Damme Words: The Untold, In-Depth, Outrageously True Story of Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment

About ten years ago I was going through Peter Weller's filmography and came across underrated classic Shakedown. Co-starring Sam Elliott, the New York set thriller follows a lawyer and his high school buddy turned cop as they fight crooked police officers and powerful drug dealers. Writer-director James Glickenhaus and company created an atmospheric, entertaining and exciting 97 minutes that has infinite rewatchability. Shot on the grimy streets of NYC and boasting impressively practical stunts, the film oozes authenticity. Press and interviews on Glickenhaus always seemed a little light, he was from a well off family and liked expensive cars, made a series of flicks like The Exterminator, The Soldier with Ken Wahl, The Protector with Jackie Chan and McBain with Christopher Walken among others before seemingly retiring from the film business.

Thanks to action movie aficionado david j. moore, I discovered an entire treasure trove devoted to Glickenhaus, his business partner Alan Shapiro and their adventures in the film business during the go-go, foreign sales, film market, VHS, genre fueled 80's and 90's. Marco Siedelmann, Nadia Bruce-Rawlings and Stephen A. Roberts pull together the people who made it happen and lived through the era to provide a time capsule and first hand account of a revolutionary time. Through a series of interviews long and short (where did Joseph Zito have to run to?) along with photos of posters, actors, parties and legal documents, we're taken back to the time when you could make a movie for a certain price as long as the poster looked good. You hear from producers, lawyers, assistants, financiers (lending is better than investing) and actors who mainly reminisce about the familial feeling and overall fun the company had. Long hours were a no brainer but staff were provided gym memberships to keep in shape and pulled in to help out wherever necessary.

I didn't realize Shapiro-Glickenhaus touched so many films whether by financing, distributing or producing. The team rented a space above Hollywood Boulevard to watch people line up for Dolph Lundgren's big budget Red Scorpion but instead saw everyone going to Pet Cemetery instead. While not a box office smash, the film's initial VHS orders topped 100,000 copies at $50-$60 a pop! Smaller fare like Maniac Cop and Frankenhooker would live on as action and horror were the fare everyone in the states and around the world wanted to buy. There's a funny story about how a certain film had to have at least one boob, not even a pair, every 7 minutes. With the exploding VHS market and global demand for product, Shapiro-Glickenhaus became a key player at The American Film Market and Cannes, always throwing big and attention grabbing parties. If a film needed a name to attract more buyers, someone like Danny Aiello would show up for a day and collect 50 grand.

There's detours to the 90's direct to video golden age with interviews from the likes of Jalal Merhi and Cynthia Rothrock, making movies to take advantage of Canadian tax breaks and the like. Merhi recounts a screening where everyone started to leave early, not because they didn't like it but because they wanted to buy the rights immediately. As for Shakedown, it's painted as the company's shot at the big time as Universal had come in to distribute. Needing a product to release by a specific date, the $10 million film was semi-rushed but was a big success for the company. Surprisingly, Sam Elliott gets a couple of mentions for being not the nicest guy around.

The book is full of photos but with no captions there isn't a lot of context. You kind of glean what you need to from the following interview. Since the book is purely interviews, topics come and go and I wish there was a little more focus on each title than we're provided. But for anyone who grew up on 80's and 90's action or horror flicks, is a fan of Cannon, Carolco or Nu-Image, this book is for you.

Cinematic Roundup: Dolemite, Robocop, The Terminator, The Rock, Raiders & More!

There are a lot of great frigging movies playing in Los Angeles this week. And I'm not talking about new releases The Boss, Hardcore Henry or Demolition. I'm talking repertory screenings across town, retrospectives and one killer triple feature. Starting last week, UCLA has been honoring prolific producer Jerry Bruckheimer with a month-long film festival, The Heat Is On, with screenings of Top Gun, Enemy of the State and Pirates of the Caribbean. This Saturday you can catch testosterone fueled 90's classics from Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay with The Rock and Armageddon. The Rock was one of my favorite movies growing up but I've never seen it on the big screen. Sean Connery, Nic Cage, Ed Harris and Michael Biehn all shine in the violent roller coaster ride that was a hit in '96. A supposed sequel featuring Cage's bio-chemist turned man of action was announced but never produced.

Over in West Hollywood, you can catch cinematic O.G. Harrison Ford in his prime at The New Beverly for Raiders of the Lost Ark, playing Friday and Saturday night along with a Saturday matinee. Matinees at The New Bev are fun, they're only $6.00 and you get a free popcorn! Dick Tracy is playing later in April as well so I'll be sure to check that out. In Hollywood proper, our friends at The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre and Cinematic Void are premiering a new 2K restoration of grindhouse classic Dolemite! Packed with 70's kung-fu, open collars, music and rhymes, stay tuned after the film as cast and crew are scheduled for Q&A. Saturday night at The Egyptian, prepare for a killer 80's triple feature of tech-noir classics Robocop, The Terminator and R.O.T.O.R.?! Robo and Term are two of my favorite flicks of all time, making me life long fans of Peter Weller, Paul Verhoeven, James Cameron and Michael Biehn among others in two fell swoops.

I've seen Robocop twice on the big screen, both with Weller attending now that I think of it...and Terminator at least 6 times with the likes of Cameron and producer Gale Ann Hurd on hand but sadly never with the real stars, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. And yes, you're reading this right. You can see The Rock and The Terminator on the big screen this Saturday which means Michael Biehn on the big screen twice in one day! Throw in Aliens at the Ace Hotel later this month for LV-426/Alien Day and that equals a triple dose of The Biehn in 30 days! If only someone would screen Predator to give Los Angeles a near comprehensive 80's sci-fi/action buffet...

Batman Prep: The Dark Knight Returns Animated

After much internet smack talk and fanboy outrage, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is nearly here. Hoping to rake in some of that connected universe moolah Marvel is sitting on, Justice introduces Ben Affleck as an older, semi-retired Batman who battles then teams up with Superman and Wonder Woman against alien bruiser Doomsday and Lex Luthor. While Affleck seems like a cool guy, my vote for a post Christian Bale Batman still goes to Josh Brolin. The film looks polished and serious and hopefully director Zach Snyder can tell a story as strong as the visuals. To prep, we randomly watched some Batman animated movies as DC continues to excel on the small screen. Starting off with 2012's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, based on Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's seminal mini-series from 1986 that finds Gotham City Batman-less for a decade, being overrun by a vicious gang dubbed Mutants and sees a 55 year old Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to mete out some bloody justice. In this alternate universe tale, a young woman named Carrie Kelley becomes the new Robin and you get Joker, Harvey Dent, Superman and Ronald Reagan in the mix.

The animated films follow the still yoked Bruce Wayne as he tries to help rehabilitate Two-Face Harvey Dent to no avail and becoming increasingly bothered by the state that Gotham is in. Commissioner Jim Gordon is on the verge of retirement and the Mutants are killing innocents left and right. Donning the cowl and cape, Wayne once again hits the streets in these action packed 70 some minute chapters. The action and fights are really well done with hand to hand combat scenes packing more punch, pain and cringe worthy moments than most live action stuff. It was reminiscent of the fantastic animated scrpas from Street Fighter: The Animated Movie but not quite as good. Robocop's Peter Weller voices Wayne and Batman with his usual gusto even if there's no differentiation between the two characters. After Batman defeats the Mutants' leader via well placed cuts above the eye and broken limbs, the gang disperses and become The Sons of Batman, using their violent tactics on criminals instead of innocents.

Batman's resumed war on crime results in the resurrection of his greatest foe, The Joker, who's been catatonic since the dark knight retired. Ending up on a talk show to try and make amends, Joker kills everyone with poison gas and slashes animated Conan O'Brien's throat with a shattered coffee mug. Brutal stuff you're just not used to seeing in a cartoon. All of this catches the attention of the president who enlists Superman to take care of the job. This leads up to a showdown between the two former friends where Bats uses a metal suit, smarts, technology and a synthetic krypotnite arrow shot by Oliver Queen to take the big boy scout down. Seemingly dying of a heart attack, Bruce Wayne's identity and exploits as Batman are revealed to the public, Wayne Manner burns down, trusted confidant and butler Alfred dies of a stroke and the family fortune disappears. But beneath the family abode, down in the caverns and Bat-Cave, a still alive Wayne has amassed an army that includes Robin, Queen and the former Mutants that he will train to fight and take back the city.


While current animation is computer driving and makes for some slick visuals, the animated films do a good job of distilling the look and feel of the comics with solid design and great action. Including making every male in good shape while all the women, like Lana Lang and Selina Kyle, into fat old hags. Maybe Miller doesn't like women? As a 90's kid you expect Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to be present as Batman and the Joker but Peter Weller and Michael Emerson fill in just fine and bring their own pastiche to the roles. With reported budgets of $3.5 million each yet still delivering entertaining, enjoyable and violent adaptations, let's see what Snyder and company do with a couple hundred million bucks.

Premiere! Skin Trade

It's been an interesting journey going from the guy sitting in the audience to the one helping put things together and standing up front with a microphone. Last night's premiere of Skin Trade was an educational experience as I watched how studios and PR firms handle their business. The courtyard to The Egyptian Theatre was set up with a red carpet and lights with security checking people in at Hollywood Boulevard. #ActionMovieBros David J. Moore from World Gone Wild and The Action Elite's Eoin Friel were there while news outlets like Nerd Reactor, Variety, The Arnold Fans and Starburst magazine had their spots on the red carpet. I ran into co-producer Craig Baumgarten who was on his way to Asia shortly after the premiere. Bloodsport co-writer and Double Impact director Sheldon Lettich was one of my guests for the night and in some near perfect timing, it had been a year and a day since the inaugural Dammaged Goods Presents event, The Van Damme Triple Dip at The New Beverly Cinema. Speaking of Van Damme, Pound of Flesh director Ernie Barbarash was in attendance and walked the red carpet.

A pack of papparazzi was stationed on the Walk of Fame and one by one, our guests for the evening started to arrive. Ron Perlman. Tony Jaa. Director Ekachai Uekrongtham. Celina Jade. Dolph Lundgren. They were joined by the likes of Chuck Zito, Victor Ortiz and Chin Han. An invitation to one Jean-Claude Van Damme was extended but I was told he was too busy with his own impending premiere the next evening. Earlier in the day it was said that Jason Statham planned on attending and we were hoping Michael Jai-White and Peter Weller would swing by if they were in town. It looked like Statham was a no show while Mr. White had just hopped on a plane to London and Mr. Weller must have been predisposed. Apparently Mr. Statham had already snuck into the theater and lo and behold when I went to the waiting area to do the night's introduction, there he was. After a quick hello and shake of hands, where I forgot to invite him to do a movie night, we waited as the cast filed in from outside.

Then it was showtime and after a quick introduction and mic handoff to Dolph, the co-producer, writer and star of the film talked about the origins of the film coming from real world events, having met Tony Jaa a couple of years ago on a Thai comedy, getting the cast, securing financing and then enlisting director Uekrongtham. Dolph got a little more serious in talking about the horrors of real world human trafficking where mostly young women are drugged, beat and raped then put to work. While it seemed like a third world problem, Dolph cited an example of it in nearby Brentwood where a woman was brought to the country and put to work as a nanny. After slipping a note to a fellow nanny and praying for help, a week later a dozen FBI agents arrived and pulled her out. Thanks to C.A.S.T., the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, the young woman was put into a shelter, found new work and eventually married and had a child. That young lady was also in attendance. A special auction to attend the premiere, meet the cast and work out with Dolph netted a whopping $40,000.00 bid the last time I checked. Attending co-stars Jaa, Jade and Perlman joined Dolph up front and then it was movie time.

Skin Trade is the tale of two cops, New Jersey based Nick Cassidy (Lundgren) and Thailand's Tony (Jaa). They're both working cases involving human trafficking and after Cassidy kills the son of drug dealer and trafficker Viktor (Ron Perlman), the Russian boss' remaining sons send a rocket into Nick's suburban house window, killing his wife and daughter. With nothing to lose and vengeance on his mind, Nick shows up in Thailand and tracks Viktor down with extreme interrogation methods including shotgun blasts, mangled joints, front kicks and letter openers to the throat. The two cops face off before realizing they're on the same side and they head into a gunfire and explosion filled confrontation with Viktor and his thugs. The script by Lundgren, Gabriel Dowrick and Steven Elder is pretty straightforward but the attention paid to trafficking is rightly sad and unsettling. Uekrongtham lingers a little long on the bad stuff to set up the world but the picture is extremely crisp, the locale used to great effect and action pretty Damme good.

Michael Jai-White shows up as task force member who gets to show off his meaty physique barely contained by a three piece suit and gets a nice fight with Jaa where he goes full Super-Shredder as he punches, kicks and breaks anything in his way. It's pretty impressive to see a man of his size move so fluidly and performing jump, spinning multiple kicks. Jaa of course whups all kinds of ass from his first scene involving a belt and a balcony and his fights with White and Lundgren are excellently staged. His bout with Lundgren showcases both of their styles, Jaa being smaller and faster, flipping, jumping and kicking 20 feet into the air while Lundgren gets to do a trademark step in side kick, show off some brute strength and his classic rough and tumble karate. The fight scenes were shot pretty wide so you could actually see what was going on and with each star being a lifelong martial artist in his own disciplines, showcased each of their styles. There's an old school harshness to action scenes with Dolph blasting a room full of thugs apart with a shotgun or bludgeoning another with the butt of an AK-47.

The cast is filled with familiar faces from the action genre as Peter Weller (Robocop) and Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa (Mortal Kombat) have a few scenes with Lundgren, Jaa, White and Perlman. The ending sets up a sequel so hopefully Skin Trade has been killing it on VOD and will find more success on Blu-Ray. Overall a solid flick elevated by the cast and a handful of stand out action and fight sequences. Following the flick we hopped over to Sadie's across the street for the after party for a few small bites, thank yous and hand shakes before calling it a night. Great times but gotta do it all again tonight, only this time I won't be directing traffic, I'll be part of it.

Many thanks to Magnolia, Magnet, The Egyptian Theatre, Dolph and Craig's teams and everyone who attended. We'll see you on the next one.

Pre(miere): Skin Trade w/ Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa

May 4th is dubbed Star Wars Day because, May the Force be with you, get it? This year, the week of May 4th brings us new movies from the likes of Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger! Yours truly is working with Magnolia Pictures and The Egyptian Theatre for the Los Angeles premiere of Skin Trade. Written, produced and starring Dolph Lundgren, Skin Trade takes real world topic human trafficking and turns it into a dramatic action movie. The supporting cast is immense with Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman showing up as well. If you're paying attention, that's He-Man and The Punisher, Ong-Bak, Spawn and Black Dynamite, Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop and then Hellboy all in one 96 minute flick.

Lundgren began working on the script for Skin Trade years ago after hearing a story about Mexican immigrants who died after being left in a van somewhere along the border. The flick is now the story of a NYC cop who hunts a vicious gangster to Thailand and teams up with a local detective to destroy human trafficking syndicates. Tony Jaa plays the Thai detective while Jai White shows up as a mysterious suit clad type who can fight, Weller as some kind of federal agent boss and Perlman as the gangster. Shooting in Thailand last year under director Ekachai Uekrongtham, the action flick boasts explosions, helicopters, martial arts and car chase mayhem galore. Skin Trade hit The American Film Market and it was quickly announced that Magnolia had purchased North American rights.

The film received an extravagant release in Jaa's native Thailand and Dolph just showed the movie in Australia while there for repertory screenings of Universal Soldier and Rocky IV along with appearing at a couple of conventions. Magnolia is running the show on this one with a media day in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, 5.5 before the premiere on Wednesday where more media and the red carpet await. Reviews have been positive thus far with the simple yet engaging story backed by some big action pieces and fights. Like many of Magnolia's acquisitions, Skin Trade became available on VOD and iTunes preceding a small theatrical release. After it's Hollywood premiere, Skin Trade will play at the Sundance Cinemas on Sunset the same weekend as Arnold's limited release zombie drama, Maggie.

A small number of general admission seats are available for the Skin Trade premiere so head over to Fandango to pick them up and see it on the big screen the way it was meant to be experienced. Dolph and Tony are expected to attend, hopefully with co-stars Peter Weller and Michael Jai White stopping by if they're in town. See you there!

Dolph Days: Keeping Up

"Like none of this shit ever happened? It happened! And it doesn't just go away. 

You just can't walk away, do you hear me?! 

Do you hear me? (holds up necklace made of human ears)"

That's our boy Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Andrew Scott in the 1992 classic action karate flick from Carolco, Universal Soldier. If you'll recall, Dolph Night at the Egyptian screened two of Mr. Lundgren's most well known works, Unisol and Rocky IV. Come April and Dolph is hitting Australia for a double feature tour featuring the same line up. Fans in Sydney, Melbourne and on the Gold Coast can meet the big Swede and see him on the bigger screen on his week long tour that also includes appearances at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo alongside other genre favorite actors, artists and writers.

For the stateside fans, Dolph popped up on Comedy Central's 90's loving Workaholics as himself looking oh so suave in a blazer, deep v-neck shirt and white pants. Dolph appeared throughout the episode in the forms of a life size standup doing karate and various photos in an obsessed fans computer slideshow. A burning question about Showdown in Little Tokyo ended the episode which also included references to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Unisol. TV viewers may also catch the Iron Man in a new Fox event series based on film series for older cinematic tough guys The Expendables. Details are scarce at the moment besides star Sylvester Stallone producing and hoping to reel in some TV icons of action. I'm not sure why they don't just use Dolph, Terry Crews and Randy Couture's characters as a base then add a guest star or five each episode.

On the film front, a new trailer and a poster for Dolph's passion project Skin Trade hit the web recently showcasing an awesome cast that includes Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman. So that's He-Man, Ong-Bak, Spawn, Robocop and Hellboy all in the same 90 minutes! Inspired by real life human trafficking, Skin follows Dolph's detective as he interferes with a gangster's business then teams up with a Thai cop to exact bloody, high kicking, explosive and bullet riddled revenge. The trailer looks solid with lots of practical stunts, martial arts and a terrific cast. Magnolia releases the film on VOD in late April followed by a theatrical release Friday, May 8th. Horror flick Shark Lake just finished shooting, World War II men on a mission flick with Luke Goss and Mickey Rourke War Pigs is in post-production and a small role in action thriller 4GOT10 alongside Michael Pare, Johnny Messner and Danny Trejo recently wrapped.

If that still weren't enough, Dolph was interviewed for the upcoming The Art of Masters of the Universe coffee table book from Dark Horse hitting shelves on April 15th that will take a deep look at the phenomenon of cartoons, comic books, toys and the live action movie.

What the Chuck?! Hero and the Terror

Did you miss it? I sure did. Tuesday, March 10th was the 75th birthday of one Carlos Ray aka Chuck Norris! The Air Force veteran turned martial arts expert and champion turned movie and TV star turned internet sensation spends his days living in rural Texas, working out on his Total Gym and speaking at conservative events. We know and love him for his awesome 70's and 80's action flicks so let's dive into 1988's Hero and the Terror. This puts us on the tail end of his go-go years with Cannon Films following hits like Missing In Action, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force.

Hero is a weird one, more of a thriller than an action flick as we meet Danny O'Brien (Norris) as he's tracked down the man-brute-child Simon Moon aka The Terror (Jack O'Halloran) and fighting for his life under a pier. Moon nearly chokes and drowns O'Brien to death but trips and dazes himself, which makes arriving back up think The Chuck managed to put the big man down. Thus becoming a hero and a trauma survivor at the same time. Cut to three years later, O'Brien is slowly getting his confidence back and moving in with his pregnant lady Kay (Brynn Thayer). There's an awesomely ludicrous workout scene where Chuck is bench pressing while having flashbacks of Moon's hands wrapped around his throat, intense! American Ninja's Steve James shows up as one of his cop buddies and with another friend scream at O'Brien to complete his reps and joke he's prepping for the Olympics. I should mention that Norris is really pumped up in this one with a smooth hairless chest and a 80's style spaghetti strapped tank top. Competing with Stallone and Arnold perhaps? He rocks sweet sweaters and blazers while tooling around in his Corvette.

Thought dead for the last three years, Moon returns, killing women with his bare hands. His once abandoned lair has been remodeled and scheduled to open as The Wiltern Theatre. Hiding in unmapped cubbies, Moon eludes O'Brien and the police until they figure out there's more to the joint than thought. Alone, O'Brien finds the secret compartment Moon has been bringing his victims back to and faces off against The Terror one last time. Like I said, this was kind of a weird one but very watchable, Chuck doesn't have a ton of fight scenes, just one against some thugs on a bust and the final confrontation with Moon. His usual odd charm and humor is put on display in his scenes with Kay and one where he burns toast, etc. It was nice to see Steve James pop up for a few scenes even if he spoke with a kind of strange nasally, hero voice in this. There's one scene where James is on a stakeout in the theater and decides to get a work out in by running laps listening to Mozart!

After making his name in martial arts and action fare to big box office but few critical accolades, Norris hit both with 1985's Code of Silence. Follow ups Invasion U.S.A., The Delta Force, Firewalker and Missing in Action III would see diminishing returns and be viewed as less challenging and more exploitative fare. Hero and the Terror, based on the novel by Michael Blodgett, adapted by Dennis Shryack and directed by William Tannen was an attempt to broaden Norris' range. His character isn't the silent badass, he's got fears and even sees a therapist. Throw in the pregnant ladyfriend and some delivery room humor and you've got yourself a character similar to but also very departed from Lone Wolf McQuade, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force where it was more about revenge or taking down scumbags cold, hard and fast. After so many years of that, it was time to be strong yet vulnerable. While the flick is easily a Saturday afternoon repeater, it did little to broaden Norris' fanbase. Opening on August 26th, 1988, Hero and the Terror grossed an anemic $1.8 million for the weekend coming in 12th place behind long released fare like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Die Hard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Young Guns and Coming to America on it's way to a $5.3 million total.

Hero and the Terror's weak performance was Norris' worst showing in years. A proposed team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Cowboy and The Cossack was planned but never materialized. A Delta Force sequel would do little to turn the tide and 1991's The Hitman would fare even worse. Norris himself deemed the picture OK and not one of his favorites. Director William Tannen would reteam with Norris nearly 20 years later on entertaining DTV flick The Cutter. Novelist Michael Blodgett would have more success on the cop-canine comedy Turner & Hooch the next year before passing away in 2007. Screenwriter Dennis Shryack had previously written Clint Eastwood vehicles The Gauntlet and Pale Rider as well as Norris' Code of Silence (originally meant for Clint) and would go on to co-write Turner & Hooch and the Peter Weller actioner Fifty/Fifty.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Norris, keep pumping!

2014 Cinema Round Up

Movies cost more to make and attend than ever.  Each of the six major studios crossed the billion dollar gross line but attendance slid to 1.2 billion admissions.  That's just above 1995 numbers.  3D upcharges, reboots, remakes, sequels, everything being based on something else, the so called rise of television, video games, no one will ever know what will please audiences.  Luckily I just like movies and saw dozens of them in the theater this year.  New ones, old ones, good ones, shitty ones, seeing a movie in the theater is still the best way to experience a film in my opinion as you have nothing to do but watch the movie.  Unless you're an asshole on a phone then I'm giving you to the count of 0.  Sometimes dealing with rude patrons is enough to make you not want to check out the cinema but being in Los Angeles where movies are such a key to the infrastructure, you tend to be able to get through most flicks without telling someone to go outside and seeing if their response is going to be compliance or getting into it.  I'm fine with either one.

In no order, some of the flicks I enjoyed this year:

Sabotage: "Look at you with your fucking 48% body fat!"
Arnold in a mature, raw, ridiculous action thriller.  David Ayer's street, bro-down style makes little sense but I loved it and told Sam Worthington so in person.

Snowpiercer: "I know what people taste like. I know that babies taste best." 
Crazy, sad, visual, violent, funny. Oh them Koreans and their post apocalyptic, 99% VS the 1% on a train tales. 

Frank: "Ginger crouton!"
Not so much a movie but more a sad/funny/weird experience about fitting in and mental health.  Michael Fassbender wearing a paper mache helmet for 95% of the running time shows you what kind of actor he is.

Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier: "It's real!"
Marvel again knocks it out of the park, giving audiences fun times without really challenging the genre and treating movies like television.

The Lego Movie: "Spaceship!"
One of the few kiddie movies I saw this year but uber cute, funny with a killer cast and interesting core message of everything being awesome.

Interstellar: "You don't believe we went to the moon?"
Something to be experienced and felt, in your heart from the emotions and your chest from the big ass sound system.  It's not a documentary so don't analyze it as such.  Otherwise I can punch holes in Guardians all day but since people had fun with it they don't think to nitpick it.

The Expendables 3: "I'll open up your meat shirt and show you your own heart."
Saw this thing 3 times in as many days.  Modern, sleek and entertaining it's less serious than I and not as weird goofy as II.  Gave up hope on a "good" Expendables movie after the first one and just went for the ride.  Wondering how it's failure will effect a potential fourth chapter.

Nightcrawler: "You're a lifetime too late!" and "Twerp."
One of the surprises of the year, funny, creepy and messed up Los Angeles movie about shock media and journalism.  Jake G is slowly turning me into a fan. Bill Paxton showing up always a plus.

Birdman: "I'm gonna crab up on your ass and choke you out!"
Beautiful, bizarre, Broadway.  Michael Keaton and Edward Norton are terrific.

Fury: "Best job I ever had."
David Ayer second appearance! Violent, brutal bromance of a World War II tank flick. Brad Pitt still has it.

The Almost Pacific Rim but Not Quite Award:  Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise has yet to make a bad movie and this big sci-fi, time leaping, alien invasion romp is a lot of fun if a little repetitive.  Bill Paxton again.

Whoda Thunk: Let's Be Cops
Actually quite funny buddy action comedy with consistent laughs on a low budget and expectations.  Those New Girl guys are good together.

Surprised People Liked It So Much: John Wick
The moody, violent action flick was a nice run from Keanu Reeves but I honestly can't believe people liked the hitman flick as much as they let on. 

Almost Good But Not Quite: Robocop & Godzilla
Samuel L. Jackson opened and closed the Robo remake with gusto but in between it was pretty uneven and Joel Kinnaman ain't no Peter Weller, bro.  His faux Detroit tough guy turned lobotomized cyborg did nothing for me while Godzilla was hardly in his own movie and we're left with uninteresting human characters doing uninteresting things.  Godzilla was probably the biggest let down of the year.

Just Didn't Get It:
The Raid 2 - Amazing action yet mean spirited, overlong with a simple story that doesn't justify the running time.  Cut it down from 130 to 90 minutes and I'm sure there's a classic inside.
Gone Girl - A big budget Lifetime movie where serious adult actors utter "cool girl".
Lucy- Along with 3 Days to Kill shows that Luc Besson and company have an interesting method to crafting would be action movies but become a little too abstract while not sticking to their own made up rules.
Into the Woods - Beautiful yet boring, maybe if you like musicals.

Fight Friday: Robocop VS The Terminator

In another classic 90's pop culture showdown, two 80's icons went head to head in comic book and video game form: Robocop and The Terminator.  The former, a violent and futuristic satire, graced movie screens in 1987, hot off the success of the latter's 1984 ground breaking piece of Tech-Noir B-Movie.  In 1992, Dark Horse Comics brought them together much like they had with the Alien and Predator franchises.  The 4 issue mini-series was written by Frank Miller and art by Walter Simonson with John Workman, Rachell Menashe and Randy Stradley on Lettering, Colors and Editing.  The story opens in the future where mankind is losing the battle with Skynet and the machines.  A lone warrior, a tough female with an odd bowl cut, taps into the system and learns a human mind merged with software then married to Skynet is the cause for the defense network becoming self aware and murdering much of the population through nuclear strikes.  That human mind?  A cop named Alex Murphy (aka Robocop aka Peter Weller!).  Determined to save the future by altering the past, the lone warrior quickly activates the time displacement equipment and is sent to a happier and quieter time, modern day Detroit.  There she cobbles together equipment to build a plasma rifle and sets off to find Officer Murphy, ready to punch his ticket.  Only problem is she's come back too late and Officer Murphy is dead, his brain transferred to the cyborg known as Robocop.

Our bowl cut sporting female warrior catches up to Robo and takes him out, thus changing the future but not before the Terminators send back more machines to stop events from taking place.  While the video game would use Arnold's likeness, the comic book Terminators are random and show up as men, women, children and even dogs.  Thus begins a violent cycle of Robocop becoming aware of the warrior's mission, the threat of the Terminators and his unknowing part in the future destruction of mankind.  Teaming up with the human resistance fighter, Robo destroys the first trio of Terminators before telling the woman to kill him and prevent the catastrophic future.  This is course creates a moral conundrum because only a human would be so noble as to offer up their own life to save others.  A second wave of Terminators arrive and destroy Robocop's body before starting on his mind.  Connected to the network where his replicated consciousness becomes the spark for Skynet's sentience and world destruction, his program moves from database to database until one day a security flaw allows his human memory program to hack a Terminator factory where he builds a super Robocop to battle the evil machines.

Jumping into the Future War, super Robocop assists the Resistance and meets the lone warrior, actual name Florence Langer as they turn the tide against the machines.  Skynet attempts to wipe out the humans with a leftover nuclear missile but Robo is able to change it's course.  Now an army of T-800's bears down on The Resistance so Robo and Flo come up with the idea of mass producing Robocop warriors to join the fight.  During the melee, Robocop enters the Skynet creator mainframe where he's offered god like power but the former Alex Murphy refuses and blows everything up.  Upon returning to the present, Robo destroys the early Skynet satellite networks in a bid to slow down their progress and in an alternate future, Flo lives peacefully in a utopian society. 

Wow.  This shit was crazy.  For some reason I thought it would just be Robcop VS an Arnold looking Terminator tearing shit up, fighting machine to machine and wrecking a city in the process.  But the notion that Murphy's mind blending with a machine giving birth to Skynet was a very clever way to bridge the franchises.  Then the whole quandary of time travel and Skynet sending more Terminators back to the past coupled with Robocop going to the future was just a nice touch.  With his human sentiment, Robocop is our hero here and we get to see bits that remind us of the films concerning his former family and cleaning up the streets with extreme prejudice.  Flo is our Kyle Reese, a human fighting a seemingly unbeatable threat who travels back in time to save the future.  But in a nice twist, she's like a Terminator, sent back to eliminate rather than protect.  Miller's (who coincidentally worked on the script/story for Robcop 2 & 3) story is very intriguing as it deals with the worlds of both franchises very easily along with the unstoppable drive of both humans, machines and the one stuck in between.  Simonson, known to Dammaged Goods for his impeccable art and storytelling in Thor, does a great job here with his big splash pages, collages and action scenes.  With their cold metal sensibility, Terminators and Robcop might be better suited to the big screen but it does work on the page.

With last installment Terminator: Salvation and recent Robocop remake being PG-13, it was nice to see the 1992 worlds of these franchises was still violent and bloody a la the original films.  You even get a nude Flo fighting in the middle of the street upon entry to modern Detroit, albeit done with clever shading.  Each issue contains awesome light cardboard cutouts of Robo, Flo, the Terminator and ED-209.  I'm not sure if this was paid for by Orion to hype up 1993's Robocop 3 but the narrative runs and guns uninterrupted with only a few Dark Horse ads at the end along with movie and video game announcements on the back covers.  Unlike Dark Horse's Alien VS Predator line, Robocop VS Terminator only received the one limited series.  A video game was released shortly after and next year, NECA toys is giving us a line of toys based on the game.

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.

Track Star: Rod Stewart

After seeing Star Trek Into Darkness again, I had a hankering for some Peter Weller action.  Luckily he guest starred as another war mongering villain in the Star Trek universe on two 2005 episodes of Enterprise.  Over the years I've caught a few episodes of the original series, more than a few of Next Generation, a couple Voyager but not one of Deep Space Nine or Enterprise.  Imagine my surprise when the theme song was a cover of Faith of the Heart by my favorite English crooner, Rod Stewart! 



The credits list the song written by one Diane Warren who I found out is one of the world's foremost writer of songs having had her tunes belted out by the likes of Aerosmith, Stewart, Elton John, Barbara Streisand, Roy Orbison, N'Sync, Celine Dion and Canadian crooner Bryan Adams.  Warren and Stewart's collaboration was produced for Robin Williams' 1998 "medical student uses humor on patients" effort Patch Adams.  Didn't that movie end in a really messed up way?  Like his best friend or love interest got murdered messed up?

Three years later, Russell Watson would cover and rework Faith of the Heart, now dubbed Where My Heart Will Take Me for Enterprise, making it the first vocal track used for a Trek theme song.  Apparently the ol' Trek fanbase didn't love the song and petitioned for it's removal.  Producers stood firm and kept the track for the shows four years.  I can't say Watson's rendition beats the original because let's face it, who can really beat Rod the Mod, Rod the Bod when it comes to sweeping performances that get to you on multiple levels?  Soothing, uplifting, nearly inspiring...what?  I've got Tiger Blood bro, bring it!



Close your eyes and listen, tell me you don't have visions of clouds, sailing and winning:

Summer Cinema Shootout: May

It's Labor Day!  You know, the "yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country". Hopefully you're doing something relaxing or fun, unless you work in the service industry and are getting some nice Over Time.

Labor Day marks the end of the summer cinema season, not just big, special effects filled blockbusters but outdoor screenings in the grass as well.  If this summer's films taught us anything, it's that 1)  Hollywood crams too many movies into a short time and 2)  Audiences can only take so many big spectacle action films.


Thanks to surprise hits like 1998's Deep Impact, 1999's The Mummy and 2000's Gladiator, early May has officially become the start of the summer movie season.  It's great to be first before viewer fatigue sets in as Marvel learned since they've slotted Iron Man Two, Thor and The Avengers there, essentially getting while the getting is good.  This year my May consisted of:

Iron Man Three:  Great way to start the summer.  Fun and surprisingly funny.  Ben Kingsley's Mandarin was superb even if Guy Pearce's Mortal Kombat-esque villain, Gwentyh Paltrow's presence and inherent subsequent annoying media quotes and too many damn Iron Man suits flying around make you wonder where they can really take the franchise from here.

The Iceman:  Not exactly a summer blockbuster but a nice change of pace.  Small, character driven, well cast and executed.  Michael Shannon's killer warm up before going full out for Man of Steel.

Star Trek Into Darkness:  The summer's best use of Peter Weller.  Exciting and funny but with some real high peaks and really low valleys.  Still talking with Trek purists about their loathe for the film but hey, they tried to get Benecio Del Toro to play Khan!  Not sure if J.J. Abrams told Karl Urban to go complete Deforest Kelley... "Are you out of your corn fed mind?!"

Fast & Furious 6:  Good times with car chases, destruction and fights.  A couple truly "What The Fuck but I'm going with it" moments to keep you paying attention.  Diesel and company need to learn from Arnold that the hero shouldn't be noticeably bigger than the villain because when hero wins it's not exciting.  The Rock has become a caricature of himself though and not in a good way.  Well, he was great in Pain & Gain...

The Hangover Part III:  Got a little dark, got a little who gives a shit...I'd rather watch Old School.

May Champion:  Close fight between Iron Man Three and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Great clip of Peter Weller talking about how he got involved with Trek:

24 Hours: Robocop by WeSpark

As if seeing 4 movies in 24 hours wasn't enough, a random Facebook link told me that a screening of 1987's Robocop was happening at Noon on Saturday.  Big deal, I saw Robocop with Peter Weller last year during Hero Complex.  Then I got a little more enlightened, Cancer Support Center WeSpark was hosting this shindig and they weren't fooling about.

In addition to Buckaroo Banzai himself, the final line up would include co-stars Nancy Allen, Paul McCrane, Jesse Goins and Felton Perry.  AND director Paul Verhoeven, writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner as well as producer Jon Davison!  Seeing that stacked a line up for charity seemed like the right thing to do.

10:43 AM, Saturday, 5.18...

The Gold Coast Theater on Sunset, a quaint little theater next to the Samuel French Bookshop, home to a million movie and theater related tomes.  WeSpark's Robocop special event was in full swing with raffles, silent auctions and multiple signed posters around the lobby up for grabs.  The crowd was an interesting mix of hardcore fans in their late 30's and 40's, cast and crew family members and a guy in full Robocop cosplay.  Slightly admirable and very dubious was the amount of children in the audience.  Sure, movies can have a lot more sex, violence and gore nowadays but Robocop is still pretty intense.

A bespectacled fellow took the stage and regaled us with his love for Robocop and co-star Nancy Allen.  A love that prompted him to move to the United States from France and retrace shooting locations used in Brian De Palma's Dressed To Kill.  His name?  Laurent Bouzereau.  Don't recognize the name?  Go watch the DVD/Blu-Ray special features on Indiana Jones, The Warriors, Jaws, Conan, The Untouchables, Jurassic Park and Raging Bull among dozens more and get back to me.

Ms. Allen gave a quick introduction and explained the genesis of today's special event.  WeSpark is a non-profit organization that assists cancer patients and survivors.  Ms. Allen has been involved with them for years and after a successful 25th Anniversary screening of Robocop last year in Texas, she thought she could bring it to LA for a good cause.  A few e-mails later and everyone appearing today agreed.

We got the Director's Cut today, i.e. the version where people get shot A LOT more.

Robocop is one of my favorite films and it was great seeing it on the big screen again.  It still plays flawlessly as a social satire, an action film, a tech noir western, whatever you want to call it.  Oh yeah, Robocop is the story of Officer Murphy (Weller), a new transfer to a crumbling precinct in future Detroit.  A gang of sadistic goons, led by Kurtwood Smith, empty shotguns into poor Murphy and leave him for dead.  Miraculously Murphy survives and becomes the guinea pig for Omni Consumer Products' new "urban pacification" program and is transformed into cyborg Robocop!  Robo battles crime, crooked corporations and the police force itself in a quest to retain his former identity while bringing to justice those who killed him the first time.

Post credits the line up was brought out.  So you have the director of Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers and Showgirls sitting next to the guy who produced a couple of those titles sitting next to the guys who wrote some of them sitting next to Murphy next to Lewis next to Emil the melting villain next to the OCP lackey who likes baby food and played a cop in Magnum Force AND Dumb and Dumber next to the villain who you remember for peeing and cackling.

I've seen Peter Weller in person twice before and he's a force of nature.  One guy called him crazy, I call him intelligent, fascinating and hilarious.

- Part of Ed Neumeir's inspiration came after visiting set of Blade Runner and being told Sean Young was playing a robot.  He thought that was ridiculous and felt you needed to see the machinery.
- Verhoeven thought the original script was a piece of shit.  Credits his wife for seeing the potential.
- Didn't want to leave Holland, especially at age 47 as he was more or less comfortable working there with his own crew.
- Weller was immediately interested as he'd seen everything Verhoeven had done and started talking about Prussian art and how Robocop is an example of a certain kind of art that can be enjoyed in any time period.
- Prolific producer Dino De Laurentiis offered Weller the lead role in his King Kong remake and asked "how much money you want not to make fucking robot movie?".
- Nancy Allen auditioned for Verhoeven and thought it went well but heard they cast someone else who didn't work out and she got the gig.
- Verhoeven had Metropolis and Blade Runner in mind but producer Jon Davison said he could either have great sets or a great Robocop suit, they didn't have money for both.
- Made for $13 million which made them be more creative without a money hose to cover.
- Everyone applauds the genius of suit designer Rob Bottin who along with the studio was adamant the costumes and props stay with him which is why Weller has no souvenirs from the shoot except a painting made by a local artist.
- Verhoeven is lauded for his fast shooting style and Weller compares it to having a Formula One Team of expert technicians.
- The first three audience "questions" were basically awkward verbal love letters to the panel, people LOVE Robocop which is fine but ask a god damned question.
- The writers drafted a scene where the villains blow up a pet store, the studio balked and demanded they remove it.  So it was fine to kill 30 henchmen in the drug lab shootout but they couldn't kill a puppy.

- Verhoeven didn't know anybody in the movie business in America besides producer Davison and composer Basil Poledouris who worked on his last feature in Holland.

The panel lasted for at least an hour so you can imagine how much more was talked about that isn't coming to mind right away.  I also paid the equivalent of three tickets to Tango & Cash for the event so I think this is a pretty good value for what you're paying.

2 movies down with 3 to go!  Bring it on Back to the Future trilogy!

Stay out of trouble!

24 Hours: 5 Movies and a Work Out

You know how I was saying Los Angeles spoils you with movie events?  Well this weekend might be the mother lode.  The defining cinematic weekend to test my mental, physical and 80's loving fortitude.

Stand by me as I navigate a Midnight screening of Tango and Cash, a Noon Robocop Special Event and finally a triple feature of the Back to the Future trilogy!

One Pepsi Free please...