Summer Cinema: Warcraft

This past Thursday we went into Warcraft with no real expectations. I'd played the original game and part 2 as a youth, dabbled in part 3 but never checked out online giant World of Warcraft. Directed by Duncan Jones with a co-writing assist from Charles Leavitt and Chris Metzen, the first trailers did not look good. Just your typical bad CGI with live action mash up. But hey, I'm a sucker for large scale, fantasy world set, sword swinging action flicks like Lord of the Rings, Willow, Dragonheart, Clash of the Titans, Conan the Barbarian, Masters of the Universe and the recent Gods of Egypt. Sadly, even with no expectations, Warcraft failed to deliver. It just wasn't very exciting or compelling. I felt so bad for my lady that halfway through the film I ran out to get her another glass of wine so she wouldn't be too bored. And I was several whiskey gingers in yet still not enjoying the flick.

We're thrown into a world of orcs, knights, mages and griffins with magic portals, ornate armor and lightning spells. But no real set up so like Hunger Games, I didn't get transported in or believe what I was seeing. The humans feel threatened by the orcs, the orcs are just trying to save their clan, there's some family and character moments but most of it falls flat. As Jones and crew fail to set up the alternate world, they also try to ground it in reality with all the character bits but end of the day you don't care about anyone in the film or if they live or die. Add to that the fact everything looks fake, from the CGI orcs next to a green painted Paula Patton to the well designed yet still manufactured looking armor and false looking sets, there's just nothing to grasp to. There's swords, war hammers and axes galore but not a single duel if I recall correctly. Lots of implied violence and cutting to black but no sword clashing or choreography. Battle scenes come off as a lot of frantic activity with no actual fighting. I just don't get it.

Budgeted at an estimated $160 million, Warcraft was supposedly aimed at the Chinese audience which has eaten the film up, breaking records and grossing a shattering $140+ million in only a few days. Yet there's one Asian character in the film and he doesn't have a line. Although American born Daniel Wu is a performance capture villain. Opening in the states this weekend, Warcraft grossed a not great $24 million amidst poor reviews and will struggle to hit $75 million I'm guessing. My hopes for a Pacific Rim or Edge of Tomorrow surprise were certainly dashed and I can't imagine any amount of foreign box office will greenlight a WC sequel any time soon. Look at Terminator: Genisys, it didn't hit $100 million in America but ended up grossing $440 million globally with so-so word of mouth, prompting Paramount to promptly pump the brakes on two proposed sequels. Leaving the film I felt weirdly frustrated, this is the kind of movie I should like and I was hoping it would succeed as the underdog but as it stands, Warcraft is the worst and most disappointing movie I've seen this summer if not the year. Oh, plus there was no Leeroy Jenkins reference...

Western Weekend: Edge

Stumbled across a random Facebook post showing off a violent clip from a new Amazon pilot, Edge. It caught my eye for many reasons; it was a western, it was really violent, it starred Max Martini (Pacific Rim & Sabotage) and directed by Shane Black. With those ingredients, how could you go wrong? Apparently it's Pilot season on Amazon where they produce a handful then viewers rate/vote/review to help them decide which series to move forward with. Based on a series of novels by George G. Gilman, Edge opens up with the murder of Jamie Hedges (Nate Warren), brother to thought dead Union solider Josiah Hedges aka Edge. Big Brother shows up to town, under the harsh rule of Big Bill (William Sadler). His son Little Bill served with Edge along with former comrade turned baddie Harknett (Ryan Kwanten). Edge gets hired on to help shepard the town, learning who's in control while meeting the locals like trophy wife Pilar (Alicja Bachleda) and Pinkerton detective masquerading as a working girl Beth (Yvonne Strahovski).

By the end of the 60 minute pilot, Edge has wasted plenty of fools with a straight razor, six shooter and a gattling gun. The violence is amped up and earns it's MA rating. Lots of blood, dismemberment, head shots, brutal beatings and a branch through the abdomen. The final shootout gets a bit over the top with Edge running across roofs and awnings, flying through the air and blasting every baddie in sight. Along with blood you also get Martini's muscular butt shot and some breasts so all bases are covered. Written by Black and former partner Fred Dekker, the show switches between hardcore violence and funny quips about dogs, sex and whatnot. Martini looks near unrecognizable with a mess of hair covering up his face and grumbles out his dialog but it's good to see the likable supporting player in the lead. Production value is high end with a great looking western town, huge natural vistas, dusty and crusty attire along with a couple of explosions. The episode's epilogue sets up the series as baddie Harknett is a sadist and a racist on the hunt for a fortune, ensuring his paths will cross with Edge once again. With no interest in any other Amazon show besides Ron Perlman's vigilante drama Hand of God, here's hoping we get more Edge.

Sneak Cinema: Crimson Peak w/ Guillermo del Toro

YouTube Space LA hosted a pretty awesome event last night, an early screening of Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak followed by a chat with the man himself. Taking place next door at the Cinemark Playa Vista and at their space in the campus, del Toro welcomed the audience and reiterated that the film is not a horror flick but a Gothic romance. I honestly didn't know too much about the movie going in but was a big fan of his work on Hellboy and Pacific Rim. The story of Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), a bright young woman with aspirations to be a writer who falls for the dapper yet dark Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). Moving to their decaying manor in rural Europe, Edith tries to play nice with Thomas' foreboding sister Lady Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain) while getting used to the cold and scary Crimson Peak. Named after the red clay that seeps up from underground. Mystery, ghosts, deception, intrigue and blood follows in a very handsomely produced film that's at times beautiful as well as terrifying. Without giving too much away, Peak is hardly your typical Halloween slasher flick but instead more of a character piece that utilizes a bygone era, atmosphere and customs to keep things interesting leading up to a pretty exciting and scary conclusion.

After the film, del Toro sat down to discuss his philosophy of life and filmmaking, spoiler free:

- Believes in two forces, fear and love.
- Passion project that took 7 years to produce. Going for R rating meant a budget reduction of 30-40% but sees budget only as a mindset, not a hindrance.
- Views filmmaking as a table with four legs encompassing costumes, production design, cinematography and directing.
- Wanted costumes built and the set dressed. Every thing you see is planned, designed and created.
- Feels people who like his movies are creative types who appreciate the effort.
- Was originally set up with Emma Stone and Benedict Cumberbatch but losing them was best thing for the project as it was a great experience.
- Movie sets are like any social setting, there's always going to be an asshole.
- Hates conformity or people telling you what you can and can't do. The only reason giant elephants don't pull the stake from the ground is because they weren't strong enough to do so when they were small and still have same mindset.
- Wanted to make a film with strong female characters which shouldn't be an exception given the amount of strong women walking the planet every day.
-  Chances of a Hellboy III are highly improbable.
- Trying to be a good person is one of the biggest contributions people can make to the world.
- Always wanted to be a bank robber like Robert DeNiro in Heat. Finds himself casing the joint any time he's cashing a check.
- Directors never have total control, if they did, results wouldn't be any good. Need collaboration.

Much more was discussed, particularly concerning the film but I'm not gonna ruin it for ya. del Toro has always been a funny and warm speaker and seeing him live was fantastic. The guy is extremely intelligent and experienced, citing examples from Jung, the Dao, Stanley Kubrick and oh so many more in a non-elitist way. I'd love to hear him in a conversation with Jean-Claude Van Damme as his roundabout, somewhat spacey views on life always seem to make total sense. Because divorce is a word but love is a feeling...

(Nearly) Ask Me a Question: Carl Weathers Tribute w/Predator & Action Jackson

Well kids, it is almost time for Carl Weathers night.  Hopefully you've seen the lovely piece Susan King of the L.A. Times conducted with our special guest that ran in this past weekends edition.  Last time we spoke, I was excited to announce that Craig R. Baxley, the Stunt Coordinator on Predator and Director of Action Jackson would be joining us for an introduction.  Today, I'm happy to announce that we'll also be welcoming a couple of Stan Winston's crew for the evening as well! 

Shannon Shea has been in the Special Effects arena since the 80's as a puppeteer, special makeup effects artist, shop foreman and sculptor.  For Winston's Studio, Shea was on awesome flicks like Predator, Monster Squad, Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park.  From there Shea hooked up with Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero's K.N.B. Effects Group for From Dusk Till Dawn, Hulk, Kill Bill and Planet Terror among many more before working with industry icon and childhood idol Rick Baker on Men in Black 3.  Today, Shea is moving into becoming master of his own destiny having provided Special Effects for indie horror flick, Scream at the Devil and is lined up to write and direct Mr. Beebee, starring Ghostbusters' Ernie Hudson in the near future.  He's also collected his memories from working on the films into a collection of E-books that will be available soon.

Richard J. Landon also started in the 80's at Winston's Studio and has worked steadily as a puppeteer, make up artist, in the mechanical and animatronic department and designer on classics like The Terminator, Tremors, Predator 1 & 2, Galaxy Quest, Iron Man and Pacific Rim.  I'll have to ask them if they had any contact with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing the Hunter before the creature was redesigned and played by Kevin Peter Hall.

Shaping up to be a fun night, hope to see you there!

San Diego Comic-Con 2014: Friday aka Panels on Panels on Panels!

After the awesome Paramount panel, it was time for a break and then Hero Complex's rooftop party at the Hotel Solomar where I not only saw two former co-workers and met some nice Con goers but Michael Rooker of Tombstone, Mallrats and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy was in attendance!  IMAX was on hand with Hercules and Guardians swag along with an open bar and flip book photo booth.  Then it was off into the Gaslamp District for sustenance and more Jameson.

Friday morning I was beat and bummed around a while before heading over to the show.  Not feeling like navigating the exhibition floor I opted for an afternoon of panels where one turned into six!

First up was Secret Origins: How the Industry's Best and Brightest Began with Chip Mosher, David Steinberger, Mike Marts, Shannon Watters, Marc Bernardin and Frank J. Barbiere who collectively have worked for Marvel, Starlog, Entertainment Weekly and DC shared their sagas of breaking into the comics game.  From starting off as an intern who never left to selling 60 copies of a self financed book at conventions to a Singing Major who changed careers at 34 to e-mailing Jim Lee once a month for 13 months, it was a very cool and inspiring panel that reminded us, especially in this day and age that you just have to do what you love and there's no excuse for not setting goals big and small in this era of fans easily becoming creators thanks to the internet and advancements in technology.  As ComiXology was recently purchased by Amazon, the first 2 individuals who asked questions received a free Kindle Fire!

Next was Free Enterprise: 15th Anniversary Reunion which celebrated the 1999 release of low budget romantic comedy Free Enterprise starring Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and William "Bill" Shatner.  Writer/producer Mark A. Altman shared hilarious stories of trying to land Shatner in the role of himself, written as a uber-sage to two pop culture loving nerds trying to make it in Los Angeles.  Shatner declined on the basis of not wanting to play a God like character but was open to the idea of giving him everyday problems like trying to meet women.  Altman also told a great story about Al Pacino seeing Star Trek: Generations and loving the fact that it took a mountain to crash on Shatner's Captain Kirk to kill him while the "Shakespeare guy" (Patrick Stewart) took a pebble to the shoulder and went down.  Altman and company are looking to resurrect FE as an online series and shared a pitch video from their ongoing Kickstarter.

After that it was time for Brands Gone Geek:  How Media and Marketers Are Harnessing the Might of the Superfan which looked at the way big business is targeting the Comic-Con and pop culture crowd with insights from a large panel of guests involved with BOOM! Studios, a former movie producer turned comic book store owner, the Bonfire Agency, online reporting, Hero Complex and many more.  Hosted by Sydney Pollack doppleganger Steve Rotterdam, it was an eye opening look at what I've been saying for years, we live in a time when you can sell people's childhoods back to them.  Comic books, collectibles and the like account for over $1 billion dollars in sales a year with the average con goer spending more on their cool swag and stuff than sports fans.  Basically, all the kids who were made fun of in school for liking comic books, cartoons, fantasy literature etc are now in control of popular culture from the plethora of comic book and fantasy movies topping the box office to Chase bank, Dunkin Donuts and Carl's Jr. among others vying for the Comic-Con crowd without insulting them through commercials and campaigns.

Then it was time for the annual Street Fighter! panel where Capcom's Francis Mao and company took us through all things SF like the new Street Fighter 4: Ultra, merchandise and the yearlong Capcom Cup/e-sports league where players from all over the world compete for a spot in the finals in December.  Qualifying rounds are happening over SDCC weekend with the finals taking place on Sunday at the Omni hotel with $3,000 bucks on the line. Attention was shifted to successful online series Assassin's Fist where actor/writer/director Joey Ansah and actors Mike Moh and Gaku Space talked about making the series, working on wires, translating fights to live action, staying faithful to the source material and future plans that includes a stacked Blu-Ray release with commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes and more as well as official word that sequel series World Warrior is in development.  Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono showed up dressed as Hugo after coming in as Chun-Li last year.  Audience members partook in some live SF play with was surprisingly fun and draining to watch.

Penultimate panel of the Friday was a real treat for movie buffs with The Superheroes of Legacy Effects with John Rosengrant, Shane Mahan, Lindsay MacGowan and Jason Lopes taking the audience through their company's wide ranging work that includes design, make up f/x, sculpting, 3D printing and animatronics for commercials, television and film.  I recognized Rosengrant and Mahan from watching copious amounts of The Terminator and Aliens featurettes as the former was their first big movie.  The duo started at Stan Winston's studio and have worked on the likes of the Jurassic Park and Terminator series including the upcoming 2015 releases.  Legacy now has a random niche market with suit making after 4 Iron Man adventures, Pacific Rim and 2014's Robocop.  With a staff of about 100, Legacy works on 200 commercials and 20 + movies a year.  Their shop includes half a dozen 3D printers straight from military and aerospace manufacturers.  Rosengrant and Mahan singled out director James Cameron as the pinnacle of a strong director with his talent and vision and I wanted to ask what they thought of Michael Biehn...free shirts on the way out too boot, a really cool panel overall.

Finally I caught a few minutes of An Inside Look at Shout! Factory where sub-brands Kids and Scream Factory crew talked about the process of getting hired, procuring and restoring titles then outfitting them with special features.  Shout does a great job of asking fans what they want and reaching out to anyone involved with the production.  Two fans actually sent in prints of an obscure title when the company couldn't find a suitable copy for restoration and release.  I didn't realize they put out so many titles as last year saw 300 some releases up for grabs.  So far 2 of them have starred Dolph Lundgren so keep'em coming please.

San Diego Comic-Con 2014: Thursday w/ Turtles and Paramount

Hot Damme, Thursday, literally, it's hot out!  Welcome to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Thursday because it's TMNT all over the Con.  After walking the floor for a bit, I ducked into the Marriott's screening room to catch, you guessed it, 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  A classic comic book movie before there were comic book movies, TMNT still holds up with it's deft blend of action, laughs, brotherly love, production values and Henson assisted costumes and animatronic heads.  Back on the floor I scouted out Mondo's booth and picked up their selection of Batman: The Animated Series vinyls of Clayface, The Joker, Mr. Freeze and Harley Quinn.  NECA was sold out of exclusive Pacific Rim Jaegers but may have more tomorrow.  Remember yesterday when I told you I bet I could walk right into Hall H for Paramount's 3:00PM session?  Yeah, totally did.  Even stopped to get lunch and grabbed a decent seat near the first pillars.  After Hall H welcomed Benedict Cumberbatch for DreamWorks' latest animated romp then The Dude himself Jeff Bridges showed up to talk about The Giver.  Bridges' advice for young careers was to pull a Stallone and go out and make their Rocky since anybody with a cell phone is now a filmmaker. 

After a short intermission it was time for Paramount's panel.  The guide listed no information, just a look at their upcoming slate.  Ninja Turtles was up first as a quick clip showcasing the awesome franchise going from simple sketch to the comic book, cartoon, live action movie, toy and video game empire played before TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman took the stage to somewhat surprisingly muted applause.  I'm guessing the crowd is still on the fence about the new Turtles movie as it looks like they've been "Transformer-ized" or "Bayhem-ed" with a super slick, destruction heavy trailer which I didn't mind but their borderline grotesque design and CGI appearance hasn't whet my appetite.  The producers claim to have been longtime fans and one even produced a signed photo of Kevin from 21 years ago.  Eastman says the flick is fantastic and that the producers were intent on making the best TMNT movie possible from the start 3 years ago.  A clip introducing reporter April O'Neil and the turtles rolled which was surprisingly enjoyable with a nice mix of big action and humor, mostly coming from Michelangelo's wise cracking.  Actors Megan Fox and Will Arnett were brought out with the former being a fan since childhood and the latter just being an extremely funny guy.  Another clip played showcasing another big action scene involving snow, big rigs, hummers, rocket launchers and bulletproof shells.  The voices of the Turtles was a little hard to get used to as it's Johnny Knoxville as Leonardo, Anthony Shalhoub (PAIN & GAIN!) as Splinter with Mikey sounding like a little kid and Raphael coming off as RZA. 


Some other movie about time travel was previewed before audio from Hercules filled the room and boom, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson walked onto the floor and greeted the fans before taking the stage and welcoming himself back, WWE style.  Funny, huge and seemingly happy to be there, The Rock let us know he bought out 3 theaters and would Tweet the details to attending a free screening.  Clarke Duke came out with two lovely ladies on his arms to show us a trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine 2 which looks pretty Damme funny as they're sent to the future this time around.  Then a new trailer for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar played, this one interspersing snippets from former astronauts in with the film.  Our moderator introduced a first time Comic-Con attendee, Matthew McConaughey!  The Reign of Fire star and Oscar winner looked very ruggedly handsome while explaining that he got a call from his agent to meet Chris Nolan, went to his house for a 3 hour meeting where they discussed everything except working on a film together.  A week later a script showed up and Denton Van Zan was in.  Guess we can really call it the McCONaissance now huh?  McConaughey wanted to hear Hall H's legendary hollering before describing Nolan as an original, the director might have been inspired by a Stanley Kubrick movie but his interpretation would be wholly new.  Another Comic-Con first, director of Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy Christopher Nolan walked out looking as dapper as can be.  Without giving too much away, Nolan discussed his love for science-fiction and how in his youth, becoming an astronaut was the highest career someone could aim for.  Influenced by the likes of 2001, Star Wars and Blade Runner (his favorite film), Nolan talked about making things as real as possible for the actors in terms of sets and production and using IMAX to enhance the experience. 

Next on deck is a panel on the history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the form of a new documentary as well as Hero Complex's Comic-Con soiree and maybe a movie trivia contest.

Summer Cinema: Edge of Tomorrow

Is it just me or has this summer been a touch lackluster?  Captain America: The Winter Soldier kicked things off in April but the season has brought us The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Godzilla and then...I can't even remember.  I hadn't seen a new flick for a bit and Edge of Tomorrow was one that I had mixed feelings about but Tom Cruise usually isn't in bad or cheap flicks and it looked like it could be this year's Pacific Rim.  It wasn't a sequel or reboot but rather based on an obscure Manga from Japan by Hiroshi Sakurazaka I never read or have intention to.  I don't even know if it's even available in English.  Anyways, word of mouth was solid on the flick but it didn't set the domestic box office on fire in June but like Pacific Rim has been cleaning up overseas.  While it wasn't as fun an experience as Pac, Edge is definitely a big, well made, entertaining summer action sci-fi flick that should have done better in this climate of audiences allegedly tired of sequels and reboots yet shunning more original concepts then flocking to the latest Transformers flick.  Although Michael Bay and Marky Mark are the bomb.

Edge of Tomorrow is the story of media relations expert Bill Cage, a former ROTC member and ad agency guy until an alien war/invasion dried up all his business.  As Cage, Cruise is all smiles and smarmy charm in the opening minutes but is sent to the "supposed to be empty" front lines to help sell the invasion to the public.  In the future, troops wear suits of battle armor to enhance their strength and fire power.  Under trained and totally not prepared, Cage meets Bill Paxton's Sgt. Farrell and J Squad, a group of misfits assigned to protect the non soldier.  During the next day's attack, Cage kills an alien, dubbed mimics, but becomes caught in a time loop where he relives each day and must die to reset the clock.  Plastered all over the news and world is the face of Emily Blunt's Rita, a hero of a previous battle and dubbed The Angel of Verdun aka The Full Metal Bitch who carries around a giant sword to dispatch mimics.  Cage realizes Rita went through what he did but was thrown out of the time loop after not dying on a particular day.  Together they track down the origin of the alien menace and figure out a way to kill the the master which will wipe out the species.

Edge of Tomorrow is a big movie.  Big thrills, it's D-Day with aliens, drop ships, mech suits, creatures with big maws and swirling tendril limbs, excellent nice production value, lots of laughs and a dark sense of humor.  Given the time loop formula, Edge doesn't have an arc per se and gets episodic or vignette-ish with the learning to fight vignette, the getting to know Emily Blunt vignette and the how do we stop the aliens vignette so by the end I felt like the movie had stopped and started a little too much and I'd already gotten plenty of bang for my buck.  At just under 2 hours, the film feels a little long but not overlong.  Cruise looks great, he's aging but still handsome, charming and physical with great hair.  Bill "God" Paxton is terrific as Sgt. Farrell with his Kentucky accent, in your face but not obviously intimidating demeanor and reminds you a little bit of Apone from Aliens.  Blunt is her normal strong, stoic and attractive but not supposed to be bombshell self.  Go, The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith director Doug Liman does an excellent job of combining practical and artificial elements to give us a more or less fast paced, fresh and funny summer flick where we can forgive some of the loose ends and just enjoy the ride.

Summer Cinema: Godzilla

Godzilla.  What does that name mean to you?  For me, it brings back memories of catching parts of the various 28 cinematic chapters on TBS as a kid, guys in suits stomping on miniatures, early special f/x, his little kid Godzilla trying to blow blue fire breath and of course, the all famous Godzilla roar.  At the time of his release in Toho's 1954's Godzilla, the King of Monsters was seen as a metaphor for nuclear weapons like the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.  Since then, The Big Green has defended and terrorized the population of Japan fighting against and alongside the likes of Jet Jaguar, King Kong, Megalon and Mothra.  While Godzilla mean "gorilla" and "whale", his appearance and history has always come from the prehistoric age and mixes Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, alligator, etc.  In 1998, then kings of the special f/x driven disaster/sci-fi flick Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin brought Godzilla to America proper but the results were less than legendary.  Cut to 16 years later and Legendary Pictures has brought Godzilla back to America with a big budget, summer tent pole that will crush nearly $100 million opening weekend.

Following The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as 2014's latest action packed spectacle of the sequel/reboot/revamp variety, Godzilla employs another young director not accustomed to huge Hollywood budgets, Gareth Edwards.  Fresh from the success of his under $1-million dollar indie flick Monsters, Edwards does a great job making the leap to studio fare.  The film starts in Japan where engineer Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) has discovered a strange, earthquake like phenomenon occurring near a nuclear reactor.  Something beneath the surface awakens and the reactor is destroyed and the area turned into a quarantined zone.  Cut to 15 years later and Brody's now grown up son Ford (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) has to go bail pops out of prison because he's been lurking around the Q Zone for the last 15 years trying to figure out what happened.  We find out that the cause of the nuclear reactor destruction all those years ago was from the reawakening of a giant, mantis like creature dubbed Muto that has survived from the prehistoric era when the Earth was radioactive.  As the surface leveled out, Muto and others like him retreated to the depths of the sea to be closer to the Earth's radioactive core.  But the rise of manmade radioactive hot spots has drawn him to the surface.  Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) has been following these creatures for decades, one in particular, Godzilla.  Big Green arises from the ocean to hunt and take on Muto to give the world balance once again.

Edwards and writers David MacCallum and Max Borenstien approach new Godzilla with an old school touch like a disaster film where we follow a few protagonists on their journeys to safety and family reunion.  There's only a few human characters to keep track of so we don't have to delve too deeply into the backstory of a dozen characters a la The Towering Inferno or Independence Day.  But the approach sadly back fires to a degree as the characters are thinly sketched and not overly interesting or compelling, we don't root for them, we're not concerned with their safety, they're all just there to let us know what's going on.  Sure there's carnage, destruction and monster on monster crime galore but the film takes so long to build up to it that by the time it happens it's a little underwhelming.  The choice to delay Godzilla's appearance is a smart one but once he shows up to take care of business, the film cuts away to some human issue right before a monster mash is about to go down and that happens several times.  Don't get me wrong, there's some great stuff in the film from the Incredible Hulk like opening of news clippings and footage of nuclear tests and the rise of the mysterious beasts and cover ups, Godzilla's amazing appearance and movement, fluid action scenes, iconic shots of the monster, a flaming French kiss, nods to the original series, a nice pace, a trim 2 hour runtime and a penchant for actual sets and props VS total CGI environments. There's a familiar, low-watt, movie star free but capable cast involved who all do fine jobs no matter how brief their appearance.  In the end, it's not that Godzilla is boring or ponderous, it's just not very exciting, sadly.  And it's no Pacific Rim.  Elbow Rocket!

We saw the flick in 3D at The Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on their fake IMAX screen.  There's a great statue in the courtyard of the big beast as well as posters in the lobby etc.  If you haven't been to the Chinese IMAX, it's quite a nice place, beautifully decorated and of course a huge screen and giant speakers.  I can't say I noticed too much 3D difference but then I usually never do because it's a sham.  Just have stuff hurtling at the audience already so we know we're getting our money's worth!  I can't be totally immersed in the movie when I can see the edges of the screen and the tops of everybody's heads.

Vernal Viewing: Sabotage

I've been looking forward to Sabotage for quite some time.  Writer/Director David Ayer has had a hand in some great flicks from Training Day to fucking classic Harsh Times to enjoyable cop thriller Street Kings to the surprisingly solid End of Watch.  He takes a reality based approach to the seemingly tired genres of cops and soldiers but delves into the nitty gritty of the highly trained, under cover agents that operate in the shadows of society's shitholes.  So when I heard Ayer was doing a movie with Arnold, I knew it would be something different that wouldn't try to recapture The King of Kings' former glory and would move him into a new direction. 

Sabotage follows John "Breacher" Warden (Ah-nuld), a living legend in the DEA's under cover unit who has taken down a top cartel leader but lost his family in a retaliatory kidnapping and double murder.  Now, Breacher is obsessed with taking down the bad guys and finding the man who killed his wife and son.  The movie starts with his team taking down a safe house with $200 million in cash sitting in the basement.  Breacher's team hides $10 million and blows up the rest but when they go to retrieve it, the money is gone and soon they are all under investigation by the DEA.  After being cleared of the charges, Breacher's team begins getting killed off one by one in extremely gruesome manners, attracting local Homicide detectives.  After that, it's a slow burn mystery thriller with bits of debauchery and tactical military style action placed throughout.

Hands down, this has to be Arnold's darkest, craziest, bloodiest, funniest, macho-ist, raunchiest, filthiest, bro-down of his career.  His turn as Breacher is more realistic than anything he's done in years, maybe ever.  As a highly trained, motivated leader and operator; Arnold's trademark physicality, sense of humor (an interrogation scene and a remark about 48% body fat had us laughing for 5 minutes) and penchant for cigars makes him badass with a touch of menace instead of a cartoon character.  The supporting cast is superb as well as you get a nearly unrecognizable Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Arnold's 2nd in command Monster, TV star and all of a sudden Arnold BFF Joe Manganiello's Grinder shows off his impressive size and gets one of the best/worst lines in the movie, Josh Holloway from TV's bullshit Lost puts in a funny/wise ass performance as Neck, Pacific Rim's Max Martini shows up as trouble maker Pyro, Terrence Howard plays smooth devil's advocate Sugar, World War Z's Mireille Enos convincingly plays an action and controlled substance junkie while real life military advisor Kevin Vance gives some honest credibility as Tripod.

Co-written by Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard), Sabotage plays like an amplified version of Ayer's directorial debut, Harsh Times, where Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez basically drive around Los Angeles drinking and getting into trouble.  That "up to no good" vibe is cranked up here and every character is raw, every other word of dialog is "fuck" and there's booze, tits and guns galore.  Once Breacher's team starts getting killed off, the mystery is well done but when everything is revealed and we head into the final act, the movie can't top itself and seems to shift down gears.  Parts of the flick confused me, such as the inciting incident where Breacher's team steals the money then blows up the rest.  His superiors have a rough idea of how much was there from a parallel FBI investigation but if some of it burned up, how would they know what was missing?  And is the cartel upset that they blew up the money or that they might have stolen some?  Or both?


Sabotage comes on the heels of Arnold's comeback starring vehicle The Last Stand bombing at the box office then his team up with Stallone, Escape Plan, which did peanuts in America but cleaned up overseas.  Opening up this past weekend in a crowded market against Darren Aronofsky's Russell Crowe starrer Noah, defending YA champ Divergent and faith based God's Not Dead, Sabotage opened at # 7 with a pitiful $5.3 million take.  That makes it Arnold's worst opening since the early 80's behind titles like Raw Deal and Red Sonja.  Open Road Films, a relatively new distributer owned by AMC, has had trouble marketing their films in the past as The Killer Elite, The Grey and Sabotage are not your typical slam-bang action picture but instead are actually dramatic thrillers with action.  Props to them for trying to sell the movie on Ayer's past credits and the supporting cast but it just wasn't enough.  Arnold seemed to be everywhere to promote the film and while his internet videos rack up millions of views, that exposure isn't driving patrons to the theater, sadly.  A friend didn't want to see the movie after hearing it tanked but I told him to stop being a mainstream sheep of the masses.  He ended up joining us and having a blast while learning new life skills.

Listen all y'all its a Slap da Chop!

End of Watch(ing): 2013

Another year, another 80 movies in a theater.  First run, revival, special events, anniversaries, midnights and outdoor screenings add up in the city of lights and angels.  Looking back, I got to see some of my favorite movies of all time on the big screen like The Great Escape (2nd time), The Terminator (3rd time), Robocop (2nd time) and Escape From New York (3rd time) as well as see some of my favorite actors in person like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kurt Russell and Peter Weller.

On the new movie front, three flicks hit cinemas that became instant favorites:

Pain & Gain

Hands down my favorite movie of the year.  Why?  Because it's a movie about DOING.  Not talking about it, being about it!  Just because it's about the dark side of the human condition doesn't take away from the fact that P&G was the most hilarious and fucked up good time I had in a theater.  Of course I'm partial to the flick as well due to it's 90's bodybuilding backdrop which I find hysterical.  Mark Wahlberg is great as the determined, positive, yoked out, manipulative and demented ring leader following a three finger plan to rid the world of a douche bag while getting rich in the process.  Dwayne Johnson's freakish physique and boyish charm are put to good use as the dim witted weak link of the group and Wings' Tony Shalhoub is fantastic as the self made, total asshole, non-salad eating mark.  Michael Bay brings his usual vibrant, over the top and kinetic style to a low budget classic that shows he knows what he's doing even if people try to give him crap about it.

Pacific Rim

The most fun I had at the movies this summer.  Maybe it was the low expectations, maybe it was the horrid trailers, maybe it was the new yet familiar concept of Transformers fighting Godzilla but I was not looking forward to it.  Imagine my surprise when I found myself grinning ear to ear from the very start.  The soundtrack is catchy and rocking while the giant robot destruction was near heart stopping and exciting.  Rim almost spoils you for other movies because it makes you feel and yearn for a higher purpose.  We all go to movies to be entertained and sometimes educated but Rim is truly cinematic magic as it makes reality seem oh so boring compared to the world created.  Guillermo Del Toro brings out your inner 12 year old while making your 31 year old self wish he had a higher calling as singular and important as defending the world from massive, angry alien invaders.

The Last Stand

Arnold's would be comeback vehicle might not have set the box office on fire but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's an age appropriate and rollicking fun time showing the King still has the goods.  A modern western realized by easterner Kim Jee-Woon, Stand is a violent and quirky thriller that pits Arnie's small town rag-tag Sheriff's Department against the merciless army of an escaped cartel leader.  For me, Stand ranks among The Oak's best flicks, especially trumping anything he's done since True Lies in 1994.

Other flicks I enjoyed or at least made me pay attention:

Star Trek Into Darkness
Ender's Game
World War Z
Thor:  The Dark World
Only God Forgives
Rush
Don Jon
Prisoners
2 Guns

I haven't gotten around to seeing most of the award fodder yet, that's what January is for.

Hologram Fist! Pacific Rim Tuesday

Oh yeah, my Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD copy of Pacific Rim showed up today via Amazon.  If you'll recall, Pacific Rim was my favorite film of July, the summer and so far is sitting comfortably at # 2 on my Best of the Year list behind Pain & Gain.

The loaded disk (featurettes, commentary, Director's notebook) comes complete with snazzy hologram cover featuring Jaeger Gipsy Danger and Kaiju Scunner, a Category IV monster with four arms and heavy bio armor used for battering the shit out of stuff.  Rim was one of those casualties of the summer where poor tracking, no movie stars, an original concept and a known if not household director all combined to make an extremely entertaining film that got lost in the summer shuffle of sequels, reboots and adaptations.

All together now:  Oooooooooooooh!

 

I'm sure this is on the disk:

Summer Cinema Shootout: July

July tends to be a busy month between my birthday and Comic-Con.  After a certain point you tend to want to stop caring but I have great friends who won't let me and end up celebrating it several times at and outside of work via sweets, treats, company wide parties, meat filled dinners and a screening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for good measure.

The last movie I remember opening on my birthday was 2002's Reign of Fire, the man VS dragon epic set in a charred earth future.  This year gave me Pacific Rim, Grown Ups 2, The Hunt (Mads Mikkelsen alert!) and Pawn Shop Chronicles (Thomas Jane alarm!).  While I didn't manage to see three of those, I did get out for a few more for the month:

Pacific Rim:  The most fun I had at the movies all summer.  Makes me wish I had more purpose in life like piloting a giant robot to defend earth from alien invaders instead of being subjected to the fear mongering media, sell out government and desensitized yet touchy masses.  The best example of the magic of movies I've seen in a long time.

Red 2:  Ridiculous, white washed, older person fun just like the first only a bit more over the top.  Like it's predecessor suffers from real lulls but packs some laughs and action with a great cast. 

Only God Forgives:  The most bizarre and most interesting film of the summer, maybe my year.  Shocked at how it progressed but not upset by it.  Truly surprised Ryan Gosling took a beating like that and didn't get even.  Real guts from the filmmakers to not give the audience what they expected.

The Wolverine:  Miles ahead of X-Men Origins, that infuriating piece of expensive, talent filled shit.  No army of annoying mutant cameos and would be franchise launchers here.  Down and dirty, surprised Fox let them get away with such a serious, existential chapter dealing with loss, love (albeit a little forced, the Jean Grey romance is a tad stretched) and the ol' conundrum of living forever.  Whoa, I feel like I'm in Highlander...

July Winner:  Pacific Rim by Elbow Rocket! and pure cinema magical goodness.

Elbow Rocket! All Heart

Welp, see ya later weekend, back to the world we go.  It's Monday so most of us are back to the grind, thinking about all we have to accomplish for the week while looking ahead to the next bastion of weekend freedom.  It's not so bad right?  No Garfields reading this right?  Things are what you make of them so make them great.  It sure beats making them self inflicted shitty.  Remember to get some rest, plan out your week in regards to work, exercise and social activities and when you get to the job, get something small done right away so you're off and running.  So settle in, make that "to do" list and remember:

"The best things for your health are pumping and humping."

    - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Or punch an invading alien monster full in the face using rocket technology.  Let's do it, Monday!

Track Star: Pacific Rim

I had very little interest in seeing Pacific Rim.  The concept seemed like a mix of Transformers and Godzilla, Guillermo Del Toro is a talented and funny guy but his films don't match his fanboy worship, the trailers looked BAD with their mix of physical and computer created elements and quasi painful dialog.  Maybe it was those low expectations, not knowing what the movie was really about mixed with the fact it was incredibly well made, funny, exciting and original that made Pacific Rim my favorite film of the summer.  It was just the most fun I had and I left the theater in a great mood.  The soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi is fantastic from the very start and primes you for a wonderful 2 hours.  Even if it features a loud mouth douche on guitar but give credit where it's due.