Dolph Days: The Long September

We're just over a week away from Masters of the Universe on the big screen at The Egyptian Theatre where we'll be joined by several several members of the cast and crew. It's been a busy summer for the big Swede as Lundgren was recently in the news when photos from the Vancouver set of Kindergarten Cop 2 hit the web, Thor screenwriter Christopher Yost had been hired to take a crack at the MOTU reboot set up at Sony and passion project Skin Trade hit Blu-Ray shelves. But that's not all, folks. This past Labor Day weekend saw the El Rey Network playing the Rocky marathon on repeat hosted by Sylvester Stallone and Robert Rodriguez which means you got to see The Iron Man in all his 80's yoked and flat topped glory punching bags, killing Apollo Creed, training with high tech equipment, doing roids and fighting the Cold War against Rocky set to Vince DiCola's glorious synth soundtrack at least twice a day.

Tonight at the Hollywood Arclight, Dolph is expected to attend the premiere of War Pigs, the World War II action flick co-starring Luke Goss (Blade 2), former UFC champion Chuck Liddell and Expendables co-star Mickey Rourke. Ryan Little directs from a script by Adam Emerson, Andrew Kightlinger and Steven Luke. I'm a sucker for WWII men on a mission flick and a lot of love and work went into the project so here's hoping for an action packed and entertaining 90 minutes. Next week you can catch Dolph on the big screen three days in a row! On Thursday, 9.17, Warner Brothers premieres the long awaited documentary, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films at the Landmark Theatre on the west side. Roger Corman, Lucinda Dickey, Mark Helfrich and the American Ninja himself, Michael Dudikoff are scheduled to attend for Q&A. The following night, you can catch Cannon's mini-epic Masters of the Universe at The Egyptian with me while War Pigs hits select theaters the same night.

If that weren't enough Dolph for ya, the actor, karate expert, chemical engineer and filmmaker takes the stage for TEDx Fulbright Santa Monica to discuss Human Trafficking. This is an independently organized event to bring people together in TED like environments to spark discussion and connection. More information HERE and tickets over HERE. Phew, I'm tired just trying to keep up with him, see ya at the shows!

Gotta See! Universal Studios Hollywood

 
Labor Day Weekend! For those not in the service industry, it's a three day weekend to celebrate the working men and women with a national tribute to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country. On Saturday we headed over to Universal City to visit the park. It's been a while since we've hit Universal Studios, the last time being when The Simpsons took over Back to the Future. Since then, The Terminator stage and 3D show has been replaced by Minions, Backdraft made room for Transformers but the Waterworld show is still going strong. Harry Potter land is nearly complete with crews able to work 24 hours a day due to the lack of residential neighbors. The park didn't seem too crowded on this Saturday morning as we headed straight for the Tour before it got too jammed. Between line queues there are giant, bus stop style poster displays and way back when you could spot leading guys and gals from Universal flicks, most notably a mulleted Jean-Claude Van Damme from Timecop. Now there are large displays for prominent titles like Jaws, Spartacus, Meet the Parents and Apollo 13. Ron Howard is no longer your voice on the tour, replaced by Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. At just under an hour, the tour is still the best attraction in the park, showcasing the dozens of classic titles produced, the city size studio and behind the scenes movie magic. Also, every other street is named Kirk Douglas Dr., which is cool.

Peter Jackson's King Kong 3D portion is a highlight where you watch the giant ape duke it out with pissed off dinosaurs. Towards the end you get another 3D showcase with the Fast and the Furious where you take off on a chase with Vin Diesel, The Rock and company. It's pretty cool because the tram platform moves up and down, wind blows in your face so you feel like you're moving but all of the action and actors look very CGI and video game like. From there we discovered the secret of Universal's lower lot, Single Rider Lines! Seriously, we avoided 35, 45 and 55 minute wait times on Jurassic Park, The Mummy and Transformers by simply riding solo and still ended up in the same cars. Outside JP is a cool new attraction, a raptor pen! A guy in an animatronic suit whips, slashes and hisses at you in a very cool character meet and greet. It's been a while since we've ridden JP, or basically a scarier version of Pirates of the Caribbean with a giant T-Rex coming to get you while you get soaked by spitting dinos and a waterfall. The Mummy is like their version of Indiana Jones and was a lot more fun than I remember it being the first time I rode it. Still short though. Transformers is a cool attraction as you tear around a studio, driving and flying in a jeep fighting giant robots. After conquering 4 awesome attractions and lunch by noon, we really had nowhere else to go as lines for The Simpsons and other attractions were pushing the 60 minute mark. I figure when Harry Potter land opens, we'll opt for some season passes and Front of the Line upgrades to really take advantage since we've already experienced everything else in the park.

It was interesting to see so many non-Universal attractions like Shrek, Transformers and The Simpsons accounting for so much real estate. Once upon a time they had theme park rights to Marvel characters but I believe those recently expired, just in time for Disney to utilize the brands at their parks and resorts. I was surprised Back to the Future didn't have much of a presence there beyond a Doc Brown character walking around and some Delorean models for sale in the shops. You'd think they'd have a picture car just hanging out for photos and nostalgia. I mean come on, they had a frigging Mustang from the new Knight Rider show on the tour, not even the old, badass Trans Am one!

(Not)Love Actually: Judge Dredd

Apparently Time Warner customers get Showtime for a free preview this summer, flipping through listings, none other than Judge Dredd was on! This was one of my favorite films growing up after seeing it for a buck at the local second run theater. The scope of the future, the design and brutal violence all made for an excellent 90's sci-fi action flick. Little did I know back then that Dredd was a bit of a flop, unloved by critics and despised by fans of the source material while audiences more or less weren't interested. Based on the cult British comic book that started in 1977, Judge Dredd takes place in an over crowded, post WW III future where millions cram into Mega Cities while the desolate land in between is known as the Cursed Earth. Street Judges are given the power of Judge, Jury and Executioner as they can arrest, convict, sentence and execute criminals on the spot. Armed with a Lawgiver pistol that is DNA coded and fires six kinds of ammo, Judge Dredd sports a helmet he never removes along with shoulder pads and armor as he rides a machine gun equipped Lawmaster motorcycle.

While the comic books never gained the mass appeal of a Batman or Spider-Man in the states, producer Charles M. Lippincott thought Dredd could make for a futuristic version of Dirty Harry and in 1983, secured the rights. Working with independent producer Edward R. Pressman (Conan the Barbarian), the duo set out to find scribes for the film. A small army of writers came and went, including Ed Neumeier (Robocop), Tim Hunter and James Crumley, comic book maestro Howard Chaykin, William Wisher (Terminator 2) and Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard). 1987's law enforcement-satire-western hit Robocop drew much of it's inspiration from Dredd while the project continued to languish. Arnold Schwarzenegger was rumored to be interested but it would be his then rival Sylvester Stallone that gave the project the necessary star wattage to push it closer to production. Cinergi, the company of former Carolco partner Andrew G. Vajna, stepped up to co-finance with distribution coming from Disney's Hollywood Pictures. 27 year old Danny Cannon won the director's job through a mix of his impressive love and knowledge of Dredd, vision of the film and heat from debut film The Young Americans.

Budgeted at a rumored $70 million bucks, Judge Dredd began shooting in England on giant street, prison and the Statue of Liberty sets while utilizing miniatures, matte paintings and CGI. With no Cinergi production executives on set, the young director clashed with star Stallone over the tone of the film which had already been targeted for a PG-13 rating and a Burger King toy-in promotion. Cannon wanted to keep the film serious and violent like the comics while Stallone aimed for an action tale with morality, humor and fun. The film would be given an X rating before downgraded to an R, losing the fast food and toy deals while spurring lawsuits from angry spurned partners in the process. The flick opens with comic book panels filling the screen as we meet freshly released hacker Fergie (Rob Schnieder) as he's dropped off at his new home, Heavenly Haven, a misnamed hell hole filled with gun toting squatters involved in a violent block war. Stallone's Judge Dredd takes out the bad guys with extreme prejudice and sends Fergie back to prison for violating his parole while trying to save his own ass. Seemingly emotionless, Dredd is the most feared Judge on the street and a big problem for Judge Council member Griffin (Jurgen Prochnow) who has more nefarious plans for the Halls of Justice. With manpower in short supply and faced with a growing population, Griffin is all about harsher punishment for lesser crimes. To tip society's scale, Griffin has disgraced former Judge Rico (Armand Assante) freed from prison in order to start a war on the streets.

Like I said, Judge Dredd is great. You're thrown into the flick with Alan Silvestri's big orchestral score, James Earl Jones' narration and a vision of the future that is at once grimy, giant and violent. The film's sense of humor is established early on with memorable gags like an automated food serving droid and Dredd blowing up a car to punish the driver. Sets and costumes are awesome with the city streets crowded, cramped and going high into the sky with neon while Dredd's costume looks straight out of the comic book with a little help from Gianni Versace. The look of the film is immense, detailed and very expensive looking. There's also a giant, menacing mechanical robot bodyguard done practically versus CGI. While many fans were upset Dredd takes off his helmet 17 minutes in, as a non-reader, I was fine with it and let's not forget, the film wouldn't have been made without Stallone's famous mug. The Italian Stallion is solid as Dredd, playing both shouting and over the top while quiet, sad and reserved as he lives in constant solitude and judged his only friend Rico while delivering memorable lines like "I AM THE LAW!" and "I KNEW YOU'D SAY THAT!" with action hero relish. Diane Lane is smart and spunky as love interest and fellow Judge Hershey while Schneider gets a little more screen time than he did in Stallone's previous sci-fi flick Demolition Man as the comedic relief sidekick. The film's cast is deep and excellently filled with Armand Assante, Jurgen Prochnow, Max von Sydow, Joan Chen and James Remar.

The action is both big and close quartered with highlights including Dredd pacifying two rooms filled with heavily armed thugs using Rapid Fire, Grenade, Double Whammy and Armor Piercing shots, a showdown with mutated thugs in the scorched Earth wasteland, a flying motorbikes chase through the skies of the city and a fight on top of the Statue of Liberty. The motorbike chase scene is one I've always remembered since seeing the film nearly 20 years ago as it just felt like a roller coaster and the only thing I can think to compare it to is the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi. Sadly all of this would not be enough to save the film upon release on June 30th in 1995. It's $12.2 million take would only be good enough for # 5 behind Apollo 13, Pocahontas, Batman Forever and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on it's way to a not great $34.6 mil take. Overseas the film would gross an additional $78 million. While Stallone had scored with a string of R rated thrillers like Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and The Specialist, Judge Dredd was supposed to be a kinder, gentler film meant to capture a young audience. The same gambit did not work for his brothers in arms Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme with family friendly fare The Last Action Hero and Street Fighter. Having just come back a bit from the under performing Rocky V, Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Stallone would struggle as high profile and big budget films Assassins and Daylight would disappoint at the U.S. box office.

Director Danny Cannon publicly stated he'd never work with a big star again after clashing with Stallone and found solace in television with credits on CSI, Nikita and Gotham. The decade plus journey from panels to screen would mark Charles M. Lippencott's final producing credit to date while writer William Wisher moved on to another troubled but enjoyable flick, viking epic The 13th Warrior. Steven E. de Souza would reteam with Jean-Claude Van Damme for 1998's Knock Off before guiding Tomb Raider sequel, The Cradle of Life. Years after Dredd's release, de Souza would be blamed for writing an R rated Disney film after Danny Cannon delivered a such a violent piece that it lost promotional deals for toy and fast food tie-ins. In 2012, a medium budget, gritty, more faithful take on the character hit theaters with Karl Urban sporting the helmet as Dredd. Fans and critics liked the film more than Stallone's version but the flick landed with a thud opening weekend with an anemic take of $6.3 million on it's way to a $13 million total and worldwide gross of $35 million, woof! Fans might have gotten the Dredd they always wanted but I found the new flick to be boring, self serious, cheap looking and used way too much CGI and slow motion. Guess that just shows you how unknown the character is and partially validates the original's star driven attempt. Until next time, Judge this!

Beyond Fest is Back!

Our friends over at Beyond Fest dropped their 2015 lineup like a cinematic block of C4 this week as America's most attended genre film festival prepares to take over The Egyptian Theatre for 11 days and nights starting October 1st. A whopping 18 films will have their west coast premiere including Tom Hardy's Double Impact style crime saga Legend as well as the Kurt Russell starring Gothic western Bone Tomahawk. After hosting Goblin for their first United States appearance, Beyond has recruited legendary composer Fabio Frizzi to make his first stateside performance complete with an 8 piece orchestra followed by a rare screening of The Beyond. On the repertory front, Bruce Campbell, Edgar Wright, Savage Steve Holland, Al Pacino and Brett Ratner among many more will be on hand for screenings of Evil Dead, Dog Day Afternoon and Better Off Dead.

I'll probably see you at no less than:

Legend | Thursday, 10.1 | 7:30 PM | West Coast Premiere
Better Off Dead | Friday, 10.2 | 7:30 PM | Cast & Crew Reunion with The Meltdown
The Evil Dead I & II | Saturday, 10.3 | 7:30 PM | Bruce Campbell and Edgar Wright in Person
The Invitation | Monday, 10.5 | 7:30 PM | West Coast Premiere with Cast & Crew
BONE TOMAHAWK | Tuesday, 10.6 | 7:30 PM | WC Premiere with S. Craig Zahler & Matthew Fox
Dog Day Afternoon |  Saturday, 10.10 | 7:30 PM | Al Pacino & Brett Ratner in Person

Phew, gonna be some long days of driving to and from Hollywood but will be totally worth it! Check out the full listing and ticket links HERE. See you at the movies!

Con-Man Double Event: Brewer Brothers & San Fernando Con

After driving up north on Saturday, Sunday morning we headed down to Orange County for a first visit to the Brewer Brothers Model Kit, Hobby & Toy Expo in Huntington Beach. I heard about this show from the great forum over at HissTank.com and thought it would be interesting to check out a new show out of our usual spectrum. I lived in OC for a couple of years, it's a great place to be with open roads designed in squares, easy access to the beach, lots of movie theaters, plenty of food, on and on. Brewer Bro's was held at the Old World Village, a curious outpost across from the new and modern Bella Terra center. Set up like a German village, Old World has restaurants, shops, a bakery and motel in a quaintly designed, near theme park like setting. The show was nothing like we'd ever seen, just tables of models, statues and books focusing mainly on World War II and the military. People were walking out with stacks of model planes and cars to build and paint and I realized that this was a hobby that took more doing than just reading comics or placing action figures on your shelf. It was a pretty happening show, everyone was nice and as often happens we were the youngest attendees there I think. There was even a lunch buffet being served next door and their next show is straight World War II with veterans speaking and a mock air drop!

After some walking around and trying an apple strudel, it was back to the 405 the opposite direction, past home and up to the San Fernando Valley for their Comic Book Convention. Housed in an events center next to a Trader Joe's, the SFVCBC is located caddy corner from the pizzeria Ron Perlman owns in Drive! The show itself was like last week's event at The Reef, just a bunch of tables and a few actors set up selling comics, swag and toys. Exhibitors were nice as I continue to learn about conventions from a business side and how many of these folks don't work out of physical stores, instead traveling the circuit or selling online. Picked up a few cheap comics before we headed over to a friends house in the area where I traded a Rambo III theater program for a fistful of magazines and even a press kit!

The 80's Called: Gunship & Double Dragon

A couple of cool videos celebrating the glorious 80's, today! First up is synth artist Gunship with their latest track, Tech Noir. You know, like from The Terminator?! I don't watch too many music videos anymore but this one was just very clever, inspired, fun and violent! Watch as our hero utilizes the power of VHS tapes to rescue the damsel in distress; battling evil icons of the era like Pinhead, Jason and Leatherface while harnessing the power of Robocop, Rocky, He-Man and...a Care Bear?!

Next up is a video sent to me from a Dammaged Goods supporter who attended The Van Damme Double Dip, one Chris Anthony. Mr. Anthony has put together an homage to classic arcade side scrolling brawler Double Dragon, where Billy and Jimmy Lee battle thugs after the death of a lady friend. Martial arts, 8-bit tunes and super knees to the face action ensues. Keep spreading the gospel of the 80's and 90's, my friends!

Gotta See! Jack Kirby's Comic Book Apocalypse

It was a hot one on Saturday and we ventured into the red zone, traveling up to Northride and then Santa Clarita where temperatures broke triple digits. California State University Northridge is hosting Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby through October with a Panel Discussion happening on Saturday, September 26th at 1:00 PM. This past Saturday was a Public Reception with light refreshments and many a comic book creator in attendance to pay respects and check out the exhibit. There were a few ties and blazers but I opted for a badass shirt filled with Kirby art that several attendees appreciated. Kirby of course is one of the premiere names in comic books. Known for his exciting, action packed and cinematic visual style, the New York born and World War II serving artist would be hugely responsible for the success of of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, the X-Men and many more. The exhibit was awesome with three rooms of art, sketches and photos from each era of Kirby's career. Giant banners showcased Darkseid and The Silver Surfer while original comic issues showed off cover art. With Stan Lee, Kirby co-created many of their flagship titles before jumping ship to DC Comics then moving on into television and film. I grew up on his macho and explosive work with Cap and other Marvel titles but seeing the exhibit made me realize I need to check out much more of his work, particularly New Gods. Good thing there's two decent sized comic shows coming up this fall. Until then, hail to the king, baby!

 

Van Dammage: The One After the Superbowl

 

 "You can't even go to the toilet because they shove a camera up your butt."

Jean-Claude Van Damme 

- On if playing himself would lead to a reality show

Friday night we randomly watched the Friends episode after the 1996 Superbowl featuring a bevy of guest stars including Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, Julia Roberts and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Shields was having a career lull, Roberts was dating show co-star Matthew Perry and JCVD was still looking for his Hollywood breakthrough after almost doing so with flicks like Universal Soldier and Timecop. In the episode, Van Damme is the star of fictional film Outbreak 2 which features Ross' (David Schwimmer) former pet monkey. Monica (Courtney Cox) has a huge crush on The Muscles From Brussels while Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) has no clue who he is. After Wham Bam charms Rachel, it creates a friction with Monica and the two both end up going on dates with our man Van. Playing himself, Van Damme makes references to threesomes with Drew Barrymore, cracking walnuts with his butt and telling Rachel he thinks she's cute with nary a roundhouse kick or shirtless scene in sight.

The episode was a two-part event for NBC with ad rates going for an astronomical $600,000 per 30 second ad. Their gamble worked as the episode was watched by 52.9 million viewers, by far the most viewed chapter in the show's 10 year history. Shields would go on to headline her own sitcom, Suddenly Susan for 4 seasons, Roberts would rebound from big budget bust Mary Reilly with My Best Friend's Wedding but Van Damme's box office clout slowly diminished with quality efforts like The Quest and Maximum Risk producing middling returns. 8 years later he would play himself on another NBC show, Las Vegas, where he seemingly dies in a movie stunt gone wrong. 7 years after that he would end up letting cameras follow him around the world for reality series Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors. Reflecting on his experience, Van Damme would state that "Friends was so big at that time and I had been doing low-budget film after low-budget film. Then they asked me to be on the show, but I didn't really know Friends that much. TV is very powerful, people still talk about it. It let me show a different side." Rumor has it that JCVD is considering a television series where he would play a spy posing as an actor.

Summer Cinema: No Escape

What a weird Thursday, planned on walking over to the Runway for happy hour and dinner but Jefferson was closed down. I couldn't figure out what was happening, Google had nothing then Twitter told me that there was a bomb threat at the Whole Foods! Mind you, I live in the heart of the Silicon Beach area where many a tech giant has planted stakes like IMAX, Konami, YouTube, Belkin, etc but in the last months there's been a shooting next door, human feces outside my building and now this. Apparently it was a mysterious black gym bag with an electric meter sitting in the parking structure. It was exploded with C4 but ended up not being a bomb, I'm guessing it was forgotten equipment from one of the construction crew...

With all showtimes canceled at the Cinemark Playa Vista, we headed to Culver City for some Happy Hour action at Rush Street before taking in No Escape at the Arclight. After a couple of blackberry and bourbon dranks, it was time to check out Owen Wilson in his first action-centric role since 2001's Behind Enemy Lines. The trailers accentuated one ridiculous scene where Wilson's on the run father throws his young daughters through the air from one roof to another in slow motion. Instead of being a derivative Taken knock off and trying to turn Wilson into an action hero, No Escape proved to be a solid thriller with some intense and harrowing moments along with a memorable performance from former James Bond Pierce Brosnan.

Shot in Thailand, No Escape finds out of work engineer Jack Dwyer (Wilson), wife Annie (Lake Bell) and their two daughters beginning anew in an I believe unnamed Asian country where Jack has been brought in to work on a local water project. In a new world where they don't speak the language, know the customs and unable to read the signs, they're befriended by the charming yet smarmy Hammond (Pierce Brosnan). All staying at the same posh hotel in town, things go bad real fast when a local coup sees a rebellion killing the local monarch and Americans are targeted for termination due to their intruding and political enslaving agenda. Jack and family go on the run, seeking safety and shelter; hiding at the American Embassy, in office buildings and on the streets. With lives on the line, Jack protects his family as best he can and resorts to brutal violence to do so. Hammond and his Kenny Rogers loving buddy (Sahajak Boonthanakit) turn out to be former military types lapping up women and booze and help Jack's family form a plan to reach Vietnam where they can be granted asylum.

With many kids back in school, the summer cinema season winds down as No Escape looks to gross a middling $12 million through the weekend while Zac Efron's EDM coming of age story We Are Your Friends got trounced in Thursday night previews by faith flick War Room. Written, produced and directed by brothers John and Drew Dowdle, No Escape is pretty raw and brutal while keeping tensions high throughout for the most part. Slow motion is a little overdone and the scene with the kid throwing elicited a laugh from me as it was ridiculous yet terrifying at the same time. It reminded me of John Wick in a sense as both had some hardcore R rated violence yet aimed to provide some heart via a dead spouses dog and in this case, a family trying to survive. No Escape isn't nearly as moody or stylish as Wick though. The locals aren't made out to be complete savages a la Rambo's Burmese soldiers and the ex-pats are firmly blamed for the current conditions. Wilson and Bell are excellent as the struggling parents who are forced to turn to violence with the film not trying to turn Wilson into a Jason Bourne style action star like From Paris With Love, The Gunman or Edge of Darkness tried to do in the Taken's wake. Brosnan is a highlight as the crude yet cool and mysterious, "something like that" English Intelligence guy who knows the score and how to shoot.

Con-Man: Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention

Sunday started off with a nice swim before heading downtown for the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention, aka the LA Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con if you're a Simpsons fan, a long time staple of the local show scene that used to be held near USC. This chapter moved to The Reef, a converted warehouse for shopping and creative space. There's two giant parking lots on either side of the street but I was able to find a meter. Along with dozens of vendors, celebrity guests are on hand for signings and photos. This week the big draw was Agent Carter's Hayley Atwell along with Batman & Robin voice actor Loren Lester. A couple of Power Rangers were on hand as well. At only $10.00 an entry, the show is quite solid for the price. There were half a dozen long rows of exhibitors hocking everything from comic books to novels to DVDs, action figures, pulp publications and skin mags. Since it's just an empty space filled with tables, the joint could use a little ambiance in the form of signage, art on the wall or music playing. There was also surprisingly no area for food beyond a small cafe in the lobby.

It was crowded but not so much you couldn't get in and look at booths. It was also hot and stuffy, like flipping through long boxes had me sweating stuffy. Maybe it's cheaper to rent if you don't use AC? A decent sized line for Atwell had already formed on the signing side of the floor while walking around I came across some wonderful treasures including the novelization for one of my favorite films, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. With no price tag, I asked the vendor, expecting it to be $10 bucks or so but it was only $2! Victory! At another table I picked up a Grifter action figure from Wild C.A.T.S. figure for only $5 then dug through some boxes for .25 comics coming up with Spartan, The Shadow, The Rocketeer, Cadillac's & Dinosaurs and frigging Night Man! Ran into some other vendors we see at shows, I'll most likely pick up a NECA Ellen Ripley figure from one down at Long Beach Comic-Con in September. Another was hocking awesome old school stuff like Incredible Hulk and Flash Gordon board games, John Wayne comics and little collected editions of pulps. Talked movies and books at another table as we both agreed that Mad Max: Fury Road has been this summer's best movie. Also picked up some foam He-Man swords from another vendor I hope to have out for He-Man Celebration. It only took an hour or so to walk the floor since there were no panels but all in, an excellent trip and well worth the price.

Workout of the Day: Month Out

September is shaping up to be a busy month with theme park visits, outdoor movies, conventions and my very own He-Man & She-Ra Celebration so it's time to lift it up another notch. Standing in front of a crowd next to someone like Dolph Lundgren is pretty solid motivation so I'll be focusing on keeping up weight workouts as well as cardio because when you feel good, you look good then you do good, right?! Right. I've been keeping it pretty basic in August with weight sessions or early morning cardio but with the rising heat, it can be hard to get motivated to get even sweatier. To change things up I've already started implementing circuit training, swimming and shadow boxing to go along with a few weight workouts a week.

Circuits can get a good pump in minimal time with:
Kettlebell Swings - Chins - Push Ups - Battling Ropes - Dips - KB Curls
That's 6 exercises in quick succession to get the entire body running. You can always swap out exercises here with Clean and Press for Swings or add in more specific exercises to target your body like Squats or Step-Ups for legs, Curls and Pushdowns for Arms, Shoulder Raises, etc. Jean-Claude Van Damme once said he got into his best shape during the production of Kickboxer by training his entire body 3 times a week.

As far as straight weights go, today was Chest and Biceps:
Incline Dumbbell Press/Preacher Curls - Decline DB Flys/Incline DB Curl - DB Pullover/Hammer Curls - Forearms - Neck - Calves - Intervals on Elliptical
Doing supersets for Chest and Biceps is one of my training foundations, leaving alternate days for Back/Triceps, Legs and then Shoulders/Arms before starting over. Doing everything in superset style had me finishing weights in 30 minutes with 10 minutes of interval cardio to make me feel better about that big Burger King lunch yesterday.

Nutrition and exercise form a kingdom so remember to try and eat whole foods in smaller portions throughout the day rather than 3 large meals. Aim for 3 meals and 2 snacks and you can experiment with eating in a 10-12 hour window, not eating carbs after 2:00 PM or reducing calorie dense protein like red meat in favor of chicken and fish if available. There's plenty of information out there so keep educating yourself and experimenting to figure out how to make fitness a daily habit. Keep lifting!

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.