Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

As the masses poured into the Disneyland resort on Saturday morning, we were heading out. My longtime accountant is a few miles away in Anaheim and it was time to get busy. Luckily I'm getting a few bucks back this year. After that it was off to Long Beach for their first show of 2016, the Comic Expo. We were on the clock as we'd signed up for a Disneyland Hotel tour later that day. With the last LBCC being such a shit show and so many other cons on the calendar, we wouldn't exactly be missing out if we couldn't spend the day there. Opting for a metered space versus $10 parking, the Expo is on the back side of the convention center, not the front. Check in was really easy compared to last time as the organizers upped registration booths after their previous debacle. The show seemed bigger than in the past with vendors and exhibits filling the entire space. You had Cosplay Corner, a corral of Power Rangers, celebrity signing area, space exploration exhibit, lazer tag and inflatable screens for video games. With Deadpool destroying the box office, we saw several peeps in cosplay and co-creator Fabian Nicieza had a sizable line. There were a few Mario's and multiple Rey's and Kylo Ren's from Star Wars along with a surprising abundance of women in Storm Trooper attire but no helmets. The floor was a nice mix of vendors selling comics, toys, video games, Funko's and the like with your usual quarter boxes along with organized and higher priced selections. I wish I had more time to skim boxes but let's be honest, I'll have my chance in the future. This Sunday in downtown, LA, actually.

My only buy of the day came in the form of old movie magazines where I grabbed an awesome stack of Starlog, Cinefantastique and Prevue from the 80's and 90's. It's grabs like these that make going to lots of shows worth it as you've gotta slog through the mud to get to the gold, know what I mean? Walking the floor I saw familiar faces like voice actor Michael Bell and RAW Studios' Mike Hess who was set up with actor Lance Henriksen and artist Tim Bradstreet in the booth. One vendor recognized us from another show but I totally thought he meant one of my events at The Egyptian. Alan Tudyk was the big celebrity guest of the day and was doing a panel on his new online show, Con-Man. Note that my blog predates their program! Anywho we didn't have time for panels or a mule across the street as we motored out after about 90 minutes. It was a solid show and I'm glad they got their shit together.

Con-Man: LA Comic Book & Science Fiction

As you know, we hit an astounding 22 comic book and popular culture themed shows last year. After a short reprieve, we're right back on the trail as the semi regular Los Angeles Comic Book & Science Fiction Convention kicked things off downtown. Held at The Reef, access is pretty easy, there's paid lots of street spots, food trucks and it's only $12.00 to get in. There were posters and swag for the likes of upcoming The 5th Wave as well as released flicks Hunger Games and The Night Before. The show isn't huge but enough to keep you busy for a couple of hours. Transformers artist and Sunbow Celebration friend Livio Ramondelli was a featured guest and it's always great to see him on the circuit. The LA show always has actors and artists signing and this week it was Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams along with much of the cast from Aliens including Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Mark Rolston, Jeanette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Ricco Ross. It would be cool if the show hosted a panel or Q&A with the guests instead of just having them out charging but it's their show.

Towards the end of last year I felt like all the cons were blending together, selling the same stuff and hocking the usual swag. But this time I quite enjoyed seeing what was on offer as new items and fads have arrived. Right away there was a guy selling DVD's for $2 so I grabbed Season 4 of Two and a Half Men along with the Mel Gibson-Richard Donner paranoid thriller Conspiracy Theory and the special edition of Witness. Once upon a time postcards were all the rage leading to buttons and now you've got booths full of branded metal lunchboxes. The Predator themed mini-mates hit the shelves so of course I picked up Dutch, Dillion and the creatures. I'll grab sweaty shirted Harrigan next month. A few years ago I grabbed some awesome laserdiscs from a guy at WonderCon as the oversized covers are like a vinyl piece of art. A gent had a crate full of Stallone titles but at $5 each my walls were fine without them. The dollar and fifty cent comic bins were calling my name but we didn't have time to flip through too much stock. I ended up with a short stack of the Jim Lee and Frank Miller All-Star Batman, isn't that the one where Bats says "are you retarded? are you dense? I'm the god damned Batman!"? I shall find out. A new line of Funko surprise Science-Fiction icons were around the floor and using the ol' box weight trick I figured I'd pulled either the Queen Alien or Godzilla. It was the fire breathing green machine.

The guests weren't scheduled to start signing until noon but 20 minutes before hand, lines were already formed and moving as Biehn, Rolston and Henriksen were rocking and rolling. I was hoping Mrs. Biehn, Jennifer Blanc, would be attending so I could ask about when their next films were coming out but looks like she didn't make it. The Biehn was rocking a knit cap to fight the winter chill which probably made for some interesting selfies. We had to get moving to LA Live to catch Star Wars in 4DX but walking out I was very happy with my haul and am looking forward to their next show in February along with Long Beach and then WonderCon in March. See ya at the show!

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

After a night of birthday celebrating it was down to Long Beach for the Comic Expo on Saturday. This is usually the smaller of the two LB shows but this year expanded so much that they had to move it to another section of the convention center. There was some science technology summit or other happening where LBCC usually is so we were around the back by the Performing Arts Center and Aquarium. Replica cars from Knight Rider, Jurassic Park, The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future welcomed you, it was a breeze to grab tickets and head inside. Right away we saw one Lance Henriksen at the non-RAW, RAW booth with The Lone Gunmen actor Dean Haglund along with a local artist. I immediately searched the floor for NECA's new Bishop figure and took it over to Mr. Henriksen to sign. Having already bought his book last year, The Lance was still just too Damme cool and gracious, chit chatting about Alien 5 (He hasn't heard anything) and how he actually hadn't seen the new figure yet. Again, just a great guy and here's hoping I put together an event he can attend. Why was it the non-RAW, RAW booth? Well convention specialist Mike was on hand, the RAW Studios banner was up, but neither Messrs Thomas Jane or Tim Bradstreet were attending. The Jane is still shooting new show The Expanse up in Canada while Bradstreet was also out of town. Here's hoping the duo return to Long Beach soon as their previous years have been outstanding with screenings and panels.

From there we walked the floor which was nice and padded with carpet checking out comics, toys, arts and crafts, Big Trouble in Little China ReAction figures and Funko's were around. I recognized some vendors from previous shows, guess we're becoming regulars huh? The floor boasted over 165 exhibitors and artists but strangely didn't feel much bigger than previous shows. Star Wars Laser Tag was set up in the back, there was a signing area where Futurama's Phil LaMarr and martial arts heroine Cynthia Rothrock were set up near a new addition, video games projected on a big screen. Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers action ensued. Writing legend and X-Men mainstay Chris Claremont showed up and had a line at his table the entire day.

11:00 AM marked our first and only panel of the day, G.I. Joe Cartoon Voices! Hosted by combat fatigue clad Flint aka Bill Ratner, the panel included Keone Young (Storm Shadow), Hal Rayle (Deep-Six), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Lady Jaye), Jerry Houser (Sci-Fi) and Neil Ross (Shipwreck). There was a great camaraderie between the actors and they started things off with a reading of a funny G.I. Joe skit where Cobra ninja assassin Storm Shadow is actually trying to help the Joes. The panel included much talk of working for Wally Burr who would push his actors to provide a realistic, non-obvious cartoony performance in sessions that went 7-8 hours versus the typical 4. Basically if you didn't leave blood on the music stand, you weren't doing it right. Burr also strove for authenticity and instead of having an actor play ethnic, he'd just go out and get a person from the community aka Asian or black characters being played by Asian and black actors. Many a tale spoke of Megatron voice actor Frank Welker who would help the young guys while also being able to give you the sounds of a rocking chair or a male or female dolphin! Lewis was proud that her character wasn't fetish-ized and her action figure was the first female toy to have short hair. Lewis was great, very cool, very smart and just a ball of fire. She made sure everyone was involved during the panel and offered some terrific insight into being a positive force in the world. This was Houser's first time at a convention and he was really funny with a voice you swear you recognize but don't know why. Rayle went into Deep-Six and I immediately thought he was doing Charles Bronson, which he was! Rayle based the voice on Bronson as Tunnel King Danny in The Great Escape.

There was some enlightening stuff like the script girl encouraging the cast to buy Hasbro stock as the toy giant knew FCC regulations were changing so the cartoons could have commercials for their products during the run-time essentially make it a 30 minute advertisement. Ratner said if he would have invested $1,000 dollars in 1985, it would have been worth $28,000 just a few years later. Jokes about their figures selling poorly leading to being featured less on the show were common place during sessions of 10-12 voice actors. Houser said Sci-Fi was really good at sitting still in silence...I asked when the panel realized they had jumped generations and started going to cons with Lewis and Ratner saying they'd only known about the show's impact in the last ten years. Frank Welker couldn't make it but doesn't believe people still love the shows 30 years later. Rayle has only been going for a few years and is headed to Australia for a show soon. A few passionate fans spoke of their love for the show and Lewis shared that the percentage of first responders and EMT's in the Joe community is extremely high when compared to the rest of the population. She and Ratner also attended the official G.I. JoeCon where they watched the new live action movies and Lewis mentioned that there wouldn't be cons for those in 30 years. Young was asked about working for supposed tough guy writer-director Kurt Sutter on Sons of Anarchy to which he responded he'd worked with guys like Billy Wilder so Sutter was nothing and that was the point of being a professional. I ran into Young in the hallway after and asked him about Surf Ninjas, he said it was a lot of fun and they shot it in beautiful Thailand. On and on it went, just a really great time, lots of laughs, stories and heart. If that weren't enough, Neil Ross gave next week's Sunbow Celebration a shout out, Yo, Joe!

It was off to get our Dublin Donkey's on across the street at The Auld Dubliner and next door to collectible store Geeky Mamas where they have an awesome selection of toys old and new, accessories and clothes. I totally meant to get a Transformers or Joe shirt for next week but didn't see any good ones...Back at the show we walked the floor some more, checking out artist alley and digging through random boxes. That Hashtag Show is coming to Sunbow Celebration and I introduced myself, cool guys who like Long Beach the same as I do for it's chill vibe, guest approachability and nice surrounding area. Grabbed a few Captain America Annuals and Sgt. Rock issues from a 3 for 1 booth as well as a collection of time traveling mutant soldier badass Cable for a solid $5! Created in "1990, the dawn of the most action-packed decade in comic-book history" by Louise Simonson and wunder-kid Rob Liefeld. "Body-Slide by one". I would have liked to stuck around to see Claremont's panel, it had been a full and fun day so we headed home. Just when I thought Long Beach Con wasn't evolving, they shut my face by putting on a terrific show. Here's hoping to an even bigger one in the fall. Bring on Emerald City!

#HicksLives! aka Neill Blomkamp's Aliens

It was New Years day and I was recovering from the night before when it happened.  District 9 writer and director Neill Blomkamp's Instagram started posting concept art from a mysterious Alien sequel.  Not any old money wringing follow up though but what looked like a direct sequel to 1986's groundbreaking Aliens!  You know, where xenomorph attack survivor Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) joins a ragtag group of Colonial Space Marines to investigate what ends up being an overrun colony?  Then fights off the workers and their giant, bitch queen with pulse rifles, flame throwers, grenades and a power loader?  While Ridley Scott crafted an atmospheric, creepy slasher flick with truck drivers in space, James Cameron turned his sequel into a self contained roller coaster action flick.  Featuring a fan favorite and Cameron collaborating cast including Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jeanette Goldstein and Mark Rolston; Aliens has lived for nearly 30 years in various comic book, video game and toy form.

It wasn't the artwork of Ripley wearing some kind of alien costume, or his rendition of the mysterious xenomorph ship or even the sleek Weyland-Yutani technology that caught my eye.  Instead it was the return of mother fucking Michael Biehn as Hicks, the soft spoken Marine thrown into command after his superior is wasted.  By the end of Cameron's chapter, a family dynamic between "mother" Ripley, "daughter" Newt (Carrie Henn), "father" Hicks and "weird artificial person uncle" Bishop (Henriksen) was beautifully formed.  As you know, Biehn excelled as the sensitive yet physical action hero in The Terminator and Aliens before headlining projects big and small like Navy Seals and Timebomb in the 90's.  With a third installment inevitable but Weaver's participation in question, producers David Giler and Walter Hill pursued a sequel that could or could not include Ripley's character.  A script by cyber-punk author William Gibson following Hicks and Bishop on a space station was commissioned.  Early into the process, Biehn, the actor who brought Hicks to life after original actor James Remar was fired, was told he would not be asked to return.  I'm guessing the studio wanted a known star and not an actor who had provided great performances but played second fiddle to women in two back to back hits.

Gibson's script was deemed lackluster and Friday the 13th part Four director Renny Harlin was hired.  The visual and kinetic helmer from Finland worked on the project for a year, trying to take us to the alien planet but was vetoed due to budget concerns.  An idea to bring the creatures to earth and having Ripley and Hicks fight them there was also jettisoned.  Frustrated at the lack of progress, Harlin quit and went on to direct The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and Die Hard 2: Die Harder for studio Fox.  Eventually the notion of a floating colony turned into a desolate planet prison and after lots of wasted time and money, Alien 3 was released starring Weaver as Ripley with Hicks and Newt's characters being killed off in the opening minutes.  Originally, a double of Biehn post chest burster explosion was to be featured in the film but Biehn and his agent told young director David Fincher and Fox they didn't have their permission.  In the end, a photo of Biehn as Hicks was used and the actor was paid nearly his Aliens salary for his trouble.

What did Blomkamp's version entail?  Nobody really knows.  Nobody even knows if it was sanctioned by Fox or just a side project from a passionate fan who is also a successful filmmaker.  But having older versions of Ripley and a scarred Hicks fighting aliens again set the fan forums and internets on fire.  While some argued how you could skip Alien 3 and fourth chapter Resurrection (Ripley kills herself in 3 and is a clone in 4), I honestly didn't think it was that big a deal.  These characters have lived on for nearly 30 years in various formats with Hicks and Newt fighting their way through a Dark Horse Comics mini-series and Hicks (complete with Biehn voicing) popped up in 2013's letdown video game Colonial Marines with no explanation on how he survived.  Personally, I don't think the average movie goer would notice if they made a straight sequel to Aliens with no mention of 3 or Resurrection as enough time has passed and only a handful of hardcore fans would notice.  Let's face it, Fox isn't that interested in continuity, didn't you see half prequel, half sequel Prometheus?  Or how about the X-Men franchise which has no continuity: Professor X is evaporated at the end of 2004's part 3 then magically puts his consciousness into another body and by this past summers Days of Future Past is back with no explanation.  The filmmakers tried to address the reboot/sequel plot holes (offscreen, never in an actual movie) by saying Xavier had a twin brother who was in a coma for the last 50 years...Ok that explains why he looks like Patrick Stewart but why would he be in a wheelchair too?  Exactly, the $750 million bucks worth of movie goers didn't really care.  And the small pack of complaining fanboys don't make up enough of the general population to make a difference.  While no one is clamoring to see what Prometheus 2 would bring us, there has been an outpouring to bring back Hicks and Ripley so let's do the Damme thing!

Hicks lives, fuck Alien 3!

View In Peace: New Beverly Cinema

Surfing the various calendars for repertory screenings, special events and the like, I noticed that the New Bev didn't have any programming after September 1st.  That wasn't a surprise, of late, it seems they were always posting their schedule last minute.  The next time I checked, the site stated that the New Bev would have no programs in September and that a full October calendar would be posted soon.  I figured they were doing some renovations, maybe installing some new sound or seats, giving themselves time to plan some exciting programs as there's plenty of friendly competition around in Los Angeles in the form of The American Cinematheque's non-profit support, historic venue to The Cinefamily's robust scheduling of films, festivals, podcasts and special events.  The New Bev has been a constant in my Los Angeles life since the late 2000's.  I've seen some great films here, many for the first time on the big screen.  From Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer to Charles Bronson street fighting in Hard Times to Edgar Wright's programing that included The Warriors with special guests Walter Hill, James Remar, Larry Gordon and Frank Marshall, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Westworld.  Then there was 13 Assassins, the Bill and Ted double feature with Alex Winter, the fantastic double of Drive and Warrior as well as  Michael Biehn in person for The Victim among dozens of others.  The one that got away?  The Terminator and Aliens with Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Ricco Ross, Jeanette Goldstein and Mark Rolston in attendance...

In May, The New Bev became part of my personal and professional history when the first Dammaged Goods live event took place over three nights.  After a few unanswered e-mails, I walked into the theater and met Michael Torgan, the manager/operator/programmer/ticket taker/concessions guy extraordinaire.  After a few minutes of discussing what I wanted to do, Michael agreed to host the screenings versus me having to rent the venue as I had writer/director Sheldon Lettich ready to attend.  Of course, the nights of Double Impact and Bloodsport went off spectacularly and JCVD co-stars in Lionheart Harrison Page and Brian Thompson even swung by with Sheldon to support.  Michael was absolutely terrific in getting everything set up, the prints of both films looked great and he seemed happy with the turnouts even though I felt bad we didn't do nearly as well as the sold out Mean Girls anniversary before us.  I had no idea that it was the beginning of the end of an era.

Over the last 72 hours, rumors, interviews and articles have circulated describing what exactly is happening to the Los Angeles fixture.  After 7 years, it seems that hands off owner Quentin Tarantino wants to get more involved with the theater and turn it into the last bastion for film in the city as well as the world.  You see, movie prints cost a lot of money, like thousands of dollars each.  They're shipped across the country in several heavy containers and you need one for every theater showing your movie.  With the rise of digital filmmaking and projecting, movie houses can now simply download a feature or DCP (Digital Cinema Package) which is the equivalent to a 35mm print that will essentially last forever.

A few years ago, studios began offering theaters a rebate of sorts to upgrade to digital projection to help offset the cost.  Recently, studios have all but abandoned striking film prints except to appease a chosen few like Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.  The New Bev was outfitted with a digital projector not long ago and is believed to be part of Tarantino's reasons for taking over.  Why?  Because Tarantino is a film nut and collects prints.  The idea for the flick Grindhouse came from Robert Rodriguez wanting audiences to be able to experience a night at Tarantino's house where he would program double and triple bills complete with related trailers, shorts and other oddities.  Now, the director is looking to share his collection with the world and keep 35mm alive.  Tarantino has stated he'll be curating the first several months of programming at the new New Bev when it reopens in October.  Torgan's involvement is still being worked out while current staff are said to be getting promoted.  One of them is kind of a public face for the joint and produced a documentary about the plight of film but their attitude rubs me the wrong way and the Q&A's I've seen them host have not been among the best.  Whatever happens, I hope the New Bev continues to showcase their vast array of fare and that Michael remains involved, takes a well deserved break or moves on to his next great adventure.  Without him and the New Bev, I wouldn't be working on live event number 4 or met Dolph Lundgren, Robert Patrick, Sheldon Lettich and the throngs of awesome, 80's and 90's action movie loving fans out there.

Fox (Anniversary) Friday: Aliens

To wrap up this Friday of Fox, it's time to celebrate the release of one of my favorite movies of all time, Aliens.  Hitting theaters on this day in 1986, James Cameron's war movie sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 atmospheric slasher flick has been a constant in my life since that fateful Saturday night I saw it on cable as a child.  Just this year I've met Lance Henriksen and read his book, been on a plane with Michael Biehn, seen Bill Paxton at his first conventions, stood outside a restroom next to Ricco Ross, witnessed the cast reunite in another country, listened to stories from James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver and seen the movie twice on the big screen.  What's so fab about it?  I dunno, I've just always enjoyed the simmering pace that builds to exciting crescendos, the intricate yet large scale and lived in design, the cast of likeable and memorable characters, an amazing score, fantastic practical creature and model f/x, the terrific cast and just the feeling of being transported to a world not your own. 

It was also the film that introduced me to James Cameron, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen, who's work has always been among my favorite.  Cameron of course gave us classics The Terminator, The Abyss and True Lies before becoming the most successful director of all time with Titanic and then Avatar.  He's an inspirational fellow and reminds us to educate ourselves while seeking out new challenges to take on.  Starting with sensitive yet capable men of action roles in The Terminator as Kyle Reese and Corporal Hicks in Aliens, Michael Biehn has been one of my favorite actors for a long time.  His subsequent performances in Rampage, Navy Seals, Timebomb, K2, Tombstone, The Rock, Dead Men Can't Dance, The Art of War, Cherry Falls, Dragon Squad and Planet Terror show his abilities as an intense dramatic actor and under the radar action star whose inclusion always elevates a film's likeability factor.  Frequent co-star Bill Paxton nearly steals the show in Aliens as the squawking, high-strung yet hilarious Private Hudson and adds a goofy charm to just about anything he's in like Streets of Fire, Next of Kin, Predator 2, True Lies, Twister, Vertical Limit and the recent Edge of Tomorrow.  Gravelly voiced presence Lance Henriksen would also work with Cameron several times and class up joints like Stone Cold, Tales From the Crypt, Hard Target, No Escape, The Quick and the Dead, Alien VS Predator and Abominable later on while also just being a pretty cool dude.  After seeing their natural chemistry and skills at playing interesting, cool, fun and plain kick ass characters in 3-4 James Cameron films each, you just wish they'd keep on going appearing together in more films.  Maybe in Avatar 2 or 22...

Made for $18 million, James Cameron and producer Gale Ann Hurd set out to utilize the world that Scott's film had created but move in a different direction tonally to create a war film/roller coaster ride experience.  After battling a stubborn English crew seemingly more interested in tea time and group lottery pools, Cameron and company completed the film after 10 months.  Aliens opened up #1 on July 18th, 1986 with a $10 million dollar gross and retained the top position for 4 weeks on it's way to $85 million dollars, making it Fox's biggest hit of the year.  Since then, Cameron has only made one film outside the studio, 1991's biggest hit, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  Aliens' performance was good enough for 7th on the years top grossers list behind the likes of Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, Platoon, The Karate Kid II, Star Trek IV and Back to School.  Other notable titles released in the same year includes Transformers: The Movie, Highlander, Big Trouble In Little China, Heartbreak Ridge and The Golden Child.  The legacy of Aliens has lived on through 3 so-so sequels, 2 films with the creatures facing off with fellow Fox franchise Predator along with comic books, novels, video games and toys galore.

Ask Me a (Hero Complex) Question: The Terminator w/ James Cameron

This weekend marks the Los Angeles Times' 5th annual Hero Complex Film Festival, 3 days of genre films and special guests.  In years past I've seen Robocop w/ Peter Weller, Serenity w/ Nathan Fillion, Dick Tracy w/ Warren Beatty and The Mist w/ Frank Darabont and Thomas Jane among others.  I must have missed Year One...Taking place again at the Hollywood Chinese Theatre, this year is James Cameron centric with a double bill of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day tonight followed by Ridley Scott's Alien and Cameron's Aliens tomorrow with star Sigourney Weaver in attendance.  Tonight's Terminator double bill with Cameron appearing for Q&A sold out quick in spite of the ticket price increase to accommodate two double features.  For the fan willing to shell out extra, two rows of couches were added to the front of the theater for an up close look at special guests.

Like last years genre festivities at Cape Town and Hero Complex, TNT's Falling Skies sponsored the event with posters, patches and promos on display.  After a quick introduction, it was time for 1984's The Terminator.  If you're keeping track, this is the 5th time I've seen it on the big screen and arguably the most pristine showcase, no doubt at Cameron's request.  I'm guessing this is a cleaned up Digital Print as the image was gorgeous and the sound was terrific letting me notice things I never had in a theater or at home (blue and red police like lights on the Hunter-Killers, Henriksen's cop with leaked ink on his shirt pocket?!).  If you've never seen The Terminator but still read this then stop what you're doing and get yourself a copy, watch it, lock it in a box for a week then watch it again and repeat until you bow down to the gritty, B-Movie, Tech-Noir masterpiece that is James Cameron's first full directing effort.  Real quick: The Terminator is the story of a seemingly unstoppable cyborg sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose son will have tremendous future influence against computer defense network Skynet.  Lone soldier Kyle Reese is sent back to protect Sarah from the machine and hopefully save humanity in the process.  It was a bit of a subdued crowed with no applause for Arnold's title card but we got it going for Biehn, reminding the audience that we're all here to watch a 30 year old movie we love, so let's have some fun and make a great atmosphere full of energy and nostalgia, shall we?

Watching it again, the film's unrelenting pace was in full effect with the mystery of who The Terminator aka the T-800 aka Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kyle Reese aka The Father of the Future aka Michael Biehn really are and their implications on the life and future of Sarah Connor aka Linda Hamilton.  Foot chases, shootouts, car chases, crashes and explosions on the dirty streets of Los Angeles to Brad Fidel's pulsing, powerful crescendo filled soundtrack had the hairs on the back of my neck tingling.  Of course being one of my favorite movies, I had a smile on my face for most of the duration as there's just so much to love and remember in this movie from Arnold and Biehn's naked entries into our time, Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson as hilariously outfitted punks to the 80's hairdos, phenomenal post-apocalyptic Future War action sequences, Nike Vandals product placement, Rick Rossovich's pervy-funny boyfriend, Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield's quirky cops, shotgun blasting, UZI spraying club shootout, doomed yet beautiful love story and plastique for dinner!

Post film, writer and director James Cameron took the stage for a smooth 45 minute Q&A with time for questions from the audience.  Strangely, the discussion topics were generally broad with much of Cameron's time devoted to talking about technology and his 3 Avatar sequels even though he said he was there to talk about Terminator.

- Arnold was submitted for Reese, Cameron went to lunch with The Oak intending not to like him but found him charming and intelligent and saw him as The Terminator
- Cameron had just watched Terminator and it's sequel recently with his 10 year old son to head off the boy seeing the R rated affairs without his consent
- Had no idea Linda Hamilton would be able to make the change, physically and dramatically, for the character of Sarah Conner in the sequel which finds her hardened by life and preparation for war

- Movie was shot for $6.5 million, proudly in the style of Roger Corman's low budget features using every trick in the book and Cameron thinks it looks like a movie with twice the budget
- Special effects budget for the first film was a slim $1 million bucks for all make up, opticals etc
- Told his story and for a brief moment in the 90's contemplated bringing Terminator to Fox but had moved on after Titanic
- Approached Aliens as a fan of Alien, carrying on what Ridley Scott set up and Ripley as lone survivor versus killing her off and doing his own version.  Loves David Fincher but didn't like that Alien3 killed off majority of characters built up in Aliens.  Hicks lives!
- New producers approached him but says his involvement is uncredited, behind the curtain stuff, just giving his thoughts on what could be and how Arnold's character can evolve
- Loved Spider-Man as a kid and wrote a long script-ment but Carolco went bankrupt and he didn't pursue the rights
- Says the L.A. Times erroneously stated that The Abyss was most expensive film ever made but his next film, T2, was.
- Uncharted waters on Abyss and T2 as the glimmering, water tentacle f/x were cutting edge using an optical printer on Abyss then taken further on T2 for the T-1000's liquid metal man's 42 digital shots
- Wouldn't re-release Terminator in 3D but has considered Judgement Day for conversion
- Thinks technology has already taken over and cites the overabundance of people looking at their phones at any given time as an example
- Personally would like to see a niche movie watching experience utilizing Virtual Reality that lets the viewer decide how the movie plays out
- Writing 3 Avatar sequels with 3 separate co-writers, sat down for a year and pumped out 1500 pages of notes to build the story and world
- Avatar Land at Disney World is going to be something special, complete with floating mountains and animatronic figures with 60 some points of articulation where many have 12 today
- Wrote Sarah Connor as an Everywoman who is tapped on the shoulder and faced with a great task
- Stripped away Connor's support system; friends, cops, Reese, ability to run, to make her strong
- For sequel, gave Arnold script on plane to Cannes film festival, at breakfast Arnold couldn't believe his Terminator character didn't kill anyone but he trusted Cameron and went along

Cameron was eloquent, funny, informative and casually brilliant throughout.  Like I said, it was a bit of a general conversation with technology and Avatar being primary topics and I could have used more anecdotes about the films themselves or just stories of working with Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton.  Because let's face it, Biehn, Henriksen and Paxton are fucking awesome and a big part of that reason is because of Cameron using them multiple times in his films.  Of course much more was discussed but hey, you had to be there.  Which won't be totally true since I'm sure a video will hit the internets soon enough.  Since we just saw Judgement Day, we opted not to stay and while waiting for the elevator, received quite a surprise when the doors opened and Cameron was there with his handlers and security.  Hopefully he saw the shocked expressions on our faces as I wanted to yell "Put Biehn in Avatar 2!"

See ya tomorrow night for more Biehn and Henriksen on the big screen!

Live Goods: Aliens EXPOsed

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Rough)Con-Man: Calgary Expo Friday

Coming at you live from beautiful, clean and crisp Calgary, Alberta Canada where cash doesn't tear, has holograms in it, the change is made from metal, the chocolate is real and delicious, people are super nice and don't honk in traffic and home to one heck of a show, the Calgary Expo.  Going on I believe it's 9th year, CE welcomes roughly 60,000 attendees over 4 days of programming.  It's held at the vast Stampede grounds next to the hockey rink for the Calgary Flames and site of a massive rodeo competition. When horses aren't in season it's host to huge events like the Expo.

It's a bit jarring as there's nothing super close to the Stampede besides a casino and train station.  The surrounding area is under heavy construction so you feel a bit remote upon entering.  Like Seattle's Emerald City Comicon, CE is spread out across its site so you have to make friends with the guide and map. There was badge pick up in the Grandstand then kids attractions in a tented pavilion, food trucks and giant balloons outside, the Boyce theater and stadium Corral for panels, Big Four building for vendors and food then the main hall BMO for a huge variety of exhibitors then yet another small section Palamino for autographs and more swag.  Phew!

I saw on Facebook that Michael and Jennifer Blanc Biehn flew out Thursday so we weren't going to be sharing a flight like Seattle, sadly.  Kim Coates and Mark Boone Junior from Sons of Anarchy, Barry Bostwick and Ricco Ross from Aliens were on board though.  Customs was a breeze and the officer told my lady that Lance Henriksen arrived the day before.  Our Con hotel this time is the lovely Sheraton eau Claire in downtown Calgary next to the river and starting point of CE's huge cosplay parade.  Anthony Daniels, the Sons of Anarchy and The Hobbit crews rode up front as hundreds of costumed con goers walked the streets up to the Stampede.

The show itself was a lot of fun but since we weren't staying nearby meant we were at the show for its duration as we were attending an event that evening.  8 hours of walking the floors, viewing panels and eating hot dogs gets a bit exhausting.  I underestimated the power of Adrian Paul and Highlander as the panel filled to capacity before we arrived.  A panel on Mark Rolston and Jeanette Goldstein was great as they reminisced on their time working on Aliens, with Jim Cameron and other roles in things like The Shawshank Redemption and Near Dark.  Co-star Henriksen came up for his deep method acting style and the only person Rolston ever saw give driven and genius writer/director Cameron shit on set, in a professional, for the good of the movie, sense.  I asked if they were surprised at being invited to conventions which Goldstein stated gave her anxiety at first but loves them and Rolston recently traveled to Australia and New Zealand so it wasn't a bad gig.

Next up was Bill Paxton who we saw last week at WonderCon.  Calgary marked his first professional signing and said his wife, accountant and children thanked us.  Rumor was God was charging $80 bucks to a pop to sign and hang out.  That's Richard Dean Anderson money!  His spotlight panel was hilarious and heartfelt as he talked about meeting James Cameron, his reaction to hearing the synopsis to The Terminator, Kevin Jarre's massive and detailed contribution to Tombstone, working on Apollo 13, viewing it at the White House and urinating in between Bill Clinton and Tom Hanx.  Great times.  They didn't announce where to go for questions so I missed out on asking what the making of Navy SEALs was like and if he made people call him by character nick name God during production.

To end the evening there was a separate event dubbed Middle Earth EXPOsed that was half tribute to WETA CEO Richard Taylor and half variety show featuring cast members from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.  It was laughs galore as the cast reminisced then partook in sword play lessons, sang for the audience and did some improv skits. Unannounced video tributes from Peter Jackson and Richard Armitage put the spotlight on Taylor who was on side stage making a radio contest winner up into an Orc through prosthetics, make up and costume.  The seats are small and cramped together in the Corral but it was a very fun event.

Tonight is Aliens EXPOsed with the biggest reunion of cast since they shot the film in 1986. Before that, some sight seeing and grubbing is on the agenda but I just looked outside and it's freaking snowing.  Oh Canada...

Hot Damme! Dammaged Goods on Facebook

It only took a year but Dammaged Goods has made the leap to another wave of the Internet Ocean, Facebook!  Thanks to non-solicited shares from the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme himself, Lance Henriksen, Drew Struzan and Jennifer-Blanc Biehn among others, this little pastime has exceeded my non-expectations like an Elbow Rocket to the face.  This will usher in a new phase for the site as I'm working hard to expand my horizons with live events, attending more conventions and beyond.  Check out the FB page https://www.facebook.com/dammagedgoods and give it a Like.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more Damme good stuff.

Now that's enough talk, time for battle:

(Pre)Con-Man: Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo 2014

This year marks my first venture in attending out of town conventions.  Town is a relative term as the 8 shows I went to last year were all in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego County, i.e. Southern California with the furthest being 130ish miles away (which I made door to door in 94 minutes, you do the math).  But this year I'm cranking it up a notch by hitting two out of town shows in less than a month.  One of them is actually out of the country and I need to get an updated passport to attend!  It all started with rumblings of this show in Calgary, Canada, a city in the province of Alberta about 600 miles (or 970 kilometers) east of Vancouver and north of western Montana.  The only thing I knew about the place was that it was the home of "the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be" professional wrestler Bret "The Hitman" Hart.  I randomly found them on Facebook and started keeping up with this show that seemed to be booking tons of great guests and providing endless amounts of fan centric events and opportunities. 

From loads of comic book artists and writers to a bevy of familiar faces from television and film, the Calgarians (that sounds like something out of fantasy literature) were putting on a fucking show.  Then to start things off, they held a Cosplay parade that wasn't just a few dozen folks in costume.  Oh no, we're talking hundreds of people in homemade outfits filling the streets and 60,000 attendees.  2014 looks to be another great show in the making and then shit got real as the organizers of Calgary Expo and Coolwaters Productions announced they would be putting on Aliens EXPOsed, a celebration of James Cameron's seminal sequel from 1986.  Sure there have been plenty of Aliens screenings and whatnot before this, heck, I just attended one last week.  The New Beverly hosted a The Terminator and Aliens double feature that saw Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Mark Rolston, Jenette Goldstein and Ricco Ross show up and shoot the shit.  I unfortunately could not because I was attending an out of state wedding...

But Calgary is coming on strong with the announcement that Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver, would attend this little shindig along with Biehn, Henriksen, Rolston and Goldstein IN ADDITION to convention newbies Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser and Carrie Henn.  Now that's some fucking organizational skillz.  EXPOsed is being held outside the actual convention and requires a separate, not cheap ticket.  But hey, this is basically the entire main cast of one of my favorite movies we're talking about here and they're treating it right, using a local stadium to house the event.  So how did I spend my Saturday morning?  By getting tickets to EXPOsed, then moving right into securing passes to Calgary Expo (Friday and Sunday still available!), booking flights and checking out all of the beautifully swanky downtown hotels the Expo has teamed up with provide discounts for show goers.

Next up, finding Calgary's tastiest chow down spots via lots and lots of Food Network and Travel Channel programs.  See ya up north!

It was either a tourism pitch or a Bon Iver song...

Gotta Drank! The Bowery

The 80's keep on rocking and rolling at The Arclight Hollywood this week as screenings of Aliens and Back to the Future remind us how great they are.  This would be my 2nd viewing of Aliens on the big screen while it was something like the 7th of BTTF.  Yeah, that's a lotta Flux Capacitating!  It's also week one of two of seeing Michael Biehn on the big screen as next Wednesday it's time for The Terminator.  The crowds have been a little subdued this week but you can bet your ass I'll be clapping and getting rowdy for Arnold, Biehn, Cameron, Paxton and Henriksen.  The last time I saw The Terminator, it was preceded the week earlier by a screening of The Abyss.  Hopefully Navy Seals and Tombstone are next in my double Biehn screen viewing.

Anywho, before Aliens, we walked a couple blocks over to Vine where there's a slew of bar and restaurants like The Well, grilled cheese house The Melt, some Italian joint and The Bowery; a cozy and dimly lit establishment that claims to have the best hamburger in Los Angeles.  I've had it and wasn't wowed but then again, it's served on an English muffin.  To me, English muffins are only good if they're toasted to a nice crispy finish and slathered in butter.  Bowery has some other tasty selections as well though on it's small menu.  Happy Hour runs the entire week I believe from 4-7.  As I'm fighting a cold, it was Hot Toddy time.  You know, whiskey and hot tea with lemon and honey on the side?  This might have been the best Hot Toddy I've ever had simply due to the fact that they gave me a shot glass full of honey with it.

Goodnight, future boy!

)

Paneled Goods: Aliens VS Predator

Emerald City Comiccon is just around the corner and I'm thinking of items I'll be hunting down at the show.  Most likely I'll look to add to my Neca Predator figure collection, hopefully they have Arnold caked in mud/final showdown edition.  My last few shows have yielded some great deals on Dark Horse Omnibus collections of Aliens, Terminator and Aliens VS Predator.  Aliens had some great scary and exciting arcs collected while Terminator was just slow going.  AVP however is some of the fastest page turning I've encountered in quite a while.  It all starts with Aliens VS Predator, originally printed as a 5 issue mini-series in 1990.  The story is set on Ryushi, a desert planet long without civilized inhabitants but now home to a colony of rustlers and ranchers called Prosperity Wells.  Corporate ramrod Machiko Noguchi is still adjusting to the 19 hours of sunlight a day while dealing with the ornery ranchers of Rhynths, a rhino like creature farmed for food.

Unfortunately, Ryushi is also site of Predator hunting exercises where a captured Alien queen is forced to produce eggs that are then placed on the planet to fill it with game via facehuggers necking with local wildlife.  All hell breaks loose when the "bugs" start running wild and the "hunters" show up to hone their skills.  Machiko joins the fray to try and save the community folk then teams up with a lone, wounded Predator to take out the Alien trash.  Like I said, this was some fast reading.  An interesting dialogue between pilots regarding morality, power and nature starts us off before moving into some alien carnage.  Writer Randy Stradley and artists Phill Norwood and Chris Warner do a terrific job in giving us a quick and interesting read.  The characters, human and otherwise, have personality while the art is textured and exciting while taking advantage of the story's space and desert settings to give us clean and detailed juxtaposed action with spaceships, armor, weaponry, arid landscapes, xenomorphs and a whole lotta exploded rib cages.

The Predators are depicted as tribal, violent and when necessary, honorable.  The Aliens are about what you'd expect, hissing and swarming and killing everything they can.  The teaming up of Machiko and the Predator is interesting as they're both trying to survive but cannot communicate through traditional means.  One scene was particularly surprising in it's violence as a young boy's family and dog is brutally slaughtered by a Predator.  But hey, these were rated R movies right?  The series was a success and spawned multiple comic book sequels.  Up until 1992's release of Image Comics' Youngblood, AVP stood as the best selling comic book by an alternative publisher (basically not Marvel or DC).  Many ideas from the series were used in 2004's Alien Versus Predator feature film from Paul Anderson of Mortal Kombat and Soldier fame starring mother fucking Lance Henriksen.

In 1994, Capcom released a badass side scrolling arcade game featuring Arnold's Dutch Schaeffer fighting alongside the Predators to take out the Alien menace:

Con-Man: Emerald City and the Price of Fandom

Seattle's Emerald City Comicon is just around the corner and this guy will be attending his first out of California popular culture convention in quite some time.  Originally I thought about heading to Oregon for the Wizard World there in January but those shows tend to be based around celebrity signings with programming coming in a distant second.  Emerald City seemed to boast a nice mix of media and comics guests while highlighting each with screenings, panels and signing sessions.  As all conventions, Emerald City has been growing like a mofo in the last few years and is looking to welcome more than 50,000 attendees again this year.

Their guest list is impressive and on the comic book side you've already got Art Adams, Mark Bagley, Kurt Busiek, J. Scott Campbell, Frank Cho, Peter David, Klaus Janson, Erik Larsen, Ed McGuinness, Dustin Nguyen, Stan Sakai and Jeff Smith among dozens more scheduled to be on site meeting fans and slinging art for the weekend.  Media wise there are plenty of familiar faces on tap like MICHAEL BIEHN, Richard Dean Anderson, Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Kelly Hu, Rachel Nichols, Ron Perlman, Alan Tudyk and Karl Urban.  So there should be plenty of people to see and swag to buy.  Here's where it gets tricky for Con goers.  I've never been one for celebrity sightings, autographs or photos with famous peeps.  Why?  It just seems kind of pointless.  It's not like if I take a photo with Michael Biehn then he's going to go home and show it to his friends, know what I mean?  Shows like these are ways for actors and artists to make money and interact with the fans that help keep them going.  While you can commission your favorite artist to create a custom piece of personalized art, getting a glossy photo with your name and some signature on it doesn't quite seem to have the same depth.

As I was looking through the guest lists and the prices for their autographs or photos, I was shocked to see MacGyver and Stargate's Richard Dean Anderson would be charging $85 for an autograph and an additional $85 for a photo!  Everyone else on the list was in the $30 to $50 range which to me, still seems like a giant waste of money.  I can understand actors needing to make a few bucks between gigs but come on, do people really pony up nearly 100 bones to get Anderson's sloppy Sharpie signature?  They must if he's charging so much more than everyone else.  Do you know how many comic books, toys, statues, shirts or just random cool stuff you can get at a Con for $85?  Or you could spend the money on food and drinks while making new friends and seeing an awesome city.  Unbelievable.

When I saw Lance Henriksen at Long Beach, I wasn't interested in a signed photo of him, I wanted to see how much his autobiography, Not Bad For A Human was going for.  I figured on getting gouged since we were at a convention and he needed to collect some gas money so I was quite surprised that a hardcover book AND a glossy photo of my choice would only set me back $35.  Then he signed both to me and was super cool too boot.  So Richard Dean Anderson, I don't know if you've got ex-wives and kids to feed but you're no Lance Henriksen.  Just like Joel Kinnaman ain't no Peter Weller, bro.

View In Peace: James "Jim" Jacks and Hard Target

Earlier this week, the death of movie producer James "Jim" Jacks quietly hit the news and interwebs in the form of a few brief articles and a couple detailed write ups from friends and collaborators like Kevin Smith and Harry Knowles.  His name might not strike the household familiarity of say a Jerry Bruckheimer or to a lesser extent Joel Silver but Jacks amassed a list of timeless classics like Jean-Claude Van Damme as a greasy mulleted samurai in Hard Target, the action ensemble western classic Tombstone, Richard Linklater's seminal Dazed and Confused, Kevin Smith's maligned but awesome Mallrats, Benecio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones' Rambo update The Hunted and his most successful work, 1999's The Mummy.  The Mummy was followed by two hit sequels and a successful spin off, The Scorpion King; which has had now spawned 3 direct to video sequels (the latest featuring Michael Biehn!).

A former wall street analyst who turned to screenwriting before working acquisitions at Universal and segueing into producing, Jacks is said to have been a hardcore movie lover.  1993 was a banner year for him as Hard Target, Dazed and Confused and Tombstone all hit theaters across the country.  Each holds it's own place in my and cinema's lore as they have all transcended generations and still resonate 20 years on.  Even though each title is held in high regard, at least two of them never matched the original intent of Jacks and his partners in celluloid.

By the early 90's, Jean-Claude Van Damme was the still the hot, young guy coming up the action ladder following Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger while competing with fellow new to the scene martial artist, Steven Seagal.  After a string of successful, low budget karate movies, 1992's Universal Soldier was his first decent budget, more mainstream action affair that had a talented director and studio support.  The flick performed well around the world and JCVD tried his hand at further broadening his audience with Nowhere To Run, a modern day Shane where VD protects a mother and her kids from evil land owners.  With nary a roundhouse kick or full split to be seen, Nowhere To Run might have fulfilled the Belgian's desire to try something different but audiences did not turn out and grosses were less than his previous 3 films.

Hard Target was the beginning of Van Damme's real push into the big leagues (it was also my second R-rated movie in a theater).  Universal saw his potential and figured with the right support, he could break into the $50-60 million grosses and join Arnold and Sly at the top of the mountain.  Former Navy Seal Chuck Pfarrer's (Navy Seals!) script is the story of Chance Boudreaux, a Merchant Marine struggling to make a living who helps out a young lawyer searching for her missing father.  Turns out her dad was a Vietnam veteran who agreed to be the subject of a twisted game that finds rich hunters paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to track and kill their fellow man.  Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo turn up as the dastardly duo behind the sick scheme and it's up to Van Damme, the chick from Drop Zone (Yancy Butler) and mother fucking Wilford Brimley to stop them.

I'm not sure whose idea it was to go after noted Hong Kong director John Woo but the mayhem maestro behind The Killer signed on for his first American feature after Jacks and Universal set their sights on him.  Van Damme gave his stamp of approval but unfortunately, the $18 million production would be awash with problems from Van Damme being given far reaching creative control to Woo's unfamiliarity with the English language and American filmmaking process.  See, in Hong Kong, movies shoot for a while, stop and assess then continue on.  You can't do that kind of thing in America as studios need product to fill their slate so Woo was stranded without his team, working in a language not his own and a nervous studio watching over his shoulder.  Universal enlisted Evil Dead and Darkman director Sam Raimi to the production, ready to take over if Woo fell behind.  Even though Raimi was in awe of Woo and didn't think he would be able to bring anything better to the project.

After re-shooting the final confrontation between Van Damme and Henriksen, editing the picture would find the Muscles From Brussels presenting his own version along with Woo's cut that had to be trimmed down to avoid an NC-17 rating.  Jacks supported Woo's version as they didn't want a typical "Van Damme movie".  Test screenings were horrendous but finally on August 20th of 1993, Hard Target hit theaters, opening to $10 million on it's way to a $32 million total.  The tally was higher than Nowhere to Run but less than Universal Soldier.  Critics would deem it Van Damme's best but Woo's worst.  As it stands, Hard Target is a well made and violent action picture that does it's best to mesh Woo's human drama mixed with balletic gun violence and Van Damme's high kicking super heroics.  You get way too much slow motion, lots of close ups, bad puns, shoot'em ups, kick'em ups, jack rabbits slapping bears, horses, snake smacking, Mardi Gras, Lance Henriksen being set on fire, mama's taking chances and Ted Raimi saying "I ain't got no change, man!".

Post mortem, Van Damme would dismiss Hard Target for having a bad script and too much "John Woo bullshit" but having some good action and making him look strong.  Woo would remain political and say they did the best they could with what they had and didn't close the door on working with Van Damme again.  It never happened.  Van Damme would go on to his biggest hit, Timecop, before turning down a huge deal with Universal and sliding into a career funk filled with drug problems and messy divorces.  Woo would go on to find success after success, working with John Travolta, Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise on Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission Impossible II before returning to Chinese cinema following the poorly received Windtalkers and Paycheck.

Come back next time as we check out Jacks' work on a fellow, troubled production: Tombstone.  Until then, enjoy Van Damme beating up some thugs after having some tragic gumbo.