Summer Cinema: Avengers Age of Ultron

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

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

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

Workout of the Day: On the Road Again

Another weekend, another convention. With WonderCon being in our backyard down in Anaheim we could pack a few snacks and dranks like Jack Daniels, Crabbie's Ginger Beer, Hershey Chocolate covered Marshmallow Eggs, mini Cadbury Eggs, cookies and more. It's Easter right? Saturday started with a workout at the Red Lion's pretty decent hotel gym where I got in:

Dumbbell Clean & Press/Chins/DB Bench Press
Concentration Curl/Cable Pushdown/Seated Cable Row
DB Lying Extension/Side Raises/Seated DB Curl
Zottman Curl and Seated Calf Raises

                            Each tri-set was done 3 times to get that total body pump.

For calves, just prop up the end of a flat bench, put some dumbbells on your knees and work those calves! A mile on the Elliptical machine followed by 8 flights of stairs made me feel marginally better about the less than stellar meals and dranks to be had throughout the weekend. Before heading over I swung by Subway for at least one light meal with roughage for the day where they had Hulk branded Doritos Jacked 3D?. Remember when Hulk came out in 2003? Tie-ins for pudding, pens, popcorn, pop and so much more was everywhere! Then the movie hit and didn't do so hot...ah well, I liked it.

Con-Man: Comikaze 2014

Downtown Los Angeles was bumping this weekend with not only the premiere hometown Comics and Pop Culture convention Comikaze taking place over three days but new addition Hello Kitty Con kicked off Wednesday night.  Throw in Danny Elfman at the Nokia next door along with the plethora of usual goings on in Downtown and the strange renaissance/gentrification/hipstering of America's last remaining Skid Row continues.

Comikaze started at 9:00 AM Saturday morning so I figured a 10:00 AM arrival would equal an easily accessible convention.  I was wrong, a huge line wrapped around the convention center for peeps who had already bought their tickets but just needed to pick up their badges.  Once we actually got in, I was confused and annoyed to see no less than a dozen staff members waving signs for badge pick up as no one was in line.  Are we throttling crowds here or something?  It wasn't that hopping in the lobby yet and the floor wasn't bad either.  Not sure if it's just me but it seemed like there were less exhibitors this year so we more or less covered the floor looking at swag, comics and random cool stuff then making our way over to the main stage for a few of the presentations.  Right away, a dude from Food Network and company presented Stan Lee with a huge, Hulk statue of a cake then throughout the day Rob Liefeld along with cast members from Game of Thrones and True Blood took to the stage to talk shop.  Again, this is a nice idea but standing in a crowd of people for more than 20 minutes gets annoying as the sound isn't great, people don't fill in gaps then wave their arms around not minding their surroundings and being on your feet all day gets tiring.  Moderation wasn't great either as one host talked way too much about her opinion while another had no flow whatsoever and cut to some really awkward, in your face camera phone questions.

Purveyors of the video games you grew up with continue to grow at these shows, lots of them from Texas!  Apparently there's a physical museum in Frisco, a non-profit that preserves and archives video games along with it's inherent art, design, press and whatnot.  It's a trip to see N64's, Super Nintendos, Sega Genesis' and their cartridges for sale, don't we all have those in a box in the basement our mom threw out?  Funko Pop figures are still everywhere with just about every character you can imagine and I picked up a show exclusive of Captain America aka Steve Rogers in costume but without his mask. 

Speaking of Captain America, I still didn't find issue #14 from his current run returning from Dimension Z but I did pick up a stack of great mid-80's adventures by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary with some covers by Mike Zeck and John Bryne where Cap teams up with the likes of Hawkeye and D-Man to battle Super Patriot, Whirlwind, MODAK, Blue Streak, The Scourge and may others while riding around America on his motorcycle.  Sure I already have these in a box somewhere in Ohio but at .50 a pop, I just couldn't pass up the chance to revisit these great adventures.  Cap firing off with an Uzi on the cover of #321 is reason enough to grab a 2nd copy.  I don't tend to buy many comics in stores these days since I don't read anything regularly and you can usually find great deals at shows.  Take for instance the Frank Miller and Walter Simonson Robocop VS The Terminator series, I've been kicking the tires online and saw a collected edition at my local shop recently but picked up the single issues for cheap at the show.  Was nice to see Mile High Comics set up as I know their physical sales have gone down while online numbers have skyrocketed.

Around the floor you also had set ups for Stan Lee's Museum, Elvira's Spooky something or other, replicas of the Back to the Future Delorean, K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, a smaller set up from Stan Winston's Studio than last year, some other costume and prop shops and a full row of Marvel guys like Cap, Thor, Iron Man and The Hulk from the movies.  Cosplay wise I was surprised to only see one female Loki as that's been a popular choice of late.  Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians was represented and strangely, Elliott from E.T. i.e. dudes wearing hoodies with fake bicycle baskets and handle bars attached to their stomach with the alien sticking out.  Points for creativity for sure.  Lots of guys from Call of Duty and one confirmed Jack Burton sighting.  Food wise, the convention center was surrounded by food trucks but all touted long lines.  Inside was worse as hot items like burgers, hot dogs and tacos were being slung out from single lines at all locations making for huge queues and waiting times.

To wrap up the day we checked out our only panel in a panel room, The Death of Superman Lives, What Happened?  I've been following John Schnep's quest to uncover what became of Tim Burton's big budget take on Superman in the mid-90's that was to star Nicolas Cage and had early drafts written by Kevin Smith then polished by J.J. Abrams and Nightcrawler's Dan Gilroy among others.  Thinking it would take about 8 months to craft a documentary, Schnep and crew are entering month eighteen.  It started late as Kevin Smith ran long, shocker, but the now non-bearded, non-sugar eating icon of movies, film and podcasts introduced the panel as the only real information the public had on Supes was from Smith's rant during a Q&A session years ago.  Smith talked about the feeling of failure from the dismal performance of Mallrats and being shit canned from Superman Lives once Tim Burton came on board.  Dogma co-star Chris Rock was to play Jimmy Olson while they couldn't film in certain parts of Pittsburgh due to them being earmarked for Superman shooting that never occurred.

Schnepp took the stage and explained the genesis of the piece, how he'd save every photo or article about the film then after a production video surfaced of a costume test surfaced on YouTube, the director decided to just go for it.  He's now interviewed most every major talent involved from director Tim Burton to the costume designer and special effects crew to concept artists and of course, writer Kevin Smith.  It looks like it's going be very cool and in depth as they screened an extended clip talking about a light up suit that was to be used for a 2 minute, rebirth/regeneration sequence where the beat to death Superman is brought back to life in an incubation chamber of wondrous technological and alien power.  Schnepp plans to release the film in early 2015 at cons like Emerald City, Wonder Con and of course, San Diego.

Overall a fun day at Comikaze but part of me feels like I'm getting too old for this shit between the crowds, lines and blah blah blah.  Maybe I'll just stick with Wonder Con and San Diego as the hassle is more than worth the experience.  Until then, it's Comics Arts Los Angeles then Phoenix Comicon next!

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...

Green Day aka Happy St. Patrick's Day

No, not that shitty garage band from the 90's, Green Day as in St. Patrick's Day!  You know, the religious and cultural holiday to celebrate one Saint Patrick of Ireland?  Apparently the dude was kidnapped and taken to Gaelic Ireland where he worked as a Shepard then found G-O-D.  Upon returning home he worked tirelessly to convert pagans into Christians using the Shamrock's three points to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost), hence, leading us to wear green.  I doubt many establishments delved too deeply into Patrick's story before shelling out green beer, green party hats and green beads but hey, that's capitalism right?  A few years ago I was in Chicago to see the annual parade and was surprised at how they turn the river green.  Basically, small speed boats dump coloring in and then do doughnuts in the water, swirling it in until the appropriate color has been reached.  Simple yet effective.  McDonald's placed a large, tipped over Shamrock Shake cup on the bank of the river so it seemed as if someone spilled, get it?

What else comes to mind when you think of Green?  The Hulk.  Kermit the frog.  Money.  Jell-O.  Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element.  After that it gets hazy...broccoli?  Grass?  Spinach?  Anywho, The Hulk is a pretty easy go to for me, I mean come on, what kid doesn't wish they could be the Jade Giant and freak out then smash everything?  Thanks to comics, cartoons, the 70's television show, two standalone movies and his appearance in The Avengers, The Big Green has firmly enmeshed himself into society.  The television series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno was fantastic with that hauntingly memorable theme and it's mix of drama with action.  Sure it's dated now but Bixby's sympathetic portrayal of Banner and big Lou's green slipper clad mountain of green painted muscle will always be a certain generation's ideal of the character.  Apparently, the show was canceled because show runner Kenneth Johnson didn't want to cut the budget down to only one Hulk out an episode.  New brass at CBS didn't care that ratings were still high for the show, they just wanted to slash spending across the board.  Years later, a series of TV movies hit NBC which were also back door pilots for never materialized attempts at Thor and Daredevil.  Apparently, a TV movie with She-Hulk was in the works but was scrapped due to budgetary concerns.

Neighbors:

Weird(cool) Panels: Excel

Work offered an Excel training today and I spotted one Emil Blonsky on the example spread sheet.  Emil Blonsky?  The Abomination from The Incredible Hulk?  Yup, upon further inspection, names like Rick Jones, Sharon Carter (Agent 13), Adam Strange, Henry McCoy (Beast), David North (Maverick), Warren Worthington (Archangel), Scott Lang (Ant-Man), Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and more started popping out before I realized the entire list was made up of names from the comic book and literature world.  For the uninitiated Jones is Marvel's sidekick supreme having been saved by Bruce Banner and subsequently rolled with the Jade Giant on many an adventure.  Jones later teamed up with Captain America and briefly assumed the mantle of dead partner Bucky.  Jonesy later picked up the Nega-Bands, becoming Captain Marvel and fighting in the space set, alien filled Kree-Skrull War.

Some of the names were pretty damn obscure and after investigation came to light as the identities of Amazing-Man, Anaconda, Anarky, Black Canary, The Absorbing Man and Spider-Woman.  That's one way to keep someone's interest during a seminar.  Only I'm pretty sure nobody else got it but that's about normal for me.

That's our Rick:

The Way We Weren't: Jean-Claude Van Damme as Daredevil

On a hot summer day in 1994, Jean-Claude Van Damme hopped on a private jet in Burbank, CA and flew to San Diego for Comic-Con.  There, the self proclaimed fan of comic book heroes Spider-Man and Tintin greeted 2,000 waiting fans in an auditorium, answering questions and taking pictures of the crowd.  Afterwards, Van Damme met the press in a small conference to promote his two upcoming pictures, Timecop (newly announced to be rebooted) and Street Fighter (since rebooted).  Timecop would become one of Van Damme's biggest critical successes as well as his most lucrative.

Post presser, the Muscles From Brussels took to the convention floor where he created a small frenzy as fans recognized the cinematic hero of such 80's and 90's hits Bloodsport, Universal Soldier and Hard Target.  Van Damme was escorted to the Marvel Comics booth to meet the legend himself, Stan Lee, who along with artists like John Romita, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby created Daredevil, Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four among hundreds of others.



After an amiable introduction, Van Damme hoped to catch Stan Lee later to discuss a project he had in mind, a big screen adaptation of The Man Without Fear, Daredevil.  The Fred Astaire of Karate hoped to secure rights to the character with no upfront and points on the back end instead.  A friend doubted Lee would take no upfront but Van Damme confidently replied that someone else could pay, sit on it and not have it made while he could get it into production, turn it into a sensation and Lee would be happy to have the points.

As cinema has shown us, it took nearly a decade to get Daredevil on screen and the results, while entertaining, won't exactly go down in the history books as a success. In the 2003 version, Ben Affleck played the blind lawyer by day, masked and costumed avenger by night.  He's joined by a familiar supporting cast and rogues gallery from the comics; crime boss Kingpin, hyper accurate and insane assassin Bullseye, ninja trained love interest Electra and partner in the courtroom Foggy Nelson.  These roles are gamely filled by the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner and Jon Favreau.  It's a visual translation of the comics; dark, brooding and violent yet lacks any real depth.

What would Van Damme's version entail?  Who knows.  But I've always been intrigued by the notion of a comic book hero being played by an actor with the physical prowess and action credentials of 80's and 90's stars.  Guys like Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren seemed tailor made to play superheroes because they were basically real life versions of them.  Physical, driven, multi-talented and intelligent types who took care of the job.

A mid-1990's Daredevil would have benefited greatly from the action directors working at the time.  Guys like James Cameron, Paul Verhoeven, Renny Harlin, Walter Hill, Andrew Davis, Roland Emmerich, John McTiernan and Jan De Bont all showed us intense, exciting, character driven action that didn't require wires or unbelievable CGI.

Physically, Wham Bam, Thank You Van Damme playing Daredevil would be no problem.  His acrobatic grace and powerful kicks would have worked beautifully for the martial arts centric Horned Hero.  But what about as secret identity Matt Murdock?  The blind, skirt chasing defense lawyer?  As we saw in Lionheart and Universal Soldier, Van Damme is fully capable of playing vulnerable and sensitive without appearing macho or threatening.  As for the skirt chaser aspect of Murdock, well, JCVD has never lacked charm for the ladies on screen so it wouldn't have been an issue.

Jean-Claude Van Damme playing Daredevil would have been a treat as straight forward superhero movies weren't exactly the norm in the 90's.  It might not have been the blockbuster of Batman or had the virtuoso touch of Dick Tracy but it could have definitely been a charged and entertaining time at the movies.

Here's Joe Carnahan's last minute effort to direct Daredevil for FOX before the rights lapsed: