Gerard Butler Double: London Has Fallen

After checking out Gods of Egypt on Saturday, Tuesday night we ventured over to the Cinemark Playa Vista for Happy Hour at Hop Doddy's and Gerard Butler action flick London Has Fallen. Sequel to 2013's surprise 90's style action hit Olympus Has Fallen, London picks up three years later as President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and top Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Butler) head across the pond for the Prime Minister's funeral but it's actually a trap set by vengeful terrorists from Pakistan. With access to the city cut off and multiple leaders assassinated, Banning and Asher hit the streets evading well armed baddies who want to execute the President live on the internet. Babak Najafi takes directing reins from premiere action helmer Antoine Fuqua and acquits himself nicely in the fast paced and highly violent flick. Original writers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt are joined by Christian Gudegast and Chad St. John on the $60 million budgeted affair. Olympus Has Fallen cast members Radha Mitchell, Morgan Freeman, Robert Forster, Angela Bassett and Melissa Leo return with new additions like Colin Salmon and Jackie Earle Haley who stand around in suits in war rooms.

While casual viewers could call Olympus and London Die Hard knock offs with the one, isolated man taking on an army motif, I think they more resemble Under Siege, the Die Hard on a boat film starring Steven Seagal which managed to be a solidly crafted and entertaining thriller in it's own right. With hard R violence, cursing, explosions and blood, London Has Fallen is an unabashed action flick that has little time for class but lots of space for mayhem. Like Olympus, some of the CGI is stodgy thanks to modern Cannon Films studio Nu Image/Millennium making an epic on a budget but there's close quarter combat, gunfights, car chases, one liners and dead bodies aplenty in the 99 minute runtime. There was something strangely patriotic about watching Scottsman Butler play an American tearing through the streets, homes, subways and embassies of London straight deading fools. It was a cinematic reminder that America kicks ass, so let them kick ass. It reminded me of Jesse Ventura's thoughts on having a smaller but better trained and equipped military who could take on threats versus part time Reservists simply to fill numbers. Like an 80's and 90's throwback, London Has Fallen takes a highly skilled individual with the drive to survive and conquer the enemy, cutting through red tape, taking care of the job and not being afraid of doing the Damme thing.

London opened with $21 million last weekend, down from Olympus' $29 million but also received an A- Cinemascore which should equate solid word of mouth. London has the action scene to itself for a few weeks before Batman VS Superman at the end of the month. Star and producer Butler has been promoting the film heavily on social media, TV and making appearances at military bases. We'll see if London has legs and what falls next aka gets blown up and stabbed to death.

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.

Snow Screen: The Night Before

Taking a break from the park on Saturday we headed east to Orange where the giant, 25 screen Century Theatre lives next to several restaurants like our standby The Lazy Dog. A pitcher of sangria, mac n' cheese, chicken Parmesan, turkey sammich and soup later, we took in a day show of Christmas flick The Night Before starring Joseph Gordan Levitt, Anthony Mackie and Seth Rogen. This time last year, team Rogen and co-writer/producer Evan Goldberg were out promoting The Interview which had been pulled from major chains and only screening at independent houses after the Sony hack and possible North Korean participation. With nary a controversial subject in sight, The Night Before is a funny and fun flick that made me laugh and almost cry. Kind of like previous JGL, Seth Rogen and director Jonathan Levin effort, the comedy with cancer, 50/50. Only I straight up cried during that, a little.

The tale of three friends who spend every Christmas together after one of their parents dies, the bros are pushing their mid-30's and decide to end the tradition. Orphan Ethan (Levitt) is struggling through life while lawyer Isaac (Seth Rogen) is about to become a father and Chris (Mackie) is a professional football player on the rise. Throughout the night they revisit old haunts like a karaoke bar and Chinese restaurant on their way to a kick ass, secret party. Home Alone, Die Hard, booze and drug tinged holiday hijinks ensue along with surprise and hilarious cameos. Michael Shannon shows up as a creepy yet funny drug dealer while The Interview alum Lizzy Caplan and Randall Park pop up along with familiar faces Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street) and Ilana Glazer (Broad City). And those aren't even the cameos. Like 50/50, there's a bit of real life heart mixed in with Ethan dealing or not dealing with the sudden death of his parents, Isaac freaking out about having a baby and Chris' questionable gain in athleticism. All in a fun flick that reminds you what's great about the holidays and having loved ones.

Workout of the Day: Guy Pearce

Guy Pearce is no stranger to having his shirt off for a flick but he's usually looking pretty skinny. I remember thinking he had a pretty solid but slim build in 2000's Memento and wasn't surprised when I learned he had done some bodybuilding as a teenager. His mom would take him to the gym and while she took a swim, Guy was pumping weights and doing circuit training. That lead to winning a local contest at age 16 but nothing much more came of it. Cut to 2012 and after years of headlining some really random movies and embodying eclectic roles like L.A. Confidential, Ravenous, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert and Bedtime Stories, Pearce went full action hero mode for Lockout.

More or less a sci-fi mash up of Escape From New York and Die Hard, Lockout didn't light the box office on fire but remains a visually interesting and entertaining action flick. Having just played a vain playboy in The King's Speech, Pearce's Snow is a vast change of pace being a smart ass anti-hero type, a guy who has a quip for every question and walks around with some yoked out pipes. There's fist fights, space fights, shootouts and one liners galore. Nearly every piece of press on the film focused on Pearce's transformation. In an age when getting in shape lands you lead roles (hello, Chris Pratt), I was surprised Pearce didn't land on the cover of Men's Health, Fitness, Journal, Diary whatever talking about bulking up. Maybe he did but I didn't see it on the ol' internets.

While definitive workout plans remain elusive, Pearce constantly referred to his youth in the gym and muscle memory coming into play. The only real details gleaned are that he spent a month prior to shooting hitting the weights after directors and writers James Mather and Stephen St. Leger dubbed him a bit skinny. While on location in Serbia for the 3 month shoot, Pearce says he worked out 5 days a week in the gym and consumed lots of protein powder and local meat. Like fellow actors Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Craig, Pearce has some great genetics and a build that easily accommodated an extra 20 pounds of beef. Pearce did many of his own stunts, hanging from wires, getting burnt by a ricochet shell casing and roughing around with stunt guys who all compared him (unfavorably) to Gerard Butler who had just left town. Apparently Pearce didn't lift as much weight or drink as much booze or party as late as Butler.

Pearce is in shape again for the just released Results, a weird, pseudo romantic comedy about personal trainers. He looks great in the flick, muscular and cut with the extra weight in his face taking away some of that menacing angular-ness. Again, working out was a key topic for promotion but Pearce again chalked it up his past in the fitness realm but worked on upping his cardio for the running scenes. Having buffed up for the under performing Lockout and already appearing in a comic book movie as a villain in Iron Man 3, we'll see what next role will find the 47 year old Australian hitting the weights next for.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What the Chuck?! Walker, Texas Ranger VS The Black Dragons

Speaking of TV reunions, a random episode of Walker, Texas Ranger was Chuck full of them this week. I'm always surprised when people don't know Chuck Norris was a movie star before becoming a TV staple and internet hero.  As a Karate Man I was always aware of Norris' show Walker, Texas Ranger but never really watched it regularly while it was on.  I knew it was popular, had 2 spin offs and ran for a solid 8 years.  Today, reruns are on a couple different channels and I'm catching up.  While people claim this is the golden age of television, all I see are a bunch of sad sack looking mother f*ckers, talking heads and story lines that should only take up 1 episode stretched out to 10 and still not resolving jack sh*t.  In 5 minutes of one episode of Walker there were Hummers, shootouts, trucks chasing a plane, a fight inside the plane, a guy thrown out of the plane with no parachute, Walker rescuing the guy in midair and then landing with a smile and bro-hug.  No wonder I find much of today's television boooooring.

Black Dragons, episode 18 of 2000's final season (weird, I was just talking about episode 18 from The Flash...), is the tale of P.K. Song (Street Fighter & American Dragons' Byron Mann), a vicious heroin dealer who threatens any that would oppose him and assaults Ranger Francis Gage (Judson Mills) when he tries to intervene in a heated argument.  Mann is a solid actor with quiet charisma and a scary villainous side honed from playing a ruthless and violent assassin in Dragons and as a violent and ruthless gangster in the Chow Yun-Fat/Mark Wahlberg flick The Corrupter.  Turns out P.K.'s father Edward is a diplomat (mutha fudging Mako! View In Peace) so the bad guy has immunity.  Mako actually played a completely different role 3 years earlier on the show and co-starred opposite Norris in 1981's An Eye For An Eye and 1992's SIDEKICKS!  We learn that P.K. is working for The Black Dragons, a hardcore sect of the Chinese Triad who set up drug smuggling during The Vietnam War and are still bringing product in through Dallas.  Does this sound like an awesome TV mash up of Lethal Weapon 1&2 to anyone else?!  Then we get a Mortal Kombat connection as Shang TSung himself, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa shows up as P.K.'s drug smuggling boss Master Ko and yoked out Deron McBee (Motaro from MK: Annihilation & Malibu from American Gladiators) as pre-Dog the Bounty Hunter looking local dealer Luke.  If that weren't enough, Magnum P.I.'s Larry Manetti shows up as a low level street crook and informant while Enter the Dragon villain and Karate Hall of Famer Bob Wall gets his neck twisted as a security guard.  Phew!  Oh and the dude who breaks his own neck from Showdown In Little Tokyo plays P.K.'s homeboy driver.  Damme!

Walker and partner Jimmy Trivette (Die Hard's Clarence Gilyard, Jr.) along with Gage and female ranger Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples) figure out P.K.'s racket and dad Edward relents, removing his son's immunity and letting the law do it's thing.  Of course much karate fighting is involved and we get not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR final showdowns of hand to hand combat.  Norris and Tagawa mix it up in a living room with lots of wrist locks and sweeps while Gage and P.K. duke it out in the grassy back yard with punches and kicks, Trivette and Luke smash up the kitchen while Cooke wrecks some random ass dude who isn't in a bunch of action movies outside in the driveway.  We all know that Norris is a badass and a true martial artist but there's a lot of stunt man work in the fight scenes here.  Angles from behind are always a dead giveaway as are the super fast high kicks.  Byron Mann's double looks shorter and a lot wider taking the falls of the grassy bout.  We get lots of kicks of the front, hook and jump spinning back variety and ya know, nobody gets shot too boot.

Ask Me a Question: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane w/ Andrew Dice Clay

Renny Harlin December keeps on trucking as Thursday night in Los Angeles saw not one but two of his films being screened.  The Arclight in Sherman Oaks had a 35mm print of The Long Kiss Goodnight while The Egyptian in Hollywood had a fantastic looking archival print of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane complete with actor/comedian Andrew Dice Clay, screenwriter Daniel Waters and Fairlane creator Rex Weiner in attendance.  While walking up to The Egyptian, The Dice Man and his crew were outside the side door where his bodyguard stepped into my path, what, do I look like a groupie?  Get outta here!  Actually, I've met Mr. Clay before, a snafu with security at my old job had him waiting in the lobby and not very happy.  I'm sure he remembers it...A solid turnout was inside the theater as I chatted with a new friend, screenwriter and Variety contributor Matthew Chernov.  Know how we met?  Through the power of Jean-Claude Van Damme!  A few trailers played trumpeting upcoming events like the tribute to character actor Dick Miller ("You know your weapons, buddy...") and a restored copy of Monty Python and The Holy Grail.  Programmer and moderator extraordinaire Grant took the stage to introduce one Andrew Dice Clay who nearly went into a bit in his faux tough/funny guy New Jersey persona.

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, what a crazy fucking movie.  The 20th Century Fox/Joel Silver production plays like a cartoon/comic book 50's detective movie.  After Black Plague singer Bobby Black (Motley Crue-ner Vince Neil) dies on stage, it's up to "Rock and Roll Detective" Ford Fairlane (Dice) to find out what happened.  With a pompadour of hair, leather jacket, a cherry 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner and an "Elvis meets New Jersey" attitude women love and men admire; Fairlane navigates the glamorous yet seedy world of artists, wannabes, floozies and producers from Malibu to Hollywood.  Old friends get electrocuted, a rich chick hires Fairlane to find a young woman connected to the murder, a crazy hitman/enforcer keeps trying to kill him and his dependable assistant has just about had enough of his shenanigans.  Oh yeah, there's a little kid sidekick and random ass koala bear thrown in as well.  The film breaks the 4th wall in the opening minutes and there's references to real life goings on making it meta before meta.  The script, credited to Daniel Waters, James Cappe and David Arnott makes room for impromptu music performances, exploding houses and cars, bar fights, sorority house fantasies and a car VS hearse chase through a cemetery while Renny Harlin's frenetic directing keeps things moving and Clay's brand of inappropriate, over the top machismo humor still holds up.  It's a very 90's movie, in the best way possible, with the cast, bad haircuts, fashion and freewheeling sensibility.  Lauren Holly, as the attractive yet demure and business minded assistant Jazz is a gem here, her angular haircut and curves made me wonder if Jim Lee had her in mind when he was creating Gen 13.  Tone Loc, Wayne Newton, Priscilla Pressley, Robert Englund, Morris Day, Ed O'Neil and David Patrick Kelly all show in memorable supporting roles.

After the film, our trio of guests took to the front for Q&A to reflect on the film and to hype Clay's book, The Filthy Truth:

- The film's premiere was pulled 2 weeks before it's release amidst death threats and protests to Fox and it's executives.  Dice had never seen it with a crowd before so tonight was like a premiere.
- Daniel Waters is an interesting guy, the writer of Heathers, Fairlane, Hudson Hawk and Demolition Man seems genuinely embarrassed to be discussing the film.  Made me wonder why he showed up if he was just going to be a fun sponge...
- Originally slated for a May 18th release opposite Bird On a Wire and Cadillac Man but pushed to July by Joe Roth.  Waters thinks if they would have come out in May, they would have had a bigger hit instead of "crawling to the 25th anniversary".  His words, not mine.  Luckily, Dice wouldn't let the negativity percolate.
- In the early 90's, Dice was huge, selling out 20,000 seat venues, making $500,000 to a million bucks a show 4 nights a week.  Was vilified as being misogynistic, homophobic, etc.  Says he became friends with Eminem because the rapper was subjected to the exact same attacks.
- Wanted to come off the road 6 months before movie opened but his family and their middle class upbringing just wanted to keep wringing out the cash.
- Eminem did a smart thing by staying off the road and out of headlines before 8 Mile was released, it made its money then he went back out on tour.
- Fox wanted to dump the movie and get past the bad press, Dice alludes to being paid out for an additional 2 films that as history has shown, were never made.
- Waters says his brother dropped out of medical school to become a director in a bid to save the world from Renny Harlin's directing.  Again, I don't know what his fucking problem is.  But I'll give a slight edge to Die Hard 2, Fairlane, Deep Blue Sea and Cliffhanger on Head Over Heels, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past which are fun movies but come on...
- Fairlane's Malibu movie home cost $400,000 to build then was blown up.
- Harlin understood Dice's character so director could direct and actor could act.
- Fairlane dailies got Harlin job of directing Die Hard 2, when Fairlane got pushed back and DH2 moved up, the two opened within one week of each other.
- Joel Silver hates precursor "Rock n' Roll fable" and his own movie Streets of Fire, was supposed to be Bruce Springsteen and Madonna and then bombed.
- Movie is huge in Australia, Hungary and England where everyone asks where the sequel is.
- Dice moved out to Los Angeles to become an actor, instead of taking classes, worked as a stand up comedian every night to learn new things and create his persona.
- Loving the comeback between Entourage, new Showtime special, Woody Allen movie, a new HBO show with Martin Scorsese and book.
- Bonded with Scorsese after telling the director, on stage he "didn't give a fuck" what people thought to which the legendary filmmaker responded, he felt the same way when making a movie.
- Dice wrote his book in all caps with a Sharpie back in the 2000's, original stories were all 30 pages long.
- No negativity in the book, performers have to get used to rejection.

Lots and lots more was talked about but I'm only one man.  Have a happy Friday!

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

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

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

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

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

Van Dammage: Arnold Belt

"He makes sense when he talks.  He doesn't talk with complicated words, he's direct.  You look into his eyes, they are good.  He will never try to hurt you or take advantage of you.  He's too busy and too rich, he has his own focus, his own mission.  He's not looking at how your arms are so big and the way you dress.  He's above all that.  I like him a lot."

Jean-Claude Van Damme on Arnold Schwarzenegger

When Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie career first started picking up steam, he was immediately compared to the established Austrian Oak.  It was easy to see why of course as Arnold was king of the action film along with Sylvester Stallone.  But with a European heritage and background in bodybuilding, surface comparisons were easy to make between The Muscles From Brussels and The Schwarz.  I'm not sure if the two interacted much on the 1986 Mexico set of Predator when JCVD was playing the original creature before dropping out.  Jesse Ventura gives Van Damme a shout out in one of his books, saying he was impressed with the young martial artist and thought he had a promising career ahead.  After JC left Predator and the suit was redesigned, the two would meet again on the set of Red Heat where Van Damme was unknowingly sitting in star Schwarzenegger's chair.  Cut to the Hoover Dam location of Universal Soldier in 1991 where by now Van Damme was a million dollar leading man opposite Dolph Lundgren in his first big budget studio effort and Arnie showed up with former bodybuilding champion/best friend Franco Columbu to wish co-star Ralf Moeller a happy birthday.  Apple juice and cigars flowing, the duo continued to build their rapport and when producers of Arnold's big budget summer release The Last Action Hero were looking for stars to cameo, Jean-Claude Van Damme answered the call and received a quick, speaking part while Chevy Chase, Damon Wayons, Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick among others were silently seen.

While the two stars might share vague similarities in the sense they're both European white guys who lift weights and do action movies, the likenesses more or less stop there.  Van Damme was always flattered to receive the comparison but knew he was his own man with his own plan.  Besides, it's better to be compared to a king than a pauper, right?  Whereas Arnold broke into the mainstream with his mix of hyper masculine physique, looming presence and boisterous sense of humor, Van Damme always played it a bit quieter and a bit more sensitive.  Arnold's first signature roles showcased him as unstoppable barbarians and cybernetic killing machines in Conan and The Terminator while Van Damme burst into the scene playing a mentor honoring karate fighter and revenge seeking kickboxer in Bloodsport and well, Kickboxer.  As Arnold was usually meting out violence with a sword or sub-machine gun in hand, JCVD was busy kicking people in the face and doing the splits.  Whereas Arnold had a square, muscular jaw and a physique that was difficult to hide, Van Damme's smaller stature and baby face made him less menacing and more apt to aspire to be a romantic, dramatic and comedic leading man.  As Van Damme's profile grew, his films became more action oriented than martial arts driven and put him into the same cinematic turf as Arnold and Sly.  While we never saw Van Damme mow down a field of baddies with a machine gun or win a war, hybrid action/martial arts flicks like Timecop, Hard Target and the pure action, Die Hard style Sudden Death attempted to bring him into the full mainstream to unfortunate diminishing results.  As the era of the 80's and 90's action movie came to a close, Arnold was the last man standing who never went Direct to Video and after a few under performers, left the business on a high note with Terminator 3's $433 million dollar worldwide gross.

Today, Arnold's return to film has produced solid flicks like The Last Stand, The Tomb and Sabotage but he's only struck box office gold in small cameos in The Expendables franchise.  Since his last starring role wide release in 1999's Universal Soldier: The Return, Van Damme has kept his filmic output to a minimum compared to DTV factory Steven Seagal and for the most part has challenged himself as an actor in dark and serious efforts like In Hell, Wake of Death and Until Death before playing himself in 2008's meta-mockumentary breakthrough JCVD which earned the Belgian his highest praise to date.  Subsequent branching out included a voiceover role in Kung Fu Panda 2, a return to the big screen as the villain in The Expendables 2, playing dumb in ensemble comedy Welcome to the Jungle and finishing up his directorial effort Full Love/Soldiers/The Eagle Path.

I like Conan:

Van Dammage: Like a Diamond

"It's going to be big, the Ben-Hur of martial art!  It will be filmed in Europe and China and show the philosophy of karate, the epic sweep of its past history.  We have friendship, relationship, pirates, we have Shaolin temples...I want to show something special, before hanging up on karate."
     Jean-Claude Van Damme on his directorial debut, The Quest

Depending on who you ask, the idea for The Quest came to Jean-Claude Van Damme either in a dream which he then woke up his wife to tell about or in a dingy Thai restaurant where JCVD was somberly eating and drinking alone.  Whatever the inspiration, The Quest was to be Van Damme's final goodbye to the genre that made him, the martial arts flick.  Since becoming a near overnight sensation thanks to 1988's high kicking, world warrior tournament classic Bloodsport, Van Damme always had higher aspirations than low budget karate movies.  Inspired by the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, On the Waterfront and Ben-Hur, Van Damme has always wanted to go epic.  As his Hollywood profile grew, Van Damme attempted to go more mainstream, toning down his pure karate kicking antics in favor of big, Hollywood style shoot'em up, exploded up action as witnessed in Universal Soldier and Hard Target, which blended bullets and jump spin kicks.  Nowhere to Run featured nary a kick but many a punch'em up complete with love story and kids involved but was a bit of a misstep financially. 

After 1994's Timecop showcased explosions, splits and kicks in a classy way, Van Damme thought it was really time to shut down the karate machine.  1995's Sudden Death lacked any of his trademark high kicks, shirtless scenes or butt shots but still needed a throwaway line to explain his French accent (played semi-pro hockey in Canada).  A take on the popular Die Hard formula where one man takes on many to save the ones he loves, Sudden Death is all rough and tumble fights, gunfire, crashing helicopters, exploding cars and the like inside and outside a hockey arena.  The film performed worse than Van Damme's previous 3 releases.  Looking to take control of his own career, Van Damme announced he would be making the leap to the directors chair for The Quest, an epic martial arts film that would be his goodbye to the genre.  Hoping it to be Bloodsport, but bigger, JCVD approached Oliver Stone to direct who respected the Belgian for making his own way.  After describing the story and scenes, Stone politely declined stating that Van Damme didn't need him since everything was already in the actor's head.

The Quest was announced at the Cannes film festival in 1993 where Van Damme got the one up on Arnold's latest, Last Action Hero by placing a hot air balloon over the water and renting a yacht to throw a lavish party that attracted studio heads and super models.  Quickly selling millions of dollars worth of international rights, it looked like Van Damme's dream would be coming true.  The Quest follows Christopher Dubois, a street performer who steals from local mobsters and goes on the run but is then kidnapped by pirates before being sold off to muy thai fighters and embarking on a journey to enter a fabled tournament held in the Lost City in China where the prize is a dragon made of solid gold.  Van Damme looked to have real life boxer George Foreman, who was in the midst of a career comeback in the ring at age 45, to play his trainer in the film.  At some point that idea was jettisoned and durable character actor James Remar (The Warriors, 48 Hours) was brought in.  Van Damme always admired Sean Connery but settled for another former James Bond, Roger Moore to play a fancy yet shady con-man that helps him get to the tournament.  Names like Kim Basinger and Madonna were rumored to be on VD's wish list to play a spunky journalist but TV actress Janet Gunn ended up in the role.

Co-written by Steve Klein and Paul Mones based on a story by Van Damme and Bloodsport inspiration Frank Dux, The Quest is a polished effort and solid display of Van Damme's talent behind the camera, especially for a first time director.  Utilizing the 1920's setting, the film makes good use of urban and exotic settings from the streets of "New York", the jungles of Thailand and the arid desert of Tibet to create a romantic and exotic adventure filled odyssey with a golden sheen.  The trials of Van Damme include fist and feet fights on the streets, on a boat, during a pirate boarding and battle, on the beach and finally inside and outside the ring of the Ghang-Gheng.  Like Bloodsport before it, The Quest showcases fighters from around the world utilizing different fighting techniques like sumo, karate, savate, grappling, capoeira and boxing.  Sadly, the film can't quite top the fight scenes from Bloodsport which were fast, fun and brutal as they come off a bit repetitive and one-note with an overuse of slow motion that do little more than show off his glistening and striated muscles.

Post release, Van Damme would state he was not happy with the film as many pages of character development and training were removed to reduce costs.  Estimated to have cost $30 million dollars, Van Damme claims to have sold $20 million at Cannes which was an exaggeration according to producer Moshe Diamont.  Upon it's release, Van Damme would claim the film only cost $12 million which I'm guessing is a below the line figure.  Hitting theaters in April of 1996, The Quest would open in the #1 spot with a $7 million dollar gross on it's way to a tepid $21 million total and continue our man Van's career slide.  Worldwide the film brought in an additional $35 million for a $57 million total, far from the above $100 million grosses of Universal Soldier, Timecop and Street Fighter.  4 movies and 3 years later, Van Damme would be relegated to Direct to Video releases. 

Vernal Viewing: Sabotage

I've been looking forward to Sabotage for quite some time.  Writer/Director David Ayer has had a hand in some great flicks from Training Day to fucking classic Harsh Times to enjoyable cop thriller Street Kings to the surprisingly solid End of Watch.  He takes a reality based approach to the seemingly tired genres of cops and soldiers but delves into the nitty gritty of the highly trained, under cover agents that operate in the shadows of society's shitholes.  So when I heard Ayer was doing a movie with Arnold, I knew it would be something different that wouldn't try to recapture The King of Kings' former glory and would move him into a new direction. 

Sabotage follows John "Breacher" Warden (Ah-nuld), a living legend in the DEA's under cover unit who has taken down a top cartel leader but lost his family in a retaliatory kidnapping and double murder.  Now, Breacher is obsessed with taking down the bad guys and finding the man who killed his wife and son.  The movie starts with his team taking down a safe house with $200 million in cash sitting in the basement.  Breacher's team hides $10 million and blows up the rest but when they go to retrieve it, the money is gone and soon they are all under investigation by the DEA.  After being cleared of the charges, Breacher's team begins getting killed off one by one in extremely gruesome manners, attracting local Homicide detectives.  After that, it's a slow burn mystery thriller with bits of debauchery and tactical military style action placed throughout.

Hands down, this has to be Arnold's darkest, craziest, bloodiest, funniest, macho-ist, raunchiest, filthiest, bro-down of his career.  His turn as Breacher is more realistic than anything he's done in years, maybe ever.  As a highly trained, motivated leader and operator; Arnold's trademark physicality, sense of humor (an interrogation scene and a remark about 48% body fat had us laughing for 5 minutes) and penchant for cigars makes him badass with a touch of menace instead of a cartoon character.  The supporting cast is superb as well as you get a nearly unrecognizable Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Arnold's 2nd in command Monster, TV star and all of a sudden Arnold BFF Joe Manganiello's Grinder shows off his impressive size and gets one of the best/worst lines in the movie, Josh Holloway from TV's bullshit Lost puts in a funny/wise ass performance as Neck, Pacific Rim's Max Martini shows up as trouble maker Pyro, Terrence Howard plays smooth devil's advocate Sugar, World War Z's Mireille Enos convincingly plays an action and controlled substance junkie while real life military advisor Kevin Vance gives some honest credibility as Tripod.

Co-written by Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard), Sabotage plays like an amplified version of Ayer's directorial debut, Harsh Times, where Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez basically drive around Los Angeles drinking and getting into trouble.  That "up to no good" vibe is cranked up here and every character is raw, every other word of dialog is "fuck" and there's booze, tits and guns galore.  Once Breacher's team starts getting killed off, the mystery is well done but when everything is revealed and we head into the final act, the movie can't top itself and seems to shift down gears.  Parts of the flick confused me, such as the inciting incident where Breacher's team steals the money then blows up the rest.  His superiors have a rough idea of how much was there from a parallel FBI investigation but if some of it burned up, how would they know what was missing?  And is the cartel upset that they blew up the money or that they might have stolen some?  Or both?


Sabotage comes on the heels of Arnold's comeback starring vehicle The Last Stand bombing at the box office then his team up with Stallone, Escape Plan, which did peanuts in America but cleaned up overseas.  Opening up this past weekend in a crowded market against Darren Aronofsky's Russell Crowe starrer Noah, defending YA champ Divergent and faith based God's Not Dead, Sabotage opened at # 7 with a pitiful $5.3 million take.  That makes it Arnold's worst opening since the early 80's behind titles like Raw Deal and Red Sonja.  Open Road Films, a relatively new distributer owned by AMC, has had trouble marketing their films in the past as The Killer Elite, The Grey and Sabotage are not your typical slam-bang action picture but instead are actually dramatic thrillers with action.  Props to them for trying to sell the movie on Ayer's past credits and the supporting cast but it just wasn't enough.  Arnold seemed to be everywhere to promote the film and while his internet videos rack up millions of views, that exposure isn't driving patrons to the theater, sadly.  A friend didn't want to see the movie after hearing it tanked but I told him to stop being a mainstream sheep of the masses.  He ended up joining us and having a blast while learning new life skills.

Listen all y'all its a Slap da Chop!

Hot Damme! A Good Day to Die Hard

Say what you will about A Good Day to Die Hard but it's a perfectly functional action movie.  People complain that Bruce Willis' John McClane has lost his "human" side but give me a break, the dude was cracking wise and wasting terrorists in 1987's initial installment then fought bad guys across airports, on snow mobiles and on the wing of a moving airplane before blowing it up in Die Harder before surviving subway car crashes, racing through Central Park, falling from a bridge onto a moving freighter in With a Vengeance so please, let's just admit that the guy is a larger than life action hero the same as Stallone or Schwarzenegger only not as buff.  Sure there are dramatic, emotional, regular guy flourishes in Die Hard but they're also in First Blood with John Rambo.  However the sequels and imitations make people forget that there's actually only 4 deaths in Rambo's first adventure.

A Good Day lacks the complexity present in the first 4 Die Hard movies and gives us a boom boom boom, 97 minute action flick.  In the first third, we get a huge chase sequence involving cars, vans, trucks, big rigs and lots and lots of carnage.  Many of the gags were performed practically so you get dozens upon dozens of real vehicles being crashed and smashed seemingly on the streets of Moscow.  It's quite impressive and a little jaw dropping due to it's scope and utter disregard for public property and civilian safety as McClane drives his commandeered Mercedes SUV off a bridge, onto semi trailers and car carriers before crashing down on cars in traffic, shattering windshields and crushing hoods.  He even says "sorry, ma'am!" to a screaming woman underneath his tires.

Fox Lot mural honors DH franchise

It's said the sequence totaled 132 cars, including Lamborghini's and Mercedes Benz's at a cost of $11 million.  Director John Moore, Second Unit Director Jonathan Taylor and company planned the chase for 8 months and the resulting sub-10 minute sequence is one of the most epic motor melees in recent times.  A deft blend of location shooting and green screen, DH5 holds the record for the biggest green screen, measuring out at 1000' x 40', utilized over a highway set built in Budapest.  There's crashing, flipping, sliding, launching and a world record for tonnage flipped when a truck carrying a concrete pipe is thrown into the air and rolled to it's side. While it might not deliver the same genre defining, cinematic impact as its predecessor, A Good Day to Die Hard will forever contain one exciting and harrowing sequence that puts the viewer in the middle of the mayhem.

A little taste of the destruction: