers.  Armed with about $10 bucks in quarters we triumphed over additional villains like Crossbones, Juggernaut, Ultron and then the Red Skull himself, on a space station!  After 5 stages and about 25 minutes of gameplay, we had defeated the game and the universe can sleep safely once again.

Then it was time for our photo op with Danny Glover.  I honestly thought no one would be queued up but I was wrong.  There were dozens of people already waiting.  I had planned to say something to Mr. Glover but once we got in with him, he was just so kind and happy to be there that all I could do was shake his hand, ask how he was doing and smile like a goof.  A truly enjoyable experience and the photo is now hanging in the den.

Parting thoughts on Salt Lake Comic Con?  It's a fun show but still has to work out a lot of their logistical issues.  Thursday's wait time and disorganization was pretty unacceptable to me although Friday went smoothly.  Saturday got real crowded and it's estimated that 120,000 peeps rolled through in total.  But if their staff can't handle that capacity, maybe they should consider capping ticket sales.  Oh wait, they're for profit so no, that won't happen.  Their info book didn't include an actual schedule of events and there could have been a lot more signage around the floor for special events, panel rooms, etc.  The exhibition floor was decent with lots of variety but we got through it pretty quickly.  Panel wise beyond actor spotlights were mostly fan run and listening to super fans talk about a subject really isn't that interesting or educational compared to someone involved professionally in a comic, movie or book discussing their experience.  How does it compare to San Diego Comic Con?  It doesn't.  At all.  I hope attendees will stop comparing themselves to the show because they're not on the same level.  At all.  They might have crammed nearly as many people into the show but they also gouged them to buy upgraded ticket packages that didn't even get you much.  The entire show is based around selling autographs and photos whereas SDCC is about celebrating the arts with over 1,000 panels to choose from. Nothing was going on outside the show unlike San Diego where half a dozen venues offsite offer more activities, many for free while SLCC had special events with Kevin Sorbo and Hulk Hogan available for a separate ticket price.  So for their own sake, I hope fans and organizers of SLCC work on making their show better, not trying to compete with San Diego because they're not in the same league and mouthing off about something you've never even experienced is just sad.

With Salt Lake City being such a religious town, the show did not occur on Sunday so our flight back to Los Angeles included no less than Bruce Campbell, Jon Heder, Cary Elwes and Lou Ferrigno.  Lou is still a pretty big boy and Bruce has that great, distinctive voice that could read you your rights and be entertaining.  I'd probably come back to Salt Lake Comic Con but only for Thursday or Friday, there's just not enough going on to keep you there for 3 days.  I hear there's a huge outdoor store outside SLC complete with an indoor shooting range and full sized Ferris wheel so that would be cool to check out.  Until then, America needs your help!

Live Goods: Aliens EXPOsed

The real reason that I wanted to go to Calgary Expo this year was because they were putting on a cast reunion of 1986's Aliens, one of my all time favorite films.  They've done these kinds of things before as Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen are regulars on the convention circuit, someone from the cast will pop up to talk at a screening, etc but this time was even more special.  This would be the largest assembling of the movie's cast since production at Pinewood Studios in England 27 years ago.  Calgary Expo would mark Sigourney Weaver's first appearance at a show like this with a signing joining Con newbies Paul Reiser and Bill Paxton.  After seeing the previous night's Middle Earth EXPOsed, I really wondered how Aliens would play out.  Middle Earth was a two part chat with the casts from two different franchises in the same universe then ended with a three segment improve show.  With Aliens, I knew they wouldn't be doing any singing or dancing for us and figured it would roll out as a typical comic con panel only on a grander scale.  I thought it would be better if they brought out a few guests at a time so everyone got their spotlight and because bringing out 10 people at one time just gets messy.

Looks like organizer Emily Expo and company were on the same page as Star Trek: Voyager actor and Aliens fanatic Garrett Wang welcomed us to the Corral before Wang took over as host and showed a clip highlighting Drake, Vasquez and Frost; three of the Colonial Space Marines.  Actors Mark Rolston, Jenette Goldstein and Ricco Ross were trotted out to stage that was set up with alien eggs, a leaping xenomorph, pulse rifes and flamethrower courtesty of a local prop maker as they spoke about getting involved ,the training required, Rolston and Ross' competition in the gym and nightly pose offs which culminated in Ross showing the crowd he still had abs.  Rolston and Goldstein mentioned that the script had a short backstory for their characters; that they were conscripted for duty and would be serving for life, hence their strong bond in the film.

The second clip was all about Hicks and Hudson, the cool, reluctant hero thrown into command and the squawking comic relief.  I feel a disservice was done to Hicks' character though as they didn't show the APC wreckage/escape where he screams "Drake, we are leaving!" then blasts an alien in the mouth with a shotgun.  Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton came out to huge applause and it was just too much fun watching them with each other as they have worked together several times (this, NAVY SEALS, TOMBSTONE) and have some of the best parts in the film.  Wang was a pretty solid host but here I thought things got a little iffy as his inner fanboy took over and most of the spotlight went to Paxton.  We had already seen Paxton earlier and knew the guy had stories for days and he continued to tell them here.  One that was particularly great was that Mad Magazine did a feature spoof on Aliens and Paxton, being a huge fan, ran out to get the issue only to find that instead of making a caricature of his face, the artists just put a chicken head on his body.  Biehn was only asked a couple of direct questions, one about coming in late to replace James Remar thus playing the character softer and more vulnerable as well as being able to miss out on all the bullshit physical and military tactics training the rest of the cast had to endure.  The other was about his character in Cameron's follow up The Abyss and Biehn vigorously schooled Wang, with an assist from Paxton, that Navy SEAL Hiram Coffey was not a villain, just a misunderstood guy who was cut off from his chain of command, told aliens were going to attack and was suffering from deep pressure sickness.

In the third clip of the evening, we see company man Carter Burke and artificial person Bishop.  Paul Reiser was very funny and talked about not being a villain but a company man looking out for their best interests, not having any cool props like the Marines and being ostracized from the group which still happens to this day as Biehn lovingly gave him the middle finger.  Here again, Wang focused more on one guest than the other so the great Lance Henriksen was only asked one question and more or less looked uninterested in what was going on around him.  In the next clip, the audience was reintroduced to colony survivor Newt, played by 9 year old Carrie Henn who is now a school teacher.  Henn lamented that acting in the film was like her secret life as she never set out to be an actor and after the film's success was the victim of constant bullying from jealous classmates.  Henn went through high school and college without her closest friends knowing about her past until a story in People magazine hit newsstands.

Lastly, it was time for Ripley; Sigourney Weaver's signature role that lead her to being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.  Which was news she found out while in a room with producers of Gorillas in the Mist meeting about the role.  Weaver was stunning and gracious while reminiscing
about the natural bond she had with Henn, working with brilliant yet Mr. Intense James Cameron, getting over her fear/objection of guns for the role and the fact that it's a good and bad sign that Ripley is still such a trailblazing character for strong leading women nearly 3 decades later.  Paxton told the audience how great a leader and calming an influence Weaver was on set while Ross will never forget when she urged him to call long distance to his wife in England at their impromptu cast party in her hotel room following the premiere.  Weaver revealed that she gave each cast member a bouquet of flowers on the day of their death scenes during production.  Her Galaxy Quest co-star Tim Allen is a huge science fiction fan and somehow bought part of the Aliens set for his screening room.  When Weaver put a jokey message on it, Allen was enraged.

A few audience questions and one from special guest Danny Glover!  From Predator 2!  Co-starring Bill Paxton! made the rounds asking what the cast kept from the production.  Rolston kept the bust of his scarred face, parts of his armor and whatnot that a collector offered him $100,000 smackers for but everything was sadly thrown out by his ex-wife.  Ross held onto his dog tags which he gave to a fan who wrote to him saying she was dressing up as him for Halloween.  Biehn says he wasn't smart enough to keep anything while Lance Henriksen has his original script with his tons of notes scribbled throughout.  When asked about the best piece of advice they'd ever received, most of the cast mentioned their father and basic advice like being who you are, getting back up after being knocked down and the like.  It was a fantastic evening and event, I just wish the people in Calgary weren't so large and that the seats weren't so small and zip-tied together.  My aching back!

Mel Gibson Week: Destiny

It's been a randomly Mel Gibson filled week in my life and that's just fine by me.  Mr. Gibson's public struggles have been well documented but I always stood up for the guy because none of us really know what happens in someone else's life if we're not there.  Whether you like him or not or think he's crazy or not, he's been a part of some great fucking movies.  I was never a Mad Max guy but the Lethal Weapon series, Maverick, Ransom, Payback, The Patriot, Chicken Run and Signs were some of the jams of my movie upbringing.  Edge of Darkness, his Taken twinge'd comeback picture didn't set the box office on fire but I thought it was very well done, intense and used its violence to chilling effect.  Plenty of 90's superstars have failed to reignite their leading man careers; from Stallone to Costner to Ford to Russell but it's just easier to kick Gibson when he's down because people love to judge others but not themselves.  Follow up piece The Beaver was a somber look at depression and while effective, went widely unseen.  With that, Hollywood's most reliable truth became clear again, if you're not making someone money, game over.

My (online) week with Mel all started with an article over at Deadline Hollywood, where a reporter who had viciously attacked Gibson in the past, had over the years actually become friends with him and asked the creative community to give him a break.  Sure we've heard this kind of stuff before, Robert Downey Jr. and Jodie Foster have been vocal supporters of the Gibs while filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez enlisted him to villain duty in Machete 2 and Stallone tried to get Mad Mel to helm Expendables III but had to settle for Riggs playing the baddie instead (and getting swole!).  I remember a few years ago, the American Cinematheque announced a Mad Max triple feature with a Q&A from Gibson and I nudged my lady, expecting some boos which of course came while I clapped and later found out the event sold out the 600 seats of the joint.  While there, Hollywood's shittiest but most well connected moderator asked Gibson about the last few years where Gibson simply stated, “Everybody gets ups and downs. It’s either sink or swim or you just don’t wake up one morning. But I kept waking up, so I figured what the f—?”.  Right on, Mel.  In an age where child rapists get nominated for Oscars, I'll still support Reverend Hess' work.

Isn't it illegal to record someone if they don't know they're being recorded?  Yet when those tapes came out, phew, it was not good for Gibson.  Apparently she turned down a settlement offer from Porter and that's when she leaked the tapes in a bid for more moola.  But she wasn't smart enough to know not to talk about it so an appearance on Howard Stern violated the confidentiality agreement and she is no longer entitled to payment.  Throw in the fact that she recently claimed to be broke and got turned away from Vanity Fair's Oscar after party, things are just tough all over.

On the work front, a potentially awesome team up project was announced to shockingly little fanfare on Impact Online that says Jackie Chan and Mel Gibson are partnering up for a period action adventure flick called Dragon Blade.  The flick would see Burt, I mean, Bret as a Roman Legion commander fighting in China where he comes across Detective Inspector Lee and the two team up to take on a formidable foe.  This of course led to instant excitement and wishful titles being bandied about like Shanghai Mavericks, The Sugar Tits Gung Fu Express and Drunken Crazy Cop Master.  Hopefully this flick goes into production and we get a big, vast, violent action-adventure saga of survival and camaraderie.

Lastly, my awesome boss of all people sent me a link to an online quiz about What 80's Action Hero Are You?  After careful consideration of each question, guess who I got?  Mother fucking Martin Riggs.  Cause I'm honest yet crazy, enjoy childish things but keep my word like an adult, would risk myself to take out an asshole and would totally try to buy $100,000 worth of cocaine with whatever cash I had one me.



So here's to you, Mel Gibson, and the massive career you've had thus far.  Keep waking up and charmingly fucking shit up.

Excuse me while I pop in Lethal Weapon...

(Not) Love Actually: Predator 2

The Alien and Predator franchises have provided 20th Century Fox with 10 movies over 30 some years and have employed young visionary directors from Ridley Scott to James Cameron to John McTiernan to Robert Rodriguez.  While Alien, Aliens and Predator are all considered classics today, their ensuing sequels haven't been quite as well remembered.  Predator allegedly started as a joke after the success of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky IV had many insiders claiming the only fight Rocky had left was against E.T.  Enter screenwriters Jim and John Thomas who crafted a script around an alien race of hunters who come to earth in search of the most dangerous prey and end up going head to head against a crew of combat soldiers.  After a tough shoot in Mexico which saw production shut down while the creature was redesigned, Predator finally hit theaters in 1987.  The film was a hit with the second highest opening of the year and would become one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature roles as well as arguably being one the manliest movies of all time.

Fox was interested in a sequel and the brothers Thomas pitched half a dozen ideas.  Their notion of bringing the Predator to an urban jungle was the one Fox shined too.  After hammering out details with Nightmare on Elm Street 5's director Stephen Hopkins and producer Joel Silver, the brothers produced an early draft after only 3 weeks.  Arnold's character was originally included but The Oak wasn't too keen on returning as he didn't believe in Hopkins as a director and thought taking the Predator out of the jungle was a mistake.  Like the Commando sequel before it, Arnold passed and went on to star in another sequel, Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.  Having already worked with Silver on Lethal Weapon, Danny Glover was brought in to star as Mike Harrigan, a tough Los Angeles cop who is prone to violence and busting crooks.  Predator boasted one of the greatest dude ensembles of all time with Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura and Sonny Landham in the mix while part 2 would enlist Gary Busey, Robert Davi, Ruben Blades and Bill Paxton to support new hero Glover.

Predator 2 is set years into the future where Los Angeles is plagued by gang violence and heat waves.  After fighting it out with Mexican and Jamaican gangs, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan is told to back off as the Feds, led by Busey's Peter Keyes, are there to take charge.  After Harrigan's best friend and partner is killed, The Glove launches his own investigation and finds himself up against a visiting Predator, the alien hunters drawn to heat and conflict.  Turns out Keyes is actually a paranormal investigator type for the government on the trail of the alien.  Hoping to capture the creature for study, Keyes' team is wiped out in a slaughterhouse melee leaving Harrigan the job of taking out "pussy face" and saving the city from the Predator's nuclear self destruct sore loser fallback.

A couple years ago, the American Cinematheque hosted a Predator and Predator 2 double feature.  It's one of my life's greatest accomplishments that I rounded up 10 friends to go.  Predator of course holds up as half macho/kickass action movie, half scary as heck survival story.  Predator 2 though had many of my friends scratching and shaking their heads.  Meanwhile, a buddy and I laughed our asses off and had a great time.  P2 is pure action/horror schlock that is funny, trashy, gory, violent and semi-exploitative.  Glover is just fine as the lead and he's given some great badass physical antics as well as random laughs such as clapping in Gary Busey's face to punctuate a threat and muttering about "damn birds".  Bill Paxton is the real diamond here with his over the top performance, inappropriate jokes and general Paxton-ness.  This film marks the end of his sci-fi trifecta as he's now been kilt by a Terminator, Alien and Predator.

Upon release, Predator 2 opened up at # 4 for the weekend during Thanksgiving of 1990 on it's way to a ho-hum $30 million take, roughly half of what Predator made in the states.  While Alien films popped up in 1979, 1986, 1993 and 1997; the Predator would not be seen on screen for another 14 years before resurfacing in 2004's Alien Versus Predator. Standalone sequel Predators would hit theaters in 2010 but the makers only recognized 1987's Predator as an influence.  Said flick is ok but kind of slow and really apes the first movie's tone, setting, characters, dialog and music.  The fact that Predator 2 tells it's own story without rehashing the original while introducing new characters and adding to the mythos makes it a success in my book.  Many a sequel/remake/reboot could learn something from Predator 2 as it's fine to honor the original source material but it shouldn't stop you from making your own damn movie and telling a new story.

You're one...ugly...mother...