A couple of years ago I visited Austin for the first time to attend a special screening of Lionheart and Only the Strong with writer and director Sheldon Lettich. Local Alamo Drafthouse programmer and editor Greg is a huge action movie fan, putting on marathons for the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone and Nicolas Cage (who attended the recent 4th edition). Russellmania was a celebration of the Saint of Being Charmed Kurt Russell and we attended the sequel a couple of weeks ago as a long weekend getaway. Luckily the lady is a huge Kurt Russell fan and spent some time in Austin growing up so everything just lined up. Five mystery films, a themed menu and a few surprises seemed like the perfect way to spend a Sunday.
Starting at 11:30 AM, the Ritz on Sixth was already packed and there were plenty of Jack Burton tee shirts and tanks in the crowd. The 200 person theater sold out in a day and each patron was greeted with a special menu for the day along with buttons with Russell's visage from The Thing, Tombstone, Used Cars and so many more. Random and hilarious clips from Russell's vast filmography, from roles as a child actor in Disney flicks to providing voice over for DMV spoofs played along with trailers before each film. Greg welcomed the crowd and shared that Kurt Russell would not be attending but he was able to talk to the man and send him the line up. Russell and long time partner Goldie Hawn had both just finished whirlwind PR tours for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and Snatched, and it was time for a trip to unwind.
Big Trouble In Little China, I was a little disappointed this kicked things off as it played in the first Russellmania and of course we saw it at Beyond Fest with Russell in attendance last fall. But it doesn't take you long to fall back into the film as it's one of my favorite movies of all time and one of Russell's best roles/performances. Greg debated showing it again but when he proposed it to Russell, the response was "if you have Freebird, play Freebird", fair enough.
Overboard, this was a title I thought would play since Russell and Hawn had films this summer and received side by side stars on the Walk of Fame. It's still a fun flick with questionable morals but nothing you can't come back from. Plus you begin to notice Russell's beautiful hair and penchant for tank tops. It was a nice treat for the lady because she grew up watching the flick with her family.
Backdraft, this was one I didn't quite expect but should have since it was Russell's first big budget headlining film. Ron Howard does an excellent job crafting a solid drama with intense action sequences with real fire in the pre-CGI 90's. Sure it's a bit 90's cheese with William Baldwin and Iron Eagle's Jason Gedrick as part of the random montage that shows the danger of fire fighting along with the mundane day to day. Robert De Niro does his De Niro thing aka repeats himself to glorious effect. Awesome supporting cast here too with Scott Glenn, J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca DeMornay and Donald Sutherland. The lady was not a fan of William Baldwin though. Short hair this time out but tank top? Check.
Tango & Cash, this was the wildcard title but I thought it should play because Stallone and Russell were both in Guardians 2. I could tell it was T&C from the opening Warner Brothers logo and gave out a big holler to express my excitement. Just the most random (delivery guy leaving with pizza? Russell's Gabriel Cash is really upset a bad guy shot his shirt that cost nine bucks), patriotic (don't let a limey jerk off cut your head off, let an American!), homoerotic (multiple men ask each other if marriage jokes are proposals, Cash dresses as a woman to escape police, he and Tango get to prison and immediately shower together) but fucking awesome 80's flick you could ask for. Between Backdraft and Tango, I realized that Russell is one of cinema's greatest screamers. He just goes into "scream mode" and you totally believe it and it makes you laugh. See Swing Shift "you want it pal, come get it!", Tombstone "Hell's coming with me you hear?!", Dark Blue "because they built it with bullets!", Death Proof "you really gotta be sitting in my seat!", etc. for more examples.
The Thing wound things down but I was pretty tired as I'd been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks and while John Carpenter's film classic, it's a movie I've seen on the big screen more than once. Greg and the staff made for a great day as there's full service food and booze you can order any time. We went for Jameson and Ginger Beers, a burger, a Tombstone themed pizza, popcorn and a cookie trio a la mode. There's still so many more films for a Russellmania 3 but sounds like Keanu Reeves might be the next star to get an Alamo marathon.
Space opera fans had much to celebrate as Thursday was May the Fourth Be With You and Friday was Revenge of the Fifth. At the office I had the films playing in random order, themed menu items and restrooms were decorated with Luke, Leia, Finn and Rey. We watched The Force Awakens at home and picked up a Poe Dameron figure on sale at the local Disney store. Now I have the hankering to watch Ex Machina... The Han Solo movie is currently in production and Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hits theaters in December.
Thursday also saw the summer movie season take off with the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. We ended up taking in a double feature at the nearby Arclight Cinema. Part one still plays quite well as an entertaining, space trotting thrill ride even if it doesn't hold up to much deep thinking or scrutiny. Written and directed by James Gunn, Volume 2 starts off with a big and funny action sequence but surprisingly goes into character depth mode with Chris Pratt's Star-Lord being found by his dad (KURT RUSSELL), Zoe Saldana's Gamora tries to reconcile with sister who tried to kill her last movie Nebula (Karen Gillan), Dave Bautista makes a would be lady friend then Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Yondu (Michael Rooker) bicker because they're afraid to lose their adopted families. While things seemed to move quickly, the character beats and humor work but it felt like nothing really happened. Kurt Russell is great as the manifestation of an entire planet but badass assassin Gamora gets little to do. Sylvester Stallone shows up in a small role opposite Rooker for a nice Cliffhanger reunion even if we don't get a Tango & Cash or Tombstone one. All in I probably liked the film an extra 20% because of Russell and Stallone.
It was great to see Russell doing so much press for the flick and Stallone did his fair share as well. Russell and long time partner Goldie Hawn were honored with Stars on the Walk of Fame this week as Hawn has Snatched with Amy Schumer opening next week. Since taking a bit of a hiatus from filmmaking in 2006 to make wine, it's been awesome to see Russell return with Quentin Tarantino, Peter Berg, the Fast and Furious movies and now Marvel. Located past the Pantages theater, we checked out the shiny new stars and did the Tango & Cash high five over them. Now we just need Jean-Claude Van Damme to work with Spielberg, Nolan, Marvel or DC to get his honor.
The first film to sell out at Beyond Fest this year was a repertory screening of 1986's John Carpenter classic Big Trouble In Little China. I was honored to provide the write up on the BF website for one of my favorite films as one of my favorite actors, Kurt Russell, would be appearing for a post film conversation with Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn. Big Trouble sold out in less than a day and of course my most anticipated evening of the festival. I had no idea Russell would be attending the film and as a Russell film naming contest took place to introduce the night, I ran to the bathroom and saw the man standing in a hallway seemingly by himself. Caught by surprise I locked eyes with the film icon, inexplicably pointed at him and fist pumped as he smiled and waved. This would be the third time seeing Russell live and I'd actual met the guy briefly a while back and he was just as cool and funny as you'd want him to be.
Big Trouble In Little China holds up now better than ever, it's irreverent sense of humor mixed with mysticism soaked action, big sets, crazy costumes, whip fast banter and perfect cast is a one of a kind crowd pleaser. Russell and Gunn sat and watched the film and came down after where Russell was only too happy to view the film after such a long time with an audience who appreciated it. He looked back with nothing but fond memories, recalling that everyday on set was something cool to see, something cool to do and cool people to be around. The leading man gave director John Carpenter total credit for the esteem Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble, et al are held in and shared that neither he nor Dwayne Johnson brought up the proposed remake The Rock is looking to produce and star in while the two worked together on Furious 8. Russell saw Jack Burton as a mix of himself, Jack Nicholson, John Wayne and the kind of guy you didn't ask for his opinion but shared it anyway. Russell shared several stories of being a young actor and how Fox executives didn't know what to do with the film, fools! Russell also dropped gems like "ifs, and's and Peter Pan's" aknd the classic "that guy knows what fucking time it is".
July is always a solid month for me. Independence Day gives a three day weekend, Anime Expo takes place downtown, it's my birthday and then San Diego Comic-Con, so always something to do. Anime Expo aka AX, has signed to stay in Los Angeles for five years and this is was our third year attending. Lines and crowds were crazy on Friday and Saturday so I'm glad we opted to check out the show on Sunday. A quick Uber to the Los Angeles Convention Center and fast badge pick up line later, we were walking the lobby. Oh but first, an aside. My con backpack is lined with various buttons with Captain America, Arnold as Sgt. Rock, Pacific Rim, Predator and one with Kurt Russell from Used Cars that a guy offered to buy off me at SDCC a few years ago. Anyways, after putting our programs in my bag and slinging it over my shoulder, I notice something is missing, my Used Cars button was gone! This was from a one of a kind event years ago at The Arclight so I was super bummed as we retraced our steps to no avail. It's just a trinket but it was not a great start to the day. Once inside the packed exhibit floor I looked down and wondered what was on my leg, lo and behold, my button had fallen off my bag but somehow ended up catching on the magnet of my money clip inside my shorts pocket, pin point facing out and all! The lady and I high fived as my Kurt Russell, Tango & Cash style charm continued!
The exhibition floor was full of vendors offering all the anime inspired toys, models, prints and more. A local seller had shirts about Ship where you'd flip up the bottom to see your favorite characters in near kiss. Lots of stuffed animals around, especially sloths. Funko, Lootcrate, Crunchy Roll, Bandai, Capcom and more had large sections of the floor as did Toei animation with cool Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z history exhibits. Zootopia cosplay was the latest craze while I've never seen so much cross play or people walking with their heads down looking at their phone. Of all the shows I've been to, I can't think of another where I politely shoved or moved so many people out of my way who were just randomly standing in an aisle or not watching where they were going. Artist alley had been moved downstairs to Kentia hall and it was as huge as it was packed. I had to yell for people to keep walking because again, goers were literally stopping in the middle of the aisle. If you want to stop and look at something, walk over to the table, don't stand in the middle of the walkway, ya dig? Table top and card gaming was downstairs as well but the AC was not pumping so we did a round and headed back upstairs.
We trekked over to West Hall where Cosplay sets, the arcade and pachinko machines were set up. Our Uber driver later told us about his ten years in Japan and how people would lose their mortgages at the crazy gambling machines that seem like a mix of slots and pinball with a TV show playing at the same time. In another new addition, there was a history of AX set up showing timelines of locations, milestones and attendance. There were also programs, shirts and the like from past shows which was pretty cool. We also ran into our friends at Concon, a new app for all your convention needs, check it out! After several hours of walking around, it was time for lunch as we headed to the dependable Yard House at L.A. Live where we found a seat at the bar immediately. We headed back to the show, checking out cosplay gatherings out front where hundreds descended for group shots. After that it was over to the randomly crowded for a Sunday but it was a holiday so, EightyTwo for dranks and catching up with friends. I've never been a huge fan of Street Fighter: Championship Edition and it really wasn't my day as I was defeated the two times I stepped up. Final Fight was a little more forgiving as I jabbed, crossed and spun kick as Guy through several levels of Metro City.
It's great to see Anime Expo continue to expand and I'm pumped to see what next year has in store. It was another fun time and ample warm up for SDCC. For 2017 we'll see about taking a stay-cation like WonderCon and get a room to stay in the heart of the animated action. Until then, I'll be catching up on Attack on Titan, One Piece, Free!, Gundam, Beserk, Naruto...I must say, the prospect of being able to download information is one aspect of the future I'm looking forward to so I can be caught up on all of these series.
As Kurt Russell month rolls on, I unearthed a forgotten yet extremely interesting if not instant classic in his filmography, 2001's 3000 Miles to Graceland. While I grew up on Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York then L.A., Tango & Cash, Executive Decision, Breakdown, Soldier and especially Tombstone, 3000 just went unnoticed on my radar for some reason. I recall it playing on the college channel of free movies but I only caught the random opening titles where CGI scorpions fight each other and bits of forced dialog to pieces of tough talking Kevin Costner before random, hyper stylized and overlong shoot outs. Cut to last night and we popped in the ol' DVD fresh from Amazon to soak up some Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner as Elvis impersonators who rob a casino during a convention dedicated to the King of Rock and Roll.
When the credits ended, all I could exclaim was "wow, what a weird frigging movie". 3000 Miles to Graceland was directed and co-written by Demian Lichtenstein, a former music video helmer for the likes of Sting, Eric Clapton and Queen Latifah with a script assist from Richard Recco. We meet just out of prison Michael Zane (Kurt Russell) at a little crap hole hotel outside Las Vegas, he immediately falls in with hot single mom Cybil (Courteney Cox) and her pickpocket young son Jesse (David Kaye). Boots are knocked and wallet stolen as Zane waits for partner Murphy (Kevin Costner), a mean looking hombre with crazy side burns. Murphy has rounded up an eclectic posse of shady characters played by Christian Slater, Bokeem Woodbine and David Arquette to knock off a casino during a big Elvis convention. While Murph and his cronies go in strong with guns blazing and grab millions in cash, Michael hot wires an elevator so they can meet helicopter pilot Jack (Howie Long) on the roof. Of course things go wrong, there's no honor among thieves and Murph leaves his crew for dead but ol' Michael survives and is soon on the run with Cybil and Jesse as they try to find the cash and elude Murphy's psychotic bad guy tendencies. Thomas Haden Church and Kevin Pollak show up as the FBI agent types on their tail and after a detour into the pacific northwest, Murph and Michael have their final showdown at a shipping yard.
Part action flick, part heist movie, pieces of a fractured romantic comedy and straight slapstick, 3000 is one strange hybrid of a flick. First off, it's very of it's time in the post Pulp Fiction era of big music, editing, violence and slickness. While Tarantino's taste made his choices part of a personality infused film, Lichtenstein just throws it all in with no real purpose it seems. Music blares but is extremely generic and just loud. Action scenes showcase lots of gun fire, oh so much slow motion, things breaking and exploding but no real story, rhyme or reason. Russell is fine as the likeable and non-violent ex-con while Costner is solid as the vicious yet interesting villain. The rest of the cast doesn't have a whole lot to do but the familiar faces run deep as in addition to the already listed, you get Jon Lovitz and Ice-T popping up later in the film. I was surprised at the amount of objectifying of women; Michael gazing at Cybil's butt, Murph picking up a young lady at a gas station, waitresses bending over, etc. but no actual nudity in the rated R film. Being the early 2000's, the action is noteworthy as it's mostly done practically with glass breaking, squibs going off, choppers flying in, cars crashing and a giant, over done explosion shown from half a dozen angles. In the end, not a good movie but strangely memorable, probably due to it's cast, skewed sense of hunor and Russell's excellent take on Elvis in a couple scenes drawing on his history with The King. First appearing opposite of him in 1963's It Happened at the World's Fair, playing him in 1979's Elvis TV movie and providing a quick voice cover in 1993's Forrest Gump.
3000 Miles to Graceland came at a curious point in both Russell and Costner's careers. After years building up his film roles and becoming a dependable box office draw, Russell would make $3, $7, $10 then $15 million bucks for a movie, culminating with 1998's big budget action flop Soldier. 3000 seemed like an easy rebound for Russell as he shared the leading man duties with Costner who became a star off of hits The Untouchables, Bull Durham and Field of Dreams before taking control of his own destiny to produce and direct Oscar winning mega hit Dances with Wolves. Critical and commercial successes Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK and The Bodyguard followed before high profile disappointments A Perfect World, Wyatt Earp and $80 million directing flop follow up The Postman. 3000's trailer made it seem like a fun and kitschy action flick starring two of the biggest names of the 1990's. During the credits we get Kurt Russell shucking, jiving and lipsyncing to Elvis while other cast members look silly dancing and waving prop guns. The now defunct official website made history by hosting three featurettes of flash animation to act as a prequel to the film, voiced by Costner and cast. But reviews were not kind and the $40 to $60 million film opened #3, grossing an anemic $7 million bucks on it's way to just $15.7 million total in the United States. It is rumored that both stars cut a version of the film, Russell's being more comedic and focusing on Michael's relationship with Cibyll while Costner's was reported to be more action focused. Lichtenstein attended Costner's appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio that year while Costner, Cox, Arquette and Stallone hit the red carpet premiere. But just last week, Russell stated he had nothing nice to say about Costner so who knows what happened.
The film was a product of Elie Samaha's independent movie house Franchise Pictures which also produced cult classic The Boondock Saints, several direct to video Dolph Lundgren titles, Bruce Willy's The Whole Nine Yards, notorious flop Battlefield Earth and several under performing Stallone pictures before shuttering under allegations then a judgement that they were padding budgets and overcharged partner Intertainment $100 million plus. While Costner and Russell bounced back and are still going strong today, Lichtenstein would never work with an as ample budget or cast again. Producer Samaha's film output slowed but he's still a force in the real estate world, co-owning the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood that recently underwent an overhaul to make it the largest capacity venue IMAX but not actually being a true IMAX screen.
Disney California Adventure's Food and Wine Festival is in full swing. Celebrity chefs, winemakers, brew masters and distillers appear every weekend for seminars. I was originally scheduled to be working on an office project but it got pushed. The first thing that came to mind was that I could now attend A Conversation with Kurt Russell, a 90 minute get-together where the fan favorite actor would discuss his career in movies along with being an apprentice winemaker with line Go Gi. Stage 17 in the Hollywood Back Lot was set up with tables and chairs, linens and silverware. Before long, the Disney Legend took the stage and sat down for a fun, funny and informative 90 minutes. Russell of course, got his start as a child actor and knew Walt Disney. After a stint as a professional baseball player didn't pan out, Russell focused on acting.
Making a name for himself and becoming a $10 million man with the likes of Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Tango & Cash, Backdraft, Tombstone, Stargate and Soldier, Russell seemingly took a hiatus from filmmaking in the late 2000's. Taking bike and wine tours with long time partner Goldie Hawn in France, Russell began to appreciate wine and in 2007 while shooting Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, became interested in making it. Cut to today where Go Gi is a specialty label producing Goldie Chardonnay and Tiger Pinot Noir. We were given a sample of a wine not for sale, that Russell produced one barrel or 20 some cases of, just for his mom. But his mom isn't a lush and ends up giving a lot away. For today's tasting for a couple hundred, his mom parted with 2 cases so our sample was noticeably smaller then the others. While Russell contemplated where to jump in to making wine, a movie poster artist friend challenged him to stop talking about it and just do it. Drafting his sister to run the show, the Russell's are now producing organic and sustainable wine that was served up at The Wine Saloon for 2 years before closing this past week due to a change in building ownership.
It was a pretty enlightening chat that really showed Russell knows what he's doing when it comes to wine, talking about how temperature, wind, dirt and dew affects grapes and how you want a mix of big ones, shriveled ones, etc. As there are 100's of kinds of apples, there are apparently over 50 kinds of pinot noir grapes and Russell found the one he liked to produce Tiger. Originally Russell wanted to name the brand after a line Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday has in Tombstone, "In Vino Veritas", but it was taken. As was Russell Cellar and a host of others. Wanting to name each vintage after a friend or family member, Russell settled on Go Gi as in Go Gee, because he couldn't pronounce his middle name Vogel as a child. As Russell spoke, we tried wine, ate cheese and fruit then dessert. It was a very laid back environment but well run by the staff. Russell kept things light with his patented sense of humor, down to earth attitude, charmed personality and Kurt Russell laugh as he talked about celebrity couples headed towards splits-ville, the simple pleasure of drinking wine over an afternoon and learning about art when he didn't think he liked it. But when he saw Rembrandt and then the "f*cking Mona Lisa", he got it.
90 minutes breezed by and the moderator tried to close up shop but like at Escape From New York, Russell said shoot him questions fast and he'd answer. He talked about working with then 27 year old Elvis as a 10 year old and recalling 2,000 women chasing after the crooner's car. Also that Elvis was a nice guy who approached Russell's actor father Bing, stating he was a fan and asked if he could wear his hat the way Bing did. Russell played catch with Elvis and usually does with his make-up guy on set. But one guy he didn't play catch with was fellow baseball player turned actor Kevin Costner who Russell refrained from commenting on as he had nothing nice to say. But we all knew Costner was a bit of a jerk, didn't we? I asked what first memories came to mind about Tombstone and after a long pause, Russell stated something along the lines of, "you can keep the 20 years after the film, it was that hard to make but I'm very proud of it. And come on, dude, it's a classic."
Russell closed things out explaining that he had just come from the Atlanta set of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 where he was having a great time, speaking highly of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, the cast and was very impressed with writer/director James Gunn who knows what he's doing. He also confirmed that he's playing Peter Quill's dad. When it was all over, Russell stayed and took photos with every attendee, shaking hands and chit chatting. I told him I bought a bottle of Tiger for a dinner party and he smiled and said he drinks it all the time then did the Kurt Russell laugh. It was an awesome day and fantastic experience as it's always cool to see a guy you grew up watching turn out to be a cool f*cking dude.
I don't know how it happened but I've been wine tasting twice in the last few weeks. First it was in Malibu at the Wine Safari where you hang out with animals like horses, llamas and a giraffe then at Disney California Adventure Park during their Food and Wine Festival. April continues to be the time to get wine'd up as this Sunday, 4.10 at the Lorimar Winery in Temecula you can learn how to use a sword AND taste wines at Adrian Paul's The Sword Experience. Paul of course was the star of the hit syndicated show Highlander and starred in two feature films as Duncan MacCleod, cousin to Christopher Lambert's Connor. Living through the centuries as an immortal who battles others like him with decapitation as the only way to kill them. With the removal of the head comes the absorption of knowledge set to lightning and rain with a blaring rock soundtrack. For $350 bones, you can train with Paul for 4.5 hours while enjoying breakfast and lunch, a photo with the star and teacher, complimentary wine tasting and a free club membership. If that weren't enough, there's live music afterwards. Paul is taking The Sword Experience on the road, hitting Chicago, Houston, London, Stuttgart and Minneapolis to meet the fans and support his charity, The Peace Fund, which aims to Protect, Educate and Aid Children Everywhere.
Next Saturday, 4.16 at California Adventure Park you can meet movie legend Kurt Russell and hear him discuss his awesome career and passion for wine making. Apparently the star of Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, Tombstone and Tango & Cash fell in love with the fermented drink while shooting Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof in wine country. Since then, the apprentice winemaker has created small batch boutique label Gogi that offers Goldie Chardonnay and Tiger Pinot Noir. I picked up a bottle of Tiger last weekend and can't wait to crack it open with friends on Friday night. For $199 you can kick back with Russell in the advertised informal 90 minute get-together. Through May you can attend demonstrations and meet the likes of Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri.
It's been a busy few weeks where we started with wine tasting and petting zoo in Malibu, hanging in Hollywood for Road House, Downtown for meat and sky high dranks. Then back again for WonderCon and three days of happy hour, Batman V Superman, Silent Rage at The Egyptian and the pop culture show. This weekend we headed down to Anaheim and Disneyland for the month long Food & Wine Festival at California Adventure Park. You see, the lone spot you can drank in Disneyland is the members only Club 33. But at CA Adventure you can grab beer, wine and margaritas almost anywhere. Every weekend of April finds Food Network chefs like Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri, winemakers, beer brewers and whiskey whipper uppers sharing their knowledge and leading workshops. OH and this just in, on Saturday April 15th, you can hang out with actor turned winemaker KURT RUSSELL and hear about his line, Gogi. I'm tied up that weekend otherwise I'd be there kicking it with The Charmed One himself.
Anyhow, there were multiple food and booze stands lining the paths near Cars Land and that Napa Valley inspired area. Cocktail tables were set up and it was pretty busy while being a simple way to make some extra bucks amidst rumors that Disneyland Shanghai is behind schedule and way over budget. For $15 you could sit down and hear from Silverado Vineyards winemaker Jonathan Emmerich. Located in Napa Valley, Silverado is the partial brainchild of Walt Disney's daughter Diane Miller. Starting in 1980, Miller and company started making wine and are now a name amongst names in the business. Emmerich kept things pretty loose as we tasted one white and two reds. Each table was set up with three glasses, a bottle of water and a blank paper mat along with a Disneyland Hotel pen. Several tables were unoccupied and Emmerich told us to grab the extra glasses so the wine wouldn't go to waste. Don't have to tell me twice, yoinks!
Now I'm no wine connoisseur so it all tasted like fruit and whatnot, and was all kind of back of the throat and not very smooth or easy to drink. But I'm not sure how wine is really supposed to taste anyway. Emmerich did share some interesting facts about how watering grapes has changed over the years as once upon a time you'd see the guy next door watering and remember to do the same. Now with the drought and technology, they irrigate using well water per grape vine. He also mentioned that the best time to visit Napa is when the harvest is but it's also like Spring Break where everybody is in town, prices go up and it's hard to get a nice dinner reservation. Instead, come up in February or March when it's empty and relaxing, it's a little cool and you won't get gouged for a room or a meal.
It's Annual Passholder days down at Disneyland and with Long Beach Con a short drive away along with my accountant for taxes, it was time for a weekend on the road. We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel Friday night and checked into the spacious joint that has three towers of rooms along with a convention center onsite. The room was nice with Mickey stuff everywhere, on the carpet, in the bathroom and a pretty cool headboard across the wall that lit up. We had a nice view of the park's nightly fireworks from our window and set out to explore the grounds. 101 Dalmatians was playing in a field near the gym then we walked right into Trader Sam's and snagged a table. Like Kurt Russell, I'm charmed. We'd tried coming to the Tiki bar before but it was slammed. For 7:00 PM on a Friday night it wasn't too bad but got more and more packed as the night went on. We grabbed some whiskey based cocktails and opted for the souvenir mugs that look like barrels. Every time someone orders the namesake drank, a bell is rung, lights are dimmed and it's announced to the crowd. The ambiance is nice with island paraphernalia all over the walls even if there weren't any obvious nods to Kirk Douglas and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea where they come into contact with island cannibals.
Foodwise there's Polynesian tinged sammiches and flatbread with pulled pork along with burgers. There was a medical convention going on so lots of folks with name tags started rolling in vying for a table. We walked around a bit more and had a Disney first, seeing a cat! It's rumored that hundreds of feral felines roam the grounds to take care of rodents but I'd never seen one. This white and brown guy was just chilling on the sidewalk. Back in the room we poured our new favorite concoction, Merlot with Fireball! This is BJ's Brewhouses version of sangria and like a Jameson Mule, is basically black out juice. We watched the fireworks from our window and took in some Disney programming that fills up the first dozen channels. The park was open until midnight and we had every intention of making it there but I totally passed out.
What's some holiday weekends without some movies?! After the nearly botched press screening of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight I attended, it was time for round two at The Arclight in Hollywood in the Cinerama Dome...oh wait, Disney put the kibosh on that as their reported terms were 4 weeks in the biggest house for any theater that wished to exhibit juggernaut Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While that really sucks because 8 was made for the Dome to be projected in 70mm, let's be honest, The Arclight and any other theater is going to make a lot more money from Star Wars and the following 20 sequels and spin offs than they would from Hateful. And Disney is all about making their billions. But we still got 70mm and some killer programs with centerfolds. I was hoping for Kurt Russell and his magnificent mustache but we all ended up with Tim Roth. Like a western take on John Carpenter's arctic set The Thing, Hateful follows a group of colorful and less than savory criminal, sheriff, bounty hunter, former soldier and cowboy types. A terrific cast includes Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, a scene stealing Walton Goggins, Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen and quick appearances by Channing Tatum and Zoe Bell. If you like Tarantino, i.e. revenge, lots of cursing, derogatory terms for black people and women, violence, blood and humor, you'll like The Hateful Eight.
Next up it was The Big Short for pre-New Years Eve at the Cinemark in Playa Vista for a star studded telling of the housing meltdown and financial crisis of 2008. Filled with facts, weird hairdos, celebrity cameos and Wall Street lingo, Short is enjoyable and educational while also frustrating and sad as greedy bankers made it happen, weren't punished, got bailed out by your tax dollars and are back to business as usual. I wish Anonymous would target those guys and open things up a bit...Christian Bale dons his American accent as the genius loaner who saw the crash coming then we get Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell as hedge fund managers who buck the trend and bet against the current to reap billions. Producer Brad Pitt shows up in a small role as a mentor to some young guns while continuing his transformation into Robert Reford. Usually funny guy Adam McKay blends the yuks with facts to break it down for us non-Wall Street types and does well for his first non-Will Ferrell starring directorial effort. Gosling gets a near Pain and Gain moment of greatness when he shouts "I'm jacked to the tits!". For action fans, American Dragons, Street Fighter and Arrow's Byron Mann shows up as a cocky gazillionaire who tells Carrell how it is.
On Saturday it was Alejandro Gonzaelez Inarritu's mountain man revenge tale The Revenant over at The Landmark in a weird theater with couches instead of stadium seating. It seemed like a nice change of pace and a relaxed atmosphere for the nearly 3 hour movie and trailers but by the mid point my neck was sore, I couldn't lay down and no arm rest in the middle meant passing our gallon sized Coke Zero back and forth. An incredibly beautiful as well as brutal film, The Revenant is to be commended for what the cast and crew went through to produce the film. Shooting took nearly a year in snow, ice and freezing rivers and I wondered if anyone got sick or injured. While vistas of nature and scenes of escape and violence were shiver inducing and blood curdling, the actual story of the film played out like a big mash up of Jeremiah Johnson, Gladiator, Dances With Wolves, Man VS Wild, The Punisher and Rambo that made me want to eat the meat of wolves, fish, horse, buffalo, elk, etc. While Leonardo DiCaprio no doubt went through living hell to make the film, I don't think that warrants "acting" merits or awards since you have no speeches or brooding to show off the verbal or physical transformation. Just lots of struggling and pain.
Since we'd be in the park over the weekend, I went ahead and made reservations at a couple of spots, one to try and one to remember. We'd been to Carthay Circle for drinks and I wasn't impressed, hopefully dinner would be more spectacular and it was. The upstairs restaurant is old school Hollywood with low lighting and lots of dark wood decor. Black and white photos of Walt Disney and the likes of Julie Andrews accepting awards adorned the walls. The place wasn't very big but had several attached private dining rooms all named after prolific streets like Buena Vista and Hyperion. There's special cocktails on the menu to commemorate Disney's 60th anniversary so we started with a couple of Manhattan's that came with diamond shaped ice. I'm not a huge fan of Manhattan's so after struggling through I went back to my staple of an Irish Mule. Food wise it was simple yet high end fare like you'd find at Napa Rose or Club 33. I went with the giant porkchop special and we also tried out the fried biscuits filled with cheese and jalapenos, delicious. Most shocking of all discovering Kurt Russell's Gogi line of wine on the menu going for a cool $110 smackers a bottle. Speaking of dranking, we did a mini Disney pub crawl around the resort after Trader Sam's was packed we opted for Steakhouse 55, walked around downtown Disney, Paradise Pier, more dranks at the Grand Californian and finally at a couple of hotels on our way back to basecamp.
Sunday was a big day as we started with the Holiday Time tour, a 3 hour excursion highlighting all of the great Christmas decorations and history. Highlights included learning that one of the 60 foot trees caught on fire and was replaced over night, there's a candle lit menorah in one of Main Street's windows, a little knowledge of candy canes as well as walk on access to Jingle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World. We ended by having front row seats for the parade complete with hot chocolate and gingerbread men and seeing special guest Dick Van Dyke riding dirty along with dancers from local schools and themed floats with Mickey, Santa Claus, Woody and the like. We had reservations over at Big Thunder Ranch for some all you can eat ribs and chicken as the joint is one of the many attractions closing down soon to make way for Star Wars land. It's a fun set up with live entertainment and country music, buckets of meat, baked beans, cornbread and cornslaw along with drinks served in Mason jars. That Damme hot chocolate and gingerbread cookie filled me up though so we only mowed down two buckets of barbecued chicken and ribs. Fare thee well, Big Thunder Ranch! BBQ in peace.
On a fateful Friday night and Saturday in May of 2013, I went to four movies in just over twenty-four hours and managed to squeeze in a workout too boot. As fate would have it, I've embarked on a similar quest of cinematic, muscular pumping, junk food eating, booze swilling adventure as today I randomly woke up at 3:47 AM feeling fresh and terrific. Perusing Facebook I noticed that Friday night was The New Beverly's From Dusk Til Dawn marathon screening all three films plus Grindhouse: Planet Terror in 35mm from owner Quentin Tarantino's personal collection. I figured I had nothing else to do, hopped in the car, braved no traffic, passed Danny Trejo's under construction taco joint and arrived in West Hollywood just before 5:00 AM. From Dusk Til Dawn 3: Hangman's Daughter was barely a third of the way in so I plopped down to check out two-thirds of a flick I've never seen. To refresh, Dusk was a collaboration between F/X wizard Robert Kurtzman and writer/directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Released in 1996, the film is notable for being half a heist movie and half a vampire horror masterpiece. It was also George Clooney's first starring role after breaking out on hit TV show, ER. Suffice to say, the moody, funny, sexy and gory thriller has long been one of my favorite films and provided me with one of my life mottos: "I may be a bastard but I'm not a fucking bastard."
Part 3 takes us back to the beginning as the pre-Titty Twister serves as an outpost in wild west style Mexico 100 years ago. We witness the origin of Santanico Pandemonium (played by Salma Hayek in Dusk and Ara Celi here), future vampire queen of the joint. I missed both direct to video sequels back in 1999 but was impressed at how good it looked on the big screen. With an estimated $5 million dollar budget, the costumes, sets, gore and mayhem all still hold up between a few cheap looking F/X shots. A few familiar faces pop up like Michael Parks, Rebecca Gayheart, Danny Trejo and Orlando Jones while Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero's KNB EFX Group takes care of severed limbs, fake blood, beheading vampires and slashed throats galore. I'll have to go back and check out both sequels now and relive the glorious Direct to Video 90's. Right after the credits, Planet Terror started up with fake trailer turned real movie, complete with sequel, Machete starring recurring theme of the night, Danny Trejo! Then it was time for the main event. I saw Grindhouse in it's entirety in 2007 and absolutely adored Robert Rodriguez's John Carpenter style zombie flick Planet Terror while utterly despising Tarantino's talky Death Proof (it's grown on me, great car chases, Kurt Russell for life). A costly flop at the box office that allegedly rattled Tarantino's confidence, I've rarely seen it screened around Los Angeles. It recently played at Hollywood Forever during Cinespia but I loathe the crowded and crappy experience that is their outdoor events.
Opening on a dark and scary night in an unnamed town, we meet various military, science and shady business types (played by Bruce Willis and Naveen Andrews among others) as they discuss "the shit" before tanks of green, toxic gas get exploded and sent into the air. From here, anyone who comes into contact with the green shit mist starts to decompose and violently attack the uninfected. We meet a motley crew of townsfolk from the local strip club, police department, soon to be award winning BBQ joint and hospital that includes Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Josh Brolin, Rose McGowan, Jeff Fahey, Tom Savini and mother fucking MICHAEL BIEHN. Yes, folks, the main reason I went to see a movie at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday was to see The Biehn up on the big screen. Rodriguez gives him a terrific entrance as Sheriff Hague with a moving hero shot showing the badass leader and his ample crew. From there it's pus filled, bone breaking, shovel smashing, finger biting, car exploding, machine gun leg, dick melting, helicopter chopping, pocket bike racing mayhem at it's finest with a terrific synth score inspired by Carpenter work from the 80's. The film still plays great with it's awesome cast, gross out f/x and throwback movie vibe that comes with fake scratches, poor color timing and missing reels.
Watching the film and knowing it was made more or less in Robert Rodriguez's backyard in Austin, Texas was inspiring as it was disappointing. As the film was an experiment and a pretty solid value, $50 million for two films featuring loads of movie stars and could have been the return of something really cool in Hollywood, a night out at the movies with something for hopefully every genre fan. Instead of being a modern throwback to star studded affairs like The Great Escape how Ocean's 11 was, Grindhouse sadly did not find it's audience. Everyone involved does a terrific job, it looks fantastic and you get all kinds of bang for your buck. Plus it was arguably Biehn's last meaty role in a decent sized movie. Here's hoping Aliens II remedies that in the next couple of years. Two more movies on deck for the day, pass the coffee and doughnuts!
It was back to Hollywood last night for some Happy Hour at Boardner's, much better deals than Pig & Whistle, for the west coast premiere of Bone Tomahawk! I've been pumped for this flick since first hearing about it, I mean come on, a gothic western with cannibals starring Kurt Russell?! The screening officially sold out and the packed audience included no less than Clu Gulugar, Sid Haig, Martin Kove and Quentin Tarantino! #ActionMovieBro David J. Moore was in the house, his action movie opus The Good, the Tough and the Deadly hits shelves this February, featuring a couple of things by yours truly, so be on the look out for that and for accompanying screenings and signings. Beyond Fest maestros Grant, Christian and crew kicked things off in ridiculously awesome fashion as usual, shooting and winging tee shirts into the crowd along with DVD's.
Bone Tomahawk takes place around the turn of the century in the quiet town of Brighton Hope, population 200 and something. A couple of rustlers run afoul of a tribe of savage cannibals dubbed troglodytes who kidnap Samantha (Lili Simmons), the wife of local cowboy with a broken leg Arthur (Patrick Wilson). Along with Sheriff Franklin Hunt (KURT RUSSELL), his old timer deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins) and cold blooded dandy Brooder (Matthew Fox), the quartet sets out to rescue Samantha. What follows is a beautiful, funny, brutal and gorily violent adventure that had the audience laughing, cheering and cringing throughout. Written and directed by S. Craig Zahler, the first time director makes good use of his deep cast, wild west setting and hardcore if not over the top violence. It kind of reminded you of The 13th Warrior, the vikings, men on a mission flick as it was an odyssey to battle a strange and unforgiving enemy. But as a western. The dialog has a certain panache and tilt to it and the actors all deliver their lines in their own special ways. You had hot head Arthur, overly calm and deadly Brooder, funny/dumb/crazy Chicory and Hunt right in the middle. There aren't any huge gun fights or horse chase sequences but Zahler makes effective and shocking use of violence throughout. Beyond the poster names, familiar faces like Sid Haig, David Arquette, Michael Pare and Sean Young pop up briefly.
After the film, Zahler was joined by actors Matthew Fox and Lili Simmons for a podcast interview with Jeff Goldsmith from The Q&A:
- Zahler went to NYU, is a huge heavy metal fan, wrote fanzines, worked full time as a caterer then started writing. Can finish a script in 30 days, a novel in 45 or so. Has had 22 scripts optioned but only one produced by a random international consortium.
- Simmons started off at Disney, landed an agent through her manager. Currently wrapping up series Banshee.
- Matthew Fox grew up in Wyoming with no TV until his teens, encouraged to read a lot of fiction by his father and graduated with an Economics degree before booking commercials and acting jobs.
- After so many projects optioned but never produced, Zahler wrote Bone with an eye to direct and get something made. Friend and partner Dallas Sonnier secured financing.
- Small movie, under $5 million to make it. At one point $1.8 million was mentioned, phew!
- Kurt Russell was attached from the beginning and stuck with it for two and a half years. Zahler describes him as having the energy of 5-10 Kurt's.
- Fox loved working with Russell and Jenkins, described them both as easy going guys, excited to be making movies, down to earth and totally supportive.
- Fox grew up riding horses and had a crazy mare to work with but ended up taming the creature.
- Film shot for 21 days, partially in upstate New York.
- Not much music in film, didn't want to use it as a crutch.
- Inspired by R. Rider Haggard and books like King Solomon's Mines as well as micro-budget horror films. Wanted to create his own race and gave them a distinct look and feel. - Original script was 128 pages and basically shot all of it. Miraculously never fell behind.
- Fox doesn't choose roles based on anything much more than the material presented. Studied photos of people from the era, impressed with how they carried themselves and used it in film.
- Zahler and Fox are developing a crime/mystery TV series.
- Film is going to be released uncut and unrated.
Of course much more was discussed but you can catch the full podcast when it's released. A great flick that I hope lands on a special features loaded Blu-Ray soon! Beyond Fest keeps on chugging this week with He Never Died, Men & Chicken, Too Late, Eraserhead, The Mind's Eye and The Phantom of the Opera among others with guests like Henry Rollins, John Hawkes, Bernard Rose and more scheduled to attend. We'll be back for Dog Day Afternoon followed by a chat with Al Pacino!
Our friends over at Beyond Fest dropped their 2015 lineup like a cinematic block of C4 this week as America's most attended genre film festival prepares to take over The Egyptian Theatre for 11 days and nights starting October 1st. A whopping 18 films will have their west coast premiere including Tom Hardy's Double Impact style crime saga Legend as well as the Kurt Russell starring Gothic western Bone Tomahawk. After hosting Goblin for their first United States appearance, Beyond has recruited legendary composer Fabio Frizzi to make his first stateside performance complete with an 8 piece orchestra followed by a rare screening of The Beyond. On the repertory front, Bruce Campbell, Edgar Wright, Savage Steve Holland, Al Pacino and Brett Ratner among many more will be on hand for screenings of Evil Dead, Dog Day Afternoon and Better Off Dead.
I'll probably see you at no less than:
Legend | Thursday, 10.1 | 7:30 PM | West Coast Premiere Better Off Dead | Friday, 10.2 | 7:30 PM | Cast & Crew Reunion with The Meltdown The Evil Dead I & II | Saturday, 10.3 | 7:30 PM | Bruce Campbell and Edgar Wright in Person The Invitation | Monday, 10.5 | 7:30 PM | West Coast Premiere with Cast & Crew BONE TOMAHAWK | Tuesday, 10.6 | 7:30 PM | WC Premiere with S. Craig Zahler & Matthew Fox Dog Day Afternoon | Saturday, 10.10 | 7:30 PM | Al Pacino & Brett Ratner in Person
Phew, gonna be some long days of driving to and from Hollywood but will be totally worth it! Check out the full listing and ticket links HERE. See you at the movies!
It was a late night out seeing Fantastic Four so Sunday was a bit of relaxing before we headed to Pasadena for ScareLA, the convention for horror and Halloween. The convention center is in a great location with plenty of parking and a few restaurants nearby. It's just very quaint and clean then there was a giant pumpkin outside waiting to greet/eat you. Walking onto the exhibition floor you immediately realize that this ain't a comic-con. There's smoke, fake blood and skulls everywhere, on everything. But like a con, plenty of creative and imaginative folks were displaying their wares. Many booths focused on do it yourself make up and were holding demos showing you how to apply prosthetic facial features, wounds and the like. Several peeps in zombie cosplay complete with lumbering body movement, boils, dead eyes and clothes torn to shreds. I couldn't help but laugh at the level of dedication.
I was hoping for some horror themed treats and was not disappointed. Hollywood's Sweet! does custom chocolate bars with design it yourself wrappers. They had one dark chocolate bar with "blood" filling and the ScareLA artwork adorning it so I grabbed that. Not far was a vendor who did scary cakes, one with ribs and guts spilling out, yummy! There were several movie and memorabilia booths hawking old horror comics, posters and magazines like Fangoria along with toys and statues. Of course you can't go to a con without seeing a Funko and the guy was also selling lighters, two with Kurt Russell's likeness on them! We ran into the good folks at Whedonopolis and chatted for a few then continued to walk the packed if not super crowded floor. Next door on the main stage there were panels on voice over actors, Disney's Haunted Mansion, all of the big horror attractions around LA like the Haunted Hay Ride, Universal Studios and Knott's Berry Farm and a The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Retrospective. There were also several mazes and attractions set up and the lines weren't too long to get in. I didn't feel like being scared though so we didn't try one...
Across the street we wandered into the Pasadena Antique Mall where there was everything from old Image comics to Disneyland match books to dining sets and suitcase typewriters. I kind of wonder how places like that do in today's age of online shopping but hey, it was an interesting place to wander around. Thanks ScareLA and Pasadena for a lovely afternoon and screw you West LA and Ciclavia for closing down so many streets on our way home. See you at D23 expo!
It's already August, yeesh! Seems like yesterday it was May and Avengers: Age of Ultron was kicking off the Summer Cinema season and I was working the Skin Trade premiere and schmoozing at Pound of Flesh's. This weekend sees a pretty crowded line up of flicks hitting cinemas including Fox's $120 million dollar reboot of Marvel comic book franchise The Fantastic Four, low budget blast from the past reunion thriller The Gift, Aardman Animations Shaun the Sheep and Meryl Streep as an over the hill rocker in Ricki and the Flash all fighting for your movie going bucks.
Fantastic Four has been battling bad press since it's onset with the hardcore fans crying about the casting of Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch, previously played by Chris Evans. Those same fans lambasted the 2005 and '07 attempts which I enjoyed as they were basically action-comedies about a dysfunctional family with super powers. Not everything needs to be rooted in gritty darkness like Batman or taken with such self serious emptiness as The Avengers. There were rumors about young director Josh Trank losing control on set and the online vitriol being a main reason he opted out of a standalone Star Wars feature. The approach seems more lo-tech, grunge science-fiction and made for an interesting first trailer. I'm staunchly not a supporter of new Reed Richards Miles Teller so we'll see when I see this.
A film that cost less than 1/10th of Fantastic Four but looks surprisingly more interesting is Joel Edgerton's The Gift. The King Arthur, Smokin' Aces and Warrior standout had written and directed short films in Australia and co-wrote 2014's The Rover. Here he directs, produces, writes and co-stars opposite Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. The trailers reminded me of 1992's Unlawful Entry, where yuppie Kurt Russell and trophy wife Madeline Stowe deal with an overzealous and creepy police officer played by one Ray Liotta. Word has been good on The Gift which sees Bateman and Hall's couple being slowly terrorized by former classmate Edgerton. Newly formed studio STX Entertainment is hoping to fill the market void on low to mid budget comedies, dramas and thrillers as the big boys focus on tentpoles, comic book adaptations and franchises.
The rest of the summer looks like slim pickings with WB's update of TV show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. starring Superman's cocked eyebrow and the Lone Ranger in Russian then Lionsgate's "stoner who's actually a spy" flick American Ultra being possible good times at the theater. Until then, see ya at round 2 of Ant-Man!
Ready for an old timer story? Back in the late 2000's, I'd wake up at 3:30 AM, get down to San Diego Comic-Con around 6:00, have breakfast, jump in line and walk into the show. Cut to 2015, my 11th year attending and 4th volunteering in my usual 6:00 9:00 AM spot and walking over to the convention center at 5:30 AM there were already shuttles and lines with throngs of attendees. The last two years I directed traffic for various toy or autograph lines but on this day got put in for ADA, that's when you wait in line for someone who is physically unable. My fellow volunteers and line waiters were fun to chat with, I met one woman who has been coming to the show for 20 plus years and still loves it and surprisingly have met several first time attendees. In line I also met Comic-Con celebrity, The Button Lady, a woman who dons one of six capes adorned with themed buttons she makes herself of Firefly, Marvel, etc.
After hearing that people were walking into Hall H for the Warner Brothers/Superman VS. Batman panel, I tried my luck and went over for Quentin Tarantino's Hateful 8 where the writer/director would be unveiling footage along with cast members like KURT RUSSELL, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern. Sadly my streak of being able to walk in ended after 30 minutes in line, the chute in front of me made it in but not mine. A friend relayed some photos and info from inside and I got to see Russell's bitching mustache. Next I wandered the floor some more then headed to the Hilton for some programming in the Indigo Ballroom. I ran into Nerd Reactor reporter and Unicorn enthusiast Laura and spotted several guests and celebs having lunch. Guess how much a Moscow Mule runs at the Hilton's Odysea Bar? $18 frigging bucks! And it's not even gallon sized! A couple of Jameson Gingers later I popped in to catch John Barrowman doing his one man panel where anything goes. The Torchwood, Doctor Who and Arrow star is a ball of energy who made himself and the audience laugh. The Barrow has fond memories of working on Who and Torch but is quite enjoying his stint on hit Arrow at the moment. He and a question asker went into a beat box version of the Who theme song after Barrowman had the gent bounce his pecs. Openly homosexual and married, Barrowman was an inspiration for the audience to be who they are and do what they love as long as you know, nobody gets hurt.
Next was a panel I was super pumped for, an early screening of SyFy's 10 part series The Expanse followed by Q&A with the cast and creators. Based on a series of novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the duo moderated and let us know that the show isn't quite finished but still looks Damme good. And they weren't lying. Set in a future where factions on Mars, the Asteroid Belt and Earth compete for air and water, we meet Detective Miller (Thomas Jane) as he sweet talks hookers, bashes heads and searches for the missing daughter of a very rich man. Then there's the ice salvaging crew of the Rocinante headed by Holden (Steven Strait) who respond to a distress signal from a derelict vessel. While on Earth we meet business woman Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who works to keep the "Belters" in their place. All in I really enjoyed the episode and look forward to more, heck, I've even like to check out a couple of the books now. Sets of Mars, space stations and ships are impressively huge and there's a nice working class element to everything as Miller's space phone is cracked, you have to smack the elevator controls to make them work, etc. Jane is cool, a touch shady with heart, looking very trim and noir here in dark clothes, vests and a fedora while Strait has a tired but strong authoritative quality that works well for the character.
Afterwards, a huge panel was introduced starting with the King of WeirdCool himself, Thomas Jane followed by Strait, Aghdashloo, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham producer Naren Shankar, writer/producers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. Cast and crew talked about having three stages at Pinewood in Toronto, including the largest for the show which was rare for television to physically represent such scale. Changing things from the book and taking elements from future installments for the first season, Fergus and Ostby praising novelists Abraham and Franck for being natural screenwriters, letting the series breathe versus compacting like in film, Thomas Jane imagining he's a rocket pilot while sitting on the toilet and how many "shit"s or curse words the cast gets per episode. A fun panel and a terrific looking show, I'm excited for the premiere in December. Outside I ran into the great guys from #ThatHashTagShow Daniel and Josh as they were compiling and rendering all of their videos, photos and news from the day. D and J attended Sunbow Celebration and I'm looking forward to having them out for another event soon.
It was back to the floor for some more walking where I found a buddy from Rotten Tomatoes, photographer homie Jeremy and founder of Beyond Fest/Mad Movie Titan himself, Mr. Christian Parkes who was set to speak on a panel. The Bold Voice of Contemporary Horror Film: Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest and SpectreFest brought together actor/producer Elijah Wood, filmmakers Sarah Adina Smith, Roxanne Benjamin, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead along with Mr. Parkes, XYZ Films' Mette Marie Katz and Blumhouse Development exec Ryan Turek. The panel spoke about the current state of independent horror being at an all time high with several festivals giving them the spotlight rather than being relegated to midnight. The entire panel were fans of horror as youngsters and now as professionals are banding together to make, sell and distribute their work with low budget, friend and family produced films finding audiences, leading to bigger and better things. Previews for several upcoming horror flicks were shown with Wood's comedy/fright mash up Cooties looking like a funny and bloody time while I can't recall the other two titles...One was an Australian flick about two brothers whose mother comes home from surgery a changed woman and it looks creeeeepy! In a Comic-Con first, I saw rules being broken as Parkes threw out DVD's to the crowd which is apparently strictly forbidden, probably for liability reasons, being warned by staff then doing it again. A quick round of trivia closed the entertaining hour with winners being given passes to Beyond or Fantastic Fest in LA and Austin.
Parties awaited but lines are lame so we opted for some libations and conversation at the Comic-Con'do. Leaving the next morning I realized this was the most fun I'd had in 11 years of attending. There's nothing else like San Diego Comic-Con and there never will be. Many a friend commented that it seemed to be less crowded with less cosplay this year so maybe my prediction that the Hollywood bubble bursting, more shows popping up and casual fans giving up is coming true. It's still the biggest and the best Con I've been too and I've been to a lot. See ya next year!
