Western Weekend: The Salvation

Thanks to our free trial of Showtime, I've been able to watch some cool flicks like Last Vegas, Judge Dredd, Starring Adam West, The Death of Superman Lives and Prophet's Prey. Over the weekend, new western from Denmark The Salvation premiered and was a fitting end to my days of horses, dusters and guns that started with Dolph Lundgren's Missionary Man and continued with Amazon's new pilot Edge. The angular and weirdcool Mikkelsen  has been on my radar since 2004's underrated men on a mission flick, King Arthur. That opened me up to his excellent work in the likes of drug dealing drama Pusher, cannibal black comedy The Green Butchers, life affecting melodrama After the Wedding, WWII action drama Flame and Citron and supernatural thriller The Door among others. He made a splash stateside as the villain in 2006's Casino Royale before popping up in Clash of the Titans and cult show Hannibal while earning raves in the excellent drama The Hunt. In The Salvation, Kristian Levring directs from a script from himself and Anders Thomas Jensen. Set in the 1870's, Jon (Mikkelsen) and brother Peter (Mikael Persbrandt) are two brothers who fought a losing war in Denmark then came to America for a new start. It's been 7 years since Jon had to leave his wife and kid as the film opens with them arriving at the train station. But their coach ride back to town carries a couple of fresh out of prison brutes and after a tense standoff, Jon is tossed from the wagon. His wife and son are killed but he shoots those mofos dead in return. Immediately this wasn't going to be some quasi arthouse update of Death Wish where a regular guy is pushed to the brink and reacts. We get Mads pushed into a corner he can't get out of without risking harm to his wife and son even though he almost gets the drop on the two former convicts. If this were a Dolph flick, he would have shot those sumbitches without warning.

Only problem is, convict's big bad brother Henry Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) runs the town Jon lives outside of and squeezes the locals into giving him up. After escaping Delarue's clutches, Jon uncovers a land grabbing scheme and must bring justice to the scared people who have seen their wives, husbands and relatives all mercilessly killed. Royale co-star Eva Green shows up as Madelaine, mute wife to the deceased Delarue who may or may not be an ally. Shot in South Africa, The Salvation is a beautiful film that takes full advantage of the dusty desert with vibrant cinematography and good use of the day and night visuals. Mikkelsen always excels at playing the upright and pure force versus the physical tough guy nature of Dolph or Max Martini. Here he plays a man capable of violence but it's not his chosen response until totally necessary. Morgan gets to play suave yet cruel while Green brings her usual mean-hot style to the table and gets to take care of business by the end. The violence is straight forward with people getting shot and beat in a non-sensationalist style but with plenty of blood and pain on display. An excellent flick and a fascinating take on the genre. At a quick 92 minutes, the film really kept things moving yet didn't feel rushed. There's so much detail and nuance in the characters, costumes and settings that a second viewing may be required on another sleepy Sunday afternoon.

(Pre) Con-Man: WonderCon 2014

Next Friday, Anaheim hosts WonderCon for the third year.  Originally held in San Francisco's Moscone Center until remodeling sent WonderCon down to the land of Disney.  Even though construction is over, apparently Comic-Con International (CCI) and Moscone couldn't come to terms on dates for the show.  While they'd like to get WonderCon back to San Fran, for now, we get to enjoy two huge comic and media conventions in Southern California.  The difference between something like WonderCon and Emerald City Comicon is that CCI is a non-profit organization celebrating the creative arts.  While celebrities are on hand for signings, panels and greeting the fans, WonderCon isn't based around the business of exploiting them for profit.  Instead, you have a plethora of exhibiters hocking swag and memorabilia while programming runs the gamut of animation, film, comic books, writing, LGBTQ, self-publishing, cosplay, copyright law, advertising, music, editing and much much more.

In 2012, WonderCon played like San Diego Comic-Con light as studios trotted out their early summer pictures such as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Prometheus, Lockout and Battleship.  Of course, none of those films did particularly well so 2013's show saw a marked decrease in studio presence.  NBC's Hannibal was heavily advertised but I don't recall any tent pole flicks making the rounds.  Even without the media hype, WC still brought in a healthy 56,000 attendees over three days.  This year, Batman's anniversary is getting the spotlight with numerous panels on the comic book and it's creators as well as the premiere of a new animated film.  DC superstar artist Jim Lee will be on hand to wow audiences with his quick pencil skills and general nice guy-ness.  Media wise, studios are coming back as Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, TNT and Sony will all be on hand to show off their latest projects.  I'm thinking we'll see sneak peeks of Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow, Jupiter Ascending, X-Men: Days of Future Past, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes amongst others.

To knock it up another notch, there's usually a few surprise screenings around town, the local theater offers Con goers special prices and WC itself has secured discount tickets to Disneyland and Medieval Times.  We've signed up to take a Walt centric tour because it's not like we won't already be walking around enough but hey, be a Doer!

From WonderCon's sister in San Diego:

Workout of the Day: Mads Man

Whenever we hit Disneyland over night, we tend to stay at The Red Lion.  It's a decent spot for a decent price and they have a nice gym.  Before heading back this past Tuesday, I wanted to take advantage of the room full of weights and equipment since I work out at home with basic stuff and advanced imagination.  Mother fucking Legend was on Encore but that quickly ended, what came on next?  Why it was King Arthur from 2004!  You may remember that my boy Mads Mikkelsen co-starred as the quiet badass Tristan a la Brit from The Magnificent Seven a la the Kyuzo from The Seven Samurai.  To get the maximum pump and work out of my time, I opted for doing two exercises in a row per body part for my entire upper body.  On an empty stomach I got in:

1)  Chest - Incline Push Up w/Flat Dumbbell Flys
2)  Back - Chin Up w/Straight Bar Cable Row
3)  Shoulders - Arnold Press w/Side Raises
4)  Biceps - One Arm Preacher Curl w/Dumbbell Hammer Curls
5)  Triceps - Straight Bar Cable Pushdown w/Lying Incline Dumbbell Extension
6)  Calves - Standing Raises with Dumbbell in hand w/Seated Calf Raise (sit on the bench, put feet up on the metal frame and place DB's on knees)

I went through this twice then added one last Giant Set:

7)  Cable Row/Dumbbell Pullover/Shoulder Raises/Concentration Curls/Cable Pushdown

Followed by some ab crunches, trunk twists and a few miles on a bike while watching King Arthur and his knights hacking, slashing, arguing and drinking their way through a rescue mission.  By the end, I felt good and pumped up, ready to tackle the park.

As you can see, this routine worked each of my muscle groups and pumped more blood in without straining my muscles or joints as each exercise works a different part of the muscle.

All in, the workout took under an hour and I settled for some chocolate milk as a post session shake.  Then it was time for Disneyland where it was crazy crowded with I'm guessing Spring Breakers.

Mads Mikkelsen Week: Cool Guy

Mads Mikkelsen seems like a cool guy.  You know, like Zoolander, Billy Zane cool guy, the type you should listen to.  It must have been his performance in 2004's King Arthur that first caught my attention where he played the quiet, badass knight, Tristan.  In it, he knows how to throw knives, fights like a samurai, shoots people out of trees with a bow and arrow from a mile away and has an eagle as a friend.  While the movie wasn't great, it was an enjoyable sword swinging, men on a mission action pic that warranted two trips to a dollar theater to view.  That performance led to tracking down his Danish work where he had become a top star after breaking in with Pusher and it's sequel, a franchise based around the gritty and bleak yet fascinating lives of low level drug dealers.

Of course, it wasn't always easy finding his movies in the states but Blockbuster came through as I started to seek out more of Mikkelsen's work.  His roles and appearances varied from a nervous, cannibalistic butcher in the dark comedy The Green Butchers to a simple, in denial priest butting heads with a neo-Nazi in Adam's Apples.  2006's Casino Royale put him in the international spotlight as a poker playing, stock market manipulating, civil war funding James Bond villain who weeps blood.  That same year I got a hold of Susanne Bier's fantastic and shattering melodrama, After the Wedding where Mads plays Jacob, a man living in India running an orphanage who goes back to Copenhagen to ask a rich businessman for a donation.  Turns out the rich businessman is marrying Jacob's former lover/mother of a daughter he never knew he had.  Seriously, if you have Netflix, it's on there and is worth checking out.  If there was ever an award bestowed for best use of Sigur Ros music, After the Wedding would win, hands down.  After watching the flick, I sat down for nearly an hour, writing down my thoughts and feelings in an emotional and existential haze, it's that kind of movie.


In addition to all of his film work, Mikkelsen was also a face for H&M clothing in the late 2000's.  Today, rumors are swirling that Mads is in contention for the role of Dr. Stephen Strange, Marvel Comics' arrogant surgeon turned sorcerer supreme.  Mikkelsen had come close to starring Thor:  The Dark World as villain Malekith but his schedule on Hannibal got in the way.  I'm glad though, Malekith's role wasn't exactly a showy or interesting one so The Mads would have been wasted.

Check out this ultimate Cool Guy interview:

Mads Mikkelsen Week: The Hunt

Starting with several episodes of Hannibal, I continued my Mads Mikkelsen viewing with a 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Nominee, The Hunt.  Denmark has produced several Best Foreign Film nominees in recent years including The Hunt, A Royal Affair and After the Wedding.  What do all of these films have in common?  Mads Mikkelsen.  Although he's starred in American films like Casino Royale and Clash of the Titans, Mr. Mikkelsen still hasn't been able to secure himself a juicy, leading man role here in the states.  Unless you count his wonderfully creepy performances on TV's Hannibal.  His frequent director, Nicolas Winding Refn, successfully introduced himself to the U.S. of A. with 2011's moody and violent heist flick, Drive (tied as my personal favorite of that year) and has since re-teamed with leading man dujour Ryan Gosling.  Refn and Mikkelsen worked together on the acclaimed Pusher series and re-teamed for the surreal "action" movie, Valhalla Rising.  Apparently the two are quite fond of each other as they do not speak to each other socially between projects then argue often and passionately while making the film.

The Hunt was directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written with Tobias Lindholm.  Mikkelsen stars as Lucas, an unassuming nice guy who works at the local kindergarten after having lost his job at the high school when it closed.  Divorced with a teenage son, Lucas lives a simple life hunting and drinking with his gang of friends while being a favorite of the students at the kindergarten.  Klara, daughter of Lucas' best friend Theo, latches on to Lucas since her parents always seem to be fighting and forgetting she exists.  When Klara's crush is rebuffed, the little girl makes up a white lie and tells the school master that Lucas exposed himself to her.  The school master immediately believes the little girl and soon Lucas' life is turned upside down as he is fired from his job and ostracized by much of the community, including his former close friends.

A simple story that yields powerful results, The Hunt is an engaging drama that looks at how words and perception can totally change someone's life.  Even though Lucas did nothing wrong, most are quick to call him a pervert and cast him out.  By the time the truth comes out, it's too late as Lucas has lost so much over nothing and will forever be seen differently by some of those around him.  Mikkelsen gives a typically great performance as the goofball kindergarten teacher as well as the man fighting for his dignity and name.  The movie pulled a reaction out of me as I would not have forgiven anyone that thought I was capable of such a heinous crime, especially without any evidence.  In fact, I'd hold that grudgement for the rest of my days...if I didn't go Rambo on the town first.  But that is the sign of a fine storyteller isn't it?  What we see onscreen seems like it could happen to us yet we still know it's a movie.



In case you don't know what I'm talking about, just don't push it:

Snow Tube: Hannibal

Skimming around Amazon Prime I found they have NBC's Hannibal available and decided to give it a whirl since I've been a big fan of star Mads Mikkelsen since The Pusher series.  Four episodes later and I'm slowly working my way through the violent, moody and nightmarish program that chronicles the work of non-official FBI profiler Will Graham and his relationship with Dr. Hannibal Lector inspired by Thomas Harris' novels.  Lector, the cannibal therapist who of course was played to cinematic villain greatness in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs by Anthony Hopkins but before that was seen on screen in 1986's Manhunter and portrayed by Brian Cox in an effectively threatening yet helpful manner .  Mads Mikkelsen takes over the role in the series and is the best thing about it.  He manages to be creepy and ominous yet charming and stylish with poise for days. 

Hugh Dancy picks up the role of Will Graham after a haunted badass turn by Manhunter's William L. Petersen and an OK one by Red Dragon's Edward Norton.  Dancy's look and voice reminds me of Justin Bartha from The Hangover only instead of a neurotic nice guy we get an uneasy and unstable serial killer expert who is slowly being pulled back into the field regularly to deal with the monsters.  Samuel L. Jackson, I mean Laurence Fishburne shows up as Will's boss, Jack Crawford and shouts a lot.  The show is visually attention grabbing with it's slick f/x and shocking for network TV violence.  Blood spray and posed corpses are in every episode thus far.  There's also some unexpected bits of sick humor throughout that have kept the first four episodes interesting, mostly referring to Lector's unspoken but shown affinity for eating humans and serving it to others.  Oh and Mads is always dressed really well and the ties on every character are really wide with awesome fat knots.  Double Windsor anyone?

Developed by Bryan Fuller, Hannibal is taking a cable model and putting it on network TV with 13 episode seasons and a 7 year arc already mapped out that would consist of original material, the Red Dragon era when Graham and Lector go head to head, then into Silence of the Lambs territory when Lector is in prison, moving into the Hannibal days when Lector has escaped and one of his victims comes looking for revenge then a final season that would resolve Lector's story.  Unfortunately the show hasn't exactly set the world on fire ratings wise in it's Thursday night slot and has been scheduled to return on Fridays which isn't exactly viewer paradise unless you're an established name like Tim Allen or Tom Selleck.  So we'll see how things go when Season 2 starts in a couple weeks and find out if we'll get to Season 7.

Check out the awesomely bad 80's style trailer for Manhunter: