Con-Man: San Diego 2016

Ah San Diego Comic-Con, the mecca for all things creative arts. This was a landmark year as I spent nearly a week in San Diego and even took a few hours to train with bodybuilding legend Frank Zane in nearby La Mesa. Arriving on Tuesday, downtown SD in the Gaslamp Quarter was hopping as usual and local businesses and bars were ready for Con with comic book art and signs luring in passerby. Doctor Strange banners adorned streets, BB-8 and Pokemon imagery filled windows. Things were made a little easier this year as badges were sent out instead of needing to be picked up at the not that close Town and Country.

Walking around early Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM and soaking in the peaceful calm before the storm, I saw pop ups for Amazon, South Park, NBC and Conan O'Brien's Funko face plastered on buildings and trains. Our Comic-Condo was right in the Gaslamp again but unfortunately faced a busy street and it was far from soundproofed. My sleep would get worse as the week went on. A few pre-Preview Night Jameson's got me surprisingly feeling no pain as I checked out the Exhibit Hall where DC had costumes from Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad on display, a bronze Captain America statue made a stop on it's way to Brooklyn, Star Wars costumes and the like all warranted a quick photo. The show felt a little samesie as I kept running into the same stuff but that's going to happen when you've been to as many shows as I have. I meant to make my way over to a parking lot screening of Super 7's new original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated short but them Jamesons had me wanting to hit the sack...

Panels through the week included the increasingly con attending Edgar Rice Burrough's where we learned that Carson of Venus is being adapted into a film series, Jim Davis of Garfield fame made his first Comic-Con appearance and picked up an Inkpot in the process. King of WeirdCool Thomas Jane and the cast of The Expanse were on hand for the season 2 announcement and Hall H, while ever so crowded, seemed a little light on programming this year. It's been my observation that since 2010, the Hollywood Bubble has slowly burst so at some point casual fans will stop trying to get in. There's always Seattle, Salt Lake and New York.

Ask Me a Question: The Veil w/ Phil Joanou

Last night The Egyptian Theatre hosted a members exclusive screening of new horror-thriller The Veil. Director Phil Joanou directs a script by Robert Ben Garant that finds Thomas Jane as Jim Jacobs, enigmatic leader of a cult based on removing the nails between your physical body and spiritual soul. After a mass suicide leaves survivor Sarah Hope (Lily Rabe) scarred for life, she agrees to accompany a documentary crew headed by Maggie Price (Jessica Alba) back to the camp. Price's father was an FBI agent on the scene and like Sarah, her family's lives have been forever affected by the cult. Boasting a strong performance by Jane as the death defying, violence prone yet miracle healer Jacobs anchors the film along with Rabe and Alba as motivated women trying to make sense of a tragedy. Joanou creates an atmospheric thriller versus a straight slasher film that has a few chills and shocks even if the narrative and supernatural elements get a little confusing. Lots of cast and crew were in the audience and I spotted the man himself Thomas Jane in the lobby looking dapper and chill. I had a great time hanging with RAW Studios and convention maestro Mike and our friend Vladimir Kulich made an appearance as he's a big fan of Jane's dating back to Stander where he thought the Maryland born actor was actually South African.

A very energetic Phil Joanou participated in a brief Q&A:

- Shot in 25 days over 5 weeks at a First Nations reservation. Shortest schedule he's ever had.
- Did a movie for $3.2 million that shot for 32 days in the states and several cities abroad to compare.
- Once Blumhouse decides to make your movie, just tell you to go.
- Script was originally found footage but completely overhauled as fad had passed.
- Learned how to use After Effects on YouTube and spent more man hours adding in blood and ghosts than did shooting the actual movie.
- Loves his cast, said he couldn't have done it in the time frame with a weak crew.
- Shot very wide to evoke likes of John Ford and Roman Polanski to highlight ensemble.
- 1 to 3 takes, accomplished 40 + shots on first day of production.
- Film screened once with an audience for first test, cut out 20 minutes and this was second public screening before going VOD and Netflix.
- Was a protege of Steven Spielberg's and discussed the highs and lows of Hollywood, how hard it is but the key is to do it because you love it, whether it's a big budget, small budget, 3,000 screen release or On Demand. The journey is the destination.
- Spent two years on The Veil and couldn't be prouder of the film and those who worked on it.

While it would have been nice to hear from The Jane, Joanou was a ball of funny and inspiring energy. It was a fun night but only Monday! Check out The Veil on Netflix, available now!

(Pre)miere! The Veil

Our friends at The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre are hosting a Private screening of new horror film The Veil next Monday, February 1st at 8:00 PM and you can go! Director Phil Joanou and cast members will be attending for Q&A. The spooky and violent looking thriller tells the tale of The Heaven's Veil, a cult that perished thirty years ago. Now, soul survivor Sarah Hope (Lily Rabe) returns to the scene with a documentary crew headed by Maggie Price (Jessica Alba). From there, bad memories, seances and seemingly gory deaths ensue. The King of WeirdCool himself, Thomas Jane, co-stars as cult leader Jim Jacobs. Writer Robert Ben Garant takes a detour from his previous comedic offerings of Reno 911! Night at the Museum and the upcoming Baywatch while former music video director turned filmmaker Joanou gave us the Sean Penn, Ed Harris and Gary Oldman starring crime flick State of Grace and Richard Gere and Kim Basinger led Final Analysis among others before teaming up with Jane for The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, 2012's well received fan film co-starring Ron Perlman which has over 7 million views on YouTube. Producer Jason Blum continues to offer up modest budget genre flicks with familiar faces while providing creative freedom to movie makers with a successful track record of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, Stretch and The Visit.

Catch more exclusive screenings from The American Cinematheque by becoming a member and support films on the big screen the way they were meant to be seen.

For a chance to win tickets for this special evening, e-mail DammagedGoodsWin@gmail.com by Friday, January 29th. See you there!

This, I Demand! Into the Grizzly Maze

After a night out for dinner, drinks and a movie Thursday, Friday's are usually calm affairs. Aren't they always after 30? I couldn't think of a good 80's movie to pop in to go with our pizza dinner then remembered we still hadn't watched the Thomas Jane, killer bear flick, Into the Grizzly Maze. With some Amazon credits burning a hole in my digital pocket, we ignited the nite with some Fireball and Strongbow cocktails and kicked back. Into the Grizzly Maze, formerly known as The Red Machine and Endangered is the tale of two brothers, Rowan (James Marsden) is the younger, troubled one fresh out of prison while responsible big bro Beckett (Thomas Jane) is second in command for the local law enforcement. After a 7 year stint inside, Rowan shows up one night in the beautiful backwoods of Alaska (played by Vancouver) itching to head into the "Grizzly Maze" a part of the woods known for it's dense forest teeming with grizzly bears. Bad news is that there's some angry, hungry and pissed off bears in those woods as loggers and changing climate has pushed out most of their food supply. Compounding matters is the fact that Beckett's deaf conversationalist wife Michelle (Piper Perabo) is alone out in the woods. Beckett's boss Sully (Scott Glenn) wants the killer bear X'd out but The Jane feels that should be the last resort so Sully hires legendary bear hunter and tracker Douglass (Billy Bob Thornton) to do the dirty work.

I'm a big fan of the The Jane and the prospect of a Jaws inspired, man vs nature flick intrigued me. It seemed like the film flew under the radar for a while, shooting in early 2012 with a surprisingly solid cast. Title changes, a few images, a poster and whatnot started to trickle out but no news on a release and it was quietly put out in a handful of theaters and On Demand this past June. It's a shame because the flick is quite enjoyable, heck, I feel like watching it again as I write this. The cast all do a good job, production values are solid and the majestic shots of nature are beautiful. There's some excellent thrills and shocks throughout, it's gory and the bear ain't messing around. There's some less than awesome CGI but come on, this was probably a sub-$10 million dollar flick. Billy Bob sports some gruesome prosthetic scars later in the film, limbs are torn off and victims are clawed and mangled by Bart the Bear. At a brisk 90 some minutes, the flick doesn't have the chance to put you to sleep as director David Hackl and writers Guy Moshe and J.R. Reher throw in plenty of action and frights. The lady and I laughed wondering if the sign language between Jane and Perabo was real because it seemed a little simple but hey, they're married so maybe they have a short hand. Now to check out TJ in  White Bird in a Blizzard on Netflix and Vice with Bruce Willy at some point.

End of Watch(ing): True Detective Season 2

*MATURE LANGUAGE AHEAD* This past Sunday HBO's True Detective Season 2 ended with a 90 minute finale watched by 2.5 million people after the first episode drew in 3.2. While ratings and reception have not been as high as the Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson led first season, I enjoyed TD S2 all the way through. Sure you could get into the blah blah blah about the intricate yet sparse story about investigating a murder and some of the weird/bad but delivered well dialog. But at the end of the day, there's a certain watchability to the show where I never thought about turning it off mid-episode or not coming back the next week. I wouldn't watch Game of Thrones if the lady didn't love to, that shit gets boring and super drawn out with no conclusion. Or say Season 3 of Hannibal where I gave up after three episodes because it's all slow motion, way too dark to see anything, I don't even care what's going on motif. And I love Mads Mikkelsen! It's funny that people keep complaining about True Detective but watched it through to the end. Have some guts and go do something else with your time, yeesh.

What really made True Detective so good boils down to one man and two scenes. Colin Farrell plays disgraced detective Ray Velcoro, a man who traded his soul for revenge after killing the guy he thought raped his wife. Early on we watch as Velcoro visits the home of his estranged son's (who he called a "fat pussy" earlier in the day) school yard bully and proceeds to beat the living shit out of bully's dad while brandishing brass knuckles and making the kid immediately regret his decision. It's a truly awesome scene and is kind of the way I see the world. Talk shit, get hit right? And Velcoro does it for a reason, telling the bully his dad is taking responsibility for the kid's actions. Later in the season, while trying to be a stand up separated dad, Velcoro relapses when his wife threatens to revoke visitation rights resulting in another fantastic scene that basically plays out as a one man I Melt With You. You know, that awesome flick about best friends who get together once a year to do drugs and drink while contemplating their lives and reviewing a suicide pact they made in college? It's on Netflix, check it out. Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay and Jeremy Piven knock it out of the park. Anyways, a pissed off Velcoro walks into his shitty apartment and proceeds to snort cocaine, down shots of tequila, smoke cigarettes then does a little shadow boxing and a few chins. Now that's great TV, baby, see ya.

Con-Man: San Diego '15 Saturday

Ready for an old timer story? Back in the late 2000's, I'd wake up at 3:30 AM, get down to San Diego Comic-Con around 6:00, have breakfast, jump in line and walk into the show. Cut to 2015, my 11th year attending and 4th volunteering in my usual 6:00 9:00 AM spot and walking over to the convention center at 5:30 AM there were already shuttles and lines with throngs of attendees. The last two years I directed traffic for various toy or autograph lines but on this day got put in for ADA, that's when you wait in line for someone who is physically unable. My fellow volunteers and line waiters were fun to chat with, I met one woman who has been coming to the show for 20 plus years and still loves it and surprisingly have met several first time attendees. In line I also met Comic-Con celebrity, The Button Lady, a woman who dons one of six capes adorned with themed buttons she makes herself of Firefly, Marvel, etc.

After hearing that people were walking into Hall H for the Warner Brothers/Superman VS. Batman panel, I tried my luck and went over for Quentin Tarantino's Hateful 8 where the writer/director would be unveiling footage along with cast members like KURT RUSSELL, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern. Sadly my streak of being able to walk in ended after 30 minutes in line, the chute in front of me made it in but not mine. A friend relayed some photos and info from inside and I got to see Russell's bitching mustache. Next I wandered the floor some more then headed to the Hilton for some programming in the Indigo Ballroom. I ran into Nerd Reactor reporter and Unicorn enthusiast Laura and spotted several guests and celebs having lunch. Guess how much a Moscow Mule runs at the Hilton's Odysea Bar? $18 frigging bucks! And it's not even gallon sized! A couple of Jameson Gingers later I popped in to catch John Barrowman doing his one man panel where anything goes. The Torchwood, Doctor Who and Arrow star is a ball of energy who made himself and the audience laugh. The Barrow has fond memories of working on Who and Torch but is quite enjoying his stint on hit Arrow at the moment. He and a question asker went into a beat box version of the Who theme song after Barrowman had the gent bounce his pecs. Openly homosexual and married, Barrowman was an inspiration for the audience to be who they are and do what they love as long as you know, nobody gets hurt.

Next was a panel I was super pumped for, an early screening of SyFy's 10 part series The Expanse followed by Q&A with the cast and creators. Based on a series of novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the duo moderated and let us know that the show isn't quite finished but still looks Damme good. And they weren't lying. Set in a future where factions on Mars, the Asteroid Belt and Earth compete for air and water, we meet Detective Miller (Thomas Jane) as he sweet talks hookers, bashes heads and searches for the missing daughter of a very rich man. Then there's the ice salvaging crew of the Rocinante headed by Holden (Steven Strait) who respond to a distress signal from a derelict vessel. While on Earth we meet business woman Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who works to keep the "Belters" in their place. All in I really enjoyed the episode and look forward to more, heck, I've even like to check out a couple of the books now. Sets of Mars, space stations and ships are impressively huge and there's a nice working class element to everything as Miller's space phone is cracked, you have to smack the elevator controls to make them work, etc. Jane is cool, a touch shady with heart, looking very trim and noir here in dark clothes, vests and a fedora while Strait has a tired but strong authoritative quality that works well for the character.

Afterwards, a huge panel was introduced starting with the King of WeirdCool himself, Thomas Jane followed by Strait, Aghdashloo, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham producer Naren Shankar, writer/producers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. Cast and crew talked about having three stages at Pinewood in Toronto, including the largest for the show which was rare for television to physically represent such scale. Changing things from the book and taking elements from future installments for the first season, Fergus and Ostby praising novelists Abraham and Franck for being natural screenwriters, letting the series breathe versus compacting like in film, Thomas Jane imagining he's a rocket pilot while sitting on the toilet and how many "shit"s or curse words the cast gets per episode. A fun panel and a terrific looking show, I'm excited for the premiere in December. Outside I ran into the great guys from #ThatHashTagShow Daniel and Josh as they were compiling and rendering all of their videos, photos and news from the day. D and J attended Sunbow Celebration and I'm looking forward to having them out for another event soon.

It was back to the floor for some more walking where I found a buddy from Rotten Tomatoes, photographer homie Jeremy and founder of Beyond Fest/Mad Movie Titan himself, Mr. Christian Parkes who was set to speak on a panel. The Bold Voice of Contemporary Horror Film: Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest and SpectreFest brought together actor/producer Elijah Wood, filmmakers Sarah Adina Smith, Roxanne Benjamin, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead along with Mr. Parkes, XYZ Films' Mette Marie Katz and Blumhouse Development exec Ryan Turek. The panel spoke about the current state of independent horror being at an all time high with several festivals giving them the spotlight rather than being relegated to midnight. The entire panel were fans of horror as youngsters and now as professionals are banding together to make, sell and distribute their work with low budget, friend and family produced films finding audiences, leading to bigger and better things. Previews for several upcoming horror flicks were shown with Wood's comedy/fright mash up Cooties looking like a funny and bloody time while I can't recall the other two titles...One was an Australian flick about two brothers whose mother comes home from surgery a changed woman and it looks creeeeepy! In a Comic-Con first, I saw rules being broken as Parkes threw out DVD's to the crowd which is apparently strictly forbidden, probably for liability reasons, being warned by staff then doing it again. A quick round of trivia closed the entertaining hour with winners being given passes to Beyond or Fantastic Fest in LA and Austin.

Parties awaited but lines are lame so we opted for some libations and conversation at the Comic-Con'do. Leaving the next morning I realized this was the most fun I'd had in 11 years of attending. There's nothing else like San Diego Comic-Con and there never will be. Many a friend commented that it seemed to be less crowded with less cosplay this year so maybe my prediction that the Hollywood bubble bursting, more shows popping up and casual fans giving up is coming true. It's still the biggest and the best Con I've been too and I've been to a lot. See ya next year!

Con-Man: San Diego '15 Preview Night

 
Are you ready?! It's finally here! San Diego Comic-Con is upon us and all is right in the world! We arrived into Downtown San Diego aka The Gaslamp District aka Con Central, grabbed some Jameson during Happy Hour then moseyed on over to the Marriott to check in for Volunteering. Warner Brothers always has a heavy presence at SDCC and this year they're pulling out all the stops for...Conan O'brien? The funny host of late night is doing four show tapings and moderating a Hall H panel. Conan was plastered on the train and adjoining hotel. Next it was time for Preview Night, where you walk the exhibition floor with many less people than the rest of the week. It wasn't too crowded and I surprisingly made back and forth across the floor twice. I had no real plan in mind except to check out the Hollywood stuff first for any exclusive giveaways then walk through the comic and swag portion.

Mattel ended up being my first stop as they always have a great set up of He-Man and The Masters of the Universe. There's a semi-secret pop-up shop in The Gaslamp which requires a Skele-token for entry, which I was able to snag a few of. Lionsgate was promoting the last chapter of The Hunger Games but only had posters for American Ultra to hand out. Legendary was promoting the upcoming Warcraft movie and right behind them was the one and only Tim Bradstreet displaying his awesome art and manning the RAW Studios booth. Co-founder and kind of weirdcool Thomas Jane is scheduled to attend the show as well as a panel on his new SyFy series, The Expanse. The Brad is always a chill dude and RAW usually has guests, comics and art aplenty. Artists turned brands like Alex Ross, Jim Steranko, Frank Frazetta, Art Adams and Jack Kirby were all well represented on the floor. Speaking of artists, I ran into one of my absolute favorites towards the end of the night, one Mike Zeck! Zeck had a stellar run on Captain America in the 80's and was also responsible for some terrific The Punisher action and multiple memorable G.I. Joe covers. I picked up Raw Fury, his art book and told him how his Cap was the one I grew up with. All in, a nice enough guy that I wish I could express what his work meant to me as a comic book reading youth.

Neca always has an awesome display along with Con exclusives. This year you had a Pacific Rim set up joined by mother fudging Arnold in Commando, new Rambo figures and as always, the ever popular Predator. I grabbed their set of mini-figures from the surprisingly short line. Last year Mondo had some exclusive Batman: The Animated Series vinyls up for grabs and this year went Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with mini-metal pins. I grabbed Leonardo, the calm, cool leader who's always ready for a scrap. Lots of comics around going for a couple bucks up to a few grand. Vendors with 50% off graphic novels is always an alluring rat trap but I have enough comics to last me a while...Over by Capcom and Nintendo's video game exhibits I wandered upon Whedonopolis. Great folks I plan to work with in the future.

It was a great start to four days of chaos, walking, reuniting with friends, partying, panels and a diet consisting of turkey, swiss and spinach or bologna sammiches along with Jameson and the occasional pretzel dog. Thursday marks the start of SDCC officially with a multitude of panels on deck for your viewing pleasure. So far my day should consist of Peanuts, Street Fighter, He-Man & G.I. Joe, Jim Lee, movies from 1985 and the 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIAMI VICE! See you at the show!

Casey Casting: Stephen Amell in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

Hitting the webs right before April Fool's Day was the announcement that former Hung, almost Spartacus and current Arrow Oliver Queen Stephen Amell would be donning the hockey mask to play the beat'em up vigilante Casey Jones in a sequel to Paramount's hit reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 2014. That flick, produced by Michael Bay had many a fan treading cautiously to the theaters but surprisingly delivered a fast, fun and of course, action packed time at the movies and grossed $464 million bucks worldwide. While the Turtles' CGI avatars and freakish size coupled with Splinter's seemingly unfinished appearance was a little jarring, overall the movie didn't take itself too seriously and had a few laughs along with brotherly rabble rousing. It was weird that Splinter learned the art of Ninja from a book but I guess it's not any more far fetched than a pet rat mimicking his masters movements from his cage like in the 1990 movie.

Amell has starred on 3 seasons of CW's hit show Arrow where he plays a stern and physical vigilante aiming to clean up his city through martial arts and archery. According to Variety Amell was among half a dozen Casey hopefuls but his chemistry with star Megan Fox sealed the deal. The casting came as a surprise to some but not much of a shock to me. Here's a guy already known to the comic book world who plays a vigilante already and probably didn't cost a fortune. With Warner Brothers not enlisting Amell for any big screen DC outings, more power to him for landing in another comic book based, fancentric franchise. I had seen Amell on Hung opposite former The Punisher Thomas Jane where he starred as a dim yet studly competitor to Jane's "happiness consultant". After the unfortunate passing of Andy Whitfield, the in shape Amell was a finalist for Spartacus but lost out to Liam McIntyre. He does a solid job on Arrow at playing a Bruce Wayne-esque party boy along with a sullen anti-hero who says "Thank You" a lot. Like a lot, a lot. Throw a wig on him and let him go crazy and I think he'll do a solid job.

Appearing in a Raphael one-shot in 1985 from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, we're introduced to Casey Jones in his crap filled apartment where he's watching cop shows and movies on three televisions simultaneously while lifting weights. Convinced that there's too much scum on the streets and not enough good guys, Jones picks up a golf bag full of bats, hockey sticks and clubs, dons a hockey mask and sets out to help the cops take on the bad guys. Breaking the leg of a purse snatcher, the overzealous Jones runs into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and hothead Raphael who thinks this quest of justice has gone a little too far. The two battle for pages and pages finally coming to an understanding that no one deserves to die for stealing a tape deck. When the scream of a woman needing help catches both their attention, they dash off into the night to mete out some sports equipment and karate kicking comeuppance.

Jones made his cinematic debut in the 1990 film along with Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April O'Neil and The Shredder. Played by Montreal native but New York and Acting Studio trained actor Elias Koteas, we meet Jones stalking some purse snatchers and beating their butts with a hockey stick. Like the comics, Raphael intervenes and the two go at it with fists, trash cans, flips, kicks, Jose Canseco bats, cricket paddles and constant quips. Koteas is pitch perfect as the physical and attitude dripping Jones in his action scenes and opposites attract romance with April (Judith Hoag). Koteas would go on to have a solid career in TV and film popping up in The Thin Red Line, Collateral Damage, Shooter, Shutter Island, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many more. Asked about his experience on the film and Koteas says he doesn't think about it much but remembers having fun playing a swashbuckling hero type and how it could take over a dozen takes to get the animatronic turtles right in a scene. Koteas returned to the role in 1993's present day and feudal Japan set part III. The role was voiced by The Human Torch and future Captain America Chris Evans in 2007's animated feature.

Until 2016, "Goongala! Goongala!"

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

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

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

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

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

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

Dolph Saturday

It was a randomly awesome Dolph Lundgren filled Saturday yesterday.  While watching The Director's Chair with Quentin Tarantino earlier in the morning, he mentions that before Reservoir Dogs, his only production experience was on Dolph's workout video Maximum Potential.  Then later while putting the lady through a timed workout I turned on MP for background noise, motivation and to take her mind off the grueling 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off blitz of Kettle Bell swings, jumping jacks, squats, mountain climbers and the like.  Of course you know how much I love Dolph and his workout video from 1986 as it's a solid workout and healthy lifestyle guide as well as a total time capsule from the 80's with two toned workout outfits, sweet synth and guitar soundtrack and Dolph being all tan and buff showing you how he does shit.

After returning home from seeing The Imitation Game (phenomenal: funny, entertaining and educational) I got a nice one-two punch of mail in the forms of my Dolph, I Will Break You shirt and a CD of 80's tunes from action #MovieBro David J. Moore featuring tracks from Rambo, Over the Top, Bloodsport, Best of the Best and so many more.  Perusing the Internets, there was some chatter regarding Thomas Jane talking in recent interviews about his work as Marvel's The Punisher in 2004's mild success and his love letter to the character in 2012's fan film Dirty Laundry.  Of course we couldn't talk about Thomas Jane's Mr. P. without discussing Dolph's take in the 1989 version directed by Mark Goldblatt written by Boaz Yakin and Robert Mark Kamen.  While the 2004 version has it's merits; Jane is solid as the character presented, there's some very clever scenes like the Popsicle interrogation and fight with giant hitman The Russian.  It also suffers from being uneven, trying to be a modern spaghetti western while smacking of melodrama and plenty of awkward one liners. Then the less said about 2008's War Zone, the better.  I honestly still don't know if I'm supposed to take that movie seriously with Ray Stevenson's bland interpretation of the Punisher, over the top villain Jigsaw and the ridiculous action.

Popping in the Artisan DVD, Dolph's version still remains my favorite of the cinematic attempts with it's down and dirty, straight forward action-karate motif.  After seeing Dolph blonde, coiffed, buff, positive and tan in Maximum Potential in the morning, watching his transformation into the pale, dirty, crazy and dark haired Frank Castle aka The Punisher actually says a lot about him as an actor.  From the opening minutes where we get stabbing, shooting, house explosions and car bombs, Mark Goldblatt and company really give you your action movie money's worth.  Don't forget that this was the late 80's and Richard Donner's Superman was still the only example of a successful cinematic super hero.  Batman would change the game in the same year but also had studio Warner Brothers behind it, a young, up and coming director and a budget 3-4 times The Punisher.  Coming from Roger Corman's New World Productions, the sub-$10million dollar production shot in Australia and told the tale of former cop Frank Castle who wages a one man war against the mob after his wife and kids are killed.  Said mob boss is now at odds with invading Yakuza gangsters and it's up to The Punisher to punish the guilty...and kill a whole lotta people, something like 89 individual deaths in as many minutes including explosions and mass killings.

Lou Gossett, Jr. shows up as Frank's former partner and gives the executioner a little background while trying to save his former friend.  Dolph's performance as a semi crazy vigilante who sits around naked in the sewer talking to God is admirable and not given enough credit.  Of course the action is great as you get oh so many scenes featuring shootouts, guys getting stabbed by katana swords through windshields, Dolph firing a crossbow bolt attached to a zip line through a guy then sliding down while firing an Uzi, shotguns, knives to the neck and heart as well as some gritty, rough and tumble karate fights with real life champions.  Dennis Dreith's orchestral score is big, memorable and almost out of place.  Since comic book films with costumed heroes was far from the norm as it is today, a last minute decision was made to not have Dolph don a spray painted white skull on his shirt for the final showdown.  While the skull remains on his knives and arguably on his face from the painted on beard, I think the film would be held in much higher regard today if they would have had the balls to put him in "costume".  While originally imagined to be competition to Batman, New World's financial woes saw The Punisher being released theatrically worldwide but going straight to video in the United States.  Here's hoping for a special features filled Blu Ray one day...

D'You Know What I Mean 2015: Weathers, Carpenter & Jane Weekly Round Up

We're mid way through the first month of 2015, how's it going?  I'm feverishly working on the next Dammaged Goods Presents event, children of the 80's and 90's will be super excited.  While hanging around the interwebs between e-mails and phone calls I came across:

I set this up! Victory!

Happy Birthday Carl Weathers!  The likeable former professional football player known for his roles in Rocky I-IV, Predator, Action Jackson, Happy Gilmore, Toy Story of Terror and Arrested Development celebrated the big 6-7 this past 14th.  That puts him right under co-stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  With an acting career dating back to 1975, Weathers' film and television output has slowed in recent years as he focuses on screen writing and lending his famous face to charities; playing in celebrity poker tournaments, raising awareness for cancer, bringing water to west Africa, campaigning for film tax incentives across the country as well as being a finalist in the newly formed Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame for his portrayal of Apollo Creed in the Rocky films.  Speaking of Creed, a new film featuring the grand son of the legendary character has just begun production with rising star Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone starring in the 7th film of the series.  Even though Apollo died in 1985's Rocky IV, it would be great to have Weathers reprise the role in some kind of voice over or flashback to pay respect to all the work he put into making the character so memorable.

Only two days later, another titan of cinema celebrated his 67th birthday, writer/director/composer John Carpenter!  The man behind such B-movie genre classics as Escape From New York, They Live, The Thing and Big Trouble From Little China has also slowed down in the filmmaking world but has kept busy through writing comic books, releasing a new album of "lost themes" and playing video games.  With four of his films already remade, it was just announced this week that Fox has acquired the rights to reboot Escape From New York and Carpenter will act as a consultant.  Multiple parties have held the rights in recent years from New Line Cinema, Joel Silver and most recently Studio Canal.  Rumors of a prequel starring Gerard Butler to begin a new trilogy never materialized.  Let's see if Fox can put together something special that can replicate the experience of the films while moving it in a new direction.

Last but certainly not least, the trailer for SyFy's 10 part "future noir" series The Expanse dropped during this week's Television Critics Association's press tour.  Based on a series of novels, The Expanse is set 200 years in the future and follows a detective (Thomas Jane) as he crosses the solar system searching for a missing woman and uncovers a conspiracy in the process.  Being touted as SyFy's most ambitious project to date, cast and crew began production in Toronto in November occupying most of the stages at Toronto's Pinewood Studios.  The trailer shows off sleek production design, zero gravity sex and The Jane looking very slim, trim and stylish in a fedora and some kind of half shaved, half long hair cut.

Jane participated in a Redditt Ask Me Anything session yesterday to hype his new film with Bruce Willis, Vice, that hits theaters and VOD this weekend.  Nothing too crazy which is kind of disappointing as Jane is the king of WeirdCool.  Jane mentions never watching his films after they're completed, sneaking out of premieres, fans wanting to wrestle him, has never seen Game of Thrones, his love for making baseball picture 61*, almost drowning on Deep Blue Sea,  taking name Jane from Indian religion Jain while shooting a Bollywood feature at 16, how the studio would have given The Mist a bigger budget if they'd change the ending, not being very good in comedy The Sweetest Thing, shooting Vice in Mobile, Alabama being great, Bruce Willis being the guy you see on screen, his favorite horror film is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that Lawrence Kasdan likes his actors to be on set whether or not they're working.

Straight Netflix'ing: Drive Hard

Screeching it's way to Netflix this past Tuesday is a flick I've been curious to see for quite some time, the Thomas Jane and John Cusack buddy-action-driving-comedy in Australia, Drive Hard.  Directed by native low budget, big concept master Brian Trenchard-Smith, Drive Hard introduces us to Peter Roberts (The Jane) as he dreams of his previous life as a successful race car driver.  After being woken up by his cute and sassy daughter, Peter hits the weights before getting into yet another argument with his lawyer wife who wants him to get a real job instead of chasing the pipe dream of opening a racing school.  Making ends meet as a driving instructor, Peter's first client of the day is fellow American Simon Keller (permanently clad in black baseball cap and dark glasses John Cusack) who seems to know all about Peter's former adrenaline filled life.  Turns out that Keller is about to rob a bank of bonds and needs a getaway driver so what better candidate than an unknowing citizen and former professional?  The two then hit the Gold Coast eluding the banks armed mercenaries, police and federal agents while bickering, fighting and bonding amidst car chases, shootouts, old lady choke holds, rubber bullets and learning to respect oneself.

Based on a screenplay by Chad and Evan Law, director Smith and co-writer Brigette Jean Allen craft a quirky, funny and decently exciting piece of low watt direct to video fun.  I was impressed by the opening CGI credits moving through an engine, as it was a sign of Drive Hard being more than your typical, shot in a couple weeks around Los Angeles action flick.  Jane plays Peter as a goofy, lovable loser and has a nice, quick, funny yet tense back and forth dynamic with Cusack's intelligent professional thief with a grudge Keller.  There's some solid car chase shenanigans post bank robbery with lots of real looking gags around the streets of Australia and some clever bits to show off Peter's driving skills.  Things slow down a bit in the middle when the duo leave the luxurious and metropolitan coast line and head into the country.  An unexpected and amusing run in with some crazy old people leads up to a final showdown with bikers hired by the bank to recover the stolen bonds.  Of course by the end the two are semi buddy buddy and Peter has regained his daredevil flare that was put on hold to start a family.  At times, Drive Hard plays like a piece of marketing for the department of tourism as there's lot of shots showing off the gorgeous beaches and glistening buildings then later the serene green and lush of the country.  Jane and Cusack both get to shine as likeable and amusing characters while Trenchard-Smith's blend of off color humor and action suits the lightweight 95 minute romp.

Gotta Wear! Vibram Five Fingers VS Nike Free

As a kid who grew up idolizing Jean-Claude Van Damme, I spent many an hour studying Tae Kwon Do and hitting the heavy bag, being in bare feet was just kind of normal.  Sure you wear sneakers or boots during the day but after hours I was always sans shoes at home or the McDojo.  Plus I have wide feet so skinny shoes were not my friend.  Some people don't like bare feet so when Vibram's Five Finger shoes started hitting the market, they were instantly deemed weird and silly looking as each toe was given an individual slot versus being covered a la a regular sneaker.  Up until a couple years ago, I hadn't been a member at a gym for some time, preferring to work out in my makeshift living room gym at a spacious house I used to share.  When I joined a Gold's for a holiday special, I had to get some new kicks and ended up grabbing two pairs of Vibram's, one for training and one for walking around.  They weren't available at a Foot Locker or Finish Line, I actually found them at an Outdoor/Sporting Goods store.  Meant to mimic the flexibility and natural movement of bare feet training made popular by Hawaiian's, Africans, America's indigenous people, Arnold and the guys at Gold's Venice in the 70's as well as the king of weirdcool himself, Thomas Jane.  Vibram's took a little getting used to, from their non 1-12 style sizing to the fact that your toes are separated.  I couldn't wear sweat pants very well because they'd go right to the floor under my heel, etc.  But overall, I liked them, they accommodated my wide stumps and I wouldn't have to take my shoes off and do squats in socks.

Running outside was a little trickier, there was a dirt path by my next dwelling so if it was just a little wet, my ankles would be covered in crud, my shoes caked in crap and then my feet would be a little sore.  The minimum amount of padding and rubber just wasn't enough I suppose.  It's been two years since I bought those Vibram's and everywhere I went, people would ask me about them, if I liked them, etc.  I tended to answer that I did like them but I probably wouldn't buy another pair, they just weren't versatile enough I guess.  Cut to last night and I picked up a pair of Nike Free's, another style of minimalist shoes designed to let your feet move more naturally but more traditional as there's decent soles and your toes are all crammed together.  They felt very tight on the top of my foot at first so I wondered if I was supposed to wear socks or not as with Vibram's and their bare foot sensibility, you didn't.  I opted for some ankle socks though to keep the stank away.  Taking the Free's for a test spin at the gym today, they seemed to loosen up a little bit and provided very good support as I lifted weights, pushed a sled, jumped rope, etc.  Plus I can wear them to a convention or Disneyland.

Michael Jai White on training, eating and "karate feet":

Fight Friday: Who Would Win?

Who would win in a fight, Batman or Darth Vader?  Chuck Norris.  "Who would win in a fight?" has long been a question sought to be answered by popular entertainment.  In the 90's nary an interview with Jean-Claude Van Damme would be missing the query, who would win in a fight between you and say Steven Seagal or Mike Tyson?  Hypothetical match ups like those are the excited small talk of school yard children and 40 year old businessmen alike.  The original UFC pitted fighters from various disciplines against one another to see which style reigned supreme.  Dark Horse Comics licensed sci-fi movie staples Aliens and Predator in the early 90's, producing several well received comic runs and eventually studio Fox released two films in the early 2000's.  A 1996 mini-series crossed the Marvel and DC universes where Captain America fell to Batman, Superman bested The Hulk, etc.  In 2003 Stan Winston studio veteran Sandy Collora forever changed the fan film when his Batman: Dead End featured the title character, nemesis The Joker then inexplicably an Alien and Predators locked in rain soaked, dark alley combat. 

Cut to 2014 where the fan film has gone professional thanks to advances in technology and distribution.  Collara himself was already a seasoned pro in the world of special effects and intended for Dead End to become a calling card for directing features.  Even with the fan approval of Dead End and it's follow up, World's Finest, which saw Batman take on Superman, Collara has yet to direct a mainstream film.  Collara did lay down the groundwork for others though.  Music video and feature director Kevin Tancharoen's $7,000 self funded Mortal Kombat: Legacy was picked up by Warner Brothers and given two seasons online.  Martial artist, stunt man and Street Fighter aficionado Joey Ansah co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in 2010's fan film Legacy which led to securing the rights from Capcom for a web series.  Said web series debuted and was reedited into a feature recently released on home video with a follow up is in the works.  Then there was the curious case of The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, an unsanctioned fan film featuring Thomas Jane in a vague sequel to the 2004 Marvel movie he starred in.  Accomplished  movie and music video director and former Steven Spielberg protege Phil Joanou helmed and again, an experienced crew was behind the scenes.  More of a way to say goodbye to the role after departing the lackluster sequel, Jane proved he was a true fan of the character while gaining some internet heat and rejuvenating Joanou's career.  The two recently teamed up on a feature for low budget genre maestro Jason Blum for a yet to be released thriller.

Today I just caught wind of a new kind of "who would win?" format that harnesses all the powers of comic conventions, fan films and YouTube: Super Power Beat Down.  The brainchild of father-son team Aaron and Sean Schoenke, SPBD asks audiences to pick who would win in a fight between two pop culture icons. Once the votes are tallied, the team goes to work writing and producing a short film where characters from various universes of movies, video games and comic books collide.  They've produced 14 episodes so far with the likes of Captain America VS Master Chief, Casey Jones VS Kick-Ass, Wolverine VS Predator and the latest, Batman VS Darth Vader.  It's an interesting package as we start in a comic shop where passionate fans discuss the match up followed by footage shot on location at various comic conventions where attendees and celebrities alike offer their opinions.  Then it's show time and we get handsomely produced but still very fan film feeling fight scenes.  Cap and Master Chief face off in a rocky and dusty canyon, Casey Jones gets dropped off by an awkwardly costumed Michelangelo in a funny bit before facing Kick-Ass under a bridge by the train tracks, Wolvie and the Predator throw down in the woods and in a creek then Batman attempts to rescue Superman but runs into Darth Vader on the Death Star.

The latest episode is by far the most polished of the half dozen I skimmed through today.  The ambition is immense as Batman jets to the Death Star, we get Storm Troopers, officials and of course a knockdown brawl utilizing The Force, Batman trinkets, explosions and frigging light sabers.  In this day and age of cosplay and replicas, the outfits for Bats and Vader were pretty impressive yet functional.  All of the episodes suffer slightly from stiff or forced acting from stunt men types but deliver pretty well choreographed scraps with each episode having a clear winner, usually by way of violent death.  It will be interesting to see where the Schoenke's go from here as their backgrounds are more in the fan film world versus professionals looking to branch out.  Until then, I'm putting my money on Ryu, Green Ranger is going down!

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Con 2014

It's been a busy week getting back to regular life with a late night screening of The Equalizer on Thursday, Nightcrawler at Beyond Fest Friday then Long Beach Comic Con Saturday.  Doing the Damme thing since 2009, LBCC has expanded into two shows annually, a smaller show in May and a bigger one in September/October.  While Long Beach was one of my favorite shows behind San Diego Comic Con, recent events seem to have peaked in terms of exhibition floor, guests and panels.  While Southern California doesn't have too many competing comic book focused conventions per se, the rise of Wonder Con Anaheim, Comikaze downtown and the like make me wonder if Long Beach isn't at risk of being passed by.

The good is still the good.  Long Beach is a quick jaunt down the 405 from Los Angeles, parking is ample and the surrounding Pike contains a glut of outside attractions in the forms of restaurants, bars, a $1 book store, movie theater and the Queen Mary village.  The convention center is beautiful and spacious but in past years where movie replica cars and food trucks lined up outside, nary an outdoor attraction was present this year.  Inside, there was a decent sized crowd of attendees and cosplayers and the floor in Exhibit Hall C was filled if not packed.  Vendor wise I ended up grabbing some random issues of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and Captain America, trades of collected The Phantom newspaper strips and some Walt Simonson Thor.  Funko figures were everywhere and there was a decent amount of vendors selling comics new and old.  I even spotted a first, Miami Vice action figures!  So great to see Crockett and Tubbs in plastic form. 

Long Beach Comic Con staple RAW Studios had a sizable booth set up with artists Tim Bradstreet and William Stout as well as X-Files spinoff Lone Gunmen star Dean Haglund.  Bradstreet had some wicked The Shadow prints for sale and we chatted for a few minutes with Mr. Stout who had just returned from Austin's inaugural MondoCon.  As always, he's a cool guy but I wish he had some artwork from the Masters of the Universe film with him.  Last year we met Lance Henriksen at the booth who was awesome and in years past co-owner Thomas Jane would be hanging out.  Without either of their mainstream name and face recognition present, it was pretty quiet around the table.  Elsewhere on the floor you had comic dynamos like Mark Silvestri, Jimmy Palmiotti, Len Wein and James O'Barr meeting the fans but overall, guest wattage was a little low this year.

Panel wise there was plenty to choose from ranging from cosplay to drawing lessons to character and artist/writer spotlights but nothing really jumped out at us, sadly.  Instead we took to the Pike and hit up the $1 bookstore where I continued my The Phantom theme and grabbed the movie tie-in novelization for the 1996 swashbuckler starring Billy Zane and the WWII set The Monuments Men.  Next door at the Auld Dubliner a friend met up with us for a few Dublin Donkeys, Jameson and Ginger Beer with lime in a copper cup.  Sound familiar?  I just had a weekend theme of Moscow Mule's last week which just had vodka instead.  Two of those bad boys and I was feeling good.  The bacon and cheddar topped tator tots and Shepherd's Pie were delicious as well.  Saying our goodbyes to my former co-worker, we headed back to the show and did a final lap, flipping through some more comic boxes, checking out action figures and more of artist alley. 

On my way out I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for Long Beach Comic Cons past where RAW Studios held film screenings and Thomas Jane sat in front of my friends and I for The Mist.  Or the spectacle of the Zombie March that I believe set some kind of record with a few thousand participants.  Panels with William Stout, Iron Man 3's Shane Black and Seth Green for Robot Chicken were sorely missed for their insight, inspiration and laughs.  I know LBCC has been competing with Comikaze in the last couple of years for dates and then new kid on the block were in Long Beach advertising, now that they've established themselves as a force on the con circuit, I hope they haven't tied up all the guests and exhibiters because we need more cons, not less.  But I can appreciate Long Beach keeping the focus on comics, artists and writers instead of just hocking paid opportunities to interact with celebrities.