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What a terrific ad, both hilariously self-deprecating and effective at getting its message across. Much funnier than the overlong and painfully self-referential masturbatory movie star leftism we always see here.

Like any other red-blooded, rock ribbed, slightly overweight and out of shape movie loving American man, I am waiting to see “The Expendables.”  I am waiting for the body count of the summer to begin with all of my favorite 80’s and 90’s actions stars! I heard they were in there. I went over to IMBD to take a look at any early information about the movie and sure enough there were Stallone and Lundgren. One can only hope that there is some homage to Rocky IV in the movie.

The new tough guys Li and Statham are in the movie along with extreme fighter Randy Couture and fake fighter Steve Austin. There are cameos by Willis and the Democrat Governor of California Schwarzenegger. All the action heroes are there…except my favorite, Chuck Norris!

My favorite Chuck Norris movie is the 1985 cop drama “Code of Silence.” “Delta Force” and “Missing in Action” have better action and more blowing up of stuff, but they lack something that “Code” had: me! I got my first chance to be in a major film when they shot “Code of Silence” in Chicago. I was cast as an extra and later got to be an uncredited cop in a scene with Mr. Norris. It was an awesome experience for a young comic. He was friendly and personable and chatted between takes with everybody. (more…)

July is probably a little early to declare any year the worst movie year ever, but I haven’t had the opportunity to see enough films these past few months to mount any kind of argument either way with the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Queenan’s belief that Hollywood hit the bottom of the bottom in 2010. I would most certainly argue, however, that this decade has far and away been the worst ever — a perfect storm of soulless, bloated blockbusters, 140-minute “comedies,” self-consciously indie indies, and the last dying gasp of anything resembling the charismatic movie star. Two words Queenan and I would surely bond forever as blood brothers over: Shia and LaBeouf.

Though he’s a little hard on “Grown Ups” and awkwardly avoids rendering a judgment of any kind on Christopher Nolan’s much-debated “Inception,” give Queenan credit for at least managing to avoid the self-referential while creating a somewhat hyperbolic frame that’s obviously meant to draw attention to Hollywood’s bigger problems (which essentially boils down to the fact that those who make the movies are completely out of touch with these who watch the movies). Because if 2010 was the worst year ever for anything, it was the oh-so precious and nearly-extinct Critical Community’s masturbatory need to write about themselves. Honestly guys and gals, if entertainment is the least necessary industry in the history of the world, what does that make those of you who spend your lives intellectualizing over why it isn’t?

My personal realization that everything that could possibly go wrong with Hollywood has, occurred about halfway through a matinee of “Predators” I ducked into earlier this week. No offense to Adrien Brody who’s a fine actor and probably a very nice guy, but after he won an Oscar in 2002 for “The Pianist,” do you really think he saw himself  just a few years later spending an inordinate amount of time under the leadership of a personal trainer in order to get properly ripped because his next gig was stepping into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes?

Brody deserves better and so do we. (more…)

I just finished voting for the Screen Actors Guild awards and after wading through the five “screeners” they sent me I started wondering about the leading men of today.In this day of confused metro-sexual male stars one might wonder where all the real men have gone. 

Look at the leading men of today. When I saw Leonardo DiCaprio as a tough guy in Gangs of New York I wasn’t sure if it was a drama or a comedy. Matt Damon isn’t too bad but I‘m not convinced he could take a punch. I like Bill Pullman but he looks like he is always on the verge of breaking into tears. George Clooney, please my sister could throw him down and twist him up like a pretzel.

Here are my top five unrecognized real men of filmdom. I skipped the obvious choices like The Duke and Clint and went for some guys who are well known but not often looked at as Alpha dogs. Can you imagine any of these guys sitting in anything but a leather barber chair? Can you see any of them wondering if they should get frosted tips or a mani-pedi? Just being a tough guy wasn’t enough for my list they also had to have the craft of acting down too! (more…)

Stop the servers!  Jackson Williams at the Huffington Post has a newsflash:  Actor Matthew Marsden Hides His Right-Wing Political Views.

This raises a couple of questions.  The first is, “Who is Mathew Marsden?”  Well, he was an up-and-coming young English singer and actor with athletic roles in Rambo and Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.  Which leads to the second question – why would writer Jackson Williams be so giddy about the revelation that Marsden apparently does not hew obediently to the Hollywood left’s party line?

Well, it sure isn’t because he’s interested in giving Marsden’s career a boost.  Like the grinning little snot in every elementary school class who gets off on the high of narc-ing out the other kids to the schoolmarm, Jackson’s purpose was to tattle to every producer, agent, actor and other Hollywoodoid that Marsden had been a bad, bad boy.  He exercised his right to think for himself. Maybe Jackson should wear a sash:  “Political Hall Monitor.”  But it’s clear that his article is simply a nomination of Marsden for a spot on the New Hollywood Blacklist. (more…)

It’s hard for me to believe that the San Diego Comic Con International is now close to 40 years old. I’ve been going to them since 1975. Since 1981 I have only missed 2 Cons. Over the years I’ve seen it grow from a small local convention for comic book collectors and fans of geek culture, into a vast industry unto itself. Something that rivals Cannes for cultural significance.

In many respects, Comic Con International (aka the San Diego Comic Con to us attendees), is America’s Cannes Film Festival. But it’s much, much more.

Cannes is basically for film industry people only and the press. Comic Con is for everyone, and it’s becoming more relevant to the entertainment business as the years go by.

When I went to my first convention, I was in high school. I lived in San Diego at the time. I attended Point Loma High, so it was local for me. Only a couple thousand people attended. It was held at the El Cortez hotel which once dominated the San Diego skyline downtown. Now the El Cortez is a converted condo complex, dwarfed by the surrounding super condos. (more…)