Workout of the Day: Fast Man

The first time I worked out on an empty stomach was in high school. I got nauseous and hurled the glass of water I'd had earlier. As a natural morning person, in college it was hard to force some food down the gullet before training and by my late 20's, I was used to working out on an empty stomach. I believe it was Dolph Lundgren who first introduced me to the notion that as your body sleeps overnight, your blood sugar is constant and low so light or moderate exercise in the morning should theoretically go to body fat stores for energy. Guys like Arnold, Van Damme and The Rock all advocate morning cardio on an empty stomach while recently I've been hearing about Intermittent Fasting from the likes of Terry Crews and Hugh Jackman. Basically you eat within a window of 8-10 hours a day as it's thought that it takes 12 hours for the body to enter the fasted state so you'll burn more fat before your first meal. While former NFL player turned jacked actor Crews says he eats a few meals and a protein shake between 2:00 and 10:00 PM, Hugh Jackman claims he crams in 5,000 calories to bulk up for Wolverine between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM. The cast of TV show Black Sails apparently work out at 10:00 AM, have their first meal at 12:00 PM then close up eating shop by 8:00. There's books and blogs about it so after some light reading I figured to give it a try.

Since I'm already working out mornings doing cardio or weights on an empty stomach, I figured I'd just go with it. For pre-6:00 AM cardio I'm doing the usual ab-aerobics suggested by Frank Zane where I just do 60-90 seconds on a piece of cardio equipment like incline treadmill, stairclimber, stationary bike, jump rope and a Gazelle thingy. Only doing each exercise for a minute takes the monotony out of it and before you know it, you're breaking a sweat and 10, 15 or 20 minutes in. I follow that up with some ab exercises and trunk twists, stretch, cool down and call it a workout. For weights in the AM I'm a two bodypart, three superset three times kinda guy. For chest and biceps this Tuesday morning it was Incline Dumbbell Press with Zane Incline Curls (where your chest is against the bench and arms hanging), Dumbbell Fly and Concentration Curls then Gironda style wide dips with Reverse Curls. I finished up with a single superset of Chins and Push Ups just cause. Some calves, neck and forearms and I was done in under 40 minutes.

My fasting approach so far is more or less aiming to eat between 9:00 or 10:00 AM to 5:00 or 6:00 PM. That way I'm fasting for my first workout and if I do a second session, I can have a meal afterwards. Of course like all eating plans it works better if you stick to whole foods, lean meats, vegetables and fruits. Super foods include avocado, coconut oil, green vegetables, nuts, free range chicken, whole butter and whey protein while the usual bads like pasta, bread, potatoes and deep fried goodness should be inhaled moderately. One style of fasting is to have any kind of calorie free drink, though coffee is allowed, so it's water, tea, even diet pop during your 14-16 hour fast. My energy or focus levels haven't been too effected and I've felt lighter and tighter since starting the process. They say it takes three weeks to get into a habit but so far so good!

Summer Cinema: Deliver Us From Evil

My first thoughts after seeing Deliver Us From Evil:  Eric Bana deserves better, the Doctor Strange movie better have a good script and Joel McHale and Michael Biehn should play brothers or father and son in a movie, stat.  Now let's back up, shall we?  This past Fourth of July weekend gave us pretty ho-hum cinematic offerings in the form of female Chris Farley Melissa McCarthy in Tammy then Eric Bana and Jerry Bruckheimer's "factual" horror flick Deliver Us From Evil.  Evil is the latest high end horror flick to underperform in an unpredictable genre where low budget, throwaway crap seems to hit big when it works whereas polished, movie star fueled offerings get left in the dust.  With posters loudly proclaiming INSPIRED BY THE ACTUAL ACCOUNTS OF AN NYPD SERGEANT over the cast or anything else, it's pretty obvious that Sony was banking on riding the steady line of "True Event" horror hits like The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring and The Exorcism of Emily Rose to bring in audiences.  While Deliver Us From Evil does a fine job of creating a creepy atmosphere and keeping things tense, it also can't escape the tired trappings of the genre characters and in the end the story isn't based on real life.

The flick opens in Iraq where three soldiers enter a cave but then their flashlights and electronics die out while video feed audio still works...cut to New York City and we meet Sergeant Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), a special-ops guy who is known for bringing down a child molester years ago.  Sarchie has a "radar" sense for trouble and with his partner Butler (Joel McHale who along with Bana looks like they've been hitting the gym) answer a domestic disturbance call where a wild eyed former Marine has just beaten up his wife but gets his at the hands of Sarchie and Butler.  This leads us into a spate of mysterious crimes where perps are pale, scarred, act like cats and mutter about doors.  Meanwhile, Sarchie has a loving yet neglected wife (Olivia Munn) and daughter at home and we meet Father Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez) who drinks, smokes and loves women.  Basically all these crazies are possessed and trying to find a door, to where I can't really recall.  Maybe to unleash evil or something?  Mendoza and Sarchie team up to figure out what's going on and we're into cheap thrills, spitters, exorcisms and lots of flashlight lit investigating.

Deliver Us From Evil is a pretty slick looking flick, utilizing the New York locales and creating a dingy atmosphere through lots of rain and evil making all flashlights and bulbs burn out.  Scares are relegated to dark rooms, milky eyed cult members and quick reveals that are in the head, not in the world.  Eric Bana, the easygoing yet sturdy Australian actor who broke into the US with his performance in Chopper but was never able to reach the heights of Hugh Jackman or Russell Crowe through valiant efforts like Hulk, Munich and Troy, headlines a capable yet oddly filled cast.  Playing it strong but not macho, Bana balances the seemingly supernatural and physical antics of the investigation along with the crammed in domestic scenes with ease and a heavy New York accent that goes up and down through the running time.  Olivia Munn as his wife seems miscast but the role is pretty throwaway to begin with as her scenes involve looking concerned and taking care of their daughter.  Point Break remake star Edgar Ramirez is fine as the unconventional priest who works out, hits on women and does his best to fight evil through prayer and exorcism.  Joel McHale is the movie's most random casting choice as he's always cracking wise in neither a likeable or asshole way so you can't take him seriously when he speaks.  Then when he starts knife fighting with bad guys you really can't figure out what's going on.  Bruckheimer has always had an eye for casting, from the then indie crew of Armageddon (Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Steve Buscemi) to the young guns of Enemy of the State (Jason Lee, Scott Caan, Jamie Kennedy, Jack Black, Jake Busey) so Evil seems to be his foray into casting former television show hosts turned actors?

While my heart was pumping for parts of the film, in my mind I knew this all had to be BS.  There's so many plot holes (how did these possessed Marines get back to America?) and "yeah, right!" moments that I immediately went home and looked up how much or if any of it was true.  Based on a 2001 book, the movie isn't based on any one investigation Sarchie participated in but rather the man himself with a story created for a film.  Back to the beginning, director Scott Derrickson has been hired to take on Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange so I hope they enlist some writers to produce a tighter script than Evil.  I used to watch Community somewhat regularly and star Joel McHale always reminded me of Dammaged Goods icon Michael Biehn in general physical looks and slight mannerisms.  If they aged up The Biehn and made McHale younger, they could totally play father son in a flick or maybe bickering sibling brothers who happen to be Kevlar vest clad, shotgun toting cops.  Yeah...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Live Goods: Hugh Jackman - One Night Only

Saturday's return to Hollywood was for Hugh Jackman's one man show at the newly rebranded Dolby Theatre (formerly The Kodak Theatre).  Hollywood's nicest and arguably most talented guy has done plenty of stage performances in New York so this first time, one off show to support the MPTF (Motion Picture & Television Fund), on his 45th birthday, was truly a historic event.

Home to the Academy Awards Oscars ceremony, the Dolby Theatre is of course, quite nice.  Which makes the shoddy plumbing a bit of a surprise.  Seriously, during the intermission you could barely wash your hands and the women's restroom was closed on two floors.  Anyways, the show itself was a testament to Jackman's vast skills as an actor, singer, dancer and entertainer.  Accompanied by a full strings and horn section, Hugh regaled the 4,500 audience members (that included heads from Fox and Dreamworks, Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer) with anecdotes and photos of his life coupled with vocal performances and full on musical dance numbers. 



Throughout the show, Jackman was joined by a handful of guests including 30x platinum singer/song writer Richard Marx and a trio from Australia to promote Aborigine rights flown in just for the occasion.  His wife Deborah took the stage to lead the crowd in singing Happy Birthday and each seat had a celebratory cupcake under it.  After the show, Jackman conducted an auction for items like Wolverine props, movie premiere tickets and a personalized Fiat electric car.  All in, the night raised $1.8 million for the MPTF which supports actors during and after their careers.  After all of this, Jackman boarded a plane and headed to China to promote The Wolverine.  I got to sit for 40 minutes trying to get out of Hollywood.  Fucking Hollywood...

I'm guessing this was the last time Hugh hit The Dolby:

Fall Flicks: Prisoners

Hitting theaters just in time for the Autumnal Equinox is Hugh Jackman's latest non-Wolverine flick, Prisoners.  While it probably won't reach the box office riches or awards talk of last years Les Miserables, Prisoners stands as a deftly made studio release that is intense, compelling and satisfying.  Set in suburban Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving, Prisoners is the story of two young girls who go missing.  A seemingly obvious lead bears no convictions and Jackman's father/carpenter/survivalist takes matters into his own hands, kidnapping the alleged suspect.  Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has created a moody mystery piece that made me laugh, gasp and cringe over it's 2.5 hour running time that takes a few left turns but never cheats the audience out of a satisfying conclusion.  Jackman's performance is raw and powerful, I don't think he's ever come across this real and hopefully he can ride the acclaim through awards season.

In an age of prequels that tell us everything about a character and leave nothing to the imagination, Prisoners is filled with hints of back stories that are never told.  Especially with co-lead Jake Gyllenhaal who plays the detective searching for the lost girls.  He spends Thanksgiving alone at a Chinese restaurant, has solved every case he's worked on but sports multiple tattoos like a thug and wears what looks like is a Mason's ring.  Instead of giving us some familiar back story involving a lost wife or children, we only see and know him in the context of the story.

With kids back in school, Prisoners leads off the adult friendly fall that includes The Fifth Estate, Captain Phillips and Gravity before franchises, kiddie fare and Oscar fodder start rolling out for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Until then, enjoy movie crowds that don't check their phones every five minutes while you can.

Comic-Con'do Musings: Cinematic Cyclops

Hugh Jackman is about to play Wolverine for the 6th time.  That's as many times as there are Superman movies.  More times than cinematic Spider-Man and one less than Batman.  Where 5 actors have played Batman and his mask Bruce Wayne, Hugh has played Wolvie each and every time.  Soon he'll venture into Roger Moore James Bond territory.  This past Saturday in Hall H he appeared on the FOX panel for two different movies, playing the same character!

Anyone who has read X-Men knows Wolverine is the moody hot head with unbreakable bones, claws that pop out of his knuckles, healing factor and gravity defying hair.  While the level headed leader who fires optic blasts that shatter mountains is Cyclops.  Calm, cool and collected yet a babe magnet (Jean Grey, Psylocke, White Queen) and badass in his own right; Cyclops has never been given any cinematic credit.  In X-Men he isn't phased by Logan's tantrums but doesn't have much to do besides be the punch line, have his girlfriend hit on and not be able to land a jet.  In part II, he has a quick fight scene, gets captured, mind controlled and forgotten for much of the running time.  His minutes quickly run out in X3 as Cyke is in brooding mode over the loss of Jean Grey and then seemingly vaporized by her returning spirit/ghost/whatever.  Poor James Marsden...but seriously, he's doing alright.

My theory is that the X-Men movies were made too late.  If this were a 90's joint, prime time of the buddy picture, we could have had a great cinematic version of Cyclops played by none other than the sensitive action hero himself, Michael Biehn.  Biehn was the rare breed of "action" hero that was equal parts handsome, physical, courageous and vulnerable.  Look to his performance as the lovelorn, time traveling, father of the future Kyle Reese in The Terminator.  Or as soft spoken, take command under pressure while fighting Xenomorph hordes, Corporal Hicks in Aliens.  Or maybe his greatest cinematic Cyclops similarity, Lieutenant James Curran in 1990's Navy Seals where he's paired with bad boy Charlie Sheen.

In Seals, Biehn plays a leader who is strong yet compassionate and carries the responsibility of protecting his team while still managing to get the girl.  Sheen plays hot dog Hawkins, the brash, "shoot first, ask questions never" type who tries to get the chick but fails.  His recklessness ends up costing the life of a team member and gets him into a verbal beatdown with Curran, who is holding the stone of grief.  By the end of the film Hawkins has to give up his selfish ways in order to save Curran's life and get the team to safety.

This dynamic absolutely could have worked with Cyclops and Wolverine.  If you'd like a classier example because you're a movie snob who's never seen Navy Seals but judges anyway because you saw Clerks; I give you Lethal Weapon's Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson, best dad ever in The Patriot) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny "Damn birds" Glover).  One's crazy, one's calm, one shoots to kill, the other to wound and question.  Or just look to Leonardo (leads) and Raphael (cool but crude) from Ninja Turtles.  It's the same damn thing. 

But X-Men was a gamble, big budget comic book movies were far from the norm in 2000; so much so that FOX hedged their bets around the mysterious loner/badass character, had drafts of the film titled Wolverine and the X-Men, shut down production midway to reassess and the fact that it was a hit and spawned 4 sequels is a bit of a movie miracle.  Besides, Cyclops is already dead during the Days of Future Past story arc so we can't really complain about his absence.

Ah well, maybe someday, after Hugh Jackman stops playing Wolverine we'll get a decent onscreen adaption of Cyclops.

Here's the golf scene from Navy Seals featuring Biehn, Sheen, Bill Paxton, Dennis Haysbert and Rick Rossovich among others just cause: